That's cool. I was just sayin.. I do believe Carmine only because I've heard Jimmy ( or somebody I'm confusing with Jimmy) say the same thing and: why would he lie? I mean, if he were gonna lie he would say "oh, John told me he listened to me every day." not, He told me he heard me do something I can't do and don't remember and probably only did it the one time... That makes no sense to me.

Purely subjective except for: What if the skill lies in knowing when part of your kit is immaterial to the song. For instance, I prefer Rat Salad to Moby Dick. But Moby Dick is clearly more technical druming incorporating every bit of a bigger kit. And BTW, most drummers will tell you the symbols are what makes the kit harder. ie; more symbols require more skill than more drums do. But if what you say is correct, Neil Peart is the greatest drummer who's ever lived. His kit is just that much bigger than anyone else's I've ever seen and he hits every drum on just about every song. Therefore, by your logic, nobody could be better. Are you prepared to say that? I'm not. I like Rush, but I'd take Ginger Baker with a branch and a coffee can over. What about Poor Tom. Surely that belongs in the category of "should have been released sooner".

And they supported VF as the opening act on their first U.S. tour.

Well said.

Yeah, but he also cited Carmine Apice...

Oooh, I forgot that one. Good catch.

Obviously this is folk lore, but I hear tell the numbers were dumbed down at Plant's insistance. Supposedly he no longer cares for drawn out improvs and opts for, not Album perfect, but close to it versions. Another stipulation in his doing the 02. The book When Giants Walked the Earth claims he also only agreed so he could use the notoriety to plug his upcomming album with Allison Krauss and T Bone Burnete. Canceling rehearsals and forcing jimmy to push back the 02 date. Remeber it was supposed to be in November but he "hurt his pinky" delaying it 6 weeks.

Maybe it's just you... If you're saying Bonham was all triplets and Groove, then you are wrong. That's not an opinion. You are stating that a person did A and B and nothing else. That is a declarative statement. Now, as my daddy used to say; "The less a man makes declarative statements, the less apt he is to look foolish in retrospect".

Well said. Whether anyone agees or not, and I haven't read through all the pages (not gonna either) but from what I did see, your's is the first post that is on point. I agree the Black Crowes collaboration was a better release. It very well should be as Jimmy had 2 other guitar tracks backing him up. I wil go further and say WIAWSNB, Celebration Day, IMTOD, Custard Pie, Sick Again were all the best live versions of those songs, Bar None. But again, 2 other guitars playing the backing guitar tracks from the album versions allowed Jimmy his full range of expression, so I am not saying they were a better band, just that if Jimmy played with an ensamble like that all the time, he'd be mentioned more often than Clapton as the greatest of all time. IMHO. But I'm not saying he should, just saying IF. Don't agreee totaly with the Gorman thing, wasn't that impressed with Gorman's drumming. Michael Lee was the best drummer for Jimmy post Bonham. I could go either way on Celebration Day.

What's your point? I get the opinion part, my response was questioning why the guy is here. He clearly has some strong negative opinions, not contraversial, down right negative. Get a dictionary, look both words up and then maybe you will get it. Now, if I'd made a Post and not a Reply, then your reply would make sense. But I didn't, so you don't. And the post is clearly meant to spark debate. Another point you miss by a mile. So you're 0 for 2.

Why are you even here? You clearly don't get it, yet you use Jimmy for your avatar... Jimmy is a phenom and with that means he has a camera taking video every time he plays. You want pretty? Follow Clapton. Jimmy is different. He NEEDS the communion on stage because that's what feeds the stellar performances. Without it, you don't get there. Hendrix and Clapton both have less than stellar performances on youtube and somehow it gets overlooked. Jimmy, less active than Clapton, has more video in general because of the shear number of cameras on him, again, because of the phenom. Remember, the Greatful Dead's following was not created by themselves. That was LZ's following, it started with Led Zeppelin. So if you want to knock him for incosistency, that's your right to do so. But you advertising your ignorance. If you knock him for his venture into the avant garde, again, your god given right to do so, but again, advertising your ignorance because there's versions of songs from 75-80 that surpass any other. And then there's The Black Crowes and Page & Plant shows that produced, yet again, versions of songs that were already done the best they could have been, or so we thought. Like In My Time Of Dying, WIAWSNB and even the sacrosanct Heartbreaker with the Crowes and Thank You and SIBLY with P&P and let's not forget the 02 with For Your Life & Black Dog, both took down the house. I prefer guys like Jimmy and John Frusciante to Eric Clapton and John Mayer because they need to "feel" it or the magic doesn't happen, not despite that fact. Clapton and Mayer can play mistake free all day long, but aside from his Cream days or the MTV Unplugged, Clapton has few Stellar moments that make me want to tune in. And Clapton himself refers to his playing during the Cream years as some of his worst, I would point to his work with Roger Waters. Mayer has yet to hit a note that made me want to hear more and his biggest hit is not even guitar driven. I'm sure their fans would disagree and that's okay. Objectively I cannot argue if any of the names I've mentioned are listed as the greatest of all time, by anyone. They have the chops and the track record. Frusciante makes mistakes, but RHCP's are not Star Wars status like Led Zeppelin, so nobody notices. That is to say, Star Wars has been around for 40 years and watched intensely by millions who dissect every word and if someone changes a single word, a million people cry victim. But, it is simply is a matter of taste. My question is: It clearly is not your taste, so again, why are you here? Star Wars recently turned their protagonist into a failed washed-up has been. I loved that character my whole life and cannot look at him the same way again. I'm not mad about it. I simply stopped watching... Why haven't you?