John Bonham - "In Through the Out Door" session Outtakes

John "Bonzo" Bonham, was - for those who did not know - the drummer of the English rock band Led Zeppelin. He was renowned for his power, speed and "feel" for the groove. During Led Zeppelin's first tour of the United States in December 1968, Bonham became friends with Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice. Appice introduced him to Ludwig drums, which he then used for the rest of his career. Bonham used the longest and heaviest sticks available, which he referred to as "trees". His hard hitting style was displayed to great effect on many Led Zeppelin songs, including "Immigrant Song" (Led Zeppelin III), "When the Levee Breaks" (Led Zeppelin IV / ), "Kashmir" (Physical Graffiti), "The Ocean" (Houses of the Holy), and "Achilles Last Stand" (Presence). The studio recording of "Misty Mountain Hop" perfectly captures his keen sense of dynamics this is similarly exhibited by his precise drumming on "No Quarter." On several cuts from later albums, Bonham rather adeptly handled funk and Latin-influenced drumming. Songs like "Royal Orleans" and "Fool in the Rain" are good examples, the latter displaying great skill with a New Orleans shuffle and a samba rhythm.
His drum solos, first "Pat's Delight" and then later "Moby Dick" and finally "Over the Top", would often last for half-an-hour and regularly featured his use of bare hands to achieve different sound effects. In Led Zeppelin tours after 1969, Bonham would expand his basic kit to include congas, orchestral timpani, and a symphonic gong. Bonham is also credited (by the Dallas Times Herald) with the first in-concert use of electronic timpani drum synthesisers (most likely made by Syndrum) during a performance of the song "Kashmir" in Dallas, Texas in 1977. Many modern rappers would later heavily sample his drumming and incorporate it into their composition, such as the Beastie Boys, who sampled "The Ocean" and "When the Levee Breaks".

Here are 23 mp3 files of pieces of the late great John Bonham's drum tracks.