Ringo Starr or Charlie Watts???

If you haven't heard Charlie as a band leader with his jazz orchestra you haven't heard his true range as a musician. His recording from 2001, "Watts at Scotts" really put a new light on him for me. Like Keith, I think he's often under appreciated because he's not an overt, showy virtuoso. No one is going to put him on the same technical plane as Ginger Baker (truly great,) but he has his own unique strengths.

Charlie Watts by a mile! He's a subtle drummer but he's rock solid. I figured out how good he was when I was in a band in college. We were covering Honkey Tonk Women and our drummer kept on slipping the downbeat into the wrong part of the melody. He could hear where it was supposed to be on the record, but he kept on winding up about a beat off. Of course there was a lot of beer involved....

Rings is great, Charlie is great. Can't we just end it there? Two of the best, and most important, drummers in rock history.

And...both wicked cool.

Ringo is smarter.When he goes on tour he takes Jim Keltner and Levon Helm.