Few musicians can be said to have truly transformed their instruments. Jaco Pastorius, Earl Scruggs, and Jimi Hendrix succeeded in expanding the range of the bass, banjo, and guitar. Jim Gordon belongs on that list. But as a drummer, Gordon’s accomplishments are often overlooked, even by knowledgeable listeners. In his well-researched and thoughtful biography Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon, Joel Selvin changes that.
To say that this drummer “could single-handedly make a record into a hit” is a large statement – one that could evoke doubt or derision. But Selvin repeatedly shows how Jim Gordon was able to turn an ordinary or even mundane song into a successful record.
The range of Gordon’s work is beyond impressive. From Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” to Merle Haggard’s “The Bottle Let Me Down.” From The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” to George Harrison’s “What is Life” to Crosby Stills & Nash’s “Marrakesh Express.” The list is long.
Jim Gordon was also a member of Eric Clapton’s Derek and the Dominos, the short-lived, drug-fueled quartet that left a brief but influential legacy. Other group efforts included drumming with Delaney & Bonnie and on Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour. But it was the varying nature of this drummer’s session work that Joel Selvin rightly focuses on. Need more proof? Jim Gordon also played on Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High” for Phil Spector and was used for both the meticulous studio recordings of Steely Dan and the rigorous orchestral scores of Frank Zappa.
Drums & Demons does an admirable job of describing the technical aspects of what Jim Gordon does with a song. Selvin does occasionally use terminology like paradiddle and staccato triplets, but the narrative never gets lost in drum speak. The book is accessible to anyone interested in the creation of music.
The L.A. studio world had never seen anything like him. Musicians were thrilled to have Gordon on their recording date. He elevated the session, quietly bringing out the best in everyone present. The accolades in Drums & Demons may sometimes appear hyperbolic, but the author is convincing (yet never fawning) when documenting Gordon’s sterling accomplishments as a player.
It would be nice if the review could end right here. But this book must also illuminate the dark end of the street: Jim Gordon had problems with relationships. Dealings on a personal level with family, girlfriends, and colleagues became increasingly difficult for this single-minded musician. Or maybe “single-minded” isn’t quite accurate. Gordon’s difficulties were related to the voices he heard in his head.
This was not a drug situation. Selvin shows that the obligatory intake of drugs for musicians in the 1970s didn’t help, but Gordon had a genuine mental disorder. He was not an LSD casualty or a heroin junkie. Jim Gordon had been hearing voices his entire life. These once supportive voices turned ugly, urging him to make poorer and poorer decisions. As his mental disease progressed, Gordan struck and threatened girlfriends. He became argumentative in the studio with fellow musicians, sometimes holding heated exchanges with people that only he could see.
In 1982, the voices finally convinced the drummer to kill his mother. When Gordon went on trial for the murder, none of his superstar musician friends were there to offer support. Nor were the well-known record producers who had benefited from Gordon’s musicianship. Only Jay Osmond attended, a fellow drummer who had met Jim years before as a teenager while working with his family’s band.
The scene was reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens. After the once-revered Timon suffers drastic misfortune, a character reflects on human nature: “Men shut their doors against a setting sun.” Or to be more rock & roll about it – “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” a recording from the Layla album that features Gordon’s drumming.
Jim Gordon spent 41 years in prison, dying there in the spring of 2023. Once among the brightest lights in rock, he was soon forgotten and his legacy of influence ignored. Joel Selvin can’t bring back a healthy Jim Gordon, but in Drums & Demons the author once again illuminates the achievements of a remarkable musician.
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