‘Let There Be Drums!’ a Salute to You-Know-What

If you just check the song titles on the first volume in the latest Rhino Records compilation series, it’s easy to assume that it’s the start of yet another collection of rock oldies.

Except for the absence of Elvis Presley (licensing problems), the album lineup reads like a Hall of Fame salute--from Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” and Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally” to Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” and Fats Domino’s “The Fat Man.”

But there is another level to the album and the series. Where most surveys of rock concentrate on singers and guitarists, this series salutes the drummers.

Volume one of “Max Weinberg Presents: Let There Be Drums!” focuses on 18 of Weinberg’s favorite drum performances from the ‘50s, complete with liner notes explaining his choices.

The disc opens and closes, appropriately, with drum-dominated instrumental hits--1959’s “Teen Beat” and 1961’s “Let There Be Drums”--by Sandy Nelson, the first drummer to achieve star status in rock.

“Nelson was a sort of missing link between the drummers of the ‘50s and those of the ‘60s,” writes Weinberg, who was the drummer in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and is now bandleader for NBC-TV’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.”

“(Nelson) played with a big band feel, but appreciated the power of rock ‘n’ roll instrumentation. . . . Inspired by the great jazz drummer Gene Krupa . . . , Nelson (through his own hit records) gave rock ‘n’ roll drummers, especially young ones, the hope that they, too, might be recognized for their contributions.”

Other drummers toasted in volume one include Billy Guesack, the New York session drummer who played on “Rock Around the Clock”; Frank Kirkland, who played the trademark drum beat on Bo Diddley’s “Bo Diddley”; Earl Palmer, the acclaimed New Orleans drummer who played on “Long Tall Sally”; and James Van Eaton, the much-lauded Memphis drummer on Jerry Lee Lewis’ hits, including “High School Confidential.”

Volumes 2 and 3 are devoted to ‘60s and ‘70s recordings, respectively. Both also feature 18 selections and liner notes by Weinberg. The tracks on Vol. 2 range from such rock gems as Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Born on the Bayou” (drummer: Doug Clifford) and the Band’s “Up on Cripple Creek” (Levon Helm) to such R&B; classics as Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” (Roger Hawkins) and Booker T. & the MG’s’ “Green Onions” (Al Jackson Jr.).

Vol. 3’s entries range from the Rolling Stones’ “Rocks Off” (Charlie Watts) and James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” (Russ Kunkel) to Gary Wright’s “Dream Weaver” (Jim Keltner) and Weinberg’s own performance on Springsteen’s “Candy’s Room.”

Among the reasons he selected “Candy’s Room” from all his recordings with the E Street Band, Weinberg writes, was that “the song was always just fun to play--and that’s basically the reason that I became a drummer.”