Sounds a bit sloppy to me, but then again, is this the final drum track or an outtake from the sessions? Is it really even Moon?
Flame retardant suit on: I always liked The Who's music, but felt that Moon was a good drummer, not a great drummer. It's the old "the sum of the parts" deal in my opinion. The Who would have sounded very different (and did later) with someone other than Moon on the drums... Same goes for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, etc...
It's been discussed countless times that his approach was to play around the vocals, not to just lock into the bass like many do.
I know that my approach IS to lock in with the bassist (assuming he's good) and then to enhance whatever happens to be the front-most part. Could be vocals, guitar or even harmonica (played with way too many blues harp guys in my day). And it's a constantly changing thing throughout the course of a song. On some tunes, all I really want to do is lock into a groove and create a solid foundation for the rest of the band. You may get a moment here or there to shine, but ultimately I play what I feel the song needs, not what I want - So far, it's worked for me :)
I'm sure some will disagree with me and that's fine. My approach is not mine alone, just what I've learned over the last 30 odd years. Many of my drum tracks would bore you if they were soloed, but in the context of the music...
Flame suit off :)
