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It includes “On Lamp,” an undulating, not-quite-ambient piece that threads a wandering, slow-motion melody through a stereo dialogue of acoustic guitars and subdued tom-tom syncopations, like a glimpse of a distant caravan.

Try to imagine the Beatles' "Come Together" without Ringo's innovative tom-tom roll.

He drew maximum sound from a minimal drum kit, consisting of one snare, a bass drum, two tom-toms, four cymbals and a high hat.

His avant-garde leanings didn’t begin in the mid-70s, though; earlier, he had invented the Breath-a-Tone, which connects plastic tubes to a tom-tom.

I’ll be saying, “Oh, this one’s got tribal tom-toms,” and everyone else will be saying, “What are you talking about? They all sound exactly the same.”