posted
I don't know about anyone else, but as much as I like regular rock songs, my respect for an artist goes up exponentially when I hear them do a really good instrumental number. So here's a place to celebrate bands that can do more than just accompany a singer. You don't necessarily have to include full instrumental numbers. Songs like "Roundabout" by Yes or CCR's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" where the occasional bit of singing frame some truly awesome instrumental compositions, or songs like my #2 suggestion which feature the voice used as an instrument, totally count. I realize that this category has more limited potential than most similar topics we discuss here, so I'll be extra impressed by anyone with any thoughts/ recommendations on the subject.
Here are my top five rock instrumentals:
5. Cruise Control by Dixie Dregs 4. Jessica by The Allman Brothers 3. Watermelon in Easter Hay by Frank Zappa 2. The Great Gig In the Sky by Pink Floyd 1. La Villa Strangiato by Rush
Any that I left out that should be included?
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posted
Nice... I forgot about the guitar heroes (unless you count Steve Morse in the #5 spot), so let me add For the Love of God by Steve Vai to the list. Thanks for reminding me.
edit: And I love SRV (of course, who doesn't?) My favorite instrumental is his version of Little Wing. I haven't heard Get Ready for the Storm, but I can tell already that I'm going to have to find it. What album's it on?
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Satch Boogie, which is on a G3 record (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and... someone else. Yngwie Malmsteen? Playing together.).
Also, I enjoy the guitar duel in Crossroads (that is to say, the movie about blues men, not whatever it was Britney Spears released).
And there are good instrumentals that don't have blazing solos... the secret song on The Music's latest record is quite good, and I've always been partial to Tool's Triad, the last movement of a three-part opus (Disposition, Reflection, Triad). I also liked Metallica's Orion a while back, though it's been quite some time since I listened to it.
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The intro to "Love Song" on Tesla's Five Man Accoustical Jam. I want to learn guitar so I can play that!
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I was just listening to some random tunes, and I wanted to add a song that has words, but it's the instrumentals that make it so brilliant. So here's my addition:
Light My Fire by The Doors
Has there ever been a group with a more overrated singer and underappreciated instrumentalists in all of the world?
posted
How about practically everything by Santana?
How about Classical Gas? (the version I have is by Mannheim Steamroller)
Does Mannheim Steamroller even count, since their stuff is synthesized? Some of their Christmas stuff is wonderful.
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Classical Gas is fabulous. And it was debuted on The Smothers Brothers, since the artist performing it, Mason Williams, was one of the comedy writers for the series.
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quote:How about practically everything by Santana?
I heard a long, live version of "Black Magic Woman" on the radio. Must have been 20 minutes, with about half that one long guitar solo. Amazing - good way to spend 1/6 of the ride home to see Eve.
If we're going into songs with words, I have to nominate Sultans of Swing. The instrumentals elevate that song from good to sublime.
posted
I'll second SRV's Get Ready for the Storm. Great song--haven't listened to that in too long.
While it isn't entirely instrumental, Rush's "Cygnus X-1" Book I - The Voyage Prologue is an amazing musical depiction of flying a spaceship into a black hole.
Some of my favorite music is entirely instrumental, but I don't think it qualifies as Rock. I'm thinking of Bela Fleck and Stanley Jordan in particular here.
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Man, I'd love to see Stanley Jordan perform live.
Dag, are you familiar with Adrian Legg by any chance? Fantastic guitar player. I could listen to his stuff for hours on end.
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You know who else is always good for a quality instrumental? The Who. I'm thinking specifically of songs like Underture from "Tommy" or the title track from "Quadrophenia", although they have loads of songs with instrumentals strong enough that you could take the vocals out and still groove like mad to them.
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What do you think of Michael Hedges? I've had roommates who adored his stuff, and played it constantly, but I've always found him more irritating than anythign else. There's just this pomposity that I perceive in his music that leaves me cold. Of course, that could be my roommate's pomposity that I have come to associate with the music he always played; it's hard to say.
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I have a lot of respect for Michael Hedges, for his skill and for the role he had in developing the Windham Hill sound. But I have to admit that I listen to my Michael Manring and Will Ackerman CDs more than my Hedges.
Speaking of rock instrumentals, Michael Manring did a hard rock CD called Thonk that featured Steve Morse on many of the tracks. Most of that CD could reasonably find a place on this list.
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Something that I find kind of interesting is that while I have enormous respect for both Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, I find both of them far more engaging as performers when they're accompanied by the other one than I do when they're playing with others. Sort of off topic, I know, but hey.
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Noemon, I feel the same way about Jerry Garcia and David Grisman. Some of my favorite music of all time is the work they did together.
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Now, see, that one I don't care for. I mean, I love Hendrix, but I've never really found that particular performance to be all that spectacular. Iconic, sure, but amazing in and of itself? Not to me.
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Well, you're right that it's iconic, and that may elevate it in my mind, but it's also one of the best examples of emotion evocation on the electric guitar I've ever heard.
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Hey, solo, if I were interested in listening to some Godspeed! You Black Emperor, where should I be starting? (Like, what album?)
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Really? I've been thinking that it would be nice to have the Woodstock albums on CD, actually, but I hadn't checked to see if they were available or not.
Something that I'm finding really irritating is that the Hendrix estate refuses to release most of his stuff on CD. I've been wanting to listen to Cry of Love for ages, but my LP of it is 600 miles away, and buying it on CD isn't a possibility.
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I would recommend starting with Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada but only because that is the first I listened to. I also really like Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven. They have quite a few live shows available in the Live Music Archive and some of them are quite good quality (in FLAC and shn format). I think there might be one or two mp3 shows there as well.
Oh and by the way, I finished off my album and will be sending you a copy in the next couple of days. For now, I have put it up on the web in 128 Kbps mp3 format here.
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posted
Ben Harper has a beautiful one, but I can't remember the name.
How about that song at the beginning(no, when they were racing?) from "American Graffiti?"
I would also like to nominate both "Let Love Move Me" and "Mystic Water" by Donna the Buffalo, which have few lyrics, but intense, ethereal jams.
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My current favorite version of Classical Gas is by Vanessa Mae.
I used to collect different versions of Pachebel's Canon, particularly rockish versions. The latest favorite was the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet's The Pachelbel Loose Canon, but it still can't match PDQ Bach's.
Dream Theater's Flight of the Bumblebee.
Pink Floyd's Is There Anybody Out There?.
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Pat Metheny Group: The Roots of Coincidence (From Imaginary Day) Genesis: Los Endos (From Trick of the Tail) Dream Theater: Ytse Jam (When Dream and Day Unite) Yes: The Gates of Delirium (Relayer) Kalaban: Grayslayer (Don't Panic)
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Edgar Winters Group and their classic song Frankenstein.
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Another instrumental that I grew up listening to that hasn't been mentioned is Tubular Bells. I'm not sure it qualifies for the "rock" designation but Mike Oldfield got alot of play with this song on popular music stations.
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Yngwie Malmsteen's Far Beyond the Sun Joe Satriani's Surfing with the Alien, or Flying in a Blue Dream, or Summer Song, or... the list continues. SRV's Voodoo Chile Deep Purple's April Iron Maiden's Ghengis Khan Metallica's To Live is to Die, Orion, or Call of Kthulu ELO's Fire on High,
[ October 26, 2004, 07:08 PM: Message edited by: Paul Goldner ]
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The Great Gig in the Sky is a vocal, not instrumental. A rock aria, if you will, and completely spectacular. (If there was ever going to be a reason to wish I was a woman it would be so I could sing that song) An orgasm set to music.
I wonder if someone confused Underture with "Sparks." Personally I prefer the Overture. But the whole thing is great.
And the guitar work on Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" complements the lyrics so perfectly it makes me cry.
I also love a lot of the early Genesis instrumental work, like Firth of Fifth, and After the Ordeal, and Cinema show from Selling England by the Pound.
Also, a guitar solo by Steve Hackett, but I don't have the album and I don't remember the name. I'm pretty sure the album was only available as an import.
For guitar solo you gotta mention Aqualung.
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posted
Ooh, Roots of Coincidence and April. Those are a couple excellent calls.
Tubular Bells, as I understand it, is considered to be an early experiment in New Age music. It's got more rock-like components than a lot of modern new age, though, so I guess you could consider that. I wouldn't personally look at it in the same category as what we've generally been talking about, but that doesn't mean it's not totally swell.
Glenn, you really know your stuff. I always thought of Great Gig as an instrumental. I guess it depends on how you define it, but I've been listening to that album for as long as I can remember, and that piece is so powerful it transcends its component parts, and it was a long time before I even noticed anyone singing on it. To this day I always personally think of it as an instrumental that, if I pay attention, I notice that one of the instruments is a human voice. I couldn't ever hear it as a vocal number. But to each his own, I guess.
And yeah, Underture isn't the best instrumental on Tommy. It was just the longest, so it was the first that came to mind and I was in a hurry. Thanks for mentioning some of the other ones.
Peter Gabriel era Genesis had some good stuff as well. Much better than Phil Collins era, anyway. I grew up with "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", so I'd have to include Hairless Heart, The Waiting Room and Riding the Scree in your list of cool Genesis instrumentals. The ones you mentioned are good too, though.
I've been meaning to check out Iron Maiden. What album is Genghis Khan on? Is it worth getting.
By the way, Elizabeth, I'm so glad that you thought of Jessica too. I never think of rock instrumentals without that one coming to mind. It's an underrated classic that everyone in the world should have in their collection, and it's nice to hear that I'm not the only one who feels that way. I guess great minds think alike, eh?
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