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One other thing. There's a band that's always good for a wild and trippy instrumental, and it's been totally overlooked. I don't know how I've gone so long without bringing up Alan Parsons Project. I guess it stands to reason that they'd be so good, since Mr. Parsons produced the #2 selection on my original list. His own band has been responsible for such fantastic pieces as A Dream Within a Dream, The Fall of the House of Usher, I Robot, Genesis ch. 1 v. 32, The Gold Bug, The Ace of Swords, Sirius and Maammagamma. It would be a poor list without any of those on it.
[edit: Wow, this thread just went into page 2. I didn't give you people enough credit. I figured no one would know or care too much about instrumental works. But we've got a page clear full of solid recommendations. I've underestemated you once again. My hats off to the wise and cultured genii of Hatrack.]
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In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. You're absolutely right. I don't know how we could have got this far without that popping up. When I was a DJ, I used to love playing the 17 minute version of that song, and I got more requests for it than I'd have imagined. Brilliant piece of baroque music disguised as heavy metal. One of the few pieces from the bombastic post-Doors '60s that fully deserved such a running time. Well mentioned.
[edit: As an aside, Iron Butterfly deserves their one-hit-wonder status. I tried for years to like side one of that album, and I've finally given up. It's grating and irritating. I don't know how they did it...]
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I'm shocked that I don't see any Led Zeppelin amywhere.
Battle of Evermore The Song Remains the Same Kashmir All of my Love Black Dog Stairway to Heaven Immigrant Song
And one to shock all The Darkness by Disturbed. It is a slow song that you would not expect a numetal band to do.
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Speed- Ghenghis Khan is on the Killers album, which is one of my favorites by Iron Maiden. Its early stuff, different lineup then currently. Definetely worth checking out. Somewhere in Time may be their best album, though.
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I really enjoy the Yes version of "The Firebird Suite." And I'm sure there's more, but I'm blanking.
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amen "stan the man," I was about to be shocked that no one mentioned my beloved zeppelin. All of their instrumentals are amazing.
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Yep, TSO is quite good. My favorite is "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo" (which I've sometimes seen labeled as "The Mad Russian")
I went to sleep last night to my Santana self-defined greatest hits disk. The man is a genius.
The Who: Eminence Front - even though logically I know that the opening keyboard section was probably programmed in layers, I'm still stunned by it every time.
Personally, although I like Zeppelin's music, I think they were somewhat overrated. It was as if somebody decided that they were just the absolute ultimate band ever and that nobody could match up. And maybe I expect more of them as a result... With that said, though, The Immigrant Song is one of my favorites by them.
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Speed, I remember first hearing "Jessica" on the radio and missing who it was. It hit me right in the middle of my music spot. I just love the Allmans.
Since I tend to like a bunch of jam bands, I would have to mention some bands like Max Creek, Railroad Earth, String Cheese Incident, Old Crow MEdicine Show, Donna the Buffalo, and Leftover Salmon.
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The Allman Brothers - In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (probably the greatest rock instrumental ever) followed closely by: Cream (Eric Clapton) - Crossroads followed by, in no particular order: Frank Zappa - Burnt Weeny Sandwich, part 2; Holiday in Berlin, Full Blown; Chicago - Poem 58; Eric Clapton - Have You Ever Loved a Woman; Peter Green - Love That Burns; I Loved Another Woman; Led Zeppelin - I Can't Quit You Baby; Neil Young - Like a Hurricane; Cortez the Killer; Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
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I should have included Hocus Pocus by Focus yesterday when I listed Frankenstein. For some reason those two songs are linked in my memory.
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I own an old Kingsmen greatest hits album. Besides the great instrumental work in such songs as Louie Louie and Money and Death of an Angel and Under My Thumb, there are three purely instrumental songs that just rock: Night Train, Haunted Castle, and the piece de resistance, Peter Gunn. That last song prods buttock. I almost fell out of my chair when I learned that it was originally written by Mancini (who wrote stupendous instrumental stuff, but generally not performed as rock and roll).
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I just got a new album and there's an instrumental track on there that's so good that I had to resurrect this thread to add it on. So here's another addition to my list: **Heat Miser by Massive Attack If anyone's unfamiliar with them, they're a trip-hop group from England that was big in the '90s. The music is a mix of hip-hop, trance, reggae and jazz. It's unusual enough for a group associated with hip-hop to do an instrumental number that I might have added it anyway. In fact, this band has a few instrumental pieces, and they're all good, but this one is so stunning that I would have added it without that qualifier. Great, great tune.
It reminded me of some tracks that I can't believe I overlooked on my first go-round as well. One of my all-time favorite albums is Endtroducing... by DJ Shadow. He's a hip-hop DJ, and the entire album is sample-driven. Sounds a little fishy, but it's one of the best albums I own. Some of the tracks have vocals mixed in, but of the instrumental tracks, there are some that should be right at the top of the list. Such as: **Building Steam With a Grain of Salt **Changeling **What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4) **Stem/Long Stem **Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain There are some great instrumental (and vocal, for that matter) tracks off his follow-up album The Private Press as well. But I'll leave it at this for now.
And while we're on the topic of people who have managed to make instrumentals on hip-hop albums, a couple I have to put on the list for honourable mention are POW, Futterman's Rule, Ricky's Theme, Shambala and Sabrosa by The Beastie Boys.
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