Powerful and moving without words
- scottdavismktg
- Jul 13, 2018
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 17, 2018
Top 7 Instrumentals.
One of my morning rituals after getting my first cup of coffee is to sit in front of the computer and review the overnight emails. And, 9 times out of ten I do this while with instrumentals playing in the background. I find it a nice way to ease into my day. On days without enough sleep it might be something on the softer side like Roz Vitalis or Kara Estra. But, I also enjoy the more math, post-rock or quirky avant stuff like Vespero, Thinking Plague or Taylor's Universe. Sometimes, I am in a classical mood--so it could be Sibelius, Bartok or Stravinsky.
Simply put, there are many excellent instrumental bands out there. But today I am going to limit it to my Top 7 favorite instrumental songs. In well over half of them, the bands that perform them are not instrumental bands. And I limited it to seven. Why? Because this blog was getting too damn long! I listed another 10 or so that are absolutely worth listening to as "honorable mentions."
It would be easy to list songs like Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein," "Hocus Pocus" by Focus (despite the yodeling), or Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells." But these are my favorites of the moment (which changes frequently). I could also list the Ventures "Wipe Out." or the Champs version of "Tequila." And yes, there is also "Pick Up the Pieces" (Average White Band), "Love is Blue" ...and every jazz (i.e. Brubeck's Time Out or fusion's Return to Forever) and soundtrack record out there. But they did not make my cut. Surprisingly neither did "Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 1-3" or "Interstellar Overdrive" by Pink Floyd, "Work that Skirt" by the B52s, several Alan Parsons Project entries and a number of Frank Zappa candidates (especially Peaches en Regalia). There was a lot of internal debate like how can I not include Thelonious Monk's Blue Monk or the haunting Treefingers by Radiohead, or Bowie's 'Warszawa. In the end I decided to list those songs that either have personal meaning or intense emotional resonance to me. I also am limiting my choices so that no artists repeats.
So good or bad, here is what made my list:
Los Endos (Genesis, Trick of the Tail, 1976) : This list starts with my absolute favorite of all time. Los Endos is the denouement of Genesis' first effort without Peter Gabriel as the front man (Trick of the Tail). And, the song is kind of a cheat too, it splices together the themes from Dance on a Volcano and Squonk into one delicious treat. The live version (the bootleg Revelatory Genesis 80:78 is my preferred version) typically starts with a drum duet between Phil Collins and Chester Thompson and then merges into a 6/8 intro before arriving at Steve Hackett's recognizable guitar line from Dance. From there, it's a beautiful progression of Tony Banks lead lines until you get to the Squonk portion which allows Hackett to shine. There is a part of the song about 4:30 in where the first part fades and a the drum becomes a quiet pulsing beat that erupts into a magnificent crescendo that kicks off the final coda--it gives me chills every time I hear it.
The Rock (The Who / Quadrophenia 1973): The rock in question is an actual physical rock at the end of one of the greatest concept albums of all time. It is the place where the protagonist weighs his life and worth. Cheerful, huh? The music is orchestral, it is sad and contemplative with an undertone of madness that only the drums of Keith Moon can provide. Then it breaks into this jig-like jaunt led by Townsend (which is actually a reprise of the self titled track and Helpless Dancer) until it delivers you into the warm anthemic embrace of the da capo of Love Reign O'er Me. This is a simply a gorgeous piece of music.
Red (King Crimson / Red 1974): With King Crimson there are a great many instrumentals from which to choose and a great many incarnations that never repeat themselves in carrying out the evolving vision of Robert Fripp. I considered Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Starless in Bible Black and Discipline, but it is Red that holds its place as a transformative piece of music. This is the one instrumental that, if it weren't on the list, my "Prog cred" would be called into question. Luckily it is a gorgeously, heavy-yet-meditative composition that warrants its near universal acclaim in the progressive rock circles. It's one of those seminal pieces that would influence everyone from Kurt Cobain to Phish. The theme is visceral and, for its time, was absolutely the only thing like it out there. It is polyrhythmic (moves from 5/8 to 7/8 and throws a bit of 4/4 in there) octatonic crash driven home by Fripp's growling guitar (lots of overdubs) and Bill Bruford's jazz-inflected virtuosity on drums.
Rhyander (Camel / Snow Goose 1975): As most of Camel's catalog is instrumental, it is a bit hard to choose but it came down between this, Earthrise (Mirage) or Aristillus (Moonmadness). In the end it is Rhyander's pastoral, playful and sentimental lyricism in the way Latimer frames the song that gave it the edge. Part of a concept album set against the evacuation of Dunkirk during WW2, this particular part introduces us to the eponymous character in who is an solitary artist living in an abandoned lighthouse. The song tells you all about Rhyander without a single lyric. Some trivia--The author who wrote the original novella on which it is based threatened to sue Camel for copyright infringement, so the group had to change the album title to "Music Inspired by The Snow Goose."
Green Onions (Booker T and the MGs: / Green Onions 1962) How can you not include this tasty 12-bar blues tune which includes features a glorious and memorable Hammond organ groove and the texture and accents of Stax Records legendary guitarist Steve Cropper. For many they will instantly recognize the tune that they never knew the title. For me, this is the epitome of early 60s cool--almost to the point where it's cliché. One little piece of trivia is that this is the only instrumental on Rolling Stone's Greatest 500 Songs of all time--as if Rolling Stone is a reliable arbiter of musical taste.
Catherine Howard(Rick Wakeman / Six Wives of Henry VIII 1973) Wakeman has long been a staple of my reverence for keyboard players. Over the years I have come to find his playing a bit "samey/same"--especially those over the top baroque flourishes, but it doesn't diminish this beauty that I first heard on Yessongs so many years ago. This piece, off of his first solo album, showcases cutting edge synthesizers (of the time) and has not aged like much of the music from that era. This piece actually unveils a great deal of his skill-- starting off with a gentle piano growing more orchestral until about the 2 minute mark where it explodes into a very Wakemanesque Moog solo and then evolves into honky tonk. It then returns to the classical piano. For me, this barely beat out his "Catherine of Aragon" (more symphonic) piece from the same album. See the live version below with Wakeman in his glorious cape!
Fire Flies and Empty Skies: (God Is an Astronaut: / All is Violent, All is Bright 2011) This band from Ireland is one of best of the post-rock genre out there. This particular piece is fairly standard in it layer over layer approach starting with a fairly spacey/ambient Oldfield-style mood until it reaches a final crescendo. You can hear early Pink Floyd in there and Sigur Ros is a obviously an influence as well. Unlike other post rock bands that can get very repetitive, this album, this song has much to chew on and therefore gets repeated listening. And, unlike most of the post-rock material out there, GiaA is more keyboard driven than guitar. This particular piece though is one of the guitar-heavier pieces on the album. Instead of a building drone, it drives the melody forward with a standard 4/4 rock beat. I also appreciate it's brevity. Clocking in just under 4 minutes it takes you on a great ride and doesn't lose you in the typical drone of repetitiveness in which most other post-rock bands fall.
Some honorable mentions (in no particular order) worth the time for a listen:
· Alaska (UK/UK 1978)
· The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) (Yes/Fragile 1971)
· The Three Fates (ELP/Emerson, Lake and Palmer 1970)
· Funeral for a Friend (Elton John/Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 1973)
· 2112 Overture (Rush / 2112 1976)
· Jurassic Shift (Ozric Tentacles /Jurassic Shift 1993)
· Il Tredici (Sanhedrin /Ever After 2011)
· Geronimo (Tony Levin --featuring Larry Fast and Jerry Marotta--Pieces of the Sun 2002
· Chimps in Space (Helmet of Gnats / II 2004)
· Carlotta Valdes (Ghost Cirlcles/Madeleine 2015)
· Neptune (Pymlico/Guiding Light 2014)
· Divine Art of Flying (Kopecky/Sunset Gun 2003)
· Ace of Wands (Steve Hackett/Voyage of the Acolyte 1976)
As a Top 5 these are favorites of the moment. It reserves the right to change and it deserves to be edited with your input like "What about Zeppelin's Bron-yr-Aur" "Why didn't you include anything from Tangerine Dream?" Or "Geez, you totally forgot Rat Salad by Black Sabbath and Freeway Jam by Jef Beck." No Odette Coleman or Charlie Parker...this list begins and ends with BS." Yes, yes, no Eruption by Van Halen or Triad by Tool or Chuck Mangione's "Feel So Good" either. I get it. But I challenge you to share your favorites--what did I miss?
WHAT I AM LISTENING TO THIS WEEK: Mostly instrumental edition
Kettlespider: Kettlespider (Australia) 2017 What if Steven Wilson's Porcupine Tree post "In Absentia" output was all instrumental--I also hear a great deal Rush influence--that's kind of what you get with this band. Based on my general intolerance of the sub-genre of prog metal I should not like this band, but I simply do! They demonstrate much more texture and mood than most bands who fall into that category. My fave on the album is Circus.
https://kettlespider.bandcamp.com/album/kettlespider
Fierce and the Dead: Euphoric (UK) 2018 This is eccentric-yet-still-accessible mix of experimental, post-rock and math rock. Being so, it can be very jagged and enigmatic. There are times when it feels that the band are just bouncing ideas off each other in the studio, jamming live, when at others it feels slightly more structured but whatever they are doing it always contains a mighty groove that makes the listener to move along to the music.
https://thefierceandthedead.bandcamp.com/album/the-euphoric
Agusa: Agusa (Sweden) 2017: It's easy to classify these Swedes as retro stoner rock. However, they display a higher degree of complexity than let's say Syd Barrett-era Floyd. They are a bit more lush, and structured (melodic)--and a pretty good helping of Scandinavian-folk influence. It all comes together on the best song on the album: Sagor från Saaris (the inclusion of some very solid organ which gives it a distinct retro feel).
https://agusaband.bandcamp.com/album/agusa
Dialeto: The Last Tribe (Brazil) 2013 Quirky, unpredictable and overflowing with power and energy. This band is very angular and sharp in the same way Bela Bartok attacked classical conceptions--in fact on another album they do a rocked up version of Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances and Mikrocosmos. Best band from Brazil since Bacamarte.
https://dialeto.bandcamp.com/album/the-last-tribe
Niacin: Time Crunch (US) 2001 - This is practically a fusion supergroup featuring John Novello on Hammond B3 organ, Billy Sheehan on bass and Dennis Chambers on drums. Not as widely reknown as Return to Forever, on this disk you'll find everything from play everything from rock, funk, and jazz. They can be compared to the fusion version of ELP simply because of the makeup of the band. Yes, they do a great cover of Crimson's Red, but for me the it's the cover of Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer's Blue Wind that is the highlight of the album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l76c8LSZ-24
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