obviously this excludes jazz (an entirely different conversation). Most successful bands are loathe to do instrumentals, as they don't often move record sales and it may feel like a wasted effort without lyrics. I personally love/often prefer instrumentals (love a lot of jazz, most classical (no opera, please)). My Top 10 instrumentals from rock & roll bands follow. I do not include solo openings, like EVH's Eruption, and do not include covers. Interested to see other's lists.
1) YYZ, Rush - best use of Morris Code since Clay Matthews selling insurance
2) Karn Evil 9, 2nd Impression, Emerson Lake & Palmer - least known/played of this 35 minute, mostly instrumental opus - intro clearly jazz piano - always wished Keith Emerson would have stuck more to playing the grand piano and less time on synth
3) Fire on High - Electric Light Orchestra - used to hear part of it as a promo for CBS Sports, only realized in the last year it was ELO
4) Going Home - Dire Straits (if I had it on vinyl the needle would have worn through a couple of copies)
5) Duke's Travels - Genesis - at a time when the band was veering towards Pop (Duke album), this song was part of a three song instrumental segment (Behind the Lines, Duke's Travels, Duke's End) - love how Phil Collins develops a tom drum pattern mixed in without a clear idea of where it is heading before Tony Banks sets the melody and the drum part morphs perfectly
6) The Main Monkey Business - Rush - should be higher up, didn't want to flood the list with one band (easy enough to do)
7) Wot Gorilla - Genesis - as I drummer, I marvel over how distinct/unique Collins was as a drummer - I would pay to see the studio video, I have no idea how he does parts of this
8) The Three Fates: Clotho-Lachesis-Atropos - Emerson Lake & Palmer - this was the first song (?) that attracted me to the band - not long before the most famous 10-10 tie
9) Vortex - Asia - locked in a studio trilogy Vortex, in part, features a unique Carl Palmer double bass drum pattern that I can't come close to replicating - Palmer claims he nailed it on the first studio recording, I call BS
10) Tromontane - Foreigner - yeah, that Foreigner, the band stuck forever with the "corporate rock/pop" label that will preclude them from serious consideration for the Rock & Roll HoF despite (or because?) selling 80 million albums - the instrumental is not as technically challenging as #'s 1-9 (ex-Dire Straits), but is still catchy
OK, have at it - what others are compelling?
1) YYZ, Rush - best use of Morris Code since Clay Matthews selling insurance
2) Karn Evil 9, 2nd Impression, Emerson Lake & Palmer - least known/played of this 35 minute, mostly instrumental opus - intro clearly jazz piano - always wished Keith Emerson would have stuck more to playing the grand piano and less time on synth
3) Fire on High - Electric Light Orchestra - used to hear part of it as a promo for CBS Sports, only realized in the last year it was ELO
4) Going Home - Dire Straits (if I had it on vinyl the needle would have worn through a couple of copies)
5) Duke's Travels - Genesis - at a time when the band was veering towards Pop (Duke album), this song was part of a three song instrumental segment (Behind the Lines, Duke's Travels, Duke's End) - love how Phil Collins develops a tom drum pattern mixed in without a clear idea of where it is heading before Tony Banks sets the melody and the drum part morphs perfectly
6) The Main Monkey Business - Rush - should be higher up, didn't want to flood the list with one band (easy enough to do)
7) Wot Gorilla - Genesis - as I drummer, I marvel over how distinct/unique Collins was as a drummer - I would pay to see the studio video, I have no idea how he does parts of this
8) The Three Fates: Clotho-Lachesis-Atropos - Emerson Lake & Palmer - this was the first song (?) that attracted me to the band - not long before the most famous 10-10 tie
9) Vortex - Asia - locked in a studio trilogy Vortex, in part, features a unique Carl Palmer double bass drum pattern that I can't come close to replicating - Palmer claims he nailed it on the first studio recording, I call BS
10) Tromontane - Foreigner - yeah, that Foreigner, the band stuck forever with the "corporate rock/pop" label that will preclude them from serious consideration for the Rock & Roll HoF despite (or because?) selling 80 million albums - the instrumental is not as technically challenging as #'s 1-9 (ex-Dire Straits), but is still catchy
OK, have at it - what others are compelling?
