Instrumentals!

[Zzzptm]

 
 

No words? No worries! What are the favorite instrumental pieces for the folks on this board?

Let's keep the top 10 list to rock/metal stuff. But if you have other instrumental pieces from other genres, please do share them as honorable mentions!

Like today, I've got an honorable mention - The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II

This one is fresh for me, every time. So full of romance for the river and the city built on its shores. It plays in buses, in coffee-shops, in random speakers around town, all over Vienna. And it is the BEST song for a leisurely Sunday morning drive. It's almost exactly the time I drive from home to church when I attend services, with the final chords coinciding with my majestic arcing entry into my parking space. It's not for fast cars, it's for slow rides on sunny days with nothing much else to do, a most relaxing and salubrious instrumental work.

But it's not rock'n'roll, so I'll not give it a number. 

[Vyn]

Number 10: "Soul Sacrifice" - Santana

They played this at Woodstock, where they performed prior to having any recorded output. It was well received, to the extent that had they never recorded another note of music they'd be in the history books. But, they went on to put "Soul Sacrifice" on their first album and went on to a lengthy career.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Hmm, I'm down to 9 selections with the additional criteria, and some of those are borderline acceptable...

My selections may not be in any sort of order, but my first choice is:

Foetus - The Overture From Pigdom Come

JG Thirlwell's "Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel" project, Nail is an industrial indie rock album and this 3:01 instrumental is rather good.

[Charger]

I'm gonna kick things off with Iced Earth.

1776 is a great instrumental from Something Wicked This Way Comes album. The riffing here is suberb and the song marches onward with great presense.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
I've not played that for a while I'll have to give a listen tomorrow.

[Vyn]

Number 9:

Evocative of hordes of crazed horsemen riding furiously across the tundra, Iron Maiden released Genghis Khan on their second long player, "Killers".

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Choice Number 2...

Van Der Graaf Generator - Theme One

I'm not that familiar with VDGG but back in the late 70s and 80s Radio One had the Friday Night Rock Show from 10:00-Midnight. It was hosted by Tommy Vance... you may have heard of him and the show, it was iconic and many British rock fans have fond memories from that time. Anyway this used to be the theme song for his show (I forget if it was the opening tune or the closing tune), and I loved it... still do but I rarely hear it these days.

[Zzzptm]

Black Sky Giant - Planet Terror

Deep bass riffage on this one, very much a space-rock groove tune. It's on my top ten list for the way it comes together so very well. It's not got any flash in it, it's direct, solid, focused. When I play this song, my car has rocket thrusters, I swear...

[Charger]

My #9 comes from MEGADETH

From the SUBERB Dystopia album Conquer Or Die is a great instrumental with a soft acoustic intro that leads to a bit more furious part. This was Kiko Laureiro's song and it showcased his versatility quite well. Their best instrumental for sure even though I quite like Silent Scorn as well...

[Zzzptm]

  Great pick there, Charger!

My next one on my top 10 list needs to be "Jessica" by The Allman Brothers.

Excellent song for driving, no wonder Top Gear tapped it for their title tune! Smooth, clean guitar work, tight drumming, melody like liquid sunshine on a fall day.

[Vyn]

Interestingly, that is the first song from Van Der Graaf Generator I have ever actually listened to. Prior to clicking that YouTube link, I had never heard anything from them, although have been familiar with the name of the group for ever.

In a similar vein, I present Numero Ocho:

From 1975's "Ricochet," here is Ricochet, Part One by Tangerine Dream:

[Zzzptm]

Ooooooh, electronica!

That reminded me of my number one favorite instrumental, so this one should be at the top of my list, even though it's the 3rd rock tune I've posted.

Santana and Buddy Miles - "Marbles / Lava"

The opening is a hardened version of a John McLaughlin composition with Carlos Santana and Neal Schon shredding hard on those riffs. Double percussionists coming down strong on the beats, punching everything forward in strong order while the guitar parts weave in and out of each other.

Then we break it all down with some Latin percussion layered on top of a pure drum line that just gets stronger, more purposeful. It builds up to a true eruption of heavy and hard guitars that always brings the goosebumps to my skin. This is the kind of music that makes souls merge harmoniously, energy 100% positive in this track.

[Zzzptm]

For my second honorable mention, I take the electronic group St. Germain's Acid Jazz rework of a Herbie Mann riff called "So Flute"

Nice chill house vibe to the rhythm section added. Piano part is a smooth touch, as well. It ends suddenly because it's a track meant to be spliced with a larger mix, and that's how it got ripped from CD, I'm guessing.

[Charger]

Great pick there, Charger!

My next one on my top 10 list needs to be "Jessica" by The Allman Brothers.

Excellent song for driving, no wonder Top Gear tapped it for their title tune! Smooth, clean guitar work, tight drumming, melody like liquid sunshine on a fall day.

Hah! I never knew...There are strong similarities eventhough it's not clearly the same tune. Heavily inspired by this song for sure!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
I didn't thinklabout Jessica it might have made my list if I had remembered!!

Choice 3 for me...

Sky - Toccata

An electronic version of Bach's classical piece, very entertaining.