Instrumentals!

[Vyn]

Ok, in at číslo čtyři is Rush with their 1978 ode to Alex Lifeson's dreams, "La Villa Strangiato":

And after posting it, I note it is top of page four! If I was a believer in numerology I might attach some significance to that circumstance. But as it stands, </shrug>

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
Good choice. Saves me from choosing it (it was in the mix with a few other choices).

Top of page 4?  I'm still on page 1!

[Vyn]

Aha! I hadn't taken into account various settings that would change a person's "post per page" count.

[Zzzptm]

Top of my page four here in Texas.

[Charger]

Page 4 here too...I think that was the basic setting...15 posts per page. Helps with the page load up speed.


Anyways..

Off to the TOP 3

At number 3 we have something that I already posted on the 10min plus thread...but it is just too good to leave out here.

DEATH ANGEL THE ULTRA VIOLENCE!!!

Hands down the best thrash metal instrumental out there. Hard to believe all of the guys were in their teens when they wrote this...and Andy was just 14 and he's drumming his ass off here!!

The intro part alone is suberb...and once the song really gets going...oh my lord! Fast and furious but with enough tempo changes to justify the 10 and half minutes of run time. Not a whole lot of repetetiveness here! Also not a dull moment present!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I was thinking I would find a Hawkwind instrumental to include but the one I really like is only about 2:20, and another has too much vocal on it towards to end. So instead of a Hawkwind tune I'll go with another Emerson, Lake and Palmer track I alluded to previously.

Pick Number 9

Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Toccata

To be fair I could just have easily chosen this over 2nd Impressions, it's really good and shows some of Palmers excellent persussion work quite nicely. This is quite jazzy and experimental but it seems to work.

[Vyn]

That Death Angel track is hardcore awesome!

At number three, here is "Voice of the Soul" from Death's 1998 release The Sound of Perseverance. It was to be their last album, and this guitar-heavy instrumental is a solid contribution to the genre:

[Zzzptm]

I counted that I've made 8 submissions, didn't do one yesterday, so I should do two today to round out my list of favorite rock instrumentals.

To be sure, if this was a list of jazz or funk instrumentals, I'd have those filled out completely, as well. Today, I shall rock!

Journey - "Nickel and Dime"

I believe the title has something to do with the 5/4 and 10/4 time signatures in the piece. This was my first Journey album without Steve Perry on it, and I loved the sweet mid-70s jamming hard rock on it. Should be no surprise that half these cats were also jamming with Santana back in the day, and look at the presence of Santana on this topic... This is one tight jam, I love it.

For my 10th choice, it's going to be...

Jethro Tull - "Bouree"

Yes, it's got classical and jazz touches, but the instrumental itself doth rock, and that maketh it good.

I'm happy with my list, lock it in!

[Zzzptm]

And now a whole bunch of honorable mentions...

Travis Wammack is a guitar genius, check this guy out:

Give it some time and once you get into his sweet licks, you'll see why this guy was one of the hottest Memphis session players.

***

Can't forget this board's favorite trumpet player, RONNIE JAMES DIO!!! This track is such a monster from 1958. Metal as all get-out, I tell you what! 

***

This one reaches back to the 1940s Boogie Woogie... Camille Howard was tops on the keys, daddy-o!

That chick can jam and she's got a sweet chirp when she sings, too! This platter's going places, I tell ya! A real coin magnet!

***

When I mentioned hot session players, I remembered Dennis Coffey:

TIGHT track from Detroit, there!

***

And I leave with this fun ditty from some kooky kids in a band called "Megadeth", got a playful title on this one "Into the Lungs of Hell", whatta gas!

 

[Charger]

#2 on my list is SAVATAGE

MOZART AND MADNESS comes from the suberb Dead Winter Dead album and it's an incredible piece of music.
The Mozart side comes with the softness of the piano and the cello and the madness of the Yugoslavian war comes from the band and the full orchestra.
Brilliant piece of music and the melody is just incredible here. The whole band is on fire with this one. An absolute masterpiece!

[Vyn]

May of 1973 saw The Edgar Winter Group release their first long player They Only Come Out at Night. The last song on it is, "Frankenstein".

Here it be, at number two:

[Zzzptm]

May of 1973 saw The Edgar Winter Group release their first long player They Only Come Out at Night. The last song on it is, "Frankenstein".

Here it be, at number two:

DA NA
NA NA
NA NA NA NAAAAAA
DA NA NA NA NA

 

[Charger]

And then it's time for the top dog!

At number 1 we have IRON MAIDEN!!

Losfer Words (Big 'Orra) is their best instrumental and this holds a special place in my heart because it was among the very first tracks from Iron Maiden that I ever heard...and it was in MIDI format! Remember those? Hah! I played it on my computer quite often at the time. Went out and bought The X Factor album soon after and ofcourse the rest is history.

The riffing here is suberb and the song plays out just like a "regular" song with lyrics would which is something bit different from most instrumentals.

It was a tough battle between this one and Mozart And Madness but this has more of a history with me so that's why it got the pole position.

[Vyn]

Love that IM song

Number One: "Moby Dick" by Led Zeppelin. Off of LZ II, it serves as a showcase for John Bonham's ability to hit drum heads real hard with drum sticks!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Final choice

Rush - Limbo

My second pick from Rush, and I decided not to go for an obvious choice like YYZ and go for a deeper cut. Limbo is from their Test For Echoes album, a very underrated album in my mind. The number of ranking videos I've seen where this is at or near the bottom is ridiculous! Anyhow, I like Limbo, I like the Dracula imagery in it!




So having done the list, what is my actual ranking? I'll go with...

10 - Trojans
09 - Theme One
08 - Tocatta (Sky)
07 - The Main Monkey Business
06 - Limbo
05 - Diabolus In Musica
04 - The Overture From Pigdom Come
03 - Tocatta (ELP)
02 - Ghost Dance
01 - Karn Evil 9 - 2nd Impression


I'll post a couple of honourable mentions and inadmissible ones tomorrow.