A minor but real pleasure is the discovery of an instrumental in a band or singer’s catalogue where singing is an integral part of their sound (ie most rock and pop Mogwai notwithstanding). Often an oddity – Flying and 12-Bar Original are probably two of the more obscure Beatles tracks, never mind the even more buried Cayenne and Cry For A Shadow. So, your instrumental tracks – not instrumental versions of a track that has a vocal version, or a 30-second intro – from artists not known for them. I’ve put one of my very favourite ones from Teenage Fanclub in the comments, as listening to Bandwagonesque again occasioned this thought. Done a brief check of previous posts but if there’s one someone else did please repost.
Your instrumentals by people who sing please
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As an example is there an Arctic Monkeys instrumental out there where Alex’s witty words and laconic drawl are absent?
One more favourite, no Macca vocals here. B-side to A Promise.
The New Orders have form here, but this is one of my faves, the theme to George & Rodney’s footy chat.
I’ve written here before about how I think Thieves Like Us was far better as an instrumental.
I find that lyric: It’s called love, and it belongs to us rather affecting and crucial. So no.
Dixie Chicken is probably Little Feat’s finest album. It concludes with a beautiful, soothing instrumental. Quite the surprise at the time because instrumentals were often regarded as lesser than ‘proper’ songs.
Also “Day At The Dog Races” from their Time Loves A Hero album, which Lowell George refused to ever play on, on record or onstage.
(I rather liked DATDR, although it got a relatively bad press, not least from lg himself…)
End credits to (proper) Top Gear. I know Elton John did Song for Guy too, but that’s got a bit of singing on it. This is magic – shut your eyes, and you can see Chris Goffey accelerating past the camera in a Cavalier SRi.
Not forgetting Funeral For A Friend
How could one?
A big part of VdGG is Hammill’s vocals/lyrics – but then there’s this oddity:
They did produce an instrumental album, ALT – but it’s a bit of a curio and outside the usual canon for most, I suspect – and The Long Hello wasn’t strictly Van der Graaf, was it?
Primal Scream have form on instrumentals, here’s a good one:
Who needs lyrics when you’ve got Bill Ward?
No words needed
‘Emotions’ from Love’s first album. And a couple from R.E.M. – ‘Zither’ from New Adventures in Hi-Fi, and ‘New Orleans Instrumental No 1’ from Automatic for the People.
(I still haven’t mastered posting links yet!)
R.E.M was one of my first thoughts…..
Some favourites:
Bowie – A New Career In A New Town
Dylan – Bunkhouse Theme
Nick Drake – Horn
Ben Harper – The Three Of Us
Rainbow – Weiss Heim
Japan – Canton
Tom Waits – In Shades
J.J. Cale – Cloudy Day
The three instrumentals on Swordfishtrombones are all very different and hold the album together: Dave The Butcher, Just Another Sucker On The Vine and Rainbirds.
Closing Time is my standout Waits instrumental, cos it’s lovely.
Bloody hell. Weiss heim. Will have been a good 40 odd years since I heard or thought about that.
From memory, I believe this sublime B-side, ‘Mobilae’, was the only instrumental recorded by Dutch psych-rockers Brainbox – in their post-Jan Akkerman period. Replacement Rudy de Queljoe wrote it. It’s one of my all time favourite pieces of music.
For context, here’s the A-side:
Having been at a Richard Thompson concert last night where his instrumental album Strict Tempo was played over the PA I wish he’d do another instrumental.
Martin Carthy’s instrumental of the Third Man Theme is another favourite, which I recommended to the curator at the Third Man museum in Vienna where he has compiled a list of all the artists who have done versions of it including the Beatles and the Band.
RT’s “Grizzly Bear” soundtrack is instrumental and also excellent.
Eno and Byrne’s My life in the bush of ghosts is full of various voices from all over the world (radio, prayers, field recordings and whatnot) but this instrumental is my favourite:
I have infinite love for these two.
Eruption and Rumble also both excellent ❤️
Surely the perfect accompaniment to a TV sports montage …
By having instrumentals in your set, it gives the chance to place a rude word in the title without the need for ever saying it.
Or, at the very least, gives you you’re own “walking on stage” music.
Belle & Sebastian – Fuck This Shit
Oasis – Fuckin’ In The Bushes
Always had a soft spot for this incense-wreathed, acoustic thing, sounding like it’s come out of a dope-fogged North London basement in 1972
Not the only one in their repertoire, but
Fleetwood Mac: Albatross
Hardly a need for a link.
a rare example of an instrumental being a bands most well-known track.
Not for anyone under 50. I reckon Dreams or GYOW would be best known, surely.
And even for instrumentals I think The Chain is better known today, mainly via the F1 theme.
The Chain isn’t an instrumental
Talking of Fleetwood Mac, the third (and best in my opinion) solo album from :Lindsey Buckingham “Out Of The Cradle” has instrumental introductions to a couple of tracks…..
You didn’t think I’d let this thread slip by without Depeche Mode did you? Minor-key melancholic ivory-ticklin’ from the lads here:
I’m no Brucologist but this appears to be the only Boss instrumental.
The Smiths Oscillate Wildly
Rolling Stones 2120 South Michigan Avenue off 5 by 5 EP.
Ooh – The Smiths’ Money Changes Everything too!
Bryan Ferry added a lyric to Money Changes Everything for his single, The Right Stuff. According to Morrissey, this was done without his knowledge – only cottoning on when he arrived early to the studio and saw Ferry and Marr working on it.
Another one for The Smiths – The Draize Train, one of my favourites of theirs
Another one for The Smiths – The Draize Train, one of my favourites of theirs
Peter Green is rightly remembered as a guitarist but he was also a fine singer as everyone knows. Better, in fact, than John Mayall from whose “Hard Road” this masterpiece comes.
I’m getting the Black Screen of Doom here, Twang – but is it The Supernatural?
It is indeed. There are some lovely instrumentals on the “In the skies” album but the fluid lead guitar playing is Snowy White not Peter.
My favourite Peter Green track (and one of my all time favourite tracks full stop)
Rory always sang but this bit of fun is great.
Can I go again? A guitar instrumental on an album by an act known for their singing seems odd but it certainly turned this nascent picker’s head BITD. It was a rite of passage to learn to play it and eventually I did. “Anji” was written by Davey Graham, Bert Jansch interpolated a snatch of”Work Song” on his version and called it Angie then Paul Simon played a very good version on a multi million seeking album which hopefully kept Davy going for some time. Even more if you pay it at an open mic it gets people’s attention.
Nice article here for the curious.
https://acousticguitar.com/the-story-behind-davey-grahams-fingerstyle-classic-anji/
@twang
Davey Graham was born in Market Bosworth.
There’s an imposing hotel across the road from the Bosworth Country Park (see Google). It was formerly Bosworth Park Infirmary to where his pregnant mother had been evacuated from London and gave birth on November 26 1940.
If you look round the back of the building by the car park, tucked away on the left to the side of the steps there is a blue plaque celebrating, quietly, the event.
https://www.hinckleytimes.net/news/local-news/blue-plaque-unveiled-market-bosworth-12253810
Cheers Peanuts, quite right too!
Ooh, the Bert Jansch version of this was on R&M last weekend. Lovely stuff – one of those pieces of music I had heard somewhere once but didn’t know what it was.
Hey, Toronto!
Rush. YYZeeee
You see Rush I think are known for their instrumentals not least the awesome La Villa Strangiato
Here’s a lovely Jonathan Richman instrumental. Egyptian Reggae would be his best known instrumental but, as I learnt on this site, it’s a complete rip off of a proper reggae track. His twangy guitar on his version of Lover Please is a joy but it’s a cover so I’ll choose this evocative number instead…
“Your instrumentals by people who sing please”.
Well, Albert Lee is best known as a fleet fingered guitarist but he is also a fine singer (see the Heads Hands and Feet LPs).
However, one of his finest moments was on piano:
Whilst I’m here, how about another (possibly) underrated singer’s band doing a pleasing instrumental:
Genesis often get a lot of (harsh) criticism on here, but this is fabulous……
And how can we leave of Ms Bush…..
Quite jolly
I am most fond of both of these.
Bowie’s Speed of Life is an obvious one. But I like the way The Associates also start their album Sulk with an instrumental:
I was also going to offer folkie Mike Cooper’s “Pharaoh’s March” as the Brit-Jazz instrumental track on “Trout Steel”(1970) but it is not on YouTube
This is turning into a really interesting thread. I feel a playlist coming on.
@Kaisfatdad to the thread please
Your wish is my command. I’m on the case.
i am very flattered to be summoned @thecheshirecat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHQhIHtmcu4 Van Morrison on piano, an old favourite of mine .Album Beautiful Vision.
The track is called Scandinavia – they showed him playing this live on OGWT I think?
You see like Bowie I feel Van is associated with instrumentals on more than one album – Inarticulate Speech of the Heart has a couple I think.
Yes, love that era of Van. Underappreciated I think.
I checked @moseleymoles. It has four instrumental tracks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inarticulate_Speech_of_the_Heart
.
But that certainly doesn’t disqualify his instrumentals from this thread, in my book.
This tune by Marshall Crenshaw is a beaut…
I wasn’t expecting to find this lovely piece on a Loudon Wainwright album, but here it is…
Also, the piano version of Down In The Park – Gary gets the writing credit but the gorgeous playing is by Denis Haines.
This one by Radiohead, even though it was a b-side, is pretty good. It feels like a sort of interlude that could go in the middle of an album.
I think this just about counts (ignoring the speech).
Oh and this, which sounds a bit like “Groovin’ With Mr Bloe”, but with an 80s alternative pop slant.
As much loved by Norman Jay and used to er open up many a show
First 30 seconds an indelible part of my childhood. ‘Space is big, really big…’
Delightful trip down memory lane. At the 3 minute mark I was half expecting Peter Jones’ dry voice to drop in with a silly anecdote with a perceptively wry sting in the tail.
I started buying Singles when I was about 12 or 13. My older brother and I would go to Smithfield Market (as was) in Belfast where there was a record shop that sold second hand singles, some of which had no centrepiece and required a plastic doofer to fit them over the spindle on the ancient radiogram in our house. One of my earliest acquisitions was Daydream by the Lovin’ Spoonful. The B-side was an instrumental called Night Owl Blues, written by John Sebastian and featuring him on blues harmonica, probably the first time I had ever heard such a thing. I thought it was great and it still sound pretty good now
Two more for the pot…
Answered Prayers by David Sylvian featuring Bill Nelson on guitar. This is the music that I wake to every morning…
In a different vein, Irish band the Frames with a lovely atmospheric number…
The Sisters didn’t do much in the way of instrumentals, but when they did, they were suitably atmospheric. First the tub thumping, Morricone western of Phantom
Then the sax-parping, synth wash that is Sandstorm
Hello Afterworders.
I submit “Cecilia Ann” by Pixies for your consideration.
Note: this video says “The Pixies” on it, but I thought the name of the band was just “Pixies”, with no definite article. Oh well …
Useless trivia: Cecilia Ann was originally recorded by The Surftones, a duo comprising Charles “Frosty” Horton and Steve Hoffman. Yes, that Steve Hoffman.
While Moby Dick is really a whopping drum solo with a token blues riff, this is a proper instrumental track sans all Brian. Feel they possibly have more.
Mandolin madness! Quite a journey from here to Alone
Gentle Giant: given their instrumental versatility, there’s a surprising dearth of actual instrumentals on their albums – maybe three or four out of the whole official canon. Mind you, very few songs were without an instrumental break of some kind, so maybe they didn’t feel the need.
This is at the “Gryphon” pole of GG, as opposed to the “Field Music” pole:
This was the one I had in mind, too. Brings me joy.
Massive Attack make superb use of the different singers who work with them-
But they also do some fine instrumentals.
i can’t believe we’ve got this far without mentioning the Tull and their fine Roland Kirk cover…
I take my hat off to you @moseleymoles. You certainly chose a great question for us to answer.
That playlist is a work-in progress. So many tracks we haven’t mentioned….
Perfect summer music by Chic, from 1977:
Pete Shelley’s theme music for Channel 4’s Tour De France coverage.
Shelly had a lot of interest in electronica, and made the entirely electronic album Sky Yen before the Buzzcocks. A kind of oscillator Metal Machine Music.
Always loved The dB’s pH Factor. IIRC, it’s the only instrumental in their entire catalogue. Might be one other from the NY Rocker home recordings… But anyway, here they are doing it on Whistle Test:
Genuinely one of my favourite McCartney moments:
Blimey.
I will give you this one from the 1st solo album:
These are glorious, the whole album is (contains 2 instrumentals)
Let’s Go Away For a While:
Pet Sounds:
Agnes Obel peppers her albums with two or three instrumentals. My favourite is Red Virgin Soil, which I’d use for my radio show theme if I had a radio show.