The last track on Little Feat's their album, Lafayette Railroad.
Last track side one, One Of These Nights, the Eagles 4th album, Journey of The Sorcerer.
Lots of Al Di Meola stuff, including the concept album Go, with Stormy Yamashta and Steve Winwood.
Other outstanding instrumental soundtracks.
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – Ryuchi Sakamoto. (This one is so good, it can stand by itself as a piece of music.)
Edge of Darkness / Lethal Weapon / Homeboy / Rush – Eric Clapton. (already mentioned)
Runaway Train – Trevor Jones. (One of my all time fave movies and the music has affair bit to do with that. Listen to it the power and majesty that announces the first time we see the train on screen.)
The Last Temptation of Christ – Peter Gabriel et al. (highly evocative)
Star Trek (The Movie ) – Jerry Goldsmith. (From the first movie, emotive, powerful, dynamic)
Wild Things / The Last Emperor – Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Byrne. (Sakamoto proves the Mr. Lawrence ST was no fluke)
The Big Blue – Eric Serra. (Wonderful and wistful)
Gorky Park – James Horner. (Classic with a twist)
Razorback – Ivor Davies. (The only good thing about this horrendous piece of trash, not even Ivor Davies at his best could save this turkey)
Bladerunner – Vangelis / Performance - Jack Nietzche. (a couple more to round off the post and the evening)
I remember that song from the original TV series of Hitchhiker's Guide.
I thought you’d be a cert to mention Hocus Pocus by Focus - pretty mean guitar solos in there
Funny you should mention Focus. l once put them on, in concert at Dallas Brooks Hall. That was in 1973, it was a Friday lunchtime gig. l was Activities Officer at Swinburne for 2 years, in charge of putting on Union nights, live music, once a month. Anyway Focus came to town and didn’t sell out all their booked dates, so one of the agencies offered them to us on a Monday, for $2000. l said yes please, and rang around to get a venue. The management at Dallas Brooks said sure, come on over and check out the place. So off l went in my patchwork poncho, torn jeans and clogs. The management came out in dinner suits and bow ties, to give me a tour of the place, the contrast in styles between us could not have been any more stark. l don’t remember the exact price for the rent on the hall, but it was very reasonable, perhaps $350. l couldn’t stay long, as it was somewhere in the middle of exam week. l remember they showed me some of their advance bookings, a few of them stretched more than 40 years into the future.
Once the band and venue were booked, we rang the other colleges, to spread the word. It worked out very well, within 2 hours, other colleges were ringing me to ask if l knew that Focus were going to be doing a lunchtime connect at DB Hall on Friday. Sebastian Hardie, a local act were on in support and they were magnificent. l managed to meet the band after the show. Jan Ackerman the guitarist was a little aloof, but Thijs Van Leer, the flautist was full of energy and very personable. Since the student union had it’s own funds, we didn’t need to make a profit, just not lose too much money. In the end, l think we broke even, about 1,200 people attended, the cost was just $ 2 each. Not too shabby.
Soon as you said flautist in your post Cap, I slapped the forehead … “Jethro”!!
How the hell could I forget Thick as a Brick. Sooo many times while completely out of my mind and also while not.
Also, I don’t know if many or any here know of or have heard “The Durutti Column” …but you should. Too many good instrumental tracks to mention, couldn’t choose one, it’s all good (as the kids say)
Edit: Ok, I know Thick as a Brick has some lyrics in it, but surely the extended musical pieces inbetween those bits qualify as “tracks”.
Soon as you said flautist in your post Cap, I slapped the forehead ... "Jethro"!!
How the hell could I forget Thick as a Brick. Sooo many times while completely out of my mind and also while not.
Also, I don’t know if many or any here know of or have heard “The Durutti Column” …but you should. Too many good instrumental tracks to mention, couldn’t choose one, it’s all good (as the kids say)
Actually, after hearing that, I think Tommy Emmanuel's The Journey is my favourite.
God I got sick of Tommy after a while. Actually bought 4 tix to a concert of his as a thankyou for a mate who loves him & went with our GF’s … I lasted about 40 mins, had to go for a smoke & a beer. Talented muso & a guitar maestro, but fk it gets monotonous.
I am wired like that though, more a fan of lyrics & drums than lead breaks & licks…
I can understand that.
I’m really only a fan of The Journey, Initiation and I guess Countrywide.
Which is one and a half more than Satch songs I like (and I saw him twice).
All I know is listening to Satriani in a car that has a bit of toe about it, let’s say a TE Cortina with a 5 speed & semi race worked 250 … is a really bad idea.
I reckon that CD cost me about $2400 in speed cam fines. Just could not help putting the foot down.
Then there are the various drum based albums. Such as:
The Journey by Bob Holroyd.
Steward Copeland after the left The Police.
The Planet Drum series by Mickey Hart after the demise of The Grateful Dead.
The great Ginger Baker from the mid 1990’s (does contain one vocal track, with Ginger speaking out against the invasion of East Timor.) Well the whole album isn’t available on You Tube, but the vocal track is, includes a reference to the murder of Channel 7 reporter Greg Shackelton. Features the greats Charlie Haden on bass and Bill Frisell on guitar.
Although does the Star Was soundtrack count as classical?
Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band is my current ring tone :-P
some of my fave instrumentals are movie themes - really like the work of David Foster, Christophe Beck and Danny Elfman.
in terms of more mainstream type music:
Abba - Arrival
Split Enz - Pioneer
for instrumental versions of songs, obviously Apocalyptica rocks! and if you haven’t seen any of vkgoeswild, check her out, she’s done a heap of covers, lots of Metallica and other heavy metal, plus some more mainstream stuff.
The first minute of that sounds a lot like a Vietnamese guitar style called Vo Thung (roughly translated at as strange guitar) which l describe as ambient surf guitar music. Speaking of surf guitar music …
Greg Champion used to do a great version of Ghost Riders In The Sky, long before he started up with the Coodabeens. l can’t find it on You Tube, but it was the signature tune for the band he was in at the time, heck l can’t even recall their name now, but they also featured a mate on guitar, Wayne Burt. They released an ep, in the mid 1980;s which charted in Melb. The band disbanded after a serious road accident on the way back from Adelaide, where one of the girls. Jo, died.
l was supposed to play footy once for the Coodabeens against a team led by Dr. Turf. There was a small problem, l had such a heavy cold, l couldn’t get out out of bed. lf l had played at all, l would been a public health problem, l would have infected half the team. Hated to miss the game, but l was absolutely RS at the time.
