10 best prog instrumental "interludes"

[Dave (in MA)]

The title track to TD's Force Majeure has 3 or 4 of 'em: at about the 4:00, 7:00 and 12:00 marks, and 16:00 if you can count an outro.

[GuitarGeek]

Oh, and I forgot the Lost Chronicles interlude in the middle of Hawkwind's Neon Skyline! That should have been one of the first ones I thought of!

[Don Arnold]

Wow, nobody answered Flower Kings or Transatlantic or Steve Wilson/Porcupine Tree yet. I thought those were obvious.

Why on earth would these be "obvious"?

TFK's & Transatlantic (throw in Spock's Beard too) were the first bands that came to mind for me.

Except for PTree when they were actually creating something (i.e. up until and including Signify), these are IMHO wholeheartedly terrible bands. What the hell did TFK or that other superdupergroup do that someone else didn't do before them, and infinitely better?

I love these bands, and to my ears, they bring something fresh to the table. Sure, the tastes are familiar, but no less enjoyable.

[Jeremy Bender]

ELP: middle section to Third Impression. I especially love the "trumpet" melody right after "Let the maps of war be drawn"
Yes: The Devil's Sermon part of Gates of Delirium. Love the melody in the third section, played first by Moraz, then Howe on pedal steel

[Jubal]

The "Piltdown Man" guitar section of Echoes. Mindblowingly good.

[calyx]

Ooh, another one I thought of: the long instrumental section in the side one suite on Henry Cow's Concerts.

If you wanna talk Cow, there are several hauntingly beautiful such interludes in "Living In The Heart of the Beast".

[Reid]

Gentle Giant - Playing The Game

This has vocals, so maybe it's considered a bridge?

[Phlakaton]

If you wanna talk Cow, there are several hauntingly beautiful such interludes in "Living In The Heart of the Beast".

Oh hell ya. That is one of the most impressive bits of music for me. That keyboard and violin section is so good.

[Scrotum Scissor]

From 07:13 and 5+ minutes on. There's just nothing else like this - not by a "rock" band anyhow.

[GuitarGeek]

If you wanna talk Cow, there are several hauntingly beautiful such interludes in "Living In The Heart of the Beast".

My favorite section of that piece actually is last vocal section. I don't even remember what the rest of it sounds like.

[chalkpie]

Makes my head spin, along with Drowning Witch.

OMG.......how did I forget Drowning Witch??!!

[GuitarGeek]

OMG.......how did I forget Drowning Witch??!!

The best thing about Drownign Witch are the guitar solos, and the way it segued into What's New Baltimore? on the 1981 tour. Why Frank ever broke those (and Maggio) up is beyond me. He should have always played those three together, just like on the Ritz recording.

[chalkpie]

The best thing about Drownign Witch are the guitar solos, and the way it segued into What's New Baltimore? on the 1981 tour. Why Frank ever broke those (and Maggio) up is beyond me. He should have always played those three together, just like on the Ritz recording.

I LOVE the studio version (which is live anyway), but the first guitar solo on this version is fucking genius. 9/8 groove too. This also shows how good Wackerman is.

EDIT: of course guitar solo no.2 is also pure genius. Imagine trying to transcribe this solo note-for-note, then learning to play it....that would give a huge insight on how amazing Frank's playing is.

[chalkpie]

PS - RIDE MY FACE TO CHICAGO!!!!!

[arabicadabra]

"Love In Our Hands" by Pinnacle - the classical intro, the entire middle, the long outro with Ebow - yes, it's my band, but I didn't write it - and it's the best thing Karl Eisenhart has ever written IMO.

[GuitarGeek]

I LOVE the studio version (which is live anyway), but the first guitar solo on this version is fucking genius. 9/8 groove too. This also shows how good Wackerman is.

You probably know this already, but Frank said one time there's something like 13 edits in the "studio" version of Drowning Witch, some of which are only about half a minute long. He said the piece was never played correctly live, which is why he had to have so many edits in the basic track, and then he overdubbed all the "sweetening stuff. One would love to hear the original master tapes that the guitar solos came from, to hear how they actually sounded on the night. Frank would record a direct track of guitar, with no amp or effects, than run through whichever amp or effects he wanted in "post production". So on the record you might have a huge distorted Marshall amp tone with a flanger on it, but on the night, the audience may have heard a less distorted tone or a clean tone with just a little reverb or whatever.