Your Favorite Moog Solo?

[GentleFriend]

Sorry if this have been debated for ages, I've been in and out so please bear with me

My vote goes for PFM - Impressioni di Settembre

Closely followed by another one by the very same band, can you guess which?

These guys Mooged like no one else.

Anyway, what's yours?

[Jeremy Bender]

Aquatarkus from WBMF, a masterclass on how to use a synthesizer.

[WytchCrypt]

Lucky Man - the first, the greatest, it blew everyone's minds when it first hit the airwaves...everyone I knew was running around asking, 'what the hell was that sound?'

[ProgUK]

Eddie Jobson on Frank Zappa's "I Promise Not To Come In Your Mouth" from Live in NY.

[GuitarGeek]

A few of my favorite "Mood Symplifier" solos (listen to side three of Uriah Heep Live if you don't understand the allusion):

Sun Ra: all the solo pieces on the two My Brother The Wind albums, as well as side one of Space Probe and I Am The Alter-Destiny from the Space Is The Place soundtrack
Ken Hensley: Uriah Heep Live version of Gypsy (just about the first time I heard a synth)
Manfred Mann: studio version of Uriah Heep's July Morning
Simon House: Kadu Flyer and Reefer Madness off Astounding Sounds Amazing Music
Mickey Dolenz: Daily Nightly
Paul Beaver: Star Collector
The Keyboardist in Le Orme (sorry can't remember his name): Maggio
Tim Blake: Octave Doctors And The Crystal Machine
Wendy Carlos: Timesteps (and pretty much everything else she did for A Clockwork Orange) and the entire Sonic Seasonings album
Paul Beaver: Star Collector
Mark Kelly: Lady Nina
Rick Wright: Welcome To The Machine, Dogs and Raving And Drooling
Geddy Lee: The Trees, Tom Sawyer, and Jacob's Ladder

And those are just the ones I can think of that I know were done on Moog instruments. I left off Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, because apart from the sequencer stuff, I'm not sure which bits on which records were played on a Moog Music product. I also left the In Search Of Space/Doremi Fasol Latido/Space Ritual era Hawkwind, Stockhausen's Sirius, Eno's Discreet Music, and the score to the Doctor Who serial The Sea Devils, because they all feature EMS gear. And most of Tony Banks' better synth solos were played on ARP synths, apparently. Etc, ec, ad nauseum.

[GuitarGeek]

Lucky Man - the first, the greatest, it blew everyone's minds when it first hit the airwaves...everyone I knew was running around asking, 'what the hell was that sound?'

The first what? Certainly not the first synth solo, or even the first synth solo on a rock album (Mickey Dolenz has Keith beat by a couple years).

[calyx]

National Health - Brujo

[walt]

Roger Powell-The Seven Rays.From Todd Rundgren's Utopia "Another Live".

Air-synth material par excellance.

[Zeuhlmate]

Gentle Giant - Boys in the band (Octopus)
Roger Powell - The Seven Rays
Jan Hammer - SO many
Joe Zawinul - syndicate quite a few live (but its probably Arp)
PFM - Traveler (last tune on Jet Lag)
Eddie Jobson - Nevermore (U.K. same) allthough its not a moog but a Yamaha CS-80
Patrizio Fariselli Area - Arbeit macht frei - title song (allthough thats a VCS3)
Mats Öberg (Mats/Morgan - Hjortron från Mars. (I think its a moog)
Dave Stewart - Toad Of Toad Hall, D.S. Al Coda (I think its a moog)

There are so many... must be some with George Duke too

[Dedatolo]

Joe Zawinul 3 seconds solo on "Unknown Soldier" from I Sing The Body Electric (at 5:05)

[Troopers For Sound]

Don Preston/Zappa - Waka Jawaka
Jan Hammer - Birds of Fire
Keith Emerson - Trilogy

and another Zappa one that is just incredible featuring Peter Wolf:

[walt]

Dave Stewart-Share It.


I seem to recall hearing/reading that he used a Mini-Moog on this.I'm sure someone will correct me if i'm mistaken.

[presdoug]

Triumvirat-Lucky Girl

[dgtlman]

Aquatarkus from WBMF, a masterclass on how to use a synthesizer.

Yep!

[Joe F.]

Probably something by Happy the Man. Kit Watkins was incredible with the Moog.

[calyx]

Dave Stewart-Share It.


I seem to recall hearing/reading that he used a Mini-Moog on this.I'm sure someone will correct me if i'm mistaken.

You are correct. Stewart rarely used a Minimoog in those early days, but he hired one for specific sessions (there is also some on "Shaving Is Boring" on the first album).

[rcarlberg]

Lucky Man - the first, the greatest, it blew everyone's minds when it first hit the airwaves...everyone I knew was running around asking, 'what the hell was that sound?'

This. It sounds kinda trite and obvious now, but at the time nobody had heard a Moog do that before, and it blew everybody's mind.

[Burley Wright]

Probably something by Happy the Man. Kit Watkins was incredible with the Moog.

Knee Bitten Nymphs in Limbo - not once do his fingers leave his hands.

[rhymes with rogue]

Although I think it was a brand of synth other than a Moog...Patrick Moraz' solo in the middle of "The Gates of Delirium" is a favorite.

[trurl]

Pat Moraz on Soundchaser for the win, Peter. (Runner-up: Pat Moraz on To Be Over. Or maybe reverse those. I can't decide.)

[trurl]

Wow, great minds *lol* Well there you go. The Gates section should be a Moog, specifically his custom double MiniMoog.

[arise_shine]

Just about everything from Kit Watkins, as others have said. My favorite is his lead work in Camel's "Never Let Go" (On the Road 1981 version). Maybe not necessarily the flashiest or most technically dazzling, but to my ears, just perfect tone and phrasing. Crystal clear and enchanting. <3

[undergroundrailroad]

Another vote for Kit Watkins. There's dazzling Moog work on the first HtM album around every corner. It's tough to pick one solo or one track. But yeah, the last thirty seconds of Knee Bitten Nymphs is just about the last word on monophonic synth virtuosity with taste and musicality still intact.

[Musitron]

I agree with trurl. Pat Moraz on Soundchaser. But is it moog on Frankenstein from Edgar Winter Group?

[rickmoraz]

More Kit Watkins:

Moog solo on Ice from I can see your house from here by Camel, as well as moog solos 2 and 4 from Wait, from the same album.
Also just about anything by Jan Hammer (check out Wired/Jeff Beck) for some prime cuts.