1960s 15 minute plus prog or rock songs

[Bartellb]

I was listening to Procol Harum In Held Twas in I (first prog epic?) and thought of other 15 minute plus songs from the 60s.
Inagaddadavida. The Nice Are Longa Vita Brevis. Amon duul 2 Phallus Dei. Any others?

[Scrotum Scissor]

Many.

A couple of famous ones which I personally don't particularly care for:

"Revelation" by Love
"Sister Ray" by The Velvet Underground

"Alligator" by The Grateful Dead gets a bit better, as does "Liberation" by Chicago Transit Authority.

Both "Perlesøen" by legendary Danish acid-rock band Alrune Rod and "Jo Sago" by Tea & Symphony were apparently made in late '69. There's the ludicrous (IMHO) "Creation" by The Incredible String Band at 16:04 (from the Changing Horses album, which also contains the somewhat finer "White Bird" at 14:46), and the completely fantastic "Rivmic Melodies" covering all of side A) on Soft Machine's Volume Two. The first Egg album had "Symphony no.2" (conceived in November '69), which I honestly can't think too much of. Another Danish band, Ache, created their so-called ballet suite, "De Homine Urbano", in November/December '69 but didn't actually record it until the following spring. Significant parts of Junipher Greene's "Friendship" was made in late '69 as well, and Czeslaw Niemen released his excellent "Bema Pamieci Zalobny Rapsod" in October/November of that same year. as for Poland, I believe also much of Klan's classic "Mrowisko" concept album (conceived more or less as a single piece of music) was arranged in very late of '69.

[Dave (in MA)]

I was listening to Procol Harum In Held Twas in I (first prog epic?) and thought of other 15 minute plus songs from the 60s.
Inagaddadavida. The Nice Are Longa Vita Brevis. Amon duul 2 Phallus Dei. Any others?

Five Bridges Suite was a live 60's piece recorded in '69 though not released until '70.

[Dave (in MA)]

Arzachel (Uriel) - Metempsychosis
Can - Yoo Doo Right

[JJ88]

'King Kong' by The Mothers. Cheating a little, but the 80s remix of 'The Gumbo Variations' on Hot Rats was over 15 minutes- it seems that the original was edited down.

Colosseum's Valentyne Suite.

Quite remarkable how ahead of its time 'In Held Twas In I' is. Things like 'Revelation' and 'Ars Longa Vita Brevis' rely heavily on long solos, the Procol Harum track is much more composed.

[Zappathustra]

Colosseum - Valentyne Suite

[Scrotum Scissor]

'King Kong' by The Mothers.

Colosseum's Valentyne Suite.

How the hell could I forget about these? There's also "Little House I Used to Live In", which is in truth a partly post-produced potpurri yet altogether forms the single most through-composed 60s piece by a rock band, recorded at various locations from early-to-autumn '69.

[JJ88]

^Yes, a great one.

There's also quite a bit of actual composition in 'Valentyne Suite' too (not the 'In A Gadda Da Vida' thing of having a drum solo to pad it out). It's one of the great achievements of the era IMHO.

[arabicadabra]

Up In Her Room - The Seeds

Oh, wait! Only 14:47 - dang!

Never mind....

[Zeuhlmate]

Hendrix: "Voodoo Chile" clocks in exactly 15.00 - a mermaid is only 13.39

[Steve F.]

The Mothers Of Invention "King Kong"

[Socrates]

Captain Beefheart - Tarotplane, Mirror Man. Released 71 but recorded in 67.

[mogrooves]

In Held Twas in I (first prog epic?)

Not in my view. Definitive proto-Prog.

[Galactic Bulldozer]

Happiness Stan - Small Faces

[GuitarGeek]

(not the 'In A Gadda Da Vida' thing of having a drum solo to pad it out). It's one of the great achievements of the era IMHO.

Actually, the drum solo is only a couple minutes long. It's really the organ and guitar solos that are padding it out. I believe I read once, that when they played it live, Doug Ingle always played the same solo, so maybe the organ solo is "part of the composition". Of course, given that the song basically consists of one verse and a chorus (and the organ solo) there's not even enough there for a "2:50 pop song" (Pete Townshend once suggested that all pop songs had to be under 2:50, with no more than 4 chords, 5 chords might get you in trouble, and you were allowed one modulation).

[Taped Rugs]

"The Progress Suite, Movements 1 Thru 5" by Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde from Of Cabbages And Kings.

[Dave (in MA)]

Blind Faith - "Do What You Like"

Also, Arlo Guthrie, "Alice's Restaurant", which may not technically be a "rock" song but it seems like every FM rock station in the 70's played it on Thanksgiving.

[mogrooves]

John Mayall - Bare Wires Suite

[Mister Triscuits]

Eric Burdon and the Animals had two: "New York 1963--America 1968" and "Gemini/The Madman."

[happytheman]

Actually, the drum solo is only a couple minutes long. It's really the organ and guitar solos that are padding it out. I believe I read once, that when they played it live, Doug Ingle always played the same solo, so maybe the organ solo is "part of the composition". Of course, given that the song basically consists of one verse and a chorus (and the organ solo) there's not even enough there for a "2:50 pop song" (Pete Townshend once suggested that all pop songs had to be under 2:50, with no more than 4 chords, 5 chords might get you in trouble, and you were allowed one modulation).

They did release a "single" of this but couldn't tell you what the length ended up being..

[Zeuhlmate]

I have a CD where the In A Gadda Da Vida single is on: 2:53

[Trane]

I've seen the Da Capo track mentioned, but I haven't seen mentioned +Vanilla Fudge's Break Song on their NTB album

[GuitarGeek]

They did release a "single" of this but couldn't tell you what the length ended up being..

Yeah, I've heard it. But the ting is, once you edit out the solos, Inna-Gada-Da-Vida kinda becomes a bit mundane, if not worse.

I used to listen to a radio station where one of the DJ's would once in awhile say he's been getting requests for the song, but "I don't have time to play an 18 minute song, but I can play the edited version, so here we go, the edited version of Inna-Gada-Da-Vida". OK, ya know how the song ends with the reprise of the intro? Well, he'd play just that, like the last 15 seconds, or whatever it is. He probably had it on a cart so he could cue it up real easily whenever he wanted to run the joke.

Another "long one" that doesn't quite work as a single is the Grateful Dead's Dark Star, though I think at the time the single was recorded", it was just a 2 and a half minute song. Or rather, it was an intro, two verses and a chorus that repeats after each one, and about 90 seconds of improvisation in between the first chorus and the second verse. Then there's the spoken word thing at the very end, and a little snatch of Jerry playing banjo. But I don't think they had any idea that Dark Star was going to be this improv vehicle that would stretch to 30 minutes or more in concert (one night it was literally 46 minutes long, my old cassette copy of the Rotterdam show from the Europe 72 tour, it takes up an entire side of the 90 minute cassette).

[interbellum]

The Collectors: What Love (Suite) from 1968:

[Mister Triscuits]

Side 4 of the Rascals' 1969 Freedom Suite was a 15-minute jam session titled "Cute." But it would be another two years before they released a good side-long track.