Fluffy Presents: Instrumentals - Sixth Song

[Fluffy Lothario]

This is a thread I've been thinking about doing for a little while. Quite simple: every day or two, I'll post an instrumental song or piece of music. Check it out, post your thoughts, etc.

All sorts of genres and artists will be represented. Some will be obvious choices by their bands or within their genres, some will be a little more off to the side, and present something that fans of that band or genre might not have heard. I wouldn't post it if it wasn't great though, so even if you're new to the artist or genre, I'd still suggest checking it out.

If someone likes the idea and wants to continue the thread posting more stuff when I'm done, that'd be cool.


Okay, first song:
Allman Brothers Band - Little Martha (1971)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1PiHsS8LP8


I figured I'd start with something short and sweet. The Allman Brothers Band are a Southern rock band that, in my eyes, almost render every other band in the sub-genre redundant. Instrumentally, they were miles ahead of their peers, with a sound that mixed blues, rock, country, and jazz. Many of their songs stretch out so far live, they effectively double as an early jam band.

Little Martha is a short acoustic piece written by Duane Allman, one of the band's two original guitarists (named by Rolling Stone as the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time, not that RS means much to anyone, but an extremely respected guitarist by many). He was killed in an accident weeks after recording this piece, so it became his swan song. The recording is extremely clear, and so you can hear the man's every breath during the song. It's a nice piece, and adds a touching final note to his short body of work.

[Scorpion]

Following - I might have a go when you're done, how many do you plan on doing?

[Fluffy Lothario]

At the moment, I'd say between 15 and 20.

[Scorpion]

Alright, put me down. I'll probably be doing less than that, but eh.

I'll listen to your first pick shortly.

EDIT: Dammit, it's blocked in Germany because of copyrighted content.

[DebraKadabra]

Nice first post - Duane/The Allman Brothers Band are criminally underrated.

[Orbert]

Wow, nice little piece!  I've always liked The Allman Brothers, but have never dug into their catalogue much.  I have Live at the Fillmore East, and I think one or two studio albums, but need to listen to them more closely.

When I think of instrumentals by The Allman Brothers Band, I always think of "Jessica" and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed".  Thanks for turning me on to another one.

[Lowdz]

Big instrumental fan here, but more of a shred guy. Still, I can appreciate great guitar playing and that's what you get with tABB.

Beautiful tune there. I can't finger pick to save my life and always feel amazed when I hear someone great at it.

[Pols Voice]

Cool thread. I listen to instrumental music all the time. In a lot of ways, I prefer it to music with vocals.

That's a nice little acoustic piece.

[Jaq]

Love me some Allman Brothers. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, especially live, is a fantastic instrumental.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Alright, put me down. I'll probably be doing less than that, but eh.

I'll listen to your first pick shortly.

EDIT: Dammit, it's blocked in Germany because of copyrighted content.

Cool, you'll be first to take over when I'm finished if there's more interest.

I think there were other versions on youtube with less views, another may work. Plus, there's hidemyass, or look it up on grooveshark.

When I think of instrumentals by The Allman Brothers Band, I always think of "Jessica" and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed".  Thanks for turning me on to another one.

Jessica and Elizabeth Reed are both great too, and I could have easily picked either of those. Not to mention Mountain Jam, and Les Brers In A Minor, which are both on Eat A Peach, the same album as Little Martha. Mountain Jam was an outtake from Live At Fillmore East, and there are extended editions of that album that include it now too.

I'll probably post another song tonight.

[Scorpion]

Alright, put me down. I'll probably be doing less than that, but eh.

I'll listen to your first pick shortly.

EDIT: Dammit, it's blocked in Germany because of copyrighted content.

Cool, you'll be first to take over when I'm finished if there's more interest.

I think there were other versions on youtube with less views, another may work. Plus, there's hidemyass, or look it up on grooveshark.

Grooveshark is blocked in Germany as well, but I've already found another version. Really cool pick, Fluffy!

[Fluffy Lothario]

Grooveshark is blocked in Germany?!? That must be a recent development, I lived there a few years ago, and frequently used Grooveshark to get around everything being blocked on youtube.

[Scorpion]

Grooveshark is blocked in Germany?!? That must be a recent development, I lived there a few years ago, and frequently used Grooveshark to get around everything being blocked on youtube.

Yeah, about three months ago they stopped, because of the GEMA, now all you get is this:

[Fluffy Lothario]

Damn, that sucks.


Second song:
John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess - Truth (2000)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI8Q811VVBU


An Evening With John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess is my favourite DT or DT-related-project release. Yes, I like it better than anything done by the full band. And I found in my last year of high school, when I was thrashing the hell out of this album (and DT in general), that I wasn't the only one. All my friends who were obviously putting up with DT when I played them actually liked this album. I would even get asked to put it on on road trips and in art class and the like.

Why this album is scarcely mentioned and largely ignored by the DT crowd themselves then has always baffled me. The style is a largely acoustic, majestic, more than a little bit jazzy rock with a few Celtic and flamenco teases.

Truth is the track that convinced me on my first time through the album that I was listening to something truly extraordinary, and has always been my favourite track. Structurally, it's probably more simple than many of the pieces on the album, but it makes up for it in a gorgeous anthemic eloquence. Petrucci's electric solo in the centre of the song is, even amongst Petrucci solos, something to behold.

[Scorpion]

Great pick! I had never heard anything from this album before, but I will now, surely. I really, really like Rudess's piano work, as opposed to his synth stuff, actually.

EDIT: Just got the whole CD. Fantastic stuff, thanks for the recommendation.

[Lowdz]

Great track from a great live album. Always get a TSCO vibe from the intro. Two fine instrumentalists. They should do this again- just before DT head into the studio...

[Fluffy Lothario]

Third song:
Eric Dolphy - Something Sweet, Something Tender (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ7xBggveyY


Most jazz albums have a ballad on there somewhere. It's most often the second track or the second to last. Regardless of whether you've heard a lot of jazz or not, you probably know the type of song I'm talking about. The piano has some prominence, there's typically a slow, sweet sax solo. Everything's very pretty and (I'm using this word even if it is a dirty word in jazz) smooth.

Something Sweet, Something Tender is what passes for a ballad on Eric Dolphy's avant-garde jazz classic, Out to Lunch!, and it sticks out a mile. This one is debauched, it's dark, it's brooding. Imagine one of those lovely jazz ballads if it was channelled from the head of a guy in his mid-thirties at a house party, drunk enough that he's still on his feet only because he's leaning on the wall, well past the point of making everyone close to him uncomfortable, and he's gazing at his friend's wife, who he's long secretly dug, across the room with no hint of subtlety and pondering all the things he might do to her if only.

Something Sweet, Something Tender is that guy's beautiful, gloomy, lustful theme song.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Hmmm, no takers then.

Fourth Song (or piece, in this case):
Sergei Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2, 2nd Movement: Adagio sostenuto (1901)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAK2J05Vmhc


Rachmaninoff seems to be a popular choice of classical musician amongst metal fans, so this will be a familiar piece to a few people. (Matt Bellamy has also harvested this guy's output for all it's worth in Muse's more classical moments, and from the top comments on this video, that apparently also includes this piece). For those who don't know him, he was a late-Romantic composer and an almost impossibly good pianist. He was a fairly despondent sort, or so I've read, and his music certainly gives that impression. Everything I've heard by him is bleak and overwhelming. Most of it is also achingly beautiful.

This piece isn't one of my favourites of his, but it's still extremely good, and almost certainly his most popular. It's one of the more hopeful sections of music he wrote, and lacks the density of his doomier stuff that could initially turn some folks away.

[Orbert]

Hmmm, no takers then.

I like a lot of jazz, but there's a lot of it that I don't like.  Eric Dolphy is one of those who just doesn't have enough structure for me.  He just starts spazzing into his horn and pretty soon I'm thinking "Where the hell is the melody?  I could do this."  So I didn't even listen to the track.  Sorry.

Fourth Song (or piece, in this case):
Sergei Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2, 2nd Movement: Adagio sostenuto (1901)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAK2J05Vmhc


Rachmaninoff seems to be a popular choice of classical musician amongst metal fans, so this will be a familiar piece to a few people. (Matt Bellamy has also harvested this guy's output for all it's worth in Muse's more classical moments, and from the top comments on this video, that apparently also includes this piece). For those who don't know him, he was a late-Romantic composer and an almost impossibly good pianist. He was a fairly despondent sort, or so I've read, and his music certainly gives that impression. Everything I've heard by him is bleak and overwhelming. Most of it is also achingly beautiful.

This piece isn't one of my favourites of his, but it's still extremely good, and almost certainly his most popular. It's one of the more hopeful sections of music he wrote, and lacks the density of his doomier stuff that could initially turn some folks away.

This one I'll try to check out later.  I have no problem with classical, even "hard core" classical like Rachmaninoff piano stuff.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Hmmm, no takers then.

I like a lot of jazz, but there's a lot of it that I don't like.  Eric Dolphy is one of those who just doesn't have enough structure for me.  He just starts spazzing into his horn and pretty soon I'm thinking "Where the hell is the melody?  I could do this."  So I didn't even listen to the track.  Sorry.

I quite like his style. It's like he's speaking through his sax. Plus, his compositions are great, and that track is far more about the composition.

[Jirpo]

I'll check some of these out, thanks for posting!

[Orbert]

I finally checked out the Rachmaninoff.  Whoa, mellow.  I had to turn it way up, it started so quietly.  Overall, it was so chill that I barely paid much notice to it.  I guess I actually prefer his bombastic stuff.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Yeah, it is, for the most part, a bit quieter than most of his stuff. I think I remember reading once that he came to hate that piece, or at least the fact that everywhere he played, the audiences just wanted to hear that.


Fifth Song:
Faith No More - Woodpecker From Mars (1989)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvMvhAIF9ZE&


It's been years since I regularly listened to Faith No More, so I'm not too sure what to say about this song. Faith No More were one of the first rock bands I grew attached to when I was about twelve, and although I wouldn't have been able to pin it down at the time, it was their combination of being able to write a really good catchy rock song and being a total bunch of weirdos that pulled me in.

Woodpecker From Mars is a fun instrumental from The Real Thing, and shows off their strange funky metal-leaning alt-rock sound well. Other than the break in the middle of the song, which could have been inspired by the three-note riff from Black Sabbath's Black Sabbath (the next track on the album is a cover of War Pigs, after all), the song is all about the eerie, vaguely Eastern keyboards and that goddamn bass.

[Orbert]

I've meant to get into Faith No More for a while now, ever since Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.  I really need to try harder.  That was a cool track.

[Fluffy Lothario]

There's a very cool, slightly faster live version on youtube as well.


Sixth Song:
Shakti - Lady L (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv9EhaymgFE


Generally speaking, a band is far more likely to become a favourite of mine if they made a lot of music. I have more than a days' worth of music for all three of my favourite bands. I have about four and a half days for one of them. And there's still tons I haven't heard by all three.

The biggest exception to that rule is Shakti. The band existed for less than three years. They recorded seventeen songs. They are David holding his own amongst a host of Goliaths. They can do so because I've never heard music that is so virtuosically played, so technically impressive, and at the same time so beautiful. I've probably also never heard acoustic music that was more energetic.

Shakti played a bastardised form of traditional Indian music devised by jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, who had already formed and spearheaded the Mahavishnu Orchestra and played with Miles Davis throughout most of his fusion period. This song, Lady L, is my most played track of theirs, a fact which speaks for itself. The central solo in the song is taken by McLaughlin, while its framework was crafted and thus heavily features violinist L. Shankar.

[LudwigVan]

Hmmm, no takers then.

Fourth Song (or piece, in this case):
Sergei Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2, 2nd Movement: Adagio sostenuto (1901)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAK2J05Vmhc


Rachmaninoff seems to be a popular choice of classical musician amongst metal fans, so this will be a familiar piece to a few people. (Matt Bellamy has also harvested this guy's output for all it's worth in Muse's more classical moments, and from the top comments on this video, that apparently also includes this piece). For those who don't know him, he was a late-Romantic composer and an almost impossibly good pianist. He was a fairly despondent sort, or so I've read, and his music certainly gives that impression. Everything I've heard by him is bleak and overwhelming. Most of it is also achingly beautiful.

This piece isn't one of my favourites of his, but it's still extremely good, and almost certainly his most popular. It's one of the more hopeful sections of music he wrote, and lacks the density of his doomier stuff that could initially turn some folks away.

Fantastic composer, one of my favorites.  I'm sure the doom and gloom that you speak of is part of the appeal to metal fans.  There's also lots of angst and violence that brews beneath the surface of his music. 

Most folks are probably familiar with his famous Prelude in C# minor.  It's a great example of the "light and shade" idea.  The musical notation goes from triple fortes to quadruple pianissimos at the drop of a dime, juxtaposing the heaviest of chords with passages that are light and airy.   Think Led Zeppelin alternating between acoustic strumming to power chords a la Ramble On, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Over the Hills and Far Away, etc.