The best instrumentals on primarily non-instrumental albums

The Police - Reggatta de Blanc
Wall of Voodoo - On Interstate 15
Nine Inch Nails - A Warm Place

I find that these very rarely work. I generally prefer instrumental music over vocal music but mostly in the improvisational context - the worst is when it’s a verse/chorus/verse structured instrumental.

agreed, that's why it's so cool when they do

Can't see anything coming close to North Sea Radio Orchestra - Kingstanding for me, one of my favourite songs let alone instrumentals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l9Mx0TuiDw

Ugh yeah I kind of regret making that the first reply in this thread for all eternity, but was just having this exact conversation with a friend in the last week so it was top of mind.

There’s always Maggot Brain and Interstellar Overdrive.

Let's Go Away for Awhile - The Beach Boys
Ogden's Nut Gone Flake - The Small Faces
Drunken Blue Rooster - Todd Rundgren

Don't know if early Pink Floyd would count here.

Accidental xp!

Kevin Ayers, perhaps

"quik's groove i" from quik is the name

oooh, I was thinking Spark of Life could be a good Todd one

I love Tic Tic Tic from Wizard but it's only like a minute. Spark otoh is 6 minutes and gets quite intense.

First in to say "Follow Your Bliss" by B-52s, but I probably won't be the last.

Silver Jews "Night Society", maybe?

Obvious I guess but Radio 4 on Metal Box

Cheat answer: Reel Ten by the Plugz on the Repo Man soundtrack

"Maggot Brain"!

The Urinals "Surfin with the Shah"

^that is a good one

"Orion" :)

I did this not long ago. The top ten:

1. Public Image Ltd. – “Radio 4”
2. Funkadelic – “Maggot Brain”
3. The Smiths – “Oscillate Wildly”
4. The Tornadoes – “Telstar”
5. The Shadows – “Apache”
6. The Stooges – “L.A. Blues”
7. Rush – “YYZ”
8. David Bowie – “A New Career in a New Town”
9. Brian Eno – “Becalmed”
10. Pink Floyd – “One of the These Days”

Beatles - "Flying"

Super Furry Animals - "[A] Touch Sensitive"

Pink Floyd: "On The Run"

saying it because everyone else is scared!

rush - yyz

oh lol, just now seeing alfred's list.

anyway, i think i prefer "any colour you

*prefer "any colour you like" to "on the run"

Flying has lyrics they are la la la la la

Thunderclap Newman - Hollywood Dream
Iron Maiden - Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)

oh yeah YYZ is a pretty obvious one. I wouldn't count the Bowie & Eno ones though cuz there are a ton of instrumentals on those albums..."Here Come the Warm Jets", though....

was thinking about certain King Crimson instrumentals but the vocals are kinda secondary on those 73-74 albums

"the fish" is also borderline, i guess, since fragile is about half-and-half

New Order - Elegia

yo la tengo - green arrow
elastica - miami nice
meat puppets - maiden's milk
van halen - sunday afternoon in the park

was dog a doughnut? - cat stevens

Motorpsycho have two really really good ones - "Kvæstor" and "Whip That Ghost"

The Monochrome Set have some good ones too.

Everything But The Girl - "Crabwalk"
The Style Council - "Dropping Bombs On The White House"
Robyn Hitchcock - "Nocturne (Prelude)" and "Nocturne (Demise)"
Bruce Cockburn - "When It's Gone It's Gone"

Dexy's Midnight Runners - "The Teams That Meet In Caffs"

the fall - mansion

Ultravox - Astradyne (off 'Vienna')

Def Leppard - Switch 624

I couldn't stop once I got started:

Laguna Sunrise - Black Sabbath
Hair Pie - Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band
Islands in a Black Sky - Bruce Cockburn
A Reflection - The Cure
Devo Corporate Anthem - Devo
Sunday - Nick Drake
Sunny Side of Heaven - Fleetwood Mac
Hairless Heart - Genesis
The Tenant - Japan
Song for Guy - Elton John
Emotions - Love
The Thin Air - Magazine
Aurora Borealis - Meat Puppets
Spirit of E9 - Willie Nelson
Venus di Milo - Prince and the Revolution
Theme for Great Cities - Simple Minds
Age of Blows - Spandau Ballet
Space Child - Spirit
University - Throwing Muses
Cinny's Waltz - Tom Waits
Asleep in the Desert - ZZ Top

Def Leppard - Switch 624, Switch 625, whatever it takes

The Human League - Gordon’s Gin (off 'Travelogue')

Van Dyke Parks, "Donovan's Colours"

yo la tengo ‘i heard you looking’

Gary Numan - "Airlane"

calexico - "el gatillo (trigger revisited)"

Feelies "Raised Eyebrows"

Chuck Berry, "Deep Feeling" (After School Session)

swervedriver - electric 77

Sun-El Musician • The Wave
(better than “Random”, the other instrumental track on Africa To The World)

Sunny Side of Heaven - Fleetwood Mac

"Danny's Chant" off the same LP is one of the great "guess who this is?" blindfold test tracks.

Led Zeppelin - Bron Yr Aur

The Yardbirds - "White Summer"

Fugazi - Sweet and Low

+1 for Nick Drake’s “Sunday”. “Horn” on Pink Moon as well.

Tyler the creator -AU79

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8EZvJEfiU4

this is a interesting production on one of Tyler's batshit early albums

Metallica - Anaesthesia (Pulling Teeth), Orion

Anthrax - Intro to Reality

^I guess for Metallica, you could include Call of Ktulu and To Live Is To Die as well, because I see that both had some popularity in the Metallica poll, but I don't consider them my favorites.

Also, the Anthrax one is a little iffy because on the album it segues directly into another song with lyrics, and doesn't resolve on its own as a standalone piece.

Lots of stuff by Camper Van Beethoven, dunno if that counts.

camper are like sun city girls to me, instrumentals are built into their identity so they dont count

Yeah, fair.

ween 'pink eye on my leg', it's a rare instrumental that's just plain funny

Sunny Side of Heaven - Fleetwood Mac

has no one mentioned "albatross" yet?

Pre-Buckingham/Nicks Mac instrumentals are the best. I gotta rep for "Earl Gray" from Kiln House.

Synthpop edition:

ABC - Look of Love Part 4
Human League - Get Carter
China Crisis - Jean Walks in Fresh Fields
Ultravox - Astradyne

British Sea Power - The Great Skua
Sam Prekop - The Silhouettes

fugazi - arpeggiator

double drums, baby

I love Tic Tic Tic from Wizard but it's only like a minute.

Flamingo from Wizard is my Rundgren pick

Ween - A Tear for Eddie
It wouldn't necessarily be my pick over the ones of theirs already mentioned but I do enjoy Yo La Tengo - Tired Hippo
Beastie Boys have many, I'm partial to Sabrosa

Oh fuck yeah, the Beastie Boys instrumentals are great. Eugene's Lament!

instrumentals are built into their identity so they dont count

This is what I was trying to get at about Pink Floyd.

ween 'pink eye on my leg', it's a rare instrumental that's just plain funny

I'll always hold a grudge against it because it kicked "Kim Smoltz" off the album, straight up one of Ween's best songs

yeah “flute loop”!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hukx83u-_Bc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UZbJW49Hl8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f3btgR1K50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT2ZkUS4gio

Some on the top of my head:

The Charlatans - Feel Flows
Manic Street Preachers - Dreaming A City (Hugheskova)
The Stranglers - Longships
Duran Duran - Tiger Tiger
Roxy Music - Tara
Blur - Optigan 1
Yes - Cinema
Primal Scream - Inner Flight (if it counts, seeing as it could be said that the non-vocal sections sum up to a rather substantial part of Screamadelica)

Jefferson Airplane - Embryonic Journey
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Third Stone from the Sun (not entirely instrumental I know)

ooh yeah great call on “embryonic journey”

Minutemen - Cohesion, You Need the Glory, June 16th, Love Dance

ultimate minutemen instro is sickles and hammers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZdZKolMIl0

Oh hell yes

The Feelies' "Raised Eyebrows" isn't an instrumental! (But yes, killer song!)

Simple Minds: Theme for Great Cities and Somebody Up There Likes You

xp well neither is Reggatta de Blanc but it's not exactly a song either

can't see it in the comments and surprised, so I'm pitching The Smiths - "Oscillate Wildly", it belongs here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iYUdS3DmFU

Some more:

Tindersticks - The Organist Entertains
David Sylvian - All Of My Mother's Names
Jethro Tull - Elegy / Bourée

Husker Du—Don’t Know Yet

My default answer is always Blur and Beach Boys songs.

Has fall breaks and back to winter not been cited yet????

Also yeah huskers have some superb ones
Major fan of the one at the end of flip your wig with the orchestral bell

Breeders: "Flipside" & "S.O.S."

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, March 1, 2022 3:37 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm, first two i thought of

To counter a previous post, "Underture" from Tommy is great, easily a Top 10 Who track for me.

the clean have loads, but i'm gonna pick:

"wake up in the morning" from modern rock

Primal Scream ‎– spirea X (1:06) from 12" 'Crystal Crescent' (1986)

Yellow Magic Orchestra ‎– multiplies from 'X∞Multiplies = 増殖' (1980)

Tindersticks have a couple more of these as well as the one mentioned above - Vertrauen II and III on the second album, and From the Inside on Simple Pleasure.

Beach Boys - shut down part II from "Shut Down Volume 2" (1964)

Allman Brothers must have one...

Allman Bros may have too many instrumentals to fit the category, but two of their biggest and best songs are instrumental,"In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and "Jessica". Also "Little Martha" is a gem

Uncle Tupelo - Sandusky