Albatross, Fleetwood Mac
“Lucky Trumble,” Nancy Wilson, Almost Famous soundtrack
“Tubular Bells,” Mike Oldfield, The Exorcist soundtrack
If you want post '82, you could try Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun by M83 from Before The Dawn Heals Us. It is mind bogglingly wonderful. I’ve got this theory that you’ll know if you’ll like it or not from the title.
Pre '82, Floating by Klaus Schulze from Moondawn is another wonderful piece of music - all 27 minutes worth.
To the OP:
I’d second your choices, except for choosing the live version from the Fillmore album of ‘Elizabeth Reed’.
I’d also choose the originals of the Ventures tracks: Pipeline by the Chantays and Wipeout by the Surfaris.
Anything by Booker T. & The MG’s, especially “Green Onions” and “Melting Pot”.
Peaches en Regalia - Frank Zappa
Cry for a Shadow - Beatles
re: post-1982 instrumentals…in 1988, IRS Records’ spin-off label, No Speak released some tasty instrumental albums. The advertising tag line was, “No Speak eats New Age for breakfast.” My favorites are the first two; Pete Haycock’s Guitar and Son and Wishbone Ash’s* Nouveau Calls*.
ELP: “Toccata”
King Crimson: “A Sailor’s Tale”, “Red,” “Discipline”
Led Zeppelin: “Bron-y-aur”
Pink Floyd: “One of these Days”
Joe Satriani: “Summer Song”
Yes: “The Fish”, “Mood For a Day”
‘Toussaint L’Overture’ from 3, and ‘Every Step Of The Way’ from Caravanserai by Santana.
The Toadies - “Mexican Hairless”
Booker T. & the MG’s - “Green Onions”
The Clash - (cover of) “Time is Tight”
Jethro Tull - “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Bouree”
“Hand Picked” by Dickie Betts
“Trademark” by Eric Johnson
Many of mine have already been mentioned–love Maggot Brain.
I’ll add:
Dynamize by VHS or Beta
Poison Pushy by Stanton Moore
Guerlo Canelo by Calexio
Emperor of Wyoming by Neil Young
Soul Sacrifice by Santana
You know, other than Soul Sacrifice, I’m not sure any of these are really the rock genre.
But they all seem to fall under the general umbrella.
I hope I’m not being too “picky”, but I think he spells it Dickey.
Thanks so much for the suggestion; I just bought the album on itunes.
Genesis has several good ones - “After The Ordeal”, “Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers…In That Quiet Earth”, and “Duke’s Travels/Duke’s End” come to mind. The last one has one verse sung near the end, but I don’t really count that as “vocals” since the verse is just a repeat of a track earlier on the album.
I’m a fan of Sigur Ros, who don’t really apply to this thread, but Last.fm recommends a lot of instrumental post-rock to me. This is one of my favorites:
God Is An Astronaut - Fragile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2lA7Oyv864
The video (not sure if this is “official” or not) is a big reason why this song sticks with me.
Cat’s Squirrel by Jethro Tull. Cream also does a good job with it, but they credit Mick Abrahams with the arrangement.
No Matter What Shape’s (Your Stomach’s In) by the T-Bones
Second Albatross by Fleetwood Mac
I third Tull’s “Bouree” and second ELO’s “Fire on High”, the Alan Parsons Project’s “Sirius”, and Dick Dale’s “Miserlou”.
I submit for consideration:
Joe Satriani’s “Summer Song” and “Surfing with the Alien”
The Alan Parsons Project’s “I Robot” and “Lucifer”
Transiberian Orchestra’s “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” and “Carol of the Bells”
ELP’s “Fanfare for the Common Man”
“Green Onions”, Booker T. & the MGs
“Reoccurring Dreams”, Husker Du
Lots of Tortoise & Mogwai