“Listen” Tears for Fears… “Songs from the Big Chair”…
No love for ELP’s “Fanfare for the "Common Man”? It gets bonus points for being a new arrangement of a classical work.
Also, are we talking the best instrumental sing, or the most virtuoso of performances by the musicians.
Why, just because the list of “100 Greatest Rock Instrumentals” has 250 items on it?
Two more rock instrumental candidates from the surf genre:
“Unto The Resplendent” - The Mermen
“Hearse Full Of Souls” - Evan Foster
…and the classic one-hit instrumental wonder, “Popcorn” by Hot Butter (fabulous as background music for a table tennis match).
Little bit of a hijack …
If you are a big fan of Misirlou like me (I have about 20 different versions), make sure to search for both spellings – Misirlou and Miserlou. They are the same song, but both iTunes and Rhapsody have multiple versions on each list that don’t appear on the other.
Layla piano ending. Without question.
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I’ll also suggest Jessica by The Allman Brothers.
Stole my post. A classic!
No question that posting “Jessica” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” pretty much made the rest of the thread a posting of other favorites, since the candidates for the best were given right at the top.
Which is better? “Jessica” is the purest example of American stomp and cheer guitar-based Southern cookin’ music. “Elizabeth Reed” might have an even better melody. But it has that drum solo. But that melodic line…
Damn motorcycles.
Yep, some of Bill Berry’s best drum work evident there. I also like “Endgame.”
I’ve already violated many of the rules of instrumentals in my lists, but I was so tempted to put “intros to ‘The Working Hour’ and ‘Broken’ from TFF’s Songs from the Big Chair.” That is a great, great record.
I can’t believe I left these off as well:
Living Colour, “Ology”
New Order, “Elegia” - I’ve decided I will play this on the first day of my classes this semester as students enter the room. 
Pete Haycock did an album of instrumentals that I really like. Here he is playing Dr. Brown I Presume.
Do you have the one my people grew up with?
There should be a couple of Brian May pieces in the short list. instrumentals from:
movie “Flash Gordon” the wedding song
“We will rock you”
“Don’t stop me now”
Right On, Bro! Except for David Freiberg’s stoned-out vocal interlude, “The Fool” is instrumental heaven from first to last.
Tough question. For me, the classics are “Frankenstein,” “Apache,” “Wipe Out,” Miserlou," “Pipeline,” and “Jessica.” I’ll nominate “Frankenstein” as my favorite of that bunch.
Europa (Moonflower album) - Carlos Santana
Hand Picked (Highway Call album) - Richard Betts and Vassar Clements
and, of course, I’ll join the Jessica bandwagon.
It really needs to be linked to.
I’m always amazed at folks who lump the Allman Brothers into the “Southern Rock” category. They were a Prog band, that just happened to be from the South.
Not a rock band , but totally a rock instrumental: “The Roots of Coincidence” by the Pat Metheny Group.
As much as I like “Jessica” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”, I’d have to pick the post drum solo half of “Mountain Jam” as the best rock instrumental. Followed very closely by Carlos Santana’s “Toussaint L’Overture.”
Personally, I think that’s a good thing. The Allmans were not prog to me. Prog bands don’t really jam over two simple chords. (Yes, I know there’s a couple more chords in there, but it’s mostly just A and D.) Maybe a jam band, but no more prog than the Grateful Dead or Phish are.