# Your favorite instrumental music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862 "2008-08-21T22:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/1 "2008-08-21T22:29:45Z")
Sometimes you just want to kick back and listen to something without lyrics. What are your favorites? Some of mine are: Booker T and the MGs - Green Onions Harry J All Stars - The Liquidator KC and the Sunshine Band - The Hustle Average White Band - Pick up the Pieces I just realized there’s a lot of funky stuff in there. Also, the last two are not strictly instrumentals, but they’re near as damn it. 🙂 Anyway, recommend me some stuff. What would you pick? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/2 "2008-08-21T22:37:10Z")
I’d have to go with Santo & Johnny’s “Sleepwalk”. I also enjoy Husker Du’s “Reoccurring Dreams”, but I wouldn’t recommend it for most people. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/3 "2008-08-21T23:11:27Z")
The 50’s and early 60’s were golden for instrumentals – the Ventures, Duane Eddy, and that surf music guy whose name I’ve forgotten. Favorites are Apache by Jordan Ingman (sp?) and Wonderland by Night by Bert Kaempfert (sp). If you haven’t heard Roy Buchanan’s version of Sweet Dreams, check that out. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/4 "2008-08-21T23:15:59Z")
Beethoven’s 9th, hands down. AuntiePam: Dick Dale? ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/5 "2008-08-21T23:17:14Z")
Many Frank Zappa tunes; if one must be picked, let it be “Peaches in Regalia” from the Hot Rats album (which has only a few lines of lyrics on the whole album, BTW). ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/6 "2008-08-21T23:31:44Z")
Do yourself a favor and pick up the Beastie Boys’ **The In Sounds From Way Out**. I’m not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/7 "2008-08-22T00:13:22Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] Do yourself a favor and pick up the Beastie Boys’ **The In Sounds From Way Out**. I’m not kidding. [/QUOTE] All time fave. Outside of classical music, my other favorite is Steroid Maximus’s _Gondwanaland_. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/8 "2008-08-22T00:24:10Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] AuntiePam: Dick Dale? [/QUOTE] That’s him! And Bill Justis – Raunchy is the earliest rock and roll instrumental that I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/9 "2008-08-22T00:26:51Z")
Here’s a thread that went around trying to ID a song…and ended up with a lot of instrumental cites. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=470163&highlight=Hocus](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=470163&highlight=Hocus) Someone uploaded “Space Race”/Billy Preston on youtube, which I couldn’t find before. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OBW3DZrHGg) While we’re in the 1970s, “Rockford Files” (Mike Post?) had a good theme: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px_nrsFNgtI) “Bob Newhart” theme… [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BxLmqtCsV8) ---
**Author:** ![Octalcode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Octalcode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octalcode)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/10 "2008-08-22T00:45:38Z")
[QUOTE=Thing Fish] Many Frank Zappa tunes; if one must be picked, let it be “Peaches in Regalia” from the Hot Rats album (which has only a few lines of lyrics on the whole album, BTW). [/QUOTE] Excellent choice !!! Willie the Pimp also. (1% lyrics, 99% music) Beatles - Cry for a Shadow. John Barry - Theme from Midnight Cowboy. Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein. Chantays - Pipeline. ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/11 "2008-08-22T00:52:15Z")
[QUOTE=woodstockbirdybird] I’d have to go with Santo & Johnny’s “Sleepwalk”. [/QUOTE] This is one of my alltime favorites. Its hard to come up with all off the top of my head, but here’s a few other faves: Fourtet - Smile Around the Face (ok, no instruments were actually played but w/e) Jimi Hendrix - 3rd Stone from the Sun (has some talking, no singing) Rush - La Villa Strangiato Metallica - Orion ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/12 "2008-08-22T00:52:38Z")
Cream - Toad. 🙂 I’ll give whole albums Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire and Inner Mounting Flame, especially “One Word” on the former. And of course Mike Oldfield, TB I, II and most of III, Ommadawn, Amarok, Platinum, QE2, especially the title track and Taurus 2 on Five Miles Out. There are vocals on these, but they are in Celtic or Hindi, and are really used as an instrument, not as words. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/13 "2008-08-22T00:54:22Z")
_“Nouveau Calls”_, Wishbone Ash’s contribution to IRS Records’ “No Speak” series, is probably my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/14 "2008-08-22T01:02:08Z")
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Hot 'Lanta, Les Brers in A Minor, Jessica and Little Martha, by the Allman Brothers Band Sierra Leone and Sonido Alegre by the Derek Trucks Band. Clair de Lune by Debussy. ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/15 "2008-08-22T01:15:20Z")
For “kick back & relax” music, how about Gershwin’s _Rhapsody in Blue_, especially starring the great, great Leonard Bernstein on piano: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiyc9Ak3EtQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiyc9Ak3EtQ) & [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOcuvv01nO4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOcuvv01nO4) Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/16 "2008-08-22T03:24:11Z")
**Afro-Blue** by John Coltrane. The opening passage is just stunningly evocative for me. **Little House I Used To Live In** and **Eat That Question/Cleetus Awreetus-Awrightus** by Frank Zappa. As with many folks I have multiple Zappa faves, but I tend to gravitate to his “late-early” to “mid-period” stuff. **Mediterranean Sundance/Rio Ancho** by Al di Meola and Paco de Lucia. Acoustic relic from my fusion phase. Most of the super-loud electric jazz fusion stuff I don’t listen to anymore, but the 100 mph acoustic stuff still gets my blood pumping. **Mother Africa** by Santana. Kind of an odd choice, given the lack of typical Santana guitar heroics ( he played bass ). But again, very evocative and gives me visions of panoramic African scenery as seen by a slowly moving aircraft. I always imagine the camera speeding up at Michael Shrieve’s explosive drum solo as it pans over Olduvai Gorge. More typical Santana piece, off the first album - **Treat** , great back and forth guitar and piano. **Fast Life Rider** by Johnny Winter. Not entirely instrumental, though largely so . Really kind of a stand-in for any of several interminable JW blues-rock jams from the 1970’s, I guess. **Rites of Spring** by Igor Stravinsky. I can “blame” Zappa for the Stravinsky love. **9th Symphony** by Beethoven, of course. Undoubtedly the most powerful piece of classical music ever written. **Hot 'Lanta** by the Allman Brothers. I long ago largely lost my taste for most southern rock bands like, say, Lynyrd Skynyrd ( stuff like ‘Freebird’ or even ‘High Tides and Green Grass’ will make me run screaming ). But early Allman Brothers is eternal. **Beck’s Bolero** by Jeff Beck. Oddly, this one still works for me, even though the rave-up versions of old standards has become a cliche. I sorta like Ravel’s original at that. **Krill 'Slippin** by The Mermen. Just to throw some psychodelic surf in there. **New World Symphony** by Earth Wind and Fire, off the live album. I like instrumental funk. HUGE fan of the band War. **Icarus** or any of a couple of other tracks off the early Paul Winter Consort albums _Icarus_ and _Road_. In general I am not at all a fan of “New Age” music. I make an exception for these. **Kaba Mustapha/Valle E Gadjes** by 3 Mustaphas 3. At least I think that’s the track I’m thinking of. Doesn’t matter - all 3 Mustaphas 3 rules, no exceptions. And about a billion more. I could list tracks all night. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/17 "2008-08-22T03:27:29Z")
[Little Rock Getaway](http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=18930674) by Jimmy Bryant and [Kaiowas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVg1DsuM_n8) by Sepultura. Oh, and [From Skin to Liquid](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJCn2MsstkE) by Cannibal Corpse for that pure evil vibe. ---
**Author:** ![unstrung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a698b9/32.png) [@unstrung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unstrung)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/18 "2008-08-22T03:40:17Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Hot 'Lanta, Les Brers in A Minor, Jessica and Little Martha, by the Allman Brothers Band [/QUOTE] Aw, dammit. Most of these were gonna be my first picks, and I was excited at the possibility of being first to post them. [Insert random pointless grumbling about people with good musical taste who check forums more often than me here] Anyway, of those, my personal favorite is Jessica. It’s one of the songs I cue up whenever I’m in a bad mood and want to get back into a good mood. And to date, it has never failed. For some other suggestions, please feel free to check out: -“She’s a Woman” by Jeff Beck. I mean, the whole Blow by Blow album is filled to the brim with pure awesome, but this song in particular is another one that will always, always, always put me in a good mood. -“Orange Wedge” by Chemical Brothers. Something about that slinky dirty synth part always strikes me as super cool (as a side note, “The Sunshine Underground” from the same album is pretty spiffy too, but technically it has a few words in it so I suppose it doesn’t count for purposes of this thread) -“Black Eyed Pea” by Galactic. The frantic sax solo is nifty, but the build at the end is really where it’s at. -“Mnemonics” by DJ Logic. I’ll admit that I’m a little biased on this one, but only because I saw the dude perform it live with the sax solo done as a duel between live sax and sampled sax, and it pretty much kicked everyone’s ass. -“Bubblehouse” by Medeski, Martin and Wood (not the remixed one - the original version). Now, MMW is often given to musical tangents that I find spectacular, but that I understand everyone else may not like so much. But on this song, they did something I think a lot of people can enjoy. -“Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick” by Whitesnake. That’s right, I said Whitesnake. Mock me if you must, but give it a listen. -“Always with Me, Always with you” by Joe Satriani. I’m actually only a lukewarm fan of Mr. Satriani overall, but this song just came out really well. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/19 "2008-08-22T05:10:49Z")
Watch this. Seriously. Watch it. [Chrono Cross Introduction](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHQ7yEYwEnE) Amazing music. Amazing game. I highly recommend both the game and the soundtrack, which are the best. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862/20 "2008-08-22T06:55:18Z")
I’ll go a different direction: [Seven Cities](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs-jemAvpxw&feature=related) - Solarstone [Communication Part 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnZpcN_z4SI) - Armin van Buuren [Sublime](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2n1JEF_6dk) - Ferry Corsten [Airwave](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltaogX8vYwQ) - Rank 1 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-instrumental-music/460862.md?page=2)