What's your favorite rock-and-roll instrumental?

[poltr1]

WOFX-FM -- "The Fox" in Cincinnati -- is having a "One Hit Wonders" weekend. Every few songs, they'll play a classic rock hit from a band that has had only one hit.

While picking up dinner for R, I heard "Pictures of Matchstick Men" by Status Quo, and "Hocus Pocus" by Focus.

It's been years since I've heard that song. They announced the song before they started it (thankfully, they don't talk over records), and once it started, I'm saying, "Yes! Yes!" like a twentysomething rock-and-roll fanboy.

I cranked it up -- not to 11, but loud enough to hear all the nuances and instruments. I'd rather not excite the car's resonant frequencies with the woofers; that could be dangerous to me and annoying to the people around me. (I should mention that I want a motion-detected and turret-mounted EMP pulse cannon for these young yahoos with subwoofers so loud I can hear them -- or feel them -- a mile away.) If I wasn't driving, I would have been playing the air keyboard as well. And they played the long version of the song! Bonus!

Focus is a Dutch band that existed from 1970-78. Progarchives.com calls them "Symphonic progressive rock". I doubt that they had any members in common with another well-known Dutch band, Golden Earring ("Radar Love", "Twilight Zone"). "Hocus Pocus" was released in '73, and probably was an album rock station staple of the time. I inherited the 45 RPM single of the song from my sister's collection, when she left all her albums and singles behind (Unfortunately, they remixed the song for the single, and split it up into two parts.)

As for the song, it's an A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A pattern. The A part is a 4-measure guitar riff in A minor that sounds like it's 4-4-3-5 and repeated, ending with a drum solo each time with different effects. The B sections vary, from organ with chanting/yodeling vocals to overblown flute to accordian with whistling and echo to a silly Spike Jones' "Cocktails For Two" like voice.

I got home before the song finished, so I turned off the engine but left the electric power on until the song ended. It took me a few minutes to come down off that musical high.


"Hocus Pocus" rocks! So...what's your favorite rock-and-roll instrumental? It doesn't have to be from a one-hit wonder. Nor does it need to have any airplay.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

There are lots of songs with extended solo/jam bits, but very few pure instrumentals that I typically put on the stereo.

Let's see. There's one piece I have wanted to learn to play since I first heard it, um, many years ago. Not a long one, not a hard rocker, but because it's on a rock album, I think Horizons (Genesis) qualifies.

Now to actually learn the mother.

[poltr1]

I could probably figure it out or compose a lead sheet if I listened to it about a hundred times. I do know that the song sounds like it's in G major.

[allisona.livejournal.com]

Two come immediately to mind, simply because John and I listened to them so much in the van to and from Manitoulin Island this weekend.

1) The instrumentals in Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds".

2) The instrumentals in The Who's "Quadrophenia".

[poltr1]

I'm not familiar with the first one, but vaguely familiar with Quadrophenia. (Is that the one with 'Love Rain Over Me"? Great tune!) I also remember some of the instrumentals from Tommy.

[allisona.livejournal.com]

Oh, the Jeff Wayne "War of The Worlds" rocks. Quadrophenia does ends with "Love Reign O'r Me", which I agree is a great song. I really like The Who a lot, but in general I find that I like the music in "Quadrophenia" better than I like the music in "Tommy".