Do Prog bands create the best instrumentals?
 

There's no denying there are some fantastic instrumentals out there, written by premier progressive bands --- Genesis' "Unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth", from Wind and Wuthering, along with Hackett's gently understated "Horizons", from Foxtrot, and of course Alan Parson's wonderful "Sirius", to name but a few. But are prog instrumentals the pinnacle of the art? And if so, why? Is it because progressive rock is so much more complex, detailed and thoughtful than "normal" rock, or are there other reasons?
Or do you disagree?
And if you agree, what would be your favourite proggy instros?
Finally, is longer better, or is it the case that the more drawn-out a prog instrumental gets, the more boring it becomes? Or the better it becomes?
And will I ever stop asking daft questions? :)

Yes had some pretty well known instrumental wankings...but they had some good chops.

Instrumentals can be too long, but a lot of the time they are altering the main idea so it sounds decent. Instrumentals that are interesting, not well played are my favorites. 'Interstellar Overdrive' is a great example of a good instrumental for me, very cool riff that they goof around with.

I'd say yes.

I'd say no.

I think I would put it between Prog and Classical. Red by King Crimson is probably my favourite. Or Supervillain by Madvillain, but that's pretty rare in hip hop.

Well, in fairness you can't compare prog to classical --- classical has (generally) no lyrics and so is all instrumental, and I wouldn't dream of comparing, say, Dvorak's "Symphony from the new world" or Rachamaninov's "Piano concerto no 2" to "Horizons" or "Hyper Gamma spaces"...

Definitely yes! Just some of my favorites -

Camel - Reflections/Captured(It's two separate tracks)
Gong - Expresso
Goblin - Aquaman(Pretty much everything by goblin actually)
Riverside - Reality Dream II(Include Reality Dream I & III as well)
King Crimson - Sailor's Tale

Then there's Frank Zappa, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Mike Oldfield, Whether Report, Rush(La Villa Strangiato comes to mind), more king crimson, lots of Italian bands, Ozric Tentacles, Tangerine Dream, Gryphon etc.
The list is just endless and I'm too lazy to name all the exact songs :p:
There's also a "Post-Rock" genre which is more or less instrumental.

But are prog instrumentals the pinnacle of the art?
Well, not exactly, but prog. bands do tend to do more instrumentals and are always bound to be better.

is longer better?
Depends on the song.

Edit: There are a lot of Metal Instrumentals as well that are really good, but even those bands do tend to be called "Prog".(although there are some which aren't)

Same.

I guess you're ruling out Classical because I can't imagine how a quintet playing Bach would really be topped, but I think the roots acts really get it much better because their less limited in what they use for instruments. Accordions, Tin Whistles, half the time they make up their own.

Prog to me is just scales. And you don't need to flip out, its just my opinion and its not likely to change. Sometimes I like it but most times I can just hear Liquid Tension Experiment playing the same slap bass runs over and over and it bothers me.

What a cool handle!!
Very good point, in fact: a lot of as you say "roots" acts do push the envelope in instrumentals, even traditional Irish or Scottish groups can pull off some amazing tunes.
And I'm sure, with that handle, you'll agree that there's a certain gravel-voiced singer who can make ANY instrument do things and make sounds it never even thought it could! I think one of my favourites by him, though of course not as experimental as his later stuff, is "Rainbirds" from Swordfishtrombones --- a truly unique piece of music: understated, simple and elegant yet SO different, quiet but yet screaming with the roar of Waits' innate genius.

Well Tom is, in my opinion the great audio artist to ever create. people think I'm bias about Metallica, I don't even respond to things about tom a lot because I'll write 5 posts worth.

He has gone on record as loving the symphony the most right before they start when everyone is warming up and doing their own thing and it sounds like a big carnival of noise. A man who appreciates the chaos is a man I cnaa relate to.

he's also created his own instruments, I have an interview on CD where he's explaing on NPR how the Circular violin works. I'll spare you the details but he was like "you bow and and you don't know what sound you'll get, you just have to go with it."

Also thanks for the compliment, I love both artists mentioned, though Tom is the best thing I've ever heard. I'm working on getting a Tattoo connected to him somehow.

Not a big fan of LTE either. Though Tony Levin is my favorite bassist, largely for his work with KC, obviously.

King Crimson have written some great instrumentals, but most of all "Fracture" - my favorite instrumental of all time, Robert Fripp is a ****ing machine. I also enjoy Emerson, Lake & Palmer "From the Beginning", and agree with whoever mentioned Intersteller Overdrive.

I am a big fan of Celtic music and would agree with this. Their jigs/reels have a really unique energy, and they're very intense live!

I'd say no, I prefer post-rock instrumentals.

Same here. Although I like alot of prog **** too. Alot of post-rock instrumentals are just so damn amazing.

That and I find that a lot, not all, but a lot, of prog instrumentals are just there to showcase technical ability.

There are a few bands that I have found use instrumentals just to showcase technical ability (i.e. Dream Theatre IMO) where it just turns into this whole showing-off, look what I can do, phase. But there are heaps of prog instrumentals that I enjoy that aren't really like this at all... I love instrumentals from Tool, Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd... and heaps others. And don't think they just do it to showcase their technical ability.

But you're right in a lot of post-rock instrumentals are also awesome.

I've stayed out of this, since a lot of prog bands tend to shy away from purely instrumental tracks, even if they have 10 minutes between vocals. But bands like Camel and Wishbone Ash and of course Zappa prove that prog does have the best there is to offer, outside of classical, or GY!BE.

Guessing we are ignoring jazz as well? :p: Just wondering...

Oh god, hadn't considered Jazz, and that has some of the best instrumentals too.

Soft Machine and The Polite Force for the win eh :p:

Artists as diverse as The Orb, Clannad, Charlie Mingus and Jose Padilla have created some excellent Instrumental stuff (The Orb are really an instrumental band, so that may be a little unfair). Prog bands are known for instrumentals but they are'nt (IMO) neccessarily always the best. This is one of my favourites from the master known as Frank Zappa:

Best instrumentals are found in jazz, not prog. Even in jazz/rock hybrids. Check out the long 8 or so minute instrumental in Steely Dan's song Aja. That instrumental alone blows away much of what I've heard of prog instrumentals.

To be fair, jazz fusion really is a subgenre under prog. But yes, some of the instrumentals in jazz are the best that are out there (and they're immeasurably difficult to replicate). Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame is one of the most solid instrumental albums you'll ever encounter.

I suppose you probably could legitimately put most jazz-fusion under prog. Especially bands like Caravan and whatnot.

I always keep forgetting Jazz :p:
Yeah, Jazz-Fusion instrumentals definitely betters what I posted.(or atleast I seem to like it more :) )

Anyone have any examples of great jazz-fusion instrumentals or bands or artists in general?

A very easy entry into this genre is Heavy Weather by Weather Report. More Jazz than Rock though.

My mix list has a few more unknown ones... Might enojy that (My most recent one in there)

Of course, Weather Report/Mahavishnu Orchestra/Pat Metheny, are the most known/popular.

Thanks guys, I shall check them all out.

Bill Frisnell/Chick Corea/Return to Forever/Allan Holdsworth/etc.

I STRONGLY recommend Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame. Easily tops the genre.

My favorite is Elegant Gypsy by Al Di Meola :)
Yup, It does have quite a bit of shredding, but i don't think "shred" should be taken as a turn-off here. Some of it can be good. This is shredding with a lot of musicianship behind it. Not like any of those 80s neo-classical metal shredders.
Here's the first track, just an indicator of what's to come(the intro sounds like something tool have copied :p: ) -

^ Guitarist for Return to Forever.

Yeah, I've been meaning to check them out as well. Romantic Warrior is high on my list of 'to get' albums. I just don't have time to give it a listen atm :(
Hmm, maybe you can send one of those? I'll give it a listen soon.

I tend to find that in the end I actually do not care as to the genre as long as I like it. Cop out? Sure. That is just the way it is. A prog instrumental and a folk jig for example side by side make no difference to me.

You defenders of Classical need to remember, that many of those composers would be considered "progressive" musicians of their time. So, technically, I think you could be justified in including them. That's MY opinion, anyhow. But yes, Prog has the best instrumentals. Especially when you include "progressive" instrumental Jazz/Fusion bands, like RETURN TO FOREVER. Very "Prog" in style.

But for the traditional Prog Rock bands...

EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER
RUSH
ALAN PARSONS PROJECT

Each of those have too many great instrumental tracks to mention them by name.

You should just get the 2 CD "Anthology" disc that came out, earlier this year. It has the ENTIRE "ROMANTIC WARRIOR" album, plus all the crucial tracks from the four albums that were done by the core quartet. It'll blow your friggin' mind.

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