r/progrockmusic • u/Low_Primary_3690 • 2d ago
What are some good, kinda short instrumental prog pieces?
Stuff like Theme One by VdGG or The Spider by Kansas. Preferably by a band that typically uses vocals. Edit: Preferably energetic, not slow. Thanks yall
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u/MadMKdog 2d ago
First two that come to mind are peaches in regalia by Zappa and hocus pocus by focus
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u/GreatOldGod 2d ago
While Hocus Pocus doesn't have lyrics, it sure has one of the most memorable vocal sections in music history so I'm not sure it counts as an instrumental.
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u/PreviousLife7051 2d ago
Camel - Rain Dances
Camel - Rhayader Goes to Town
Camel - Eye of the Storm
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u/AndreTheShadow 2d ago edited 2d ago
To add to the Camel list
Aristillus
One of these days I'll get an early night
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u/pikeandshot1618 2d ago
Any Colour You Like -Pink Floyd
Arubaluba and Supertwister -Camel
Countenance -Nektar
Breakaway -Alan Parsons (not the Project)
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u/Adidas_Tracksuit 2d ago
Jethro Tull has a few. Nice Little Tune is probably the shortest off the top of my head, but most are around 3 ish minutes, such as Elegy, Warm Sporran, Pan Dance, Quartet, From Later, and Bourée.
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u/emmersp 2d ago
Dixie Dregs - Ice Cakes
Brilliant instrumental track from their album What If
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u/rb-j 2d ago
I love Dregs. At least their proggy stuff.
I don't love the southern rock (like Gina Lola Breakdown).
Of course, my fav on that album is Night Meet Light. Like Camel's Ice, Dreg's Night Meets Light is iconic.
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u/SquirrelSanctuary 2d ago
Rush has great shorter ones. YYZ, Leave That Thing Alone, Where’s My Thing?, Hope, and Malignant Narcissism are all enjoyable
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u/SignedInAboardATrain 2d ago
For good, short, energetic, proggy instrumentals, your best shots are with a lot of Zappa:
Uncle Meat Main Theme and Dog Breath Variations
Peaches In Reagalia
Echidna's Arf (Of You)
Black Page #1 and #2
Envelopes
Tink Walks Amok, We Are Not Alone and Moggio
Alien Orifice and What's New in Baltimore?
T'Mershi Duween
All great tunes. Enjoy!
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u/prefabsprout1 2d ago
Happy The Man - Service With A Smile
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u/Lumpy-Sail-1367 2d ago
I might add “I forgot to Push It” by keyboardist Kit Watkins from their ‘78 album Crafty Hands!
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u/JasonYaya 2d ago
The Barbarian, Hoedown - ELP
Sailor's Tale - King Crimson
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u/theTommy740 2d ago
came here to say Sailor’s Tale, such a perfect transition into the rest of the album.
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u/want_a_muffin 2d ago
Boston isn’t a prog band, but Foreplay is a good, kinda short instrumental prog piece…although it does segue directly into Long Time, which has vocals.
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u/Low_Primary_3690 2d ago
Boston is one of the bands that showed me what music could be and got me into prog. Especially Foreplay
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u/Neuvirths_Glove 2d ago
Most people don't think of Joe Jackson as prog, or even rock, but Loisaida is an instrumental composition that has a nice prog feel to it.
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u/Express-Ordinary137 2d ago edited 2d ago
"I, Robot" - Alan Parsons Project
"2112: Overture" - Rush
"One of These Days" - Pink Floyd
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u/asocialmedium 2d ago
Not a prog band but Half by Soundgarden is a kick ass short instrumental that would be at home on any prog album.
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u/skullking688 2d ago
ELO - First Movement
ELO - Manhattan Rumble
David Gilmour - Raise My Rent
All of Alan Parsons Project's albums have one or two instrumentals on them
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u/Ilbranteloth 2d ago
The Police always had interesting instrumentals.
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u/rb-j 2d ago
Please tell us which ones!
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u/Ilbranteloth 1d ago
Behind My Camel comes to mind. In part because Andy and Sting didn’t like it (so much that Sting refused to play on it) AND…it won a Grammy. I believe it also happened to beat YYZ for that Grammy. It’s an eastern/drone-like Andy Summers piece that is about as far away from YYZ as you can get. But the tone, composition, and energy sound very “prog” to me, even if I wouldn’t really call it a prog piece. Although if you know Andy Summers, you know he’s far more capable than what is shown via The Police. It also reminds me of what he would do with Robert Fripp in a few years. Repetitive, but prog in an Eno/Fripp sort of way.
Regatta De Blanc is another. Oddly, it also won a Grammy. Stewart and Summers could have formed the basis of an interesting prog band. There are some Sting vocals on this one, scat singing and typical Police nonsense vowels. I like it less than the others as a result, but the actual instrumental portions are interesting.
The Other Way of Stopping is another. This is closer the to normal Police style, just without singing. Yet still with a bit of a prog feel. I suspect that ‘80s Rush has an influence on why it feels that way to me.
I don’t recall offhand of any others. Haven’t listened to them in a while. None on Synchronicity.
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u/geech999 2d ago
Crumble by Phideaux. The version that is track 4 on Doomsday Afternoon is instrumental.
Horizons by Genesis
Penny by Crown Lands
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u/panurge987 2d ago
Cash Flow by Beardfish
Return to Mudhill by Beardfish
Many Gentle Giant songs are fairly short.
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u/Hornswagglers_Lament 2d ago
Most of the tracks on Eno’s Another Green World are short instrumentals. Pick one.
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u/Yoshiman400 2d ago
Lot of jazz fusion on this list, do be forewarned:
Liquid Tension Experiment - Chris & Kevin's Excellent Adventure
Elton John - Theme from a Non-Existent TV Series (also Your Starter for... from the same album; his guitarist actually wrote that one)
Yes - Cinema
Jeff Beck - Freeway Jam
Santana - La Fuente del Ritmo (but really check out the whole Caravanserai album)
Dream Theater - False Awakening Suite
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u/Agitated-Trick 2d ago
The comments have been all great choices so far, so I want to throw in a few tracks from one of my absolute favourites, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso:
-Traccia
-Traccia II
-Traccia III
-Danza Dei Grandi Rettili
-Ciclo & Circobanda (along with "Canto Di Primavera" based on the same melody, though the latter I mentioned has lyrics)
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u/TFFPrisoner 2d ago
Manfred Mann's Earth Band have lots of great ones:
- Countdown
- Waiter, There's a Yawn in my Ear
- Fritz the Blank
- Sky High
- Nightingales and Bombers
- Saturn, Lord of the Ring/Mercury, the Winged Messenger
- Adults Only
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u/MageAtum 2d ago edited 2d ago
Genesis - Hairless Heart
Starcastle - Stargate
Yes - Black Car and Cinema
Alan Parsons Project - Voyager and Sirius
Roger Powell - Morning Chorus
Nektar - Cybernetic Consumption
Not ‘prog’ but definitely proggy..
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt 2
Michael Cretu - Legionäre
Van Halen - Sunday Afternoon in the Park and 1984
Colourbox - Edit the Dragon
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u/100-100-1-SOS 2d ago
Hell’s Bells by Bill Bruford’s “Bruford” band on the album “The Bruford Tapes”
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u/aFriendlyBullet 2d ago
Sorgenfri and Karlek Fran Agusa by Agusa have been some of my favorites lately
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u/Chakks 2d ago
This is a very short instrumental song by a prog band (1 min 40 seconds), I don't think this quite what you're looking for... But if you haven't heard it I think it's worth a listen.
3 - Bramfatura
https://open.spotify.com/track/2KSLHuaF3SRM4i6N3OrYeZ?si=qWLa3JhaRcyZVee8QQBKEg
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u/rb-j 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yes: The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)
The Fragile studio version is short, but the best version is the live Yessongs version which is 9 minutes.
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u/Darkbornedragon 2d ago
Well Consciousness part 2 by Persefone is very good and VERY energic. Better with part 1 before it tho, they're essentially one song
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u/fremder99 1d ago
“Babylon” by The Flower Kings is only 2:31 and puts me in the best mood! Almost dangerous when I’m driving and it comes up; crank the volume to 11!
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u/TheModerateGenX 1d ago edited 1d ago
A few that haven’t been mentioned:
Camel - Six Ate
Zappa - Transylvania Boogie, Sofa No.1
Spock’s Beard - Kamikaze, Box of Spiders
Metallica - Orion
Umphrey’s McGee - Cemetery Walk II
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u/Decent_Muscle_3172 1d ago
King Crimson - Sartori In Tangier (3:35)
King Crimson - Red (6:05)
Pink Floyd - Any Colour you Like (3:27)
Tool - Intermission (0:56) if you're going to listen to this one make sure to listen to 'Jimmy' immediately after because they go together
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u/Express-Ordinary137 1d ago
Check out AUDIO by Blue Man Group! It's a "percussion-heavy" all-instrumemtal album. My favorite is "Mandelgroove": https://youtu.be/0URpaZDegbs?si=jzjMISJc3AINBhvf
On the album, it goes directly into "PVC IV": https://youtu.be/GTX8imUCWQ0?si=ZWXmbzU6-Y9luIac
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u/snowfox-trot 6h ago
House Of The King by Focus is very sweet and rather short. Focus has a lot of lovely instrumental pieces: Sylvia, Janis, Love Remembered and Early Birth are great too.
A hidden gem is Spirit Of The Dance by Greenslade.
Otherwise Lucifer, The Gold Bug or Sirius by the Alan Parsons Project.
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u/SlimGishel 2d ago
Gentle Giant - The Boys in the Band
Rush - YYZ
Genesis - After the Ordeal