Life Is A Long Song

[Thanks to Jethro Tull for the post title]

Just a few of my favourite really long songs.

Thick As A Brick – Jethro Tull

Supper’s Ready – Genesis

Karn Evil 9 – Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Close To The Edge – Yes

Tubular Bells – Mike Oldfield

Phallus Dei – Amon Düül II

Autobahn – Kraftwerk

Ma – Rare Earth

Get Ready – Rare Earth

Just A Poke (album) – Sweet Smoke: Baby Night & Silly Sally

Includes an excerpt from The Soft Parade by The Doors and a wonderfully phased drum solo.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond, parts 1-9 – Pink Floyd

On the ‘Wish You Were Here’ album, this song is split into two sections, separated by the other 3 songs on the album. Here it can be heard as one long piece.

Anonymus Two – Focus

Tarkus – Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Echoes – Pink Floyd

Salisbury – Uriah Heep

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida – Iron Butterfly

Ordinary length songs are often stretched incredibly during live performances, here’s one of them:

Dazed And Confused (live 1973) – Led Zeppelin

And here’s another:

Space Truckin’ – live 1974 – Deep Purple

And just for laughs:

Metal Machine Music – Lou Reed

This double album, consisting of 4 sides of equal length, is like one of those really bad movies that you keep watching hoping it will get better.

Spoiler alert:  it doesn’t.

Eleven Of The Best Classic Rock Songs Released in 2011

2011 has been a great year for an old Classic Rock fan like myself.

My sons: “what did you call “Classic Rock” when you were growing up, Dad?”

Me: “Rock!

Some of my all-time favourite bands either released new albums or re-issued classic albums with obscure and rare bonus tracks during 2011.

Here are eleven tracks that stand-out:

1. Wond’ring Aloud, Again – Jethro Tull
   Segued and extended version,
   from the 40th Anniversary re-issue of  “Aqualung“
2. The Painter (BBC, version two) – Deep Purple
   from “BBC Sessions“
3. Gotta Be Crazy (live 1974) – Pink Floyd
   early version of Dogs,
   from the 2011 re-issue of “Wish You Were Here“
4. Into The Storm – Yes
   from “Fly From Here”
5. The Travel Sequence – Pink Floyd
   early version of On The Run,
   from 2011 re-issue of “Dark Side Of The Moon“
6. The Hard Way – Pink Floyd
   from The Household Objects Project,
   from 2011 re-issue of “Dark Side Of The Moon“
7. I Can See You – Uriah Heep
   from “Into The Wild”
8. Ricochet (BBC) – Deep Purple
   early version of Speed King with different lyrics, including a guitar solo later used in The Mule,
   from “BBC Sessions”
9. My God – Jethro Tull
   early version with slightly different lyrics,
   from the 40th Anniversary re-issue of “Aqualung“
10. Smoke On The Water (live 2011) – Deep Purple and Orchestra
    from “Live At Montreux 2011“
11. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
    alternate version with Stéphane Grappelli on violin,
    from the 2011 re-issue of “Wish You Were Here“

Classic Rock on Rhythm

Many international acts are hard to find on Rhythm Music Store due to various licencing restrictions, however there are a number of classic rock songs that can be found.

Here is a list of some of my favourites in no particular order; please note that quite often they are live versions or updated re-recordings.

• Pinball Wizard – The Who
• The Ghost Of Tom Joad – Bruce Springsteen
• Like A Rolling Stone – Jimi Hendrix
• Ball and Chain – Janis Joplin
• Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
• Turn It On Again – Genesis
• Lady In Black – Uriah Heep
• Locomotive Breath – Jethro Tull
• Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple
• Roundabout – Yes
• Nights In White Satin – Moody Blues
• Sugar Man – Rodriguez
• For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield
• White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane
• Soul Sacrifice – Santana
• Rocking All Over The World – Status Quo
• Wearing and Tearing – Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (from Led Zeppelin)
• Hey Jude – Paul McCartney (from The Beatles)
• Sunshine Of Your Love – Eric Clapton (from Cream)
• All The Young Dudes – Mott The Hoople
• Wild Thing – The Troggs
• Tomorrow Never Knows (Beatles cover) – Tangerine Dream
• 25 of 6 to 4 – Chicago
• Love Is The Drug – Roxy Music
• Get Ready – Rare Earth
• This Flight Tonight – Nazareth
• The Ballad Of Hollis Brown – Bob Dylan
• Natural Born Bugie – Humble Pie
• Whatever Happened To Saturday Night – Meat Loaf
• Don’t Bring Me Down – The Pretty Things
• So You Wanna Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star – The Byrds

And as a bonus, take a listen to Ministry’s Cover Up album which includes covers of songs by classic rockers The Doors, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Golden Earring and err, Louis Armstrong.

Top Ten Classic Rock Songs

 

Top Ten Tunes: Jethro Tull

My top ten tunes from Jethro Tull.

1. Aqualung
2. My God
3. Jack-A-Lynn
4. A New Day Yesterday (1992 rehearsal version)
5. The Whistler
6. Thick As A Brick (the whole thing!)
7. Locomotive Breath
8. Moths
9. Too Old To Rock & Roll: Too Young To Die
10. Rainbow Blues

Disclaimer: I have decided to limit myself to only ten tunes, so of course some of my other favourites have been omitted.