Lloyd Cole--"Backwoods" (mp3)
Carlene Carter--"First Kiss" (mp3)
Leo Kottke--"Sailor's Grave on the Prairie" (mp3)
Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane (featuring Eric Clapton)--"Rough Mix" (mp3)
Buckingham Nicks--"Stephanie" (mp3)
I have written before about my love of very short songs, and, indeed, it did lead to a sharing of some of the great offerings of the genre from various readers/listeners. This, I guess, is kind of a subset of that.
I have another favorite: the instrumental tracks that appear on people's albums and cd's from time to time. There is a temptation to dismiss these as half-finished ideas or afterthoughts, but as someone who fiddles around on various stringed instruments myself, I can vouch for the fact that some pieces of music simply don't seem to lend themselves either to words or to excessive repetition of the verse/chorus pattern.
What to do with these little gems? I love them on mix cds, either as a quick intro at the start before a real rocker or as a breather between songs in the middle. They also can go a long way towards creating a tone shift.Of course, including Leo Kottke in this mix is a bit disingenuous since so much of his music is instrumental, but some of the best choices come from his catalogue.
Check these out. Even without words (though you can hear Carlene Carter shouting exuberantly in hers), these instrumentals have memorable melodies and staying power. Who knows? You might come to like them well enough in their own right that you'll find yourself spinning through your Ipod looking for the pretty little Lloyd Cole thing, what was the name of that? What are your favorite instrumentals?
Lloyd Coles' instrumental can be found on Etc., Carlene Carter's on Little Love Letters, Leo Kottke's on 6 and 12 String Guitars, Pete and Ronnie's on Rough Mix, all available at Itunes. . Buckingham Nicks is out-of-print.
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