An Instrumental Playlist

Introduction

There are a few songs that refer to musical instruments (sometimes featured in the song) so after checking my playlists that I have previously published here on Vocal, I was surprised to find I hadn't done one on this theme.

Hopefully, I can find some that you haven't heard and they will all be songs that are somewhere in my collection, either physically or digitally. There will be a few that use the same title "Guitar Man" by Elvis Presley and David Gates/Bread springs to mind.

So here we go, and I will try and include enough instruments that could kit out a band.

Nick Drake - "Cello Song" from "Five Leaves Left"

An absolute beauty from the sadly missed Nick Drake. The cello makes an appearance, and the guitar work is stunning, with a wonderful acoustic rhythm backing.

If you don't know Nick Drake this should make you want to find out more. I often use his "Northern Sky" in my poems and stories.

Kate Bush - "The Saxophone Song" from "The Kick Inside"

From Kate's debut, the song starts atmospherically and it sounds wonderful. I think the saxophone break ruins it, but that's my opinion, although it is fine in the hypnotic coda.

Two of my favourite saxophone breaks are on "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty and "Grey Lagoons" by Roxy Music.

Bread - "Guitar Man"

I like a lot of David Gates' songs and this is no exception with that introductory guitar lick, which vies with Steve Miller's wolf-whistle on the original "The Joker" (ruined in the rerecording).

This is the first "Guitar Man" in this playlist.

John Farnham - "The Voice"

I wondered about this, but the human Voice was probably the original musical instrument and today we know that computers can replicate the human voice, although I want art to be produced by humanity not machines.

I like this song a lot, though it also includes bagpipes as well.

Sandy Nelson - "Let There Be Drums"

This was always on the record player at home when I was a kid, I think my dad bought the single. A series of drum breaks with a Dyane Eddy riff, covered by many bands including Queen.

Abraham Laboriel - "The Bass Walk"

Some jazz from one of the world’s greatest bass players according to Sir Paul McCartney. This is a sort of dueling basses jazz funk grove and the playing is very impressive.

So far we have guitar, bass, drums, voice, saxophone and cello. More than enough for a band.

Tyrannosaurus Rex - "Dwarfish Trumpet Blues" from "My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows"

One of the longest album titles ever, but is an example of the developing talent of Marc Bolan. As a teenager, I always wanted this album because of the cover, but never got it until it came out on CD but I may try and track down a vinyl copy.

Diana Ross - "My Old Piano"

I was trying to avoid "Piano Man" by Billy Joel and luckily the excellent Diana Ross song came to mind. Maybe not what you might expect from her, and I am sure because of the way it is broken up it is a difficult song to sing, a bit like Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" which took me a long time to master.

And yes there are some excellent piano runs in this.

Kingdom Come - "Triangles" from "Journey"

This is Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come and I think is more about the shape as the song has a lot of triplet sequences, rather than the simplest of musical instruments.

The album is full of great songs and music, but this is an instrumental that may or may not feature an actual triangle.

Thank you for reading and listening, and I hope you found something you liked.