Jorma Kaukonen's Embryonic Journey from The Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow LP, 1967.
Bent Fabric, Alley Cat, 1962.
The Village Stompers, Washington Square, 1963.
Kenny Ball, Midnight in Moscow, 1962.
David Rose, The Stripper, 1962.
Acker Bilk, Stranger on the Shore, 1962.
Dick Dale and the Deltones, Misirlou, 1963. If surf music had a father, Dick Dale was the man.
The Chantays, Pipeline, 1963. A nice college boy effort, but the definitive version is the Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughan cover.
Floyd Cramer, Last Date, 1960.
Michael Bloomfield, Albert's Shuffle, 1968. Definitive proof that a white boy can play the blues.
Albert’s Shuffle has got to be the best electric blues ever recorded, on an otherwise throwaway record: Super Sessions.
Thanks for the memories.
Bill thanks for posting the link to Embryonic Journey by the Airplane. It’s rare to get extensive footage of the people in the crowd. And the piece itself was lovely. I recently got my grandfather’s handsome old Washburn re-strung and I will see if I can get back to the fingerpicking.
Right, Mark, it was from “Super Sessions.”
O,
I was looking for Lonnie Mack’s “Memphis” which also features some good guitar-playing but couldn’t find it.
Let’s not forget “Classical Gas”, by Mason Williams, and the related “Anji”, made famous by Simon and Garfunkel.
Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s also give a nod to “Java”, by Al Hirt, and “Love is Blue”, by Paul Mauriat, huge hits both.
… and a string of hits by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, of course.
Hi Malcolm,
Those are all good choices. The Venture’s “Walk Don’t Run” also belongs on the list. I seem to recall a Lawrence Welkish Percy Faith arrangement, something about a summer place . . . .
But are there any memorable instrumentals from the ’70s and beyond?
Amazing how eclectic pop music was in the ’60s. All sorts of music charted high: C & W crossover stuff, R & B, jazz, geezer music, folk, folk rock, blues. . . . E.g., Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” cheek-by-jowl with Don Gibson’s “Sea of a Heartbreak,” etc.
There were some – there was “Frankenstein”, by Edgar Winter, for example. There were also a lot of disco near-instrumentals like “The Hustle”, which had occasional group vocal parts (e.g. “Do the Hustle!”). “Rock and Roll, Part 2”, by Gary Glitter was an instrumental save for some non-verbal chanting.
I can’t recall any instrumental hits from the 90’s and beyond, though.