The Beta Band - "The Beta Band Rap"
or "Monolith" if you're willing to sacrifice brevity for actually being a good song
or "Eclipse", maybe
― leigh exodus (country matters), Sunday, 22 March 2009 22:47 (fifteen years ago) link
The Blood Brothers - "Cecilia And The Silhouette Saloon"
(yes I am going through my iTunes alphabetically)
― leigh exodus (country matters), Sunday, 22 March 2009 22:50 (fifteen years ago) link
o boy
― f f murray abraham (G00blar), Sunday, 22 March 2009 22:51 (fifteen years ago) link
most of the pas/cal album except all of the songs are horrible.
― keythkeythkeyth, Sunday, 22 March 2009 22:52 (fifteen years ago) link
'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' was first thing that leapt to mind. 'Good Vibrations' works too.
― Ismael Klata, Sunday, 22 March 2009 22:52 (fifteen years ago) link
yes and i think Heroes and Villains even more so.
― sonderangerbot, Sunday, 22 March 2009 22:59 (fifteen years ago) link
Califone - "Black Metal Valentine" (also my favourite song of theirs, truly sublime in the purest sense)
Cardiacs - ... (I have a choice of about 50 songs here...maybe MAYBE I'll side "Dog-Like Sparky", or "Dirty Boy", or "The Duck And Roger The Horse", or "Buds And Spawn", or "RES" or "In A City Lining" or or or or...)
The Electric Soft Parade - "The American Adventure" (again, kaleidoscopic, whisks you through many possible hooks and resolutions before finally hitting pop gold, although it IS 7 minutes long)
The Fiery Furnaces - jeeeez, er..."Chris Michaels" then (pretty damn definitive as these things go IMO)
The Flaming Lips - "The Spark That Bled"
Guillemots - "Sao Paolo" (11 minute running-time notwithstanding)
― leigh exodus (country matters), Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:09 (fifteen years ago) link
queen - bohemian rhapsodyted nugent - wango tangoteena marie - square biz
― xhuxk, Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:12 (fifteen years ago) link
Ooh, here's a good one: Julian Cope - "Know (Cut My Friend Down)", only 3:20 in length!
I wrote a list of my favourite "Bohemian Rhapsodies" when I was at high school; I think I've already listed a few of them.
― leigh exodus (country matters), Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:15 (fifteen years ago) link
able tasmans 'school is no good for you'
― keythkeythkeyth, Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:15 (fifteen years ago) link
My Radiohead choice is "2+2=5", obv. :-D
― leigh exodus (country matters), Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:16 (fifteen years ago) link
belle & sebastian 'your cover's blown'
― keythkeythkeyth, Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:18 (fifteen years ago) link
Am I allowed to mention Koenjihyakkei or are they too prog?
― leigh exodus (country matters), Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:18 (fifteen years ago) link
Late Of The Pier - er, I'd like to say "The Enemy Are The Future" but "Broken" and "Bathroom Gurgle" are more concise, more obviously-lurching-between-sections examples.
― leigh exodus (country matters), Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:22 (fifteen years ago) link
Mansun - any track off "Six" tbh but especially "Six", "Shotgun", "Cancer" and "Being A Girl"
(this is important to me)
― leigh exodus (country matters), Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:27 (fifteen years ago) link
The Mars Volta - d/q for being too prog in traditional sense
Massive Attack - "Group Four"
Melt-Banana - something, haven't worked it out yet
Mercury Rev - please please please can I pick "Meth Of A Rockette's Kick"? Oh goody, cheers!
Mew!! Perfect. "Am I Wry? No"
The Monsoon Bassoon - maybe "Wise Guy", maybe "Blue Junction
Mr. Bungle - "Violenza Domestica"? "Goodbye Sober Day"? Too much choice here. Probably "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz"
omg My Computer - "All I Ever Really Wanted Was A Good Time" !!!!!!!!!!
the letter M's pretty good for this shit and I didn't even get round to Muse or Meshuggah
― leigh exodus (country matters), Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:44 (fifteen years ago) link
"A Dreamer Who Is Too Weak to Face Up To" is as good a Melt-Banana choice as any for this.
― Hongroe Like the Wolf (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:51 (fifteen years ago) link
I suspect a lot of these songs are multiple unfinished songs cobbled together.
McCartney's got a pile of these:"You Never Give Me Your Money""Golden Slumbers/The End""Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey""Live and Let Die""Band on the Run" (mentioned above)"Picasso's Last Words""Junior's Farm" (maybe)"Goodnight Tonight""The Pound Is Sinking"(Some of these admit to being 2 songs, but it feels like there are 4 or 5 song bits buried in each of them)
Fleetwood Mac - "The Chain"XTC - "The Wheel and the Maypole"Pink Floyd - "Jugband Blues"Buffalo Springfield - "Broken Arrow"Brian Wilson - "Rio Grande"The Who - "Who Are You"The Roches - "My Sick Mind"Rickie Lee Jones - "Traces of the Western Slope"Rickie Lee Jones - "Gravity"Nick Lowe - "Nutted By Reality"Sloan - "The Good in Everyone"Sloan - "Fading Into Obscurity"Belle & Sebastian - "Step Into My Office Baby"
― Hideous Lump, Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Really you just want this:
http://media-files.gather.com/images/d709/d677/d744/d224/d96/f3/full.jpg
― Hongroe Like the Wolf (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:54 (fifteen years ago) link
i have a creeping suspicion this could be my least favourite type of song
― Bad, Bad Memories of a Good Time (electricsound), Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:56 (fifteen years ago) link
The Moody Blues - House of Four Doors (duhhhh)
― CaptainLorax, Sunday, 22 March 2009 23:58 (fifteen years ago) link
Hmm. Examples of this kinda die away after M, at least on MY iTunes. Until SFA. In truth, you can't really beat those Boo Radleys examples for songs that fulfil Nick's criteria exactly. My examples are generally a teeny bit too long. Apparently Architecture In Helsinki are a bit micro-proggy inna pop style but they're also a bit cutesy/happy-clappy, whereas Boo Radleys actually made their songs into miniature labyrinths, full of not just surprise but wonder, fear and incomprehension.
SFA - probably "Receptacle For The Respectable"
Talk Talk - "Taphead" (haaahahahahahaha)
The The - "Out Of The Blue (Into The Fire" (more in terms of lyrical narrative than music...this song passes through many phases of emotional tone in only 5 minutes, and the music itself develops unpredictably)
Thighpaulsandra - "Lycraland" (this song passes through an absolute wealth of musical territory, in an almost entirely abstract fashion; it's also completely brilliant, and I'm willing to overlook the near-16-minute runtime because you simply gotta hear it, and the album it's on, much of which has similarly vaulting ambitions)
Ulver - "The Truth" (four minutes, utter carnage)
Volcano! - "Easy Does It"
Wilco - "Poor Places" (I REALLY fucken dig this song, and it's perfect for this thread)
Working For A Nuclear Free City - "Nancy Adam Susan" or maybe "England" (it's amazing how many of my very favourite songs are cropping up as candidates here!)
XTC - "The Wheel..." otm ^^^ with ya buddy
Youthmovies - "Magic Diamond" (I think this might be their best track - its narrative never doubles back but keeps on burrowing down, down, deep into something totally unexpected and utterly magical)
65DOS - "Music Is Music As Devices Are Kisses Is Everything"
ok I'm done, sorry for ruining yr thread Southall
and yeh Noodle, "A Dreamer..." is a good choice, even if the previous track (which isn't, granted, so breakneck) is like one of the highlights of all music ever
― leigh exodus (country matters), Monday, 23 March 2009 00:24 (fifteen years ago) link
Roger Waters - Just about anything off of Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking (and a few from The Final Cut too)Sonic Youth - "Swimsuit Issue"Sonic Youth - "Bone"Talking Heads - "Artists Only"Velvet Underground - "I'm Sticking With You"Billy Joel - "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant"Electric Light Orchestra - "Fire on High"Electric Light Orchestra - "Standing in the Rain"Electric Light Orchestra - "Mr. Blue Sky"Electric Light Orchestra - "Loser Gone Wild"Laurie Anderson - "Sharkey's Day"The B-52's - Rock Lobster
― Hideous Lump, Monday, 23 March 2009 00:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Too often they sound like what they are--unrelated bits slapped together--but when they miraculously work, they're great.
― Hideous Lump, Monday, 23 March 2009 00:34 (fifteen years ago) link
I think many of my examples flow organically between sections, rather than bolt *completely* unrelated sections *right* next to each other. But I don't think that contravenes the conditions of this thread.
― leigh exodus (country matters), Monday, 23 March 2009 00:39 (fifteen years ago) link
Only Skin - Joanna Newsom
― Turangalila, Monday, 23 March 2009 00:42 (fifteen years ago) link
pretty things - defecting grey
― Bad, Bad Memories of a Good Time (electricsound), Monday, 23 March 2009 00:51 (fifteen years ago) link
i remembered another thread along similarish lines
Layla and other songs that just change into something else almost unrelated
like shitloads of zappa songs? at least the ones on the two i have - absolutely free and freak out
― be on the treadmill - uh! - like OK GO (M@tt He1ges0n), Monday, 23 March 2009 00:52 (fifteen years ago) link
Much early Throwing Muses does this, esp "Finished" and "Call me".
It would be ridiculously too obvious to say "Supper's Ready", here, wouldnt it?
― one art, please (Trayce), Monday, 23 March 2009 00:52 (fifteen years ago) link
big star - daisy glaze
― Henry Frog (Frogman Henry), Monday, 23 March 2009 02:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Lilys are probably champions of this (basically every single one of their songs). I assume that Pas/Cal (referenced above) fit the bill because they're channeling lilys.
― dlp9001, Monday, 23 March 2009 02:12 (fifteen years ago) link
three 6 mafia "triple six clubhouse"
― rio (r1o natsume), Sunday, March 22, 2009 3:52 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
excellent example
― liveblogging 'before i self-destruct' from the moon (some dude), Monday, 23 March 2009 02:16 (fifteen years ago) link
This is my all-time fave type of song when it isn't proggy. And it's practically a Timbaland-esque cliché by now appearing in From Justin to Kelly and all over the High School Musical franchise. Here are some other examples (with varying degrees of applicability):
LiLiPUT: "Eisiger Wind" - best example of this EVER!Kleenex: “Ain’t You”Jay-Z: "Come and Get Me"Mouth and MacNeal "How Do You Do" Sweet: "Ballroom Blitz"The Jackson 5: "The Love You Save"Queens Court: "I Ain't No Lady" (Chicken of the Sea Mix)"2ge+her: "U + Me = Us (Calculus)"The Dismemberment Plan: "The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich" !!!: "Me & Giuliani Down By The School Yard (A True Story)" Franz Ferdinand: "Take Me Out"Lady Sovereign: "Public Warning"Justin Timberlake: "Like I Love You"Blackout Crew "Put a Donk On It" Boston: "More Than A Feeling"Alice Cooper: "School's Out"Skatt Bros. "Walk The Night"Diana Ross: “Love Hangover”Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer: "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" T. S. Monk: "Bon Bon Vie"Madonna: “Like a Prayer”Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force: “Looking For The Perfect Beat” Public Enemy: "Night of the Living Baseheads"Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5: “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel”Sand Party: "Lambada Festival"B-Rock & The Bizz: "My Baby Daddy"Fatboy Slim: "The Rockafeller Skank" Red Rat: "Dwayne" Barenaked Ladies: "One Week"
And that's (sorta) leaving out medleys, megamixes, and sampladelia like:ABBA: "Medley: Pick A Bale Of Cotton-On Top Of Old Smokey-Midnight Special"S-Express: "Theme From S-Express"M/A/R/R/S: "Pump Up the Volume"Eric B & Rakim: “Paid in Full (Seven Minutes of Madness Remix)” Magazine 60: "Don Quichotte"
― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 23 March 2009 02:45 (fifteen years ago) link
I thought a lot of old folk songs would fit the description, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. For one thing, ballads tend to be fairly linear — there may well be versions of "Little Bessie" that run 30+ verses, but I doubt any of them stray too from the theme of a dying little girl and her ruminations on the afterlife, even for a verse or two. eh, hopefully someone will dig up some examples to prove me wrong.
― bigstatusbrothers (unregistered), Monday, 23 March 2009 03:05 (fifteen years ago) link
(stray too far, that is)
― bigstatusbrothers (unregistered), Monday, 23 March 2009 03:06 (fifteen years ago) link
ruby suns 'kenya dig it?'
― keythkeythkeyth, Monday, 23 March 2009 03:21 (fifteen years ago) link
Totally forgot about the pre-rock era:
Spike Jones: "Cocktails For Two" (Spike Jones in general, actually)Jelly Roll Morton: "Black Bottom Stop" (Jelly Roll Morton in general, actually)Several cuts off the Jewface compLouis Armstrong/Earl "Fatha" Hines: "Tight Like This"Lil McClintock: "Don't Think I'm Santa Claus"Red Norvo: "Dance of the Octopus"
― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 23 March 2009 03:28 (fifteen years ago) link
huh, I had lyrical content in mind when I made my last post, but this thread is more about song structure, as the threadstarter makes clear.
these come to mind:
Bad Dream Fancy Dress - "Choirboy's Gas"Bob Drake - "Flashy Smog Wolf Person" (and about a thousand others. this guy has a knack for writing minute-long songs that veer into a dozen different directions)Wendy & Bonnie - "Let Yourself Go Another Time"Van Dyke Parks - "The Attic"Gilberto Gil et al. - "Parque Industrial"Beach Boys - those long "Heroes & Villains" suites you can find on any SMiLE bootlegLouis Philippe - "An American Friend"Flipper's Guitar - "Dolphin Song"
― bigstatusbrothers (unregistered), Monday, 23 March 2009 04:10 (fifteen years ago) link
Hmm, "Paradise By the Dashboard Light"? Plus at least half of the titles on Trout Mask Replica. And maybe 1/3 of Forever Changes.
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 23 March 2009 05:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Daughters of Albion - "Well Wired" has parts that repeat but you never know where it's going on first listen.Deerhoof - "Holy Night Fever"...and more I can't name right now.Os Mutantes - MutantesSpoils of War - "The Crimson Uniform / Jena's Score"The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone has lots of thisThe Four Seasons - "American Crucifixion Resurrection" (from the amazing "The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette")The United States of America - "The American Way of Love"
― nicegeoff, Monday, 23 March 2009 07:01 (fifteen years ago) link
most of the pas/cal album except all of the songs are horrible. - funny, the first thing that popped into my head upon reading the initial post was "Summer is Almost Here."
― 2 ears + 1 ❤ (Pillbox), Monday, 23 March 2009 07:27 (fifteen years ago) link
Moonshake were always good for this sort of thing.
― 2 ears + 1 ❤ (Pillbox), Monday, 23 March 2009 07:32 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm thinking there's gotta be some examples of this from Spoon.
― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 23 March 2009 07:33 (fifteen years ago) link
I think I've always thought of The Reflex by Duran Duran being like this.
― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 23 March 2009 07:42 (fifteen years ago) link
Also, Louis; if I can't pronounce the band name = too prog.
Gotta be some Blur and Kate Bush examples too.
― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 23 March 2009 07:53 (fifteen years ago) link
So far the playlist has:
Good Vibrations The Beach Boys The Very Best Of The Beach BoysHappiness Is A Warm Gun The Beatles The Beatles (White Album)Get On The Bus The Boo Radleys C’mon KidsFour Saints The Boo Radleys C’mon KidsJoel The Boo Radleys Wake Up!Black Metal Valentine Califone Roots & CrownsThe Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich The Dismemberment Plan Juno & The Dismemberment PlanAll You Good Good People Embrace The Good Will OutParanoid Android Radiohead OK ComputerMan Without Friends Siobhan Donaghy Revolution In MeThe Spark That Bled The Flaming Lips Soft BulletinSão Paulo Guillemots Through The Window PaneSix Mansun SixReceptacle For The Respectable Super Furry Animals Rings Around The WorldArtists Only Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings & FoodRock Lobster The B-52's Rock LobsterPoor Places Wilco Yankee Hotel FoxtrotMusic Is Music As Devices Are Kisses Is Everything 65DaysOfStatic The Destruction Of Small IdeasOnly Skin Joanna Newsom YsTake Me Out Franz Ferdinand Franz FerdinandLike I Love You Justin Timberlake JustifiedThe Love You Save The Jackson 5 The Ultimate Collection2+2=5 (The Lukewarm) Radiohead Hail To The ThiefPump Up The Volume M/A/R/R/S Pump Up The Volume
― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 23 March 2009 07:56 (fifteen years ago) link
Rollerskate Skinny made a (brief) career of following the Mercury Rev/Boo Radleys model of this idea to its logical extreme. Pretty much all of their songs fit the bill.
― 2 ears + 1 ❤ (Pillbox), Monday, 23 March 2009 07:59 (fifteen years ago) link
Patrick Wolf must do this too.
― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 23 March 2009 08:00 (fifteen years ago) link
So many rooms with so many doors, even more windows;; the damn ceiling gets peeled off towards the end:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLxPwdcuat4
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Sunday, 19 April 2015 00:34 (nine years ago) link
Feel like Boards of Canada should get a mention in here. . .
― austinato (Austin), Sunday, 19 April 2015 01:02 (nine years ago) link
most if not all of song cycle by van dyke parks
― flappy bird, Sunday, 19 April 2015 08:08 (nine years ago) link
thinking feller union local 282's "cup of dreams" surely opens and closes and reopens a couple of doors in a room.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-QmYp4XDUY
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Sunday, 19 April 2015 21:41 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY1sBXjl0s8
― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Sunday, 19 April 2015 21:43 (nine years ago) link
songs that are 'apses with many chapels':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MO3WzA5aq4
― the geographibebebe (unregistered), Wednesday, 13 May 2015 02:43 (nine years ago) link
How about ISB ? Koeeaddi There
― Nabozo, Wednesday, 13 May 2015 12:34 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNKk-Itin64
― larry appleton, Sunday, 6 March 2016 22:44 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENw6co2BUc4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obs9_APqt_o
― larry appleton, Sunday, 6 March 2016 22:49 (eight years ago) link
that mirrors song is great! they sound like a long-lost paisley underground band from the wrong era and hometown. I'll have to check out one of those posthumous comps.
― small doug yule carnival club (unregistered), Sunday, 6 March 2016 23:32 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-3N7TBrfOA
― hippie lady from california who loves that god (unregistered), Sunday, 24 July 2016 16:31 (seven years ago) link
i.e. when will you diphsits realize that Laura Nyro is the soul-progge schnizzle?
― hippie lady from california who loves that god (unregistered), Sunday, 24 July 2016 16:33 (seven years ago) link
Another early example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdeybxuS7tY
― dlp9001, Sunday, 24 July 2016 16:54 (seven years ago) link
I was just listening the the Eli album this morning, and thinking of this very thread.
― henry s, Sunday, 24 July 2016 17:04 (seven years ago) link
most of these aren't really rooms with many doors. they're more like railroad apartments. a bunch of rooms in a row.
Dancing about architecture.
― Hideous Lump, Sunday, 24 July 2016 22:24 (seven years ago) link
are throwing muses too obvious for this thread
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Monday, 25 July 2016 01:00 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJeQf42c6c
― timellison, Monday, 25 July 2016 05:13 (seven years ago) link
Joni Mitchell's output from 1975-1979
― MatthewK, Monday, 25 July 2016 06:36 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO-90E9aPvM
― Lee626, Tuesday, 26 July 2016 17:41 (seven years ago) link
I feel this kind of trait is definitely more psyche than prog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9VbJmbtMW8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH9atqqkUuY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUMj8Otywoc
― Pheeel, Tuesday, 26 July 2016 22:11 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfgjlBR--uA
― Pheeel, Tuesday, 26 July 2016 22:56 (seven years ago) link
do The Boswell sisters qualify as jazz age micro-prog? they were famous for their labyrinthine re-arrangements of jazz standards and contemporary hits, with lots of unexpected segues and key changes and tempo shifts. ex. 'It's the Girl':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWOLQCSKkRw
(cf. Lee Morse's pleasant but utterly conventional version from the same year)
― memories of a cruller (unregistered), Tuesday, 6 December 2016 01:47 (seven years ago) link
you're a scholar
this is great, reminds me of nothing so much as the bonzo dog doo-dah band. would be keen to hear more
― Dave Plaintive rapper with classical training (imago), Tuesday, 6 December 2016 01:58 (seven years ago) link
― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Monday, March 23, 2009 3:53 AM (eight years ago)
'All We Ever Look For' has exactly 3 doors http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/BoardFiles/164/Emoticons/sunglasses.gif
― jesus and figs and science and the foo fighters (unregistered), Monday, 15 January 2018 04:26 (six years ago) link
Hop Along - Not Abel
― guardians of the gums: i am tooth (voodoo chili), Thursday, 30 August 2018 21:10 (five years ago) link
Grateful Dead - “St. Stephen”
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Friday, 31 August 2018 05:02 (five years ago) link
(there are variable criteria being used in this thread; but to me that song literally sounds like you’re hanging out / wandering in & out of a room with multiple doors)
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Friday, 31 August 2018 05:43 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK0Zu2B_kak
― MaresNest, Friday, 31 August 2018 10:33 (five years ago) link
This isn't very good but they certainly cram a lot into 3'15". There's even a drum solo!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzkpUEPDJEc
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 February 2023 22:25 (one year ago) link