Songs that are "rooms with many doors"

A phrase Martin Carr of The Boo Radleys used many years ago to describe his songwriting; he said he was too stubborn and bloody-minded to write a straight forward verse-chorus-verse-chorus song, and found himself inserting odd segments into songs, so that each one became "a room with many doors" and you didn't know which one it would go through next. "Joel" from Wake Up! is a good example of what he meant; it has all sorts of odd phases and sections rather than a typical structure.

Can you think of any others by anyone else?

So far the obvious ones I can think of are:

Happiness Is A Warm Gun by The Beatles
Karma Police by Radiohead
Man Without Friends by Siobhon Donnaghy

I imagine Super Furry Animals might supply us with some. There are probably loads of prog examples but I'm less fussed about them.

ooh boy

this thread is me-bait

You're the only person I tagged in the same note I put on Facebook.

They don't necessarily have to be really long and proggy, Luis. In fact, shorter, poppy variations on this theme will probably be more appreciated. I wanna make a playlist.

I'm not thinking long and proggy! Best Boo Radleys example of this is probably "Get On The Bus" or maybe "Four Saints" btw

"Band on the Run"?

Girls Aloud - Biology.

'sowing the seeds of love'

^ reppin for the mondeo in 09

The Homosexuals seemed to approach a lot of songs this way. "Total Drop," "Astral Glamour," and "Vociferous Slam" are around two minutes each and while they are packed with hooks, they are not presented in traditional pop structures.

in truth, I think it is hard for me to write a song that is not this

I actually don't know where to start with this one, such is the multitude of riches.

three 6 mafia "triple six clubhouse"

XTC - Season Cycle?

The entire Skeletal Lamping record by Of Montreal

Fingertips: They Might Be Giants

'william, it was really nothing'

OK.

Beck - "Diamond Bollocks" keeps itself to 6 kaleidoscopic minutes, goes to about 7 different places, is completely unpredictable, and most crucially of all is awesome as hell

songs like this basically annoy me but that smiths one is really good because it's like 2 mins long.

7 is actually a gross understatement

in truth, I think it is hard for me to write a song that is not this

― Dominique, Sunday, March 22, 2009 3:07 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

cosign

Girls Aloud's "The Promise" is like this, and actually maybe crazily odd-structured...each of its four 'verses' (well, the bits between the choruses) is a different part: it goes A-B-C-B-D-B-E-B, I think.

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

The Blood Brothers - "Cecilia And The Silhouette Saloon"

(yes I am going through my iTunes alphabetically)

o boy

most of the pas/cal album except all of the songs are horrible.

'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' was first thing that leapt to mind. 'Good Vibrations' works too.

yes and i think Heroes and Villains even more so.

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)

queen - bohemian rhapsody
ted nugent - wango tango
teena marie - square biz

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.

able tasmans 'school is no good for you'

My Radiohead choice is "2+2=5", obv. :-D

belle & sebastian 'your cover's blown'

Am I allowed to mention Koenjihyakkei or are they too prog?

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.

Mansun - any track off "Six" tbh but especially "Six", "Shotgun", "Cancer" and "Being A Girl"

(this is important to me)

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

"A Dreamer Who Is Too Weak to Face Up To" is as good a Melt-Banana choice as any for this.

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"

Really you just want this:

http://media-files.gather.com/images/d709/d677/d744/d224/d96/f3/full.jpg

i have a creeping suspicion this could be my least favourite type of song

The Moody Blues - House of Four Doors (duhhhh)

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

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

i have a creeping suspicion this could be my least favourite type of song

Too often they sound like what they are--unrelated bits slapped together--but when they miraculously work, they're great.

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.

Only Skin - Joanna Newsom

pretty things - defecting grey

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

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?

big star - daisy glaze

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.

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

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"

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.

(stray too far, that is)

ruby suns 'kenya dig it?'

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 comp
Louis Armstrong/Earl "Fatha" Hines: "Tight Like This"
Lil McClintock: "Don't Think I'm Santa Claus"
Red Norvo: "Dance of the Octopus"

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 bootleg
Louis Philippe - "An American Friend"
Flipper's Guitar - "Dolphin Song"

Hmm, "Paradise By the Dashboard Light"? Plus at least half of the titles on Trout Mask Replica. And maybe 1/3 of Forever Changes.

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 - Mutantes
Spoils of War - "The Crimson Uniform / Jena's Score"
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone has lots of this
The Four Seasons - "American Crucifixion Resurrection" (from the amazing "The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette")
The United States of America - "The American Way of Love"

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."

Moonshake were always good for this sort of thing.

I'm thinking there's gotta be some examples of this from Spoon.

I think I've always thought of The Reflex by Duran Duran being like this.

Also, Louis; if I can't pronounce the band name = too prog.

Gotta be some Blur and Kate Bush examples too.

So far the playlist has:

Good Vibrations The Beach Boys The Very Best Of The Beach Boys
Happiness Is A Warm Gun The Beatles The Beatles (White Album)
Get On The Bus The Boo Radleys C’mon Kids
Four Saints The Boo Radleys C’mon Kids
Joel The Boo Radleys Wake Up!
Black Metal Valentine Califone Roots & Crowns
The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich The Dismemberment Plan Juno & The Dismemberment Plan
All You Good Good People Embrace The Good Will Out
Paranoid Android Radiohead OK Computer
Man Without Friends Siobhan Donaghy Revolution In Me
The Spark That Bled The Flaming Lips Soft Bulletin
São Paulo Guillemots Through The Window Pane
Six Mansun Six
Receptacle For The Respectable Super Furry Animals Rings Around The World
Artists Only Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings & Food
Rock Lobster The B-52's Rock Lobster
Poor Places Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Music Is Music As Devices Are Kisses Is Everything 65DaysOfStatic The Destruction Of Small Ideas
Only Skin Joanna Newsom Ys
Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand
Like I Love You Justin Timberlake Justified
The Love You Save The Jackson 5 The Ultimate Collection
2+2=5 (The Lukewarm) Radiohead Hail To The Thief
Pump Up The Volume M/A/R/R/S Pump Up The Volume

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.

Patrick Wolf must do this too.

"I can take you to the sun" The Misunderstood.

It's only 2.5 mins, but it feels like five, in a good way.

Pavement and The Clash must have something that fits.

Anyone mentioning All Around The World by Oasis gets a slap.

Gotta be a Bunnymen example, too?

You asked for some pop suggestions:
Girls Aloud 'Biology'
Fall Out Boy 'This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race'
Bomb the Bass 'Beat Dis'
pretty much all of 'Paul's Boutique'
Outkast 'Bombs Over Baghdad'

It also struck me that this kind of structure has become the default for the big-budget R&B video, i.e. three or four unrelated sections bolted together

Gotta be a Bunnymen example, too? - Thorn of Crowns

one of the tracks on the 2nd side of 'ogdens nut gone flake', i think it's 'mad john', fits this.

"All around the world" has no doors.

Um, will get back.

I'm thinking there's gotta be some examples of this from Spoon.

Pretty much every song on A Series Of Sneaks, I'd say.

"I will always ask you where you've been, even though I always know the answer"

Forget who it's by, hem hem.

"Little Boy Soldiers" the Jam.

"Question" Moody Blues

I thought about Medication by Spiritualized but actually it's just weird-intro and then quiet-LOUD-quiet-LOUD.

Six.By Seven?

Got to be some Sparks songs for this, I reckon, though I can't quite think which.

I like songs that whisk you through disjointed parts, but the thread title seems a little airier than that, like you have space to choose your doors, as opposed to the constrained rollercoaster feel of Cardiacs or all those twisty mathy bands that suddenly let a diminished arpeggio spider up like the whiplash-quick offspring of the bass clarinet throb signalling the shifts in Music for 18 Musicians. I suppose they still fit if the doors of the title are the unconnected succession of identical doors in a cartoon corridor chase. Maybe that's the prog v pop distinction...

Cop Shoot Cop by Spiritualized kind of fits, but at 17 minutes long if it didn't have many doors it'd be dull as fuck.

Yo La Tengo gotta have something?

a whole bunch of Akron/Family songs

("Moment", if I had to pick just one)

no wait I think I wanna change my vote to "I've Got Some Friends" cuz it's shorter and catchier

Some more:

Air - "People in the City"
Ozzy Osbourne - "No More Tears"
Delgados - "Accused of Stealing"
Stereolab - "Captain Easychord"
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - "Sunmoonstars"
Love & Rockets - "Haunted When the Minutes Drag"
Grandaddy - "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot"
His Name is Alive - "In Every Ford"
Pale Saints - "Half Life"

Ctr+F "A QUICK ONE WHILE HE'S AWAY" no! no??

cellos cellos cellos cellos

Glasgow band Lapsus Linguae are pretty good at this sort of thing.

http://www.myspace.com/lapsuslinguaetheband

I personally overlooked that Grandaddy song, because the majority of it settles into one groove, but perhaps a case can be made for it seeing as most of the big changes are near the start.

your Spiritualized choice is clearly their best song, "Won't Get To Heaven (The State I'm In"
your Six.BySeven choice is...there isn't one. I have all their albums. There isn't one.

I'm not considering something which is at a push a room with just about two doors fwiw. It's gotta be a festival of choices.

Something tells me I might enjoy that Myspace link, cheers!

Peshay - The Nocturnal (Back On The Firm)

At The Drive-In, Louis?

Augie March?

"Arcarsenal", right there, bam xpost

Nino - The Gun

holy christ, Lapsus Linguae are *AMAZING*

Franz Ferdinand - Lucid Dreams
Mandrill - Fat City Strut
DJ Shadow - Stem/Long Stem (plus several others inc. In Flux, WDYSLL Part 2, Blood On The Motorway)
Propaganda - Dr. Mabuse
St Etienne - Goodnight Jack

Got to be some Sparks songs for this

Dick Around?

Which I love, but may be more conventional than I remember.

Is someone going to make this into a spotify playlist please?

Louis, buy the album, it's entitled 'You Got Me Fraiche', on Fierce Panda, came out a few years ago.

It's right up your alley.

I've just been reading their website...they seem to be coming from a really awesome place, where intellectual philosophising meets utter mischief. I'll investigate! :)

If you use SoulSeek it's worthwhile seeking out their 6 track demo too.

Jane Siberry - The Bird In The Gravel
Studio - Out There
Panda Bear - Good Girl/Carrots

I've just ordered it on Amazon.

"Out There" is a great shout, aye. 16 minutes long but that hasn't stopped some of my own recommendations. Maybe something on that Strategy album as well?

Gotta be some Blur and Kate Bush examples too.

Kate Bush - Waking The Witch?

Roxy Music - The Bob (Medley)
Jay-Z - Come And Get Me
Most of 10cc's Sheet Music

Dinosaur Jr - Poledo (plus a fair bit of early Sebadoh I guess).

this is probably true of any giant sand song. they never go where you expect them to go.

Boss Hog Barbarians - "Bo$$ Hoggin"

"Funky Town"

Kate Bush - Jig of Life (obv)

I've just ordered it on Amazon.

Report when digested plz..

Not much danger of me not doing that tbh.

love that only one Queen song was mentioned but 'Innuendo' and 'I Want It All' sprang to mind as much as Bo Rhap.

Tooled Up by Bark Psychosis.

Loads of Queen songs do this, I think; I've not heard it in years but doesn't Fat Bottomed Girls?

Does A Day In The Life count?

"You Never Give Me Your Money"

The playlist currently stands at:

Arcarsenal At The Drive-In
Rock Lobster The B-52's
Tooled Up Bark Psychosis
Good Vibrations The Beach Boys
Shake Your Rump Beastie Boys
Happiness Is A Warm Gun The Beatles
Get On The Bus The Boo Radleys
Four Saints The Boo Radleys
Joel The Boo Radleys
Black Metal Valentine Califone
The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich The Dismemberment Plan
Thorn Of Crowns Echo & The Bunnymen
All You Good Good People Embrace
The Spark That Bled The Flaming Lips
Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand
São Paulo Guillemots
The Love You Save The Jackson 5
Only Skin Joanna Newsom
Like I Love You Justin Timberlake
Jig Of Life Kate Bush
Pump Up The Volume M/A/R/R/S
Six Mansun
Shotgun Mansun
Group Four Massive Attack
B.O.B Outkast
Bohemian Rhapsody Queen
2+2=5 (The Lukewarm) Radiohead
Paranoid Android Radiohead
Man Without Friends Siobhan Donaghy
Metal Detektor Spoon
Waiting For The Kid To Come Out Spoon
Receptacle For The Respectable Super Furry Animals
Happiness Is Easy Talk Talk
Artists Only Talking Heads
Poor Places Wilco
England part 2 Working For A Nuclear Free City
Nancy Adam Susan Working For A Nuclear Free City
Music Is Music As Devices Are Kisses Is Everything 65DaysOfStatic

Stuff mentioned on this thread that's not in there I simply don't have.

I can think of a few:

"C'n'C-S Mithering", The Fall
"Lights Out For Darker Skies", British Sea Power
"Shaking Hand", Women

and probably a lot more, but it's tough gauging which songs are really just a couple of otherwise separate tunes bolted together vs. those are a pretty ingenious patchwork.

Louis, help me think of Verve example.

Sit & Wonder might almost do it.

Or This Is Music.

lol what about "Noise Epic"

or uh

"Gravity Grave"

or "Feel"!

Trying to pick one that isn't 8 minutes long...

Pavement and The Clash must have something that fits.

I keep thinking of stuff like "Embassy Row", but I'm all like, Aw, that's just a little intro, no more part of the song than Wounded Kite was to Trigger Cut.

But then you've got something like "Half A Canyon". That'd work here, I think.

"The Sun, The Sea"?

Sparks' Dick Around definitely.

width of a circle - david bowie

None of those Verve tracks fit.

I didn't think they did tbh. When I did my iTunes scour, I overlooked them for the reason tat their songs, even when long, are generally locked in one swirly groove

Thngy and Heavy Vegetable

Best I could come up with re: Verve is "Stamped," which is still basically one extended groove/jam, though it occurs in series of fits and starts which could possibly be considered rooms?

Love - You Set the Scene

I've started a "rooms with many doors" playlist on spotify using Nick's list, feel free to add...

http://open.spotify.com/user/ntrifle/playlist/21wLQg4suNvbPr0UwSa1bM

I haven't got very far with it 'cos the kids need their tea...

Thngy and Heavy Vegetable
― MaresNest, Monday, March 23, 2009 4:21 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

lots of songs have 2 doors: Roxy Music - Mother of Pearl for example

Bowie 'Station to Station'
The Beatles 'Revolution 9'
Led Zeppelin 'Dazed & Confused'

The Verve don't fit, their songs mostly stick to a groove. You're looking more for things like time changes, changes in instrumentation, etc I take it?

I also forgot one of my all-time fave house music examples of this:

Smooth Touch: "House of Love"

Challenge: to find a James Brown track with many doors

I think you can keep a groove going and have major melodic / other changes that would qualify as "room with many doors" songwriting, but generally, yes, time changes / total arrangement shifts are what we're talking about, I think.

Fugazi - "Nightshop"

never looks back

Fuck yes, I meant to add Nightshop. Epic Problem might do this too?

louie you should really try the-dream again! so many doors

Stevie Wonder's gotta have something that fits?

Jane's Addiction - "Ted, Just Admit It"

One that is & isn't: 'Strawberry Fields Forever'

John Cale, "Strange Times In Casablanca"

Adam Green - "Gemstones"

Pink Floyd -Echoes

probably the only spiritualized that fits is the single version of 'feel so sad'

What about Roxy Music's If There Is Something? In the beginning a boring country rock ballad but then it takes off into melodramatic loveland. Bryan Ferry almost drowns in his tears.

Windowlicker Aphex Twin
Arcarsenal At The Drive-In
Rock Lobster The B-52's
Tooled Up Bark Psychosis
Good Vibrations The Beach Boys
Heroes And Villians The Beach Boys
Shake Your Rump Beastie Boys
Happiness Is A Warm Gun The Beatles
Hotwax Beck
The Beta Band Rap The Beta Band
Dragon The Beta Band
Eclipse The Beta Band
Get On The Bus The Boo Radleys
Four Saints The Boo Radleys
Joel The Boo Radleys
Black Metal Valentine Califone
A Life Of Possibilities The Dismemberment Plan
The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich The Dismemberment Plan
Thorn Of Crowns Echo & The Bunnymen
Porcupine Echo & The Bunnymen
All You Good Good People Embrace
The Spark That Bled The Flaming Lips
Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand
Epic Problem Fugazi
Nightshop Fugazi
São Paulo Guillemots
Rocket Queen Guns N' Roses
The Love You Save The Jackson 5
Through The Night Softly Jim O'Rourke
Only Skin Joanna Newsom
Like I Love You Justin Timberlake
Jig Of Life Kate Bush
Dazed And Confused Led Zeppelin
Godiva Long Fin Killie
You Set The Scene Love
Your Mind And We Belong Together Love
7 And 7 Is Love
Pump Up The Volume M/A/R/R/S
Six Mansun
Shotgun Mansun
Group Four Massive Attack
Sister Anne MC5
She Lives In My Lap Outkast
Ghetto Musick Outkast
B.O.B Outkast
Funky Squaredance Phoenix
Bohemian Rhapsody Queen
2+2=5 (The Lukewarm) Radiohead
Paranoid Android Radiohead
Man Without Friends Siobhan Donaghy
Hummer Smashing Pumpkins
William, It Was Really Nothing The Smiths
Metal Detektor Spoon
Waiting For The Kid To Come Out Spoon
Slow Life Super Furry Animals
Receptacle For The Respectable Super Furry Animals
Happiness Is Easy Talk Talk
Artists Only Talking Heads
Sowing The Seeds Of Love Tears For Fears
DJed Tortoise
Poor Places Wilco
England part 2 Working For A Nuclear Free City
Nancy Adam Susan Working For A Nuclear Free City
Music Is Music As Devices Are Kisses Is Everything 65DaysOfStatic

Not doing too badly.

xpost

Yes, early Roxy were the kings of this.

Stevie Wonder's gotta have something that fits?

"Sir Duke," kinda.

Has anyone said "MacArthur Park" yet?

you don't have any roxy music on your hard drive, nick? i am surprised to say the least.

Yes, early Roxy were the kings of this.

Queens, rather.

Nick, you don't possess a copy of LiLiPUT: "Eisiger Wind"???

Or every record ever, for that matter.

EISIGER WIND!!!

Yeah! WOO WOO!!

The most doored-up room ever, amirite?

I don't have any Roxy Music on CD, let alone my iPod.

'William, It Was Really Nothing' is an inspired choice. In a similar vein, I nominate 'Penny Lane'

Needs more SFA, Louis.

Ice Hockey Hair.

Slow Life would have been my next suggestion!

Not Ice Hockey Hair...that one's overrated imo

er

maybe Cloudberries? Zoom?

IHH was one of the last non-shitty songs they did imho

In addition to the Love songs already mentioned, there is also "Daily Planet" and "The Castle".

And too many Incredible String Band songs to list.

yeah well yr a time-capsule 90's stan xp

Slow Life would be my alt, so yeah.

Is the live 12" version of "The man don't give a fuck" too long for this?

SM, I'm sending you my traxx. You'll be submitting a final compilation at some point, I'm guessing? I didn't have any Moonshake on hand, so I included "Dream by Dream" by The Chills instead. I also omitted the Granddaddy track, per LJ' s observation.

Oh man, I was just thinking of "Dream by Dream" by The Chills!

Lilys - Most anything from Better Can't Make Your Life Better or the Services (for the soon to be departed) EP

btw that Lapsus Linguae arrived and is totes awesome

check yr inbox, SM.

Another thought: "Looking Glass," by The La's

update: Lapsus Linguae are *mindblowing*

Throwing Muses, "Call Me"

Roxy Music, "Ladytron" & "If There Is Something"

Nirvana "Aneurysm"

White Stripes, "Black Math" (these last two only have a couple doors)

(does Roxy Music count as prog?)

Guided by Voices, "Her Psychology Today" and "Ester's Day"

Liz Phair, "Johnny Sunshine"

Sonic Youth, "Female Mechanic on Duty"

Alice Cooper, Halo of Flies

.. et al(ice)

Belly, "Red"

Sensational Alex Harvey Band, The Tale of the Giant Stoneater

... et al(ex)

also see: Flop's Whenever You're Ready

The Doors, Soft Parade

Television, Marquee Moon.

That seems fairly straightahead to me

Substitute "Little Johnny Jewel" the live version if you like.

The entire period from "Sgt. Pepper" and the following ten years to thread.

Geir, you told me on my Best Albums/Songs of the Aughties thread that you hate this type of song (or something to that effect). What gives?

yeah what gives??????

Geir hates all "difficult" songwriting except for late-period The Beatles (to the extent/at the times they qualified) and prog rock (chiefly early Genesis).

Beatesis.

The Genetles

(sorry)

Beatesis.

For a split second, I thought this was some sort of 'new' musical form invented by maybe Magma that Geir digs.

I don't get how geir could hate this considering how much he loves prog

Actually the "i love x when it's done by THE ORIGINATOR but every other example of it I hate" posture is a fairly common one amongst fans and critics alike, even though it's mostly a bullshit-ish position.

Electric Soft Parade: Silent To The Dark
10cc: I'm Mandy Fly Me (and also "Une Nuit a Paris" and "Don't Hang Up", but they are verging on prog anyway)

electric soft parade. that's a room without any doors i'd say.

Just about anybody's Brian Wilson tribute song such as:

The Dukes of Stratosphear - "Pale and Precious"
Lindsey Buckingham - "D.W. Suite"

From the same Lindsey Buckingham album - "Play in the Rain" (though the fragments never really gel into an actual song)

His Name Is Alive - "Sick"

& don't forget Olivia Tremor Control

How has Big Star not been mentioned yet? Just about every song on Radio City has what, like, 75 doors.

Sunset Rubdown does this a lot, to particularly great effect on Dragonslayer (esp. "Idiot Heart" and "Anna Anna Anna OH")

electric soft parade. that's a room without any doors i'd say.

― alex in mainhattan, Friday, 4 September 2009 22:57 (Yesterday) Bookmark

listen to their goddamn second album and their EP and then listen to thomas white's brilliant ESP-transcending solo record and then restate that galdarn claim

actually silent to the dark is *fabulous* and i am all for its discussion here

"Savitri" from the new Rodrigo y Gabriela is a recent example of this, one that takes the concept quite literally with the sound of creaking doors accompanying peeks into different parts.

Delgados - The Past That Suits You Best

Virtually anything by Motorpsycho.

Opening track of the new Working For A Nuclear Free City (Do A Stunt) is the best out-and-out 'prog' song since the 70's maybe? haha ok that's bullshit but it's *fucking incredible*

and it's 2:44

Not on spotify :(

Btw, listening to Ddiamondd - almost forgot how good it was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPzHUtNwbX0

^wasn't mad about this. Also, 'Alphaville', how fitting.

Do A Stunt is nothing, absolutely NOTHING like that Alphaville song

Ddiamondd is GREAT hehe - Mirrored still rly bangs

wait, I'll Sendspace it

Here. Get ready for...greatness. http://www.sendspace.com/file/36l75h

:DDD

In the queue after Intertiatic ESP finishes! Cedric can sing really nicely actually..shame the song is Yes minus geir-friendly hooks.

I suppose some songs by Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti and Field Music this year might fit into this category.

It's very good indeed - so many ideas and little bits! For some reason I always assumed Working were a spacemen 3 style dronerock thing.

Come to think of it that opening strummy guitar bit could be on a Stone Roses or Primal Scream record! Then the acoustic comes in..

Field Music were the only band WFANFC could come up with when trying to name good contemporary British music, haha! They're not really dronerock (although they can do it) so much as true eclecticism at play (with an electronic/rock skew, admittedly) - and it's very exciting to hear a band willing to do that

haha no challop to say that either of those bands' imaginations wouldn't have lasted more than 5 seconds of that song

i'd say Blind Guardian's "I'm Alive" fits that...

"Prog" in 2011 = horrible bad cardie bait

nah this is microprog, the new shit, kids are snorting it in the gutters

g.d. let's find nice ways of preeshiating the barOQUE y'all

like NO WHINAY

Also SLABS >>> twiddly twiddly diddly I doh

wfanfc's slabs are there, they're just not gonna spend ages mulling over their slabdom

get righteous quick, then get outta there

"Prog" in 2011 = horrible bad cardie bait

Not in any way. Prog is finally back, and it was about time!

However.... this thread is not really about prog.....

this thread is about MICROPROG

thing is geir, microprog is all about the sophisticated melodies so you shd get on board

p.s. what are the good prog albums from this year I should listen to?

LOT OF CUTE GUYS IN THE CLUB TONITE

p.s. what are the good prog albums from this year I should listen to?

Actually 2010 was a kind of silent year for prog IMO after 2009 which was the best year for prog since the mid 70s or so.

so sounds like John Cage ruled 2010 then

But, yes, "microprog" I suppose is closely related to the more sophisticated pomp pop from the 70s that I love. Definitely into stuff like Boo Radley and Super Furry Animals and their likes as well (even though I prefer the two Boo Radleys albums where the faster moments are fast and lively without being noisy)

love Boo Radely and the Super Fury Aminal

as do I :D

so what were 2009's prog highlights? take it Frost was one...

For me it was largely the old guard. Stylistically at least. Transatlantic, IQ and Dream Theater all released perhaps their best albums ever. Guilt Machine, Astra, Syzygy and Bigelf also released great albums that year.

Although perhaps the most important thing to happen to prog in 2009 was not music, it was a magazine.

yeah Heat had a good 12 months

I'll take your word for that, although prog still has a way to go for its musicians to be interesting for the readers of that magazine. :)

"The End" is a Doors song with rooms: first the singer finds his sister in one, then his mom and dad in another. Bad scene all around.

(It is quite proggy even, although largely in a krautrock/spacerock kinda way ;) )

btw I hope yr all downloading that song I linked a Sendspace of upthread

That Alphaville song sounds not at all bad. Although the Alphaville name is occupied, occupied, OCCUPIED!

Buncha Zep besides the already-mentioned "Dazed and Confused":

What Is and What Should Never Be
No Quarter
Whole Lotta Love
Over the Hills and Far Away
The Rain Song
Stairway to Heaven (obviously)
Kashmir
A couple things from Physical Graffiti that I can't remember

most of these aren't really rooms with many doors. they're more like railroad apartments. a bunch of rooms in a row.

i wonder if LJ is a Plank fan. they remind me (a very little) of lapsus linguae

where was I during this thread?

in a padded room with no windows

Hah!

I dunno, that record with the owl might be (for it's genre) a little too restrained and polite for him.

yeah you could be right

nice record tho

Karma Police by Radiohead

No way, this is standard verse-chorus-verse with a coda at the end.

yeah it's hilarious how many people just don't get this

I love this kind of thing, but sometimes it exists as an excuse to stitch together loads of unused song fragments to make a pop-epic a la Bohemian Rhapsody or Paranoid Android. The best is when the song has been composed (or gives the illusion that it has been composed) with the express intention of being a song with many doors. Something like 'Lazarus' is a good example of this.

I meant Paranoid Android rather than Karma Police. Must've had a brainfart when typing.

Diamond Bollocks (above) is a great example of a non-prog, non-pronk RWMD tune. I don't see how most of those Zep tracks qualify tho'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut2AiqYPY1k

Bump for Supergrass.

The newish album by Pretty & Nice "Golden Rules for Golden People" put me in mind of this thread. Kind of like Sugarplastic-sounding Lilys (aka XTC+New Wave + pop songs without choruses or verses) I guess. Less precious than the former, and less chameleon-like than the latter. All of the songs go all over the place, but remain catchy. It's quietly becoming one of my most played albums of the year. Mummy Jets=favorite track initially.

I will habitually check out any record that gets compared to Lilys. I hear much more XTC/Field Music (and even very small touches of Devo/Plastics/P-Model and even Cardiacs), but I'm really enjoying this record, thanks for the tip!

i like this pretty & nice album, definitely a pleasurable listen

This is great, thanks for the tip! There's a bit of Sparks in there, too.

Hmmm, no Laura Nyro in here? Un-beleeeev-able!

A lot of the suggestions upthread are wtf

where can I hear pretty + nice

Spotify

Surprised not to see this mentioned yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Wr8J8faGA

"Thunderstruck" by AC/DC

"Black Water" by The Doobie Brothers ......

"la villa strangiato"

Chad & Jeremy - Painted Dayglow Smile

it probably doesn't have enough doors for you douchebags but this is my thread so deal with it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUD20Tg-6s8

u - Kendrick Lamar
Hood Politics - Kendrick Lamar
Institutionalized - Kendrick Lamar

Family - Voyage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tG2Kc6dHbo

it's like a bizarro radio edit of one of those long Comus suites

Chad & Jeremy - Painted Dayglow Smile

You have no idea how pleased I am to see a Chad and Jeremy mention. They are seriously one of my favorite 60's groups.

those two songs were very lovely!

xpost - I've been listening to Of Cabbages and Kings and The Ark a lot lately. they made some of the most convincing post-Sgt-Pepper's pop I've heard (w/r/t their grasp of pre-rock melodies and the way their psych songs aren't too over-the-top oddball like a lot of Pepper pastiches) & those two albums remind me a lot of Curt Boettcher's productions from the same era.

Family used the 'rooms with many doors' trick a lot, actually (3 X Time, The Chase, From Past Archives, Peace of Mind). maybe they were the progenitors of %microprog% (to use an imago coinage)

%<3%

will check out more by both artists for sure

The Ark rules. I've always thought that if that was their only album, they'd be a lot more revered than they are.

yeah, it seems like a lot of people view C&G as bandwagon hoppers/dilettantes because they started off as such a square, conventional folk-pop act. but 'A Summer Song' is still a great song, and a lot of more respected lite-psych acts had similar career arcs.

%¯\(^o^)/¯% (xpost)

the examples in this thread and the recent poll make me want to hear more stuff by the Boo Radleys, who I'm not really familiar with at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro3eVIFzN5g

Hooray, ILM has finally got round to discovering Family... after 15 years!

Talking of Chad & Jeremy, did anyone else used to enjoy this sitcom Jeremy was in?

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

Feel like Boards of Canada should get a mention in here. . .

most if not all of song cycle by van dyke parks

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY1sBXjl0s8

songs that are 'apses with many chapels':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MO3WzA5aq4

How about ISB ? Koeeaddi There

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNKk-Itin64

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENw6co2BUc4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obs9_APqt_o

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-3N7TBrfOA

i.e. when will you diphsits realize that Laura Nyro is the soul-progge schnizzle?

Another early example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdeybxuS7tY

I was just listening the the Eli album this morning, and thinking of this very thread.

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.

are throwing muses too obvious for this thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJeQf42c6c

Joni Mitchell's output from 1975-1979

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO-90E9aPvM

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfgjlBR--uA

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)

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

Gotta be some Blur and Kate Bush examples too.

― 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

Hop Along - Not Abel

Grateful Dead - “St. Stephen”

(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)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK0Zu2B_kak

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