Songs with Musical Interludes

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
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Vacationland
On The Alan Parsons Project album Eye In The Sky, the title song is at track #2. Track #1 is an instrumental called Sirius, which the better radio stations play together with the title track.

The Alan Parsons Project - Sirius + Eye In The Sky



Similarly, The Steve Miller Band's album Book of Dreams opens with the instrumental Threshold at track #1, followed by Jet Airliner at track #2. And once again, the combination of the two is considered the "long version" of Jet Airliner.

The Steve Miller Band - Threshold + Jet Airliner
 

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
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Vacationland
Gosh I've heard them all but never considered it from that perspective. Thuderclap Newman "Something in the Air" is really great. I did not know who the artist was but always enjoyed it when it came on the air. And I've never seen "Almost Famous".
The reason I posted the video from the "Almost Famous" soundtrack (great movie, BTW), is because the Thunderclap Newman video was blocked from reposting by YouTube. The band itself was formed by Pete Townshend of The Who, and I believe that song was their only hit.
 

Madison

User Friendly
Oct 17, 2008
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Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride, which peaked at #3 on the November 30 1968 Hot 100, is another song with a groovy, heavy, trippy, psychedelic, far-out "musical interlude" that was not included on the single. Here is the original 4:30 version, with John Kay and his bandmates doing a fine fine job of lip-synching.
I tried to enjoy the interlude experience, but my wife came down from her office and was asking me questions and started her microwave popcorn. The video looks keen. I'll have to try again later. And still come up with one on my own
 

HecticArt

Administrator
Oct 19, 2008
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Toledo, Ohio
Here's a song with a musical interlude in the middle that I wish wasn't there. The interlude isn't bad, I just don't think it fits inside the rest of the song.


I like that interlude. I thought that it was good to hear Zep step outside of their usual thing and mix it up.
 

Channel98

Don't yell or hit.
Feb 2, 2019
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Arthur Lee formed Love in 1965 in Los Angeles. The sextet is best known for their hits Alone Again Or, 7 & 7 Is and My Little Red Book. Revelation from their November 1966 album Da Capo is 18 minutes and 57 seconds of musical interludes interrupted by scatting, shouting and screaming.

 

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
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Vacationland
This one is interesting. There are actually 4 extended musical breaks that are cut from the radio-edit version of Beck's Where It's At. At 1:25, they oddly cut maybe 8 seconds from the drum break, right before he says "That was a good drum break". Then at 2:34, they cut one stanza from the musical interlude, which ends with someone saying "We're all part of the total scene". At 3:14, they cut the sax solo interlude which starts with a girl saying "That's beautiful, dad". And then at 4:42, they cut a couple of stanzas from the long fade-out, which includes a sax solo. In total, it takes nearly 2 minutes off the elapsed time.

Beck - Where It's At
 
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sadchild

Dude
Mar 28, 2016
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All to get that time to start with the number 3...

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scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
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Vacationland
The near-11-minute Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John was one of the songs I was always excited to hear on the radio as a kid, because it rarely got airplay. Of course the entire first part is an instrumental interlude. Here's a pretty cool tribute version played for Elton and Bernie by Metallica in 2024.

 
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