Longest jam

The Dark Elf wrote: One can always tell when Svetonio loses his mind and begins spam posting videos. It is inevitable.

Edited by Moyan - April 01 2024 at 08:31

Edited by Moyan - March 31 2024 at 07:43

Hugh Manatee wrote: My favorite version of "Echoes" live is from "Remember That Night":

I love David Gilmour's 25 and a half minute long version of "Echoes" from "Live in Gdańsk".

PrograhamLincoln wrote: Moyan wrote: The album version of "Echoes" has a duration of twenty-three minutes. The "Meddle" sessions began with an experiment that resulted in an opening clang. After a few plinks, David Gilmour's slide guitar gradually enters the mix. Gilmour and Roger Waters harmonise while playing a riff. Subsequently, David Gilmour plays a guitar solo before reprising the same riff for the following ingenious funk-tinged psychedelic rock jam.  One of the Floyd boots I have has a version of "Embryo" that's close to 25 minutes long. They must not have stretched it out that long very often or maybe it was only on one tour, because it's the only boot with a version so long. It's good! Although its length relies less on jamming than on extensive chorus-repetition. But there's jamming too.

The best live version of "Echoes" to these ears is from the BBC Radio Session on September 30, 1971, which clocks in at 26 and a half minutes. What a jam! It's on the official box set "The Early Years 1965–1972."

moshkito wrote: Jacob Schoolcraft wrote: ... If a jam drags for too long without any interesting solos then it feels redundant. You don't want to have someone soloing in your face for 10 minutes either...that can be annoying. You have to arrive at an "in between "...a mixture...sharing solos or coloring the music with atmospheric sections which creates an interesting vibe. Like Miles Davis did on Jack Johnson, Bitches Brew, and Big Fun. Hi, Too long, is a bit scary in the way you describe it, because if the supporting band/musicians are capable of carrying it, instead of dropping the soloist off the cliff, then it is fine. I think that we are considering these "solos" because we do not have the underlying material under it to define it better. I would almost say, for example, that calling a lot of Jon McGlothlin ... just "solo" pretty much suggests the rest of the band is worthless, and this is not the case. Same for Miles, although Miles is much tougher because no one, including his musicians, would know where he is going, and you have to stay with him in one way or another. And telling Miles he can not do this for ten minutes, he would probably kick your buckets and throw you out of the concert hall! And he would promptly do a 20 minute solo. The problem with "solo" is that the rest of the band is being ignored, and that's not fair. A "jam" is not about a solo, it's about a band getting it on ... and us degenerating this thread to "solo" are hurting the subject. A lot of the psychedelic stuff out of SF (for example) was not designed, or defined as a solo at all ... it was all a part of the whole "trip" and seeing the members of JA saying that he went left, she went right, he went up and he went in another direction ... and it sounded far out ... that you can call a "jam", but defining a jam by the solo ... that's going in the wrong direction.  BTW, it also show a lack of appreciation for a lot of European guitarists that did long things that can not exactly be considered a "solo" ... these would include Michael Karoli (Can) and John Weinzierl (AD2) and Manuel Gottsching (Ash Ra Tempel/Ashra) and Ax Gernrich (Guru Guru) in the early days, and they were not exactly the only ones. And they were not set to simplistic rock music at all ... although we might think of Manuel as a bit more "mechanical" which started with Ash Ra Tempel 6 (guitar on guitar on guitar and there was no solo since one of them could easily be the support for the other) and he went on his own since then. Even then, by this time RF was doing stuff that ended up thought of as ambient, starting with his first Eno work, while Richard Pinhas was doing the same ... it was about the music and its strength and totality, not about the solo, and I am not sure that RF would consider a lot of things he does a "solo" since they are another element within the piece of music, as if it was a symphony!  We just don't seem to handle well anything that does not sound like rock'n'roll, and in Europe a lot of the early stuff from the 70's was not exactly rock'n'roll ... go listen to Mother Sky ... that is not a solo! I might even think that Damo's part is a solo, but that really destroys the totality of the piece!

Manuel Gottsching sounded more like he was coloring the music than outright taking solos. Technically he is improvising..which is the source for soloing...however he captures a style that creates a visual . It's more atmospheric. It's not a macho approach in the sense that it's purpose is to help you stay in touch with your dreams or your daydreaming. It's not about gymnastic showboating or as some people say...noodling. Manuel Gottsching creates layers and its very much like painting.

Something about Popol Vuh reminded me of that too. For example the guitar playing felt oddly associated with what Florian Fricke played on the piano. It was difficult to describe it. Their music was spiritual...but also like painting.

Many Krautrock bands possessed that quality. It was almost as if they latched on to something...or were into something...that other bands in Europe were unaware of or discovered it through Berlin.

Even though "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Astromony Domine" revealed a style that resurfaced in Krautrock...Krautrock still had a separate approach or concept musically different from everyone else.

A lot of the music could have been emotionally inspired by the dislike they had for their parents being Nazis or that their parents hid the truth from them. As groups of German youths tried to destroy buildings in the streets of Berlin and they were literally put down by fire hoses and locked up for vandalism.

Some of the soundscapes of Can and Tangerine Dream reminded me of the Holocaust regarding the imagery it created in my head. Rubycon, Zeit,by TD ...Future Days and Soon Over Babaluma seemed to project a place where bad and disturbing things happened...not unlike a calling of the notes or choice of atmospheric chord voice.

Several members of Krautrock bands were rebelled against the old Germany and the idea was to create a new Germany. A place where you could be free . Their music was not confined. It had a certain character that didn't belong to anyone else in Europe.

Many Krautrock musicians invented styles that definitely belonged to them. Florian Fricke used that machine on Aguirre which produced voices. I can't recall where they found it. The voices are beautiful. It's an incredible piece. Krautrock felt like a rebellious movement to me...although the term Krautrock was to a degree a tag for mere categorization and that the German youth were actually creating original music based on their inner beliefs ..and morality.

Julian Priester's "Love Love" LP consists of two side-long progressive fusion tracks. The overall feel of side one, "Love, Love/Prologue" (19:30), does have a krautrock feel. This is due to the extremely engaging groove and some spacey keyboards and bass play that form the spine of the entire track. The bass, percussion, and drums are all quite firm and stable throughout, giving the soloists—among others, the track even features guitarist Bill Connors—a really fertile platform for their hallucinogenic stunts. Even an ARP string synthesiser is present. This makes for a fantastic cosmic jam. Not quite the longest, but surely one of the best ever recorded. 

Awesoreno wrote: Cosmiclawnmower wrote: Deadwing wrote: Porcupine Tree moonloop improvisation that last 40 minutes, although there's probably some post-editing work there? No idea how everything was brought together. Their Metanoia album is also composed mostly of jams and it's sublime to me. I wish they did more of these. Metanoia is probably one of my favourite PT lps for that reason and doubtless they could have tapped that vein for much more creative juices to flow.. but, alas, they didnt. There were, no doubt, lots of versions and variations of their 'Moonloop' jam (PT's 'Dark Star' if you will ) and maybe some different lengths and forms will surface. SW's always had too itchy feet to settle on anything for long.. guess he had just been listening to 'Can' and wanted to tap into their telepathic way of improvising.. Itchy feet, eh? Maybe that's why he always performs barefoot.