Weirdest instrument used by a prog group

I vote for the Dutch street barrelorgan used by Kayak in their song Mammoth.

Tony Levins stick thing..

Although I suppose it was basically just a bass guitar type thing..

 

Charango, an Andean kind-of-mandolin (so typical in Peruvian/Bolivian folk), played on one track of AMAROK's latest album 'Quentadharkën.

Also, the mellophone (percussion instr. invented by Phil Shulman) on one track of GG's 'Octopus', and the Shulberry (a string instrument invented by Derek Shulman) on ona track of GG's 'The Power & the Glory'.

Edited by Cesar Inca

The "Claghorn" used by Tull on This Was, it never came into fashion 

 How about the bassoon and crumhorns played by Brian Gulland on the Gryphon albums.  I think Richard Harvey used to play those crumhorns a bit too... I use to think it was funny to see Brian with the crazy knapsack he had for transporting that bassoon to and from rehearsals...

Gentle Giant used a large array of instruments..I am quite sure some were unusual to say the least.

 

For the 'Snow Goose' recording, Latimer asked bass player Ferguson to lend him his fur coat, in order to rub it a few times against an amplifier. The idea was to create a wing shaking effect, somewhere in the eerie 'Preparation' (I think). Quite weird!! it's not a kitchen utensil used as a percussive instrument... how would you call it? a rubbing instrument?

There's also an electric razor in VdGG's 'Pawn Hearts', a modified typewriter in TD's 'Electronic meditation', and also in a TD album, 'Alpha Centauri', a coffee machine!!

In the context of a more regular progressive basis, the opening track in Kansas' 'Monolith', called 'On the Other Side', an anvil hit by a hammer is feautred somewhere in the instrumental interlude.

Dick Heath wrote: Reed Lover wrote: What about the blunt instrument Roger waters used on Pink Floyd? The bass guitar or his voice?

No the one he weighed in with and smashed up The Floyd!

Edited by Reed Lover

Man Erg wrote: Peter Gabriel apparently plays accordion on Trespass Gentle Giant play a mellophone on Octopus!

Accordion is really quite a common instrument , especially on British rock albums - for instance to  the  comedy blues group Spirit of John Morgan, it was the lead instrument along with the guitar. But perhaps it is the comedy aspect, because on the two Weird Al Yankowic albums I have, the  accordion features well to the front, including a brief  version of Purple's Smoke On The Water.................

Instead I would suggest a dripping tap (faucet -sp- in the US), fed through Godley & Creme's patented Gizmo atachment on a guitar, itself the lead instrument on their 3 Lp set Consequences. Sandford Ponder's first album Etosha - Private Music In The Land Of Dry Water, predominantly found him taking natural sounds, rain  waterfalls, wind, etc , sampling them through a Fairlight to generate sounds. music and ultimately this excellent mid 80's ambient album (Private Music Records)

 

"What exactly was the Claghorn?"

Some kind of clarinet woodwind instrument with a hooter-like sound: it was invented by Jeffrey Hammond, a closest frien of Ian's, soon to be the bass player during a big part of JT's golden age.

You can get a picture of that instrument somwhere in JT's official homepage.