Non-prog epics
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Topic: Non-prog epics
Posted By: Dragon Phoenix
Subject: Non-prog epics
Date Posted: February 14 2006 at 08:53
Epics? let's say 10+ minutes songs. Plenty of choice within prog and
prog related, but what are your favourites in other pop/rock genres?
Mine:
1. Telegraph road - Dire Straits
2. Welcome to the pleasuredome - FGTH
I have difficulty even thinking if a third one.....
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Replies:
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: February 14 2006 at 11:31
The only ones I can really think of are Hendrix's Voodoo Chile at 15:05 and Do What You Like by Blind Faith (not sure).
The others such as Freebird and Kashmir aren't over 10 mins (unless you count the full studio version of Freebird with the epic ending, which I've only come across on one compilation).
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Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: February 14 2006 at 13:03
chopper wrote:
The only ones I can really think of are Hendrix's Voodoo Chile at 15:05 and Do What You Like by Blind Faith (not sure).
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Jams! Read the story of the making of Electric Ladyland and you'll discover Hendrix, started what turned out to be Voodoo Chile as a jam with friends (e.g. Stevie Winwood and Jack Casidy) in a music club and then shot round to his newly finished studios, and they resumed jamming. Noel Redding complained there were too many hangers on in the studio for him to play - Hendrix's response was enough for Redding to go home and leave them at it. Voodoo Chile is an elaborate splice job combining several fragments of the jam sessions that stopped and started several times in reality.
Do What You Like - excuse for a Ginger Baker drum solo also a tune that runs out of ideas long before it finishes? You can understand a little why Clapton subsequently disappeared into Delaney and Bonnie and decided to play more like the Band
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Posted By: avestin
Date Posted: February 14 2006 at 15:26
And then there was silence - Blind Guardian
Sankaritarina - Moonsorrow
Seasons - Magna Carta
The Everlasting - Virgin Black
Travel in Stygian (almost 10min), The Suffering (trylogy of interconnected songs), The Devil To Pay - Iced Earth
Salisbury & July Morning (don't remember if its over 10mins) - Uriah Heep
Phoenix, Handy - Wishbone Ash
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Butterfly
In My Time Of Dying - Led Zeppelin (not quite epic, but still)
Black Sabbath - Sleeping Vilage
Last Exit For The Lost (almost 10min) - Fields Of The Nephilim
That's about all I can come up with for now.
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Posted By: Peace Frog
Date Posted: February 14 2006 at 15:51
my favourite non-prog epics
The Diamond Sea- Sonic Youth Achilles Last Stand- Led Zeppelin When The Music's Over- The Doors The End- The Doors
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Posted By: Rosescar
Date Posted: February 14 2006 at 16:09
I took these from my iTunes library;
Nirvana - All Apologies (31:32)
Nirvana - Something In The Way (20:35)
David Bowie - Width Of A Circle (15:45)
The Verve - Come On (15:14)
Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing (12:11)
The Doors - The End (11:40)
George Harrison - Out Of The Blue (jam) (11:16)
The Doors - When The Music's Over (10:58)
Jimi Hendrix - Bleeding Heart (live) (10:43)
Led Zeppelin - Carouselambra (10:34)
Jimi Hendrix - Red House (live) (10:33)
Wishbone Ash - Phoenix (10:29)
Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand (10:23)
Guns N' Roses - Coma (10:13)
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: February 14 2006 at 16:16
A favourite of mine is "Green Grass and High tide" by The Outlaws.
Others include:
"The lady of Shalott" by Lorenna McKennitt "Stargazer" by Rainbow "I heard it through the grapevine" by Creedence Clearwater Revival "All around the word" by Oasis "Like a hurricane" and "Change your mind" by Neil Young "Sniper" and "A better place to be" by Harry Chapin "Lord of the ages" by Magna Carta "I'm your captain/Closer to home" by Grand Funk Railroad (and "Loneliness") "Walk on" by Boston "Parents" by Budgie "Eight miles high" by the Byrds "Crusader" by Chris DeBurgh "Foxfire suite" by John Denver "The medley" on "Red Rose Speedway" by Wings "The African Trilogy" by Neil Diamond (superb) "I'm so afraid" (Live) by Fleetwood Mac "Still in love with you" by Thin Lizzy "American woman/Truckin'off across the sky" (Live) by Guess Who "Funeral for a friend/Love lies bleeding" by Elton John "Bat out of hell" and many more by Meatloaf "Pull the damn thing down" by John Miles "Nostradamus/The world goes to Riyadh" by Al Stewart "Won't get fooled again" by The Who (a bit short maybe?)
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Posted By: Rockin' Chair
Date Posted: February 14 2006 at 16:18
Iron Maiden - The rime of the Ancient Mariner
Helloween - Halloween
Helloween - The Keeper of the Seven Keys
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Posted By: salmacis
Date Posted: February 14 2006 at 16:35
Great list Easy Livin'- not much I can add but I'll just mention some favourites...not sure how many approach 10 minutes, but still...
There's a really great epic by a long forgotten NWOBHM band called White Spirit called 'Fool For The Gods'. For more NWOBHM epics, try out Diamond Head's 'Am I Evil?', whereas Iron Maiden tend to have one per album. Samson did a mini-epic in the Manfred Mann's Earth Band styled 'Tomorrow Or Yesterday', and Angel Witch delivered a pseudo epic, Rush meets Sabbath track in 'Baphomet'...for trad metalheads, The Scorpions did 'Fly To The Rainbow' and Judas Priest did a superb epic in 'Dreamer/Deceiver' and more recently, 'Lochness'.
I always loved Elton John's brilliant 'Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding', which seems to be one of the greatest examples of a prog epic not by a prog artist.
Alice Cooper's amazing 'Halo Of Flies' is another great favourite, and Meatloaf never made a better song than 'Bat Out Of Hell'. Al Stewart did many an epic in his time; he did a 16 minute song called 'Love Chronicles' way back in 1969.
Bruce Springsteen's 'Jungleland' is an all time favourite epic, and Neil Young's 'Like A Hurricane' was just about one of the greatest things I'd ever heard when I first encountered it, and remains so.
Stevie Wonder has delivered various long form tracks, the best I remember is 'Living For The City'.
Magnum have done various excellent epics in 'Reborn', 'In The Beginning' and their longest one, 'Don't Wake The Lion'. Boston also did a top notch one in 'Foreplay/Long Time' that starts out like a great prog track yet goes into more traditional AOR fare.
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Posted By: Kid-A
Date Posted: February 15 2006 at 09:22
Rosescar wrote:
I took these from my iTunes library;
Nirvana - All Apologies (31:32)
Nirvana - Something In The Way (20:35)
David Bowie - Width Of A Circle (15:45)
The Verve - Come On (15:14)
Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing (12:11)
The Doors - The End (11:40)
George Harrison - Out Of The Blue (jam) (11:16)
The Doors - When The Music's Over (10:58)
Jimi Hendrix - Bleeding Heart (live) (10:43)
Led Zeppelin - Carouselambra (10:34)
Jimi Hendrix - Red House (live) (10:33)
Wishbone Ash - Phoenix (10:29)
Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand (10:23)
Guns N' Roses - Coma (10:13)
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Those Nirvana ones are only that long because there are hidden tracks ~15 minutes after the track ends, so those are mostly just silence
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Posted By: ulver982
Date Posted: February 15 2006 at 11:31
Just a few a my favs...
Nugera Bunget - n' Crugu Bradului III (15:12)
Katatonia - Velt thorns (of drynwhyl) (13:57) <--from their doom metal release
My Dying Bride - The Cry of Mankind (12:13)
Burzum - Det Som En gang Var (14:21)
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Posted By: avestin
Date Posted: February 15 2006 at 12:53
^^^
Nice picks
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Posted By: paulindigo
Date Posted: February 15 2006 at 14:42
Motorpsycho have quite a few: The Golden Core, Un chien d'espace,
Rad. Freq, Taifun (not quite sure if they're all above the 10 mins
mark).
And Rainbow's Catch the Rainbow (live version from On Stage).
But of course all these songs could be considered as prog-related,
so I don't know if they count...
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Posted By: Kotro
Date Posted: February 15 2006 at 16:52
Guns n' Roses epics (Estranged and Coma) are great.
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Posted By: A'swepe
Date Posted: February 15 2006 at 18:56
Not exactly epics in the strictest sense of the word.
Anything The Allman Brothers did live usually ended up being a very long jam session.
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Posted By: Soul Dreamer
Date Posted: February 15 2006 at 21:29
Wishbone Ash: The King Will Come - Warrior - Throw down the Sword of the Argus album imho is one epic which should be considered as one song (And should be here on this site!)
The Doors: The End, When The Music's Over
CCR: I Heard it through the Grapevine
Bob Dylan: Brownsville Girl, Hurricane (only 8'33 but a true epic)
Neil Young: Like A Hurricane (from the Weld CD: 14 min)
Guns 'n Roses: Estranged (9'20) and Coma
Metallica: The Outlaw Torn (9'48), Merciful Fate (11'11)
Iron Maiden: 7th Son of a 7th Son (9'53 actually), Rime of the Ancient Mariner
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Posted By: stonebeard
Date Posted: February 15 2006 at 22:22
Guns and Roses: November Rain (Nearly 10 min)
Flaming Lips: Hell's Angels Cracker Factory
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Posted By: Cygnus X-2
Date Posted: February 15 2006 at 23:36
The Who- A Quick One, While He's Away, a 9:15 mini-opera...
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Posted By: Trotsky
Date Posted: February 16 2006 at 01:01
Aside from the many mentioned above
Poco - Crazy Eyes is the main prog styled epic I have ...
There are other lengthy tracks by the Grateful Dead, Velvet Underground
(Sister Ray), Love (Revelations), Van Morisson, Lou Reed ... even The
Beatles I Want You (She's So Heavy) that come to mind ... but many are
long because of jam/improvs not epic structure ...
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Posted By: Moatilliatta
Date Posted: February 16 2006 at 01:19
Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand...most people don't give this song enough recognition; it's easily my favorite Zeppelin song, and far and away (at least one of) their best compositions.
The Decemberists - The Tain
Karate - Cancel, Sing
Pat Methent Group - The Way Up
That's all I got right now.
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Posted By: Rosescar
Date Posted: February 16 2006 at 11:17
Kid-A wrote:
Rosescar wrote:
I took these from my iTunes library;
Nirvana - All Apologies (31:32)
Nirvana - Something In The Way (20:35)
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Those Nirvana ones are only that long because there are hidden
tracks ~15 minutes after the track ends, so those are mostly just
silence |
I never listened to them 
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Posted By: Cygnus X-1
Date Posted: February 16 2006 at 11:47
I can't believe no one has put Free Bird in! That's the first song I think of when i think rock epics!
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Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: February 16 2006 at 12:54
Easy Livin wrote:
A favourite of mine is "Green Grass and High tide" by The Outlaws.
...
"The African Trilogy" by Neil Diamond (superb)
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For me also Green Grass and Hight Tides.
From what album is Neil Diamond's The African Trilogy? He did some interesting epic stuff on Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
I really like:
- High Falls - The Allman Brothers
- Broken Arrow - Buffalo Springfield
- Crazy Eyes - Poco
- Stranger Than Fiction / Time For A Change - Split Enz
- The entire Smile album by Brian Wilson, which really consists of 3 excellent epics
- ... I'd almost say "The Abbey Road suite", but rumor has spread that the Beatles are prog

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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: February 16 2006 at 14:32
Hi Moogtron,
"The African trilogy" was a suite which occupied the whole of the second side of "Taproot Manuscript".
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Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: February 16 2006 at 17:38
Easy Livin wrote:
Hi Moogtron,
"The African trilogy" was a suite which occupied the whole of the second side of "Taproot Manuscript".
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Thanks Easy Livin', I have to check that one out then!
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Posted By: kingofbizzare
Date Posted: March 04 2006 at 17:42
Acid Mothers Temple - Virginal Plane 5:23 Love - Revelation The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Wilco - Spiders (Kidsmoke)
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Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: March 04 2006 at 18:51
One famous and excellent one seems to have been forgotten: "Dark Star" by the Grateful Dead at 27 minutes.
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Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: March 04 2006 at 20:04
BaldFriede wrote:
One famous and excellent one seems to have been forgotten: "Dark Star" by the Grateful Dead at 27 minutes. |
Dark Star, yes. There are numerous versions of Dark Star! The Grateful Dead were always open for bootleg tapes of their concerts. I wonder if any rock song has so many live versions as Dark Star.
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Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: March 04 2006 at 20:36
Moogtron III wrote:
BaldFriede wrote:
One famous and excellent one seems to have been forgotten: "Dark Star" by the Grateful Dead at 27 minutes. |
Dark Star, yes. There are numerous versions of Dark Star! The Grateful Dead were always open for bootleg tapes of their concerts. I wonder if any rock song has so many live versions as Dark Star. |
"Brainstorm" by Hawkwind is around 9 minutes long, and there are a million versions of it.
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Posted By: marktheshark
Date Posted: March 04 2006 at 23:19
Allman Brothers - Mountain Jam, one of the best live epics ever done.
Steppenwolf - Monster, a very overlooked epic.
Rare Earth - Get Ready and I Know I'm Losing You, Motown's only white group doing epic versions of soul standards.
Cream - Spoonful live on Wheels Of Fire, epic version of a Willie Dixon classic.
That's about all I can think of that hasn't already been mentioned here.
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Posted By: Politician
Date Posted: March 05 2006 at 08:46
BaldFriede wrote:
One famous and excellent one seems to have been
forgotten: "Dark Star" by the Grateful Dead at 27 minutes.
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Not to mention "Terrapin, Part One" - a superb piece of pastoral
progressive that takes up the whole of side two of "Terrapin Station"
(1977).
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Posted By: Rosescar
Date Posted: March 05 2006 at 14:35
Green Day - Jesus of Suburbia
I saw an interview with Billy-Joe Armstrong some time ago, everyone was
all saying it was so cool and original Green Day had divided it into
several parts, and that it contained "narratives" and that it was so
long 
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Posted By: helofloki
Date Posted: March 05 2006 at 16:56
How about Wagner's "Ring Cycle"?not exactly one song, but the whole idea is pretty much the definition of epic music, 4 operas, 3 of which average about 4 and a half hours. haha. the acts themselves are all epic though, usually being around 45 minutes, and to add on to that, Wagner wanted to emulate the idea of endless melody, so he completely avoids cadences for well, 45 minutes. so you could say that each act is its own song in that case :P. So yeah, pretty epic on all levels haha.
woops, sorry, you said rock, still I think this deserves to be here :P.
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Posted By: Chicapah
Date Posted: March 06 2006 at 15:14
Chicago's "Make me smile" suite on their second album ain't too shabby.
Also, maybe not ten minutes long, but Elton John's "Ticking" on Caribou is one of my favorites. It's about a mass murderer so it's not your usual "Crock Rock" stuff.
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Posted By: salmacis
Date Posted: March 06 2006 at 15:25
Elton John's 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight', whilst nowhere near 10 minutes (around 6 or 7), is epic in structure and builds up and up. It's arguably the finest song of his whole career, and it's somewhat disconcerting to think when having peaked, almost everything since has been showbizzy, glitzy rubbish....
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Posted By: yeppp
Date Posted: March 06 2006 at 18:15
Pan Sonic- Radiation !!!!! It must be the longest track
i ever heard 1 hour and 1 minutes !!!!!! VERY minimalistic ambient
composition
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Posted By: eddietrooper
Date Posted: March 06 2006 at 18:35
Neil Young has plenty of "epics". A few examples:
- Love to burn (from Ragged Glory CD). 10:03
- Love and only love (from Ragged Glory CD) 10:18
- Change your mind (from Sleeps with Angels CD) 14:39 
- Loose Change (from Broken Arrow CD) 9:49.
- Cowgirl in the sand (from Everybody Knows This is Nowhere) 10:30
And so on...
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Posted By: I|I|I|I|I
Date Posted: March 06 2006 at 22:03
I know y'all don't like punk, but "The Decline" by NOFX is pretty good,
clocking in at around 18 minutes with some nice tempo/groove changes
and the involvement of more instruments than just guitar, bass and
drums. Not proggy per se but still an excellent song.
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Posted By: Moatilliatta
Date Posted: March 06 2006 at 22:17
I|I|I|I|I wrote:
I know y'all don't like punk, but "The Decline" by NOFX is pretty good, clocking in at around 18 minutes with some nice tempo/groove changes and the involvement of more instruments than just guitar, bass and drums. Not proggy per se but still an excellent song.
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Probably my favorite Punk work of all time. NOFX was one of the few punk bands who actually pushed some boundaries and are mildly interesting to me (I used to love them).
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Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: March 07 2006 at 03:29
Posted By: S Lang
Date Posted: March 07 2006 at 05:47
Mountain's "Nantucket Sleighride" from Twin Peaks is an all time fave.
Cream "Live" Vol I+II have many fantastic, extended improvisations,
Vanilla Fudge "Break Song" from the Beat Goes On,
Pat Metheny's "As Falls Wichita...." , the whole album is like one cohesive piece,
Pharoah Sanders' earlier works are delightfully long and rather thoughtful,
dare I mention the 70's Miles Davis - he is not Prog, yet?
Is Shakti Prog, yet? I am not sure. Their first album starts with a mind blowing, long piece.
Rare Earth - In Concert has great, long tracks, another fave to me.
Have we got Al DiMeola in yet? John Abercrombie, Jaco Pastorious, Cannonball Adderley have nice, longer pieces, too.
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Posted By: helofloki
Date Posted: March 08 2006 at 13:24
oh right, can't forget this one:
Pig Destroyer-Natasha, 40 minutes of creepy sludge goodness :).
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