Twenty-One Good Instrumentals . . . .

Inspired no doubt by the new Explosions in the Sky album, the folks at Spin in their May issue produced a good little featurette about the history of instrumental rock. Though I enjoyed the thing quite a bit (and can you believe I've still never heard Link Wray's "Rumble"?), there's definitely some stuff I think they missed. No "Eruption" = No Credibility is what I say.

And of course there's the small matter of The Soft Machine.

I wouldn't say these are the 21 best rock instrumentals ever, or even the 21 best that aren't mentioned in the Spin article. But they might just be the 21 best rock instrumentals that weren't in the Spin article and haven't been featured here before.

21.  Russian Circles - "Youngblood" 20.  Rick Wakeman - "Catherine of Aragon" 19.  Yes - "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" 18.  Mono - "The Battle To Heaven" 17.  Gravity Keeps the Hours - "Gravity Keeps the Hours" 16.  Camel - "Earthrise" 15.  David Bowie - "V2 Schneider" 14.  King Crimson- "The Sheltering Sky" 13.  Oxes - "I'm From Hell, Open A Windle" 12.  Gong - "The Isle of Everywhere" 11.  Pelican - "Nightendday" 10.  Black Flag - "Southern Rise"   9.  The Tornadoes - "Telstar"   8.  China White - "Anthem"   7.  Sonic Youth - "Fire Engine Dream"   6.  Rush - "La Villa Strangiato"   5.  The Velvet Underground - "Guess I'm Falling in Love                 (Another View Version)"   4.  Metallica - "The Call of Ktulu"   3.  Van Halen - "Eruption"   2.  Steve Miller Band - "Song For Our Ancestors"   1.  The Soft Machine -"Facelift"

The list as an iMix at Itunes, you can quickly preview and/or buy all songs, except for the Gravity Keeps the Hours. That one's here