Humble instruments that 'make the song'

[Barking Spiders]

Classic rock isn't my bag  but there are a few tunes I've got time for; Hey You & You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet (BTO), Don't Fear The Reaper, Art for Art's Sake (10cc) , Sweet Emotion,  Clampdown (Clash), You Fool No One (Deep Purple), Ladies Night in Buffalo (Dave Lee Roth) and Dr Feelgood (Motley Crue). What links these together? Is it the guitar riffs? Nah. The basslines ? no way Jose? The drumming? who cares. The vocals? as if! What then?...the cowbell of course!  Without the mighty cowbell these songs would be lacking the vital spark. So, surely there are more tunes where the cowbell bit is what you wait for! Maybe there are some tunes which are 'made' by claves clacking away in the background or the maraccas a-shakin ? 

[Hobbayne]

Honky Tonk Women starts of with a cowbell. Best bit of the song. 😂

Edited October 19, 2018 by Hobbayne

[foxyFuze]

It doesn't make the song as such, but the cowbell on the intro to Guns n Roses 'Think About You' is very distinctive; it's one of those album tracks that seems to get forgotten about but is an absolute cracker.

[Barking Spiders]

Supreme cowbelling here and the drumming ain't half bad too boot. Actually when I was much younger Ian Paice was the main reason I used to listen to DP.

 

[MoonBassAlpha]

The cowbell in Beefheart's Sun Zoom Spark really  makes it for me. More frantic than most cowbell cotributions. 

Less frantic,  but  nicely placed  is the  cowbell on The Mooney Suzuki's Alive and Amplified.

The vibra-slap is great too, just can't think of any examples off hand.  

[Barking Spiders]

check out this classic ...

https://vimeo.com/241311990

Edited October 19, 2018 by Barking Spiders

[Newfoundfreedom]

Ooh I love a bit o' cow bell me!

[Paul S]

 

[DaveFry]

More of the aforementioned .

[EliasMooseblaster]

42 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

Supreme cowbelling here and the drumming ain't half bad too boot. Actually when I was much younger Ian Paice was the main reason I used to listen to DP.

I do feel like Paice gets massively underrated as a drummer. I suppose, just as Zeppelin overshadowed Purple as a whole in terms of popularity, so Bonham overshadowed Paice - which seems as a shame, as Bonham's playing doesn't really do it for me, but Paice's playing always seemed to be on the money.

[jacko]

Not cowbell but Northumbrian pipes.  Kathryn Tickell's contribution to sting's 'Fields of gold' raise the song beyond ordinary. Eva Cassidy's version is just 'MEH' in comparison. 

[EliasMooseblaster]

8 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I love Paice's drumming too. Some of the seemingly throw away fills he chucks in almost effortlessly are just sublime. Gonna sit on the fence a bit and say I love Bonham too. Equally brilliant and unique IMHO.

He's a funny one, is Bonzo: I can see why people like him, and I can admire his playing from a technical point of view. Just something about his feel which seems a bit leaden (ledden?) to me. But then I have always preferred the jazz-trained drummers like Baker, Mitchell, Densmore, etc., so perhaps I prefer Paice's more relaxed feel.

 

(Incidentally, are there any Grand Magus fans on here? Their current drummer - or whichever one played on The Hunt - sounds almost exactly like Paice...at least when he's not doing the double-kick stuff.)

[Happy Jack]

Two slightly distorted guitars.

 

[lowdown]

I wouldn't say it make the song but... The Melodica solo in 'Dance With Me' by Orleans works well

[leftybassman392]

Everybody hurts

No drums at all for over half the song's length.

 

ETA: Wild Thing

To the best of my knowledge, the only ocarina solo in the history of popular music. (Happy to be wrong though...)

Edited October 19, 2018 by leftybassman392

[DaveFry]

Herbie Hancock's reworking of his own tune " Watermelon Man " featured a Pygmy whistle made from a papaya stem .

 

[chris_b]

Humble instrument? The Tambourine that Jack Ashford played on so many Motown Records.

Sometimes he's mixed up front and sometime he in the background, but he's there on most of them.

[Dad3353]

Discreet, but important, the claves in this dEUS track (part of our repertoire, and great fun to play...)...

 

[Earbrass]

1 hour ago, lowdown said:

I wouldn't say it make the song but... The Melodica solo in 'Dance With Me' by Orleans works well

Well, if we're talking melodica, then this surely deserves inclusion:

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

2 hours ago, leftybassman392 said:

 

ETA: Wild Thing

To the best of my knowledge, the only ocarina solo in the history of popular music. (Happy to be wrong though...)

R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. by John Mellencamp has an ocarina solo! But it does seem to be in direct tribute to Wild Thing.

[Japhet]

How's this for an iconic intro?

 

[lowdown]

2 hours ago, leftybassman392 said:

 

 

ETA: Wild Thing

To the best of my knowledge, the only ocarina solo in the history of popular music. (Happy to be wrong though...)

There is the Harry Berly solo in Whispering (and very good it is).

It was popular music at the time. 

 

 

[redbandit599]

Sorry to revert to cowbell, but check this out. 4mins in if you're the impatient type 😉

 

Edited October 20, 2018 by redbandit599

[bonzodog]

Planet Caravan would not be the same without Iommi using a flute and delay pedal at 1.17 in

 

 

Edited October 19, 2018 by bonzodog

[lowdown]

"That dude sure knows how to rock the triangle".

 

Need to click on the link - The YouTube Video won't embed for some reason. 

https://youtu.be/jBupII3LH_Q

 

 

Edited October 19, 2018 by lowdown