I was just commenting on Thorsten Hinrichsen's "Oh my dear my Reindeer" instrumental album, the question came into my mind do people prefer vocal or instrumental songs, in my view doing instrumentals is very difficult, it is harder than doing songs with lyrics as there has to be plenty of strong phrases and riffs in there to keep the listener's attention!
I sometimes add the odd instrumental in an album, not to make the numbers up but just because some pieces don't need lyrics, there is plenty to say without words but it has to be busy enough to hold the listener's attention otherwise it could just become background music.
Many artists such as Justin Johnson have mastered the instrumental and they prefer to play these all the time - I have yet to hear him sing...one day maybe ! ;-)
Justin packs a lot of technique and interesting twists and turns into his pieces and has mastered the skill of holding the listener's attention, usually if you're singing lyrics people will listen, especially if you include a catchy chorus, some lyrics from classic well known songs are so strong they would stand up without any music at all, they would stand alone as poems, is a song just a poem with music?
Up until the 50's, 60's and into the 70's it seemed to be all about the lyrics, there was always a story in the song, many modern pop songs rely on very few lyrics, just a repeated phrase matched to a riff, good for dancers and Gym users but has the popular music song been dumbed down?
Interested to hear your thoughts! :-)
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Freddie King was the master at writing instrumentals (him and J.S. Bach). Kelly Joe Phelps is a contemporary guy who has it nailed as well. It's a different kind of composing for sure, light and shade, thematic development all that stuff.
As for your final question, the point of popular music is that it's been dumbed down. Not to say that there isn't necessarily some skill in doing that but if it's to appeal to the masses then there's the lowest common demoninator to contend with.
another side to modern pop music is sound quality - I saw an interview with Macca Paul recently, he said he worked hard to produce sparkling recordings with state of the art equipment and was disappointed people were listening on scratchy ipods...time to move on Paul! ..though his last album was released on vinyl and his work wasn't lost on me, I wish he'd just write better songs.... ;-)
gotta agree with mccartney on this one steve, take any of the albums we've done on cbn and play em through a good home stereo setup and the sound quality shines through. but i guess most listen on crappy computer speakers or mobile phones and the sound goes south quick:)
on topic i think an instrumental, even good ones, are a tune but with lyrics it becomes a song - if you know what i mean?
I've written and recorded a huge pile of songs with different bands - from metal, punkrock to folk, blues, pop, indie, whatever...
99 percent with lyrics. The OMDMR-album was my first attempt to make an instrument only album. And, like Steve said, it's not easy to write instrumental songs. How do you make hooks? A cool riff? A melody? Chord progressions? Even a drum part?
Everything goes. Thanks for the discussion, Steve!
good luck with the album! :-)
Good post, Steve.
I like LYRICS. I like a STORY to the song. Maybe ONE instrumental break. Maybe not.
It seems like the albums I would buy in the 60s had one almost obligatory instrumental. That worked okay for me.
I love to hear Slowhound's stuff or Andries stuff, John McNairs's stuff or some of Jame's and Clocks. Others too. But after a song or two, I am ready for some lyrics.
Justin Johnson is a great musician and showman. But even good as he is, I think he needs a vocal here and there to break things up.
hear hear UJ, but Justin does mix it up with his looper, maybe he's so busy he would forget to sing, anyway! ;-)
I like both, lyrics and instrumentals. I have to admit though, when I listen to vocals, I don't remember the words, it's the melody that catches me!
yes it's the melody you remember :-)
Me too. In the best songs the words are musical anyway. They often don't make a lot of sense but they sound cool. diddiy wah diddy?
doo wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo....Paul Jones 1964 ;-)
Not completely related to the thread but I'm puttin it here anyway.
Big congrats to Steve for his album. Making the time and effort to write your own songs, record and release them, bring a big project like this to a conclusion deserves kudos.
I've often dreamt of such a project myself but haven't, as yet, got my project management skills onto it. Part of it is this thing about the song I think. Getting lyrics together, structuring a piece, variety in an album, all that. It's a big deal. I can do riffs and improvise until the cows come home and never remeber any of it, it's gone as quick as it arrives. Creating something that hangs around is a whole different thing.
Again kudos to you Steve, I may even try it myself one day.
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