When I makes lists like this, I try to expose people to as many different artists and genres of music. This is a list that is song oriented. There are plenty of Prog Metal bands that I could have put in the video but I wanted to show that there are a lot of classic songs in odd meters.
@@Pehennji I have a songbook that includes lyrics for it written by Iola and Dave Brubeck. That said, I have never run across a version that wasn't an instrumental performance.
I love the story of Whipping Post, that when Gregg Allman presented the song to his brother, Duane said "I didn't know you knew 11/8", to which Gregg replied "what's 11/8?"
Time signature is such aa incomprehensible concept to me. I am tone deaf, but even more completely devoid of rhythm. God bless all the musicians who turn squiggly marks on paper into beautiful music.
Apocalypse in 9/8 from the masterpiece Supper's Ready by Genesis consists of an organ solo from Tony Banks played in 4/4 and 7/8 against the 9/8 (expressed as 3+2+4) rhythm section. Great musicianship by the members Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and of course Phil Collins on drums. Absolutely stunning!
@@modeltrainfan Also. 100% in agreement ! Check out also "Carrying no Cross" by UK from "Danger Money". Terry Bozzio on drums. A true Legend !! In Entire album the only song in 4/4 feel is "Nothing To Lose". The rest is in add time signatures, and that's like 90 percent of the album. Hmmm. What else ? Pat Metheny's "First Circle" 22/8. Not to mention Jerry Goldsmith's "Total Recall" and bunch of other Hollywood action film soundtracks. Hardly any 4/4 in those...
Great example of 9/8 and my favorite section of Supper's Ready. A band (my favorite) that I find overlooked far too often is Happy The Man. Nearly all of their music is in odd time but sounds amazingly natural. Any Genesis fan should check them out! 🙂
There's a tune on King Crimson's "Discipline" where half the band is in 15/8, and the other half in 17/8. They all hit the "one" together just three times: the start, the Least Common Multiple of 15 and 17, and two times the LCM (at the very end). Incredible counting.
The song is Discipline, from the album Discipline. And it's actually more complex than that, and yet doesn't sound that complex. It was written with Fripp playing guitar in 15/8 and Bruford on drums in 17/8. But then Belew and Levin weave in and out and you get ridiculous combinations of time signatures throughout, with that 15 and 17 still working together as the structure. If you google it, Gabriel Riccio and Trey Gunn(who was in KC for a decade) described every time change and wrote sheet music and tabs for it.
I see mentioning Solsbury Hill a lot when it comes to odd timing signatures, but it seems that nobody pointing out the fact that verse goes in 3+4 BUT main chorus melody goes in 4+3, which is cutest timing twist of them all. I love it so much.
Always liked the song, but never played it until my acoustic duo buddy suggested we work it into a set a couple of years ago. It was then that I realized the flip flop. Excellent point!
What do you mean "nobody" points out the 3+4 4+3 flip-flop? Who is this nobody? Rick didn't mention the metrical flip here because he's using a quick countdown format for this vid, but every other Solsbury tutorial or piece of analysis I've come across has specifically explained this metric change.
That's one of my favorite 7/4 drum grooves of all time, the grouping is very clever. Another good Porcupine Tree song is The Start of Something Beautiful, which has the verse in 9 and the chorus in 5.
I know it's really old and I know it was Jazz, but The Dave Brubeck Quartet's Take Five broke new ground by making it into the Billboard Top 100 in 1961. Seems to me it was worth at least an honorable mention.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet is synonym to odd time signatures. I own some of their albums but I also like it that they are not mentioned here because they are almost literally mentioned all around the net.
@@c.a.t.732 yes, once. “Best Song Openinngs”, I think. “Songs From the Wood”. Tull is under-appreciated here on this channel. Not popular enough for the masses I’d guess.
I would add "Living in the Past" by Jethro Tull (5/4) and the "Apocalypse in 9/8" section from "Supper's Ready" by Genesis. I was also in a band that covered "The Fish". Unlike most odd time signatures it's evenly divisible into two 3.5 beat phrases.
Excellent selections! And who can not think of of Supper's when it is in the song section name? Not among my favorites though because the guitar and bass are doing very little except counting. Great keyboard solo though and wonderful opportunity for drums. And where Collins and Bruford do a duet on the "Seconds Out" live album, arguably better than the originals except for some of Collins' Broadway vocal stylings. Foreshadowing their turn to pop, I suppose.
My favorite odd Rush meter is the solo section from Red Barchetta. The sense of anticipation and movement that it creates puts me on the edge of my seat, and the moment it goes back into 4/4 when the vocals enter is so satisfying!
@@jimford7649 an album is a commercial success and people accuse him of selling out …(yawn). It proves you don’t know much about his work before or since 😉
#8 - One of my most favourite songs ever! Played this years ago in a cover band. It was SO much fun to watch people when they got up on the floor and tried to dance to it. Great job, Rick!! This is a fabulous collection!!!!!
May I nominate the 13/8 section of “Jacobs Ladder” by Rush from Permanent Waves. It still blows me away after all these years. The rest of that song uses odd time sigs too
100%! I know Rick B agrees and loves it just as much, but he was going with the most popular odd time songs, not necessarily the best. Maybe he should've called it such - include "most popular" or "well known" in the title, but I guess "top" could mean that too...
'Golden Brown' by the Stranglers. That was my first favourite 'odd' metered song; still love the feel of it to this day. Back then, I had no concept of time signatures, but the way the song shifts rhythmically, that got me immediately; I was only 10 at the time. I enjoy these song breakdown videos, but this one might just be my favourite so far; and probably needs a part 2
"Living in the Past" by Jethro Tull, one of the greatest 5/4 songs ever. (And of course Dave Brubeck with Take Five, and Lalo Shifrin with Mission Impossible...)
Also from Jethro Tull; the section of Thick as a Brick that includes "I've come down from the upper class..." Most musicians can't seem to figure out waht time signature it is and in an interview with Ian Anderson and Martin Barre; they don't seem to know either.
I think Dance of Eternity from Dream Theater really deserves a spot on this list. Theres even a video of Mike Portnoy counting all the time signatures which are just all over the place :D
One of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs, "Black Dog," alternates between 4/4 and 5/8 during parts of it. It honestly took me by surprise the first time I listened to it.
Possum Kingdom by Toadies was perhaps the first time I noticed an odd time signature in popular music. That’s why even though it may not seem significant to most, it’s quite significant to me.
@@jsbennett2679 - I’ve definitely always counted it as alternating 3/4 4/4… it wasn’t until talking with my mom after learning the song that I realized it could be counted different ways (she had a music minor). I think it was on this channel when I heard about Led Zeppelin having the guitar and drums in different time signatures for Kashmir. That blew me away. I’ve since written a few songs with drums and synth in different time signatures and it’s really fun. It really feels like tricks like that can turn simple riffs into super interesting songs.
I used to be in a Genesis tribute band and the most fun I ever had playing with them was the middle-ish section to Supper's Ready, when it goes into 9/8 and I just played the epic 9-note riff for like 5 minutes, while the keyboard player and drummer worked harder than they ever had to in their lives!
Even though this was a rock based "best of", I was still kind of waiting for Dave Brubeck's "Take Five". As you well know, it became the biggest selling jazz single ever and, on a personal note, was my first conscious intro to 5/4. But, totally respect your choice to narrow your scope to rock here, even though I'd bet "Take Five" popped up in your head, at least. Cheers.
Odd story: About 25 years ago we played a wedding but had a hard time getting anyone on the dance floor. We offered them everything from a waltz to the Rumba, even throwing in evergreens that everybody knows and loves - to no avail. Then we started Take Five and within seconds, the dancefloor filled. They even danced to/through the drum solo. In 5/4.
The common thread through every one of these songs is an amazing drummer. These songs don't work without the drummer being able to hit the ONE consistently.
The first one that comes to mind is Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog". I don't know what weird Martian time signature John Paul Jones wrote that riff in, but Bonzo at first couldn't handle it. It was when he decided to power through it in 4/4 that the song came together with its push/pull feel. (The Cult would do something similar on "Memphis Hip Shake" off Electric). The Pretenders' "Tattooed Love Boys" is in 13/8, which comes natural for Chrissie Hynde. Queen's "Sweet Lady" is in 6/8. And then there's Heart's "Barracuda", which changes time signature several times in the verse alone! When we did this in one of my bands, I had to count it out several times before our drummer finally got it.
One of my favorite songs is Golden Brown by the Stranglers parts of which alternate between 6/8 and 7/8. It such a weird song. An odd time signature, ostensibly about heroin (and/or a woman), played on a harpsichord by a punk band. This list is great and bands like Tool, Rush, Yes, etc. could have an entire top 20 list each of odd time signatures.!
How weird, I just heard that song yesterday for the first time in years, probably decades. It was used in season 2 of a show called The Umbrella Academy.
@@OlYables Especially the Britain of 100+ years ago when the mysteries of the empire were collected in places like Leighton House (where the video was filmed). It's a museum today which I would love to visit if I make it back to the UK.
I would also like to mention "The sound of muzak" by Porcupine Tree - since Gavin Harrison plays a beautiful 7/8 pattern over a 7/4 guitar line. Very elegant and and a bit tricky to recognize.
So many great bands utilizing odd time signatures. One of my favorite songs is Porcupine Tree's The Sound Of Muzak, just because of the amazing drum work by Gavin Harrison.
You've got to have a Zeppelin tune on the list. Black Dog, The Crunge, The Ocean, etc. Bonham and the boys make the odd feel pretty natural. As always, great video.
Came here to mention Black Dog. Hadn't thought of the others! And you're spot on, LZ were so good they made those weird times into such awesome grooves that get under your skin.
@@richardclifton-smith8705 Spot on black dog, what's great about them they aren't scared to just change signatures within songs. That's the mark of fine musicians.
Rush put on a time signature clinic with “Natural Science.” Seamless shifts between 7/8, 6/8, 4/4, and 3/4 without even feeling or thinking about them . Pure genius.
You nailed it. Natural science is my favorite Rush song and actually my all-time favorite song. The time signature changes there are unreal. Neil was such a God.
One of my vey favorite tracks, from Rush or anyone else. But they put on an even more seamless clinic with 'Limelight.' Why do I say this? There's odd meter all over that song if you try to actually play it - but it NEVER gets name-checked as an odd-meter tune. Nobody even seems to notice.
One of the greatest moments in musical history is Genesis - Foxtrot - Supper's Ready - Apocalypse in 9/8 It is so confounding, I can't image the number of takes or rehearsals needed to get it right.
Given that it was Phil Collins, I'm guessing he figured it out on the first take. Collins was something like Genesis's fourth drummer and they all knew instantly he was their guy because he could play anything. Strange that he's usually not even thought of as a drummer these days.
I'm also very partial to the instrumental middle section of Cinema Show, from Selling England by the Pound. One of the most natural sounding 7/8 riffs I've ever heard. The initial melody is soaring and beautiful, especially when it comes in with the Vox Humana synth, and it's amazing how they can solo in it! The way they transition from it back into the soft 4/4 is so subtle I didn't even catch it until I finally listened specifically for it. They do it by finishing the 7 part with a repeated riff, which they then change very subtlety to put it back to 4, but most of it's the same. That's why it's not very noticeable until you suddenly realize you're back in 4, but you didn't hear it happen.
I was disappointed that Tool came up only once but you could make this entire list out of Tool songs and you still chose my favorite one so huge respect for putting this list together. Just put Right in two at number one next time :)
I guessed 5 of these correctly including Solsbury Hill and your top 3 in order :) Great video! One notable exception is Take 5 from Dave Brubeck. Not only was it the first jazz single to surpass 1m sales, but it charted #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's just one of those songs like many Herbie and Miles tunes that are simple and complex at the same time. IMHO, Take 5 still managed to capture a lot of the "innocent sound" of the 50's-60's era in a tune that's an absolute banger with a LOT of buried harmonic and melodic depth... plus it's in SIX FLATS! lol And for a straight ahead jazz tune that's swung, has a head, an intro vamp, and solos (so it's traditional jazz form) to do so well in pop music, that's a pretty cosmic achievement.
Bassist Eugene Wright did not take a solo in T5. Somebody had to keep track of the tempo! I think I was 8 when that came out, and we had that on the turntable at our house immediately. Been a fan for 64 years since.
@@larrymiller4 Good catch, so I corrected it. I do think Morello would have been fine even without the bass (and I'm a bass player... ha!), though. If you listen and watch him, he always keeps that hi hat going on the quarters with his foot in his solo.
Zappa loved him some complicated rhythms and Vinnie Colaiuta may have been his most masterful drummer. The story that Terry Bozzio tells about watching Vinnie play "The Black Page" while casually eating sushi leaves one in awe at his sheer technical control! I was so happy to catch him with Jeff Beck a couple tours back, he was just about as amazing to watch as my favorite guitarist of all time (and both on the same stage)!
Saw Jeff beck on the 25th anniversary of the wired album totally memorable there a cool video of a old VanHalen sound check and their playing Led Boots on you tube.
While I really love the sneakiness of the odd time signature in Genesis' "Turn it On Again", I feel that one of their classics, like "Dance On a Volcano" (there is a "What Makes This Song Great" for this), "Cinema Show", "Firth of Fifth", "Apocalypse in 9/8" (from "Supper's Ready"), or even "Down and Out" would have made the list a bit juicier for my taste....also, "The Ocean" by Led Zeppelin would go on my list as well...But I LOVE what you're sharing with the world Rick and I am so grateful to have been steered to your channel a few years back. Congratulations and here's to your continued success!
Kinda surprised Kashmir didn't make the list. Bonham and Page are playing to different beats (3/4 and 4/4) and don't "sync" back together until the 12th beat.
Oohh… great to see Alice in Chains up there in the top-5. They haven’t received enough credits for the influence they have actually had on the rock world of today. Great list! Should have been a top 21 or 19 or… any odd number though 😉
By the time I watched it, the honorable mentions section had already been cut from the video. Which Jethro Tull song was it, and do you remember any of the other mentions?
Odd time signatures are simply the most emotive and evocative to my ear. They pull you in and capture your attention through their irregularity. I love them so very much!
An earlier classic, and my favorite piece, from Genesis is Supper's Ready. In the section called Apocalypse in 9/8, everyone else is in 9/8 time but Tony Bank's solo is in 4/4. Check it out!
One of the few things I like about RUclips's force-feeding me stuff I don't want - is that somehow they break the pattern in-between, and understand that no matter from how long ago, they can lay Rick Beatific YTs on me anytime. Because they will make me smile, make me go whoa, or just make me enjoy another new musical wonder to ponder. Love this one.
One of the most fun bits in the new live Rush set (from 1981, packed in with the Moving Pictures 40th anniversary disc) is hearing Neil Peart yell out the count after the acoustic intro to The Trees: "FIVE! SIX!"
i'd love just once to see the lead in a prog band throw it to the to drummer to introduce a new song who begins by bobbing their head silently for an awkwardly long time then shouting out "twenty-eight, twenty-nine!"
This video helped me realise 7/4 is my favourite unorthodox time signature, there's something so satisfying and propelling when the 'one' beat hits. Although I also love the combination of 5/8 and 6/8 in Four Sticks by Led Zeppelin
@@jordankokocinski506 YES - Neil Peart has talked about how that 13/8 measure was his "mistake" while he was learning the solo section, but they liked it so they made that part of the arrangement.
That is a great list, Rick! No complaints here. You always do a great job of explaining things. My personal favorite in 7 is Chris Squire song "Lucky Seven". Peace and God bless, Rick!
Such a great list. Loved the inclusion of Karnivool & Sting’s Seven Days is one of my favourites. Important ones you’ve missed out: • Led Zeppelin - The Crunge - 9/8 • Nick Drake - Riverman - 5/4 • King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Coundown - 9/8 (they also do some amazing 24 tet microtonal songs like Flying Microtonal Banana in 7/8) • Hiatus Kaiyote - By Fire (choruses have two bars of 3/4 and 1 bar of 2/4, verses are in 10/4)
King Gizzard has tons of songs in odd time signatures (especially 7/4 or 7/8), and they often switch between time signatures in a single song. Their album Polygondwanaland is basically entirely in odd time signatures as well
@@pastamanofficial absolutely. Hard to pick a favourite album or song of theirs. Polygondwanaland is definitely high on my list. I chose that song because I loved the way they did that particular 9/8.
Another vote for Living in the Past, plus ... Take 5 by Brubeck (!) (not to mention Mission Impossible theme.) A favorite of mine is King Crimson's Frame by Frame.
Listen to the first album with Take 5… groundbreaking but rather stiff when compared to later live versions where Brubeck absolutely swings! Much more comfortable.
Is love to see Rick dissect some ELP for us. Surprised I haven’t seen mention of them on the channel. Certainly gotta be some crazy time signatures in there. Tarkus, etc etc etc. love them.
The really cool thing about "Money" is how Nick Mason takes the song seamlessly from 7/4 to 4/4 for Gilmore's guitar solo, then seamlessly back to 7/4.
@@347Jimmy Yep, I saw that in an interview with Gilmour; he was very appreciative of the change so he could think more about playing the solo and not have to concentrate on the timing.
Hey Rick. Love your channel. Jethro Tull and Living in the Past must be a rare odd-timer as it topped the charts and don't forget Take Five - another chart-topper.
How'd you miss Take Five?! The entire Time Out by Dave Brubeck is the best odd time album of all time. Kudos for including U.K. I played along with the drums to Rush's Subdivisions for decades before realizing how many time changes there were in it when trying to show someone else how to play it because the changes are so natural and smooth.
Maybe it doesn't count as a song for Rick because I don't think there were any instrumentals in Rick's list. Maybe he needs to do another list with instrumentals? In one of Rick's live shows it would be interesting with songs that use polyrhythms to split the audience and have part of the audience clap and count one beat while the other part claps and counts the other.
Great list! In the 90's, we covered Possum Kingdom by The Toadies. I would count it as alternating between 7/4 and 8/4. We did a harder rock version of it and, surprisingly, it always filled the dance floor at gigs.
Great list Rick, all of these are mind-boggling time signatures and of course, you are correct and putting Vinnie way at the top. He is crazy.... he's on the list twice with two different bands. You should try to pick out some of these progressive bands that have drummers who have a sneaky way of throwing a metric modulation with their timing.
Hard to not include The Cars' "Touch and Go," an amazing example of polymeter, with half the band playing in 5/4 and the other half in 4/4 -- only to resolve the tension for the chorus when they all go to 4/4.
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I could think of several great KC songs that would fit the bill. Rick doesn’t give much notice to KC in videos where they would easily have entries, I’ve noticed.
The Ocean by Led Zeppelin seems like it would’ve been fit for this list. But you nailed #1 (we all knew that’s what number one would be) and I was really happy to Synchronocity I on there. I remember hearing it recently and stopping to count it because I too thought, man that sounds weird. I even tried experimenting with what it would sound like in 7/4 instead of 6/4. Also when you mentioned Joe’s Garage, I was sure you were going to say Watermelon in Easter Hay, for which Vinnie Colaiuta also played drums, but Keep it Greasy is a much better example from that one.
Great video as always, Rick! Excellent picks. Here's one I'd add from an unexpected source: The Pointer Sisters' "Pinball Number Count," from the animated Sesame Street short. It was an unbelievably complicated piece of music to throw at an audience of preschoolers. I'm sure it gave millions of kids their first exposure to odd time. Ironically, it's a song about counting and I still can't count the time signature.
Speaking of odd sources -- "Unfair" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella. I eventually admitted defeat and looked up the sheet music, and it's ridiculous.
This was awesome!!! Do a top 100!!! Seriously, I love odd signatures to begin with, so yeah!!!! Discovered new bands and tunes I didn’t know on top of it all, thank you sir!!!
I won't say that you made me love music Rick, because I've always loved music. However, you remind me why I love music. You have so many different types of videos, and they're all great. Thank you so much for your hard work, you are very much appreciated.
That’s a great observation and one I whole heartedly agree with. For me I’d go one step further and say Rick has in many ways taught me why I love music. This video is a good example of that, so many of these songs I love and yet didn’t realise they had odd meters. Now I’m going through my favourite songs and find odd meters everywhere.
Great list! I love all your references to Temple of the Dog…such a great record!!!! I’m surprised no Radiohead. Lots of odd meter tunes, but the bridge section of Paranoid Android is probably their best known
In another video ("Fair Use is BS"), Rick specifically mentions Radiohead & says that they're already very well known - he was trying to give lesser-known artists exposure here
what i remember as a kid seeing in a transcript of 'the crunge' in a guitar mag from the era was that the time sigs were *insane* and different for every bar in the measure, like 11/8, 9/8, 2/4, maybe even a 12 in there, and anyone who played the drums in school, that was like their white whale...until yyz
Hey Rick, nice list as usual! I really wanted to see Jethro Tull's "Living In The Past" (5/4 signature) mentioned somewhere but other than that, good job!
How did "Take 5" not make the list? I like songs where they throw you off by crowbarring an extra beat just once in the pattern, like The Stranglers' "Golden Brown" which is mostly in waltz time but with a single bar of common time in the keyboard riff between verses. Slightly off the mainstream, the song "AC/DC" from Starlight Express, although 7/8 throughout, is surprisingly difficult to play. And Murray Gold used fives and sevens to great effect in a lot of the incidental music on Doctor Who.
As a drummer I would’ve split the Goliath 27/4 groove into a multiple mixed meter phrase- 7/4 + 7/4 + 7/4 + 6/4. Makes it much easier for me follow it.
Such a nice surprise to see them opening the list, even though it was an out of prime Muse track. Still, one of their best songs from the last 3 albums, in my opinion.
Their last good songs were on The 2nd Law. Everything since is ham fisted, tired conspiracy anti-establishment bullshit. Where did the melodies, interesting compositions, personal themes and fun go? Any hint of nuance is just gone.
I'm VERY glad you put Zappa in there, and encourage you to keep referring to Zappa in as many videos as possible. His versatility and creativity is unmatched IMO.
One of the best examples is the piano intro to Genesis' Firth of Fifth - the time signature moves all over the place - 2/4, 16/16, 3/6, 13/16 15/16 It is just sublime
If RB hasn't already, he NEEDS to do an analysis of A Firth of Fifth -- not only time signatures, but key/chord/modal transformations are unique (to say the least). If he can figure out what's going on, then he's smarter than me (which is a given).
YEAH!!!!!!! "Firth" and "Watcher Of The Skies" are my top GENESIS tunes! RICK's gotta do those songs!! I argue that TONY BANKS is the 2nd most important Prog keyboardist. Wakeman is like a 2-trick pony by contrast. (And 90% of his output is uninspired filler.) (EX: why does he almost exclusively use that CHEESY synth tone all over GFTO (or is it Tormato?)? YEEESH.) Tony Banks is far more genius than RW overall, in so many ways. (And TB has more chops than ppl give him credit for!)
I love your videos Rick. There's a old English band It Bites who did an album "Once Around The World " who has many interesting elements and one is the odd meters. Check them out.
So many great additional entries already listed here. Let me just add: Porcupine Tree - Sound of Muzak. Gavin Harrison makes the 7/4 sound soooo smooth
At first, my unfettered outrage over the omission of Dream Theater's "The Dance of Eternity" from this list made me figuratively insane. But, I soon saw the list was rife with simplicity in comparison to the multitude of time changes in DT's masterpiece. I see you, Rick Beato. You're going to cover this magnum opus in a special video of its own, aren't you?
Interesting thing is that Phil Collins had another extended bit with alternating sixes and sevens in the instrumental part of Banks/Collins piece "Robbery , Assault and Battery" off of Genesis' "A Trick of the Tail."
Glad you used the Zappa cut. Probably the best-selling non-standard-time-signature record of all time was Take 5, recorded by by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1959. It was pretty ground-breaking for its time. I'm pretty sure someone must have mentioned it somewhere in the 8500 plus comments before mine. Also worthy of mention (and practically unheard of these days) is the music of big band leader Don Ellis. His exotic time signatures were way ahead of their time. He also experimented with a quarter tone trumpet and tape loop effects.
Another worth mentioning is the original Mission Impossible Theme Song: one of my fav odd time rhythms to show students to be able to feel the even pulse amongst the syncopated off beat. Great video!
Rick needs to hear some COG! Just as good as the 'Vool, and just as well produced (by Sylvia Massey (has produced TOOL & loads of other great alternative rock bands)).
#14 Seven Days by Sting is such an awesome song. (That entire album is full of gold.) …and Synchronicity 1 is an often overlooked but amazing track from The Police. Great list, as always. Keep dropping the knowledge Keep us smiling. Seriously, is there anything better than watching Rick air drumming to a song he loves?!?! Pure joy.
Dead fact. Sting - backed up by massive rhythmic talent like Copeland, Colaiuta and Manu Katche - had a magical way of phrasing that leaves bar lines in the dust. I still swear theres an extra beat in Spirits in the Material World.
Sting is a masochist when it comes to odd meter time. Not only was Copeland a master class at this, but he had Vinnie playing with him as well when he went solo. I think Sting's entire song library probably has more odd-meter time songs than not, and I love him for it!
The Police song that has me stumped trying to count it is Spirits In The Material World. I cannot air-drum that song even after knowing it for about 30 years!
@@ChemSteve The Accent Keyboard/guitar motif from the get go is played on the Upbeats of every measure... this is what draws you into thinking it's the downbeat... but it's not. Stewart Copeland is playing the Bass drum on beats 2+4... The tune is in 4. Great tune though.
Well done, Rick. I've always enjoyed Jethro Tull, especially the Barrymore Barlow years, but a very musical "Living in the Past" is one of my favorites. It would nicely fit on your list as well.
When I makes lists like this, I try to expose people to as many different artists and genres of music. This is a list that is song oriented. There are plenty of Prog Metal bands that I could have put in the video but I wanted to show that there are a lot of classic songs in odd meters.
Holy smokes Rick, no Radiohead? I know this isn't David Bennett's channel, but I'm heartbroken :)
Always the teacher! 👊💥
I don't know enough about music, but I always felt that Don Caballero had some really weird time signatures.
Love the channel! Thank you 😎
Two great ones from the jazz genre: Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turk, both by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
Take Five. Written by Paul Desmond. Performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
How can you have list of odd time signatures and not include Take Five? I guess because he was only going with rock songs?
@@bomafett Maybe because it's not a "song", with a "singer". But yeah, anyway, it should have been somewhere in this top 20;
@@bomafett yep. Not a single jazz tune .
thank you.
@@Pehennji I have a songbook that includes lyrics for it written by Iola and Dave Brubeck. That said, I have never run across a version that wasn't an instrumental performance.
I love the story of Whipping Post, that when Gregg Allman presented the song to his brother, Duane said "I didn't know you knew 11/8", to which Gregg replied "what's 11/8?"
Great book, my cross to bare.
When Gregg asked Duane about 11/8, Duane replied with something along the lines of, "Okay dumbass, I'll try to draw it on paper for you."
Same time signature that Bill Kreuzman is playing on the song “The Eleven” on the Grateful Dead’s album “Live Dead”.
I imagine some artists just do it by feel and it ends up being an unconventional time signature.
@@postive-vibes probably more do it by feel than you realize!
Time signature is such aa incomprehensible concept to me. I am tone deaf, but even more completely devoid of rhythm. God bless all the musicians who turn squiggly marks on paper into beautiful music.
Apocalypse in 9/8 from the masterpiece Supper's Ready by Genesis consists of an organ solo from Tony Banks played in 4/4 and 7/8 against the 9/8 (expressed as 3+2+4) rhythm section. Great musicianship by the members Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and of course Phil Collins on drums. Absolutely stunning!
100% in agreement!
@@modeltrainfan Also. 100% in agreement ! Check out also "Carrying no Cross" by UK from "Danger Money". Terry Bozzio on drums. A true Legend !! In Entire album the only song in 4/4 feel is "Nothing To Lose". The rest is in add time signatures, and that's like 90 percent of the album. Hmmm. What else ? Pat Metheny's "First Circle" 22/8. Not to mention Jerry Goldsmith's "Total Recall" and bunch of other Hollywood action film soundtracks. Hardly any 4/4 in those...
Or the great 7/8 jam in the second half of "Cinema Show." I've seen Hackett do that twice number, and it just grooves.
Agreed.
Great example of 9/8 and my favorite section of Supper's Ready. A band (my favorite) that I find overlooked far too often is Happy The Man. Nearly all of their music is in odd time but sounds amazingly natural. Any Genesis fan should check them out! 🙂
There's a tune on King Crimson's "Discipline" where half the band is in 15/8, and the other half in 17/8. They all hit the "one" together just three times: the start, the Least Common Multiple of 15 and 17, and two times the LCM (at the very end). Incredible counting.
That's very cool. I don't know the song, but the description sounds like something out of the 14th century Ars Subtilior repertoire.
Which song?
The song is Discipline, from the album Discipline. And it's actually more complex than that, and yet doesn't sound that complex. It was written with Fripp playing guitar in 15/8 and Bruford on drums in 17/8. But then Belew and Levin weave in and out and you get ridiculous combinations of time signatures throughout, with that 15 and 17 still working together as the structure. If you google it, Gabriel Riccio and Trey Gunn(who was in KC for a decade) described every time change and wrote sheet music and tabs for it.
My favourite KC album
The song is frame by frame where the guitars are out of time but cycle around and hit the beat correctly only to be out of beat again
"Golden Brown" by The Stranglers may not have been a big hit in the USA but it was huge in the UK. It combines 12/8 and 13/8.
One of the most atmospheric songs of all time. Utterly gorgeous
Yes yes yes yes
And thank guy Ritchie and snatch for exposing a lot of us in the US
For the longest time I didn't know it was from the 80s.
I might add "Love 30", the B side of the "Golden Brown" single.
I see mentioning Solsbury Hill a lot when it comes to odd timing signatures, but it seems that nobody pointing out the fact that verse goes in 3+4 BUT main chorus melody goes in 4+3, which is cutest timing twist of them all. I love it so much.
Never thought of that! You’re right that’s an awesome inside trick
Always liked the song, but never played it until my acoustic duo buddy suggested we work it into a set a couple of years ago. It was then that I realized the flip flop. Excellent point!
Ah! I could never work that out. So simple, so tricky.
And the downbeat for the vocal is beat five of the measure: 1-2-3-4-Climbing up on . . . .
Leaves me with a BIG grin .every.single.time.
What do you mean "nobody" points out the 3+4 4+3 flip-flop? Who is this nobody? Rick didn't mention the metrical flip here because he's using a quick countdown format for this vid, but every other Solsbury tutorial or piece of analysis I've come across has specifically explained this metric change.
One of my favourite grooves in odd time is The Sound of Muzak by Porcupine Tree. With polyrhythm on the drums as well... beautiful!
Indeed, that would have been a great song to include.
Good choice👍
A great choice, because Gavin Harrison, the drummer, makes the odd time feels like not an odd time.
That's one of my favorite 7/4 drum grooves of all time, the grouping is very clever. Another good Porcupine Tree song is The Start of Something Beautiful, which has the verse in 9 and the chorus in 5.
Also "Halo" is a great example with the centre section in 15/8 if I remember correctly
I know it's really old and I know it was Jazz, but The Dave Brubeck Quartet's Take Five broke new ground by making it into the Billboard Top 100 in 1961. Seems to me it was worth at least an honorable mention.
The whole of the album Time Out (and the later Time Further Out) by Brubeck experiments with time signatures, especially Blue Rondo a la Turk.
This is a definition of odd meter
Was missing that too
The Dave Brubeck Quartet is synonym to odd time signatures. I own some of their albums but I also like it that they are not mentioned here because they are almost literally mentioned all around the net.
Take 5 is in my all time top 10 albums.
Living in the past by Jethro Tull is one of the most natural sounding 5/4 meter songs.
One of the first bass lines I learned.
@@deltaveedesignconsulting7697 Nice.
Has Rick every talked about Tull on his channel?
It's actually in 6/8 + 2/4.
@@c.a.t.732 yes, once. “Best Song Openinngs”, I think. “Songs From the Wood”. Tull is under-appreciated here on this channel. Not popular enough for the masses I’d guess.
I love watching Rick's videos. They always remind me how little I know about music.
I would add "Living in the Past" by Jethro Tull (5/4) and the "Apocalypse in 9/8" section from "Supper's Ready" by Genesis. I was also in a band that covered "The Fish". Unlike most odd time signatures it's evenly divisible into two 3.5 beat phrases.
Supper's Ready is where my thoughts went too.
Living in the Past is what I immediately thought of. Has such a smooth feel to it - I didn't even realize it was odd meter for a long, long time.
Like wise on Supper.
Excellent selections! And who can not think of of Supper's when it is in the song section name? Not among my favorites though because the guitar and bass are doing very little except counting. Great keyboard solo though and wonderful opportunity for drums. And where Collins and Bruford do a duet on the "Seconds Out" live album, arguably better than the originals except for some of Collins' Broadway vocal stylings. Foreshadowing their turn to pop, I suppose.
@@mathiasohlson6265 a lot of genesis songs could be up here cinema show firth fo fifth and many more
My favorite odd Rush meter is the solo section from Red Barchetta. The sense of anticipation and movement that it creates puts me on the edge of my seat, and the moment it goes back into 4/4 when the vocals enter is so satisfying!
Totally!
And so smooth that I didn't notice the 7/4 for several *years* after
“Solsbury Hill” is one of my favourite songs of all time, in any genre. The lyrics, the layering of the instruments, everything about it is perfect.
Completely agree with you. Have listened to it so many times that it's stuck in this head forever.
That’s the genius of the man ;) You are right, of course. 😊
Agreed. This song can really pump you up when you're feeling a bit down.
Peter Gabriel before he went pop with "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time". What a shame he sold out....
@@jimford7649 an album is a commercial success and people accuse him of selling out …(yawn). It proves you don’t know much about his work before or since 😉
#8 - One of my most favourite songs ever! Played this years ago in a cover band. It was SO much fun to watch people when they got up on the floor and tried to dance to it. Great job, Rick!! This is a fabulous collection!!!!!
May I nominate the 13/8 section of “Jacobs Ladder” by Rush from Permanent Waves. It still blows me away after all these years. The rest of that song uses odd time sigs too
Definitely love playing that one on bass and keyboards
100%! I know Rick B agrees and loves it just as much, but he was going with the most popular odd time songs, not necessarily the best. Maybe he should've called it such - include "most popular" or "well known" in the title, but I guess "top" could mean that too...
Absolutely, was hoping I wasn't the only one thinking of this. :)
@@TimMagicSevenhuysen indeed. Rick calls Jacobs Ladder his fav Rush song (Or was it Xanadu? Sorry, both are amazing!)
Definitely...then again could be a list of 20 Rush songs
'Golden Brown' by the Stranglers.
That was my first favourite 'odd' metered song; still love the feel of it to this day.
Back then, I had no concept of time signatures, but the way the song shifts rhythmically, that got me immediately; I was only 10 at the time.
I enjoy these song breakdown videos, but this one might just be my favourite so far; and probably needs a part 2
As soon as I saw the title for this vid I thought of the Guilford boys
Yeah nice song. 3/4 and 4/4. That makes 7/4.
@@david_davinci They have more...
Golden Brown is amazing. Could use a "What makes this song great" video.
Hugh Cornwell has a brilliant Mariachi version on YT. Never a frown with those guys!
"Living in the Past" by Jethro Tull, one of the greatest 5/4 songs ever. (And of course Dave Brubeck with Take Five, and Lalo Shifrin with Mission Impossible...)
Also from Jethro Tull; the section of Thick as a Brick that includes "I've come down from the upper class..." Most musicians can't seem to figure out waht time signature it is and in an interview with Ian Anderson and Martin Barre; they don't seem to know either.
Weren’t a lot of Tull tunes in 11/4 (11/8 . . . 11/something)? From the first album.
... and "River Man" by great Nick Drake is 5/4, too.
Rick doesn't seem interested in Tull. They also had a Christmas hit in 7/4.
Dancing Madly Backwards
Your previous Karnivool introduction for me, has meant a rabbit hole experience, seeing them live etc. What an absolutely fantastic band of artists.
I think Dance of Eternity from Dream Theater really deserves a spot on this list. Theres even a video of Mike Portnoy counting all the time signatures which are just all over the place :D
Yes! This 👆
Totally agree DT deserved a spot.
The first verse in panic attack could also have been here
YESSS
Massive oversight
One of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs, "Black Dog," alternates between 4/4 and 5/8 during parts of it. It honestly took me by surprise the first time I listened to it.
Also "the ocean" by Zeppelin has 7/8 beat mixed in with the 4/4, in the chorus. Don't try to dance to it ...
What about The Crunge? Talk about impossible to dance to.
@@petermott2411 Came here to mention this! One of my favorite Page riffs ever
I also like Four Sticks, in 5/4 and 6/4.
What about Kashmir? Something interesting happening with the intro/verse bit re time signature.
Possum Kingdom by Toadies was perhaps the first time I noticed an odd time signature in popular music. That’s why even though it may not seem significant to most, it’s quite significant to me.
Agreed!, my band coved that song back in the 90's.
The way we looked at it was alternating 3/4 and 4/4. I guess it could be 7/4.
@@jsbennett2679 - I’ve definitely always counted it as alternating 3/4 4/4… it wasn’t until talking with my mom after learning the song that I realized it could be counted different ways (she had a music minor).
I think it was on this channel when I heard about Led Zeppelin having the guitar and drums in different time signatures for Kashmir. That blew me away. I’ve since written a few songs with drums and synth in different time signatures and it’s really fun. It really feels like tricks like that can turn simple riffs into super interesting songs.
@@jsbennett2679i count it as a bar of 7/4 and a bar of 8/4
That was one of the first songs I tried to learn when I got my first bass as a teenager and that time signature hit me right in the face.
I used to be in a Genesis tribute band and the most fun I ever had playing with them was the middle-ish section to Supper's Ready, when it goes into 9/8 and I just played the epic 9-note riff for like 5 minutes, while the keyboard player and drummer worked harder than they ever had to in their lives!
Right, good call. Also the middle section of Cinema Show is a master class in how many different grooves you can try on 7/8
Just came in here to say Supper's Ready. Beat me to it!
Even though this was a rock based "best of", I was still kind of waiting for Dave Brubeck's "Take Five". As you well know, it became the biggest selling jazz single ever and, on a personal note, was my first conscious intro to 5/4. But, totally respect your choice to narrow your scope to rock here, even though I'd bet "Take Five" popped up in your head, at least. Cheers.
my first thought was take five
Or anything from "Time Out". I would suggest Blue Rondo à la Turk.
Odd story: About 25 years ago we played a wedding but had a hard time getting anyone on the dance floor. We offered them everything from a waltz to the Rumba, even throwing in evergreens that everybody knows and loves - to no avail. Then we started Take Five and within seconds, the dancefloor filled. They even danced to/through the drum solo. In 5/4.
Or the Mission: Impossible theme. I read that the composer, Lalo Schifrin based the timing from Morse Code for the letters M I. This made it 5/4.
Love me some Dave Brubeck. It was on in my house all the way through my childhood.
The common thread through every one of these songs is an amazing drummer. These songs don't work without the drummer being able to hit the ONE consistently.
Very much agreed! A great example is Tool''s Danny Carey in "Pneuma". Just watch the drum cam video of him doing this song live on stage.
Phenomenal!
The first one that comes to mind is Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog". I don't know what weird Martian time signature John Paul Jones wrote that riff in, but Bonzo at first couldn't handle it. It was when he decided to power through it in 4/4 that the song came together with its push/pull feel. (The Cult would do something similar on "Memphis Hip Shake" off Electric).
The Pretenders' "Tattooed Love Boys" is in 13/8, which comes natural for Chrissie Hynde.
Queen's "Sweet Lady" is in 6/8.
And then there's Heart's "Barracuda", which changes time signature several times in the verse alone! When we did this in one of my bands, I had to count it out several times before our drummer finally got it.
Absolutely on Black Dog, I just posted mentioning that song. Different time signatures on different instruments overlapping. Brilliant.
yeah I was going to mention "tattooed love boys". my favorite guitar hero track :)
I used to question my ability to tap my foot in steady rhythm on that one (Black Dog). Then I realized it was in fact in an odd time signature.
I was itching to see "Money" on the list...and there it is!! Good job, Rick!
One of my favorite songs is Golden Brown by the Stranglers parts of which alternate between 6/8 and 7/8. It such a weird song. An odd time signature, ostensibly about heroin (and/or a woman), played on a harpsichord by a punk band.
This list is great and bands like Tool, Rush, Yes, etc. could have an entire top 20 list each of odd time signatures.!
How weird, I just heard that song yesterday for the first time in years, probably decades. It was used in season 2 of a show called The Umbrella Academy.
Fantastically British track.
@@OlYables Especially the Britain of 100+ years ago when the mysteries of the empire were collected in places like Leighton House (where the video was filmed). It's a museum today which I would love to visit if I make it back to the UK.
I would also like to mention "The sound of muzak" by Porcupine Tree - since Gavin Harrison plays a beautiful 7/8 pattern over a 7/4 guitar line. Very elegant and and a bit tricky to recognize.
Fear of a Blank Planet is great too. 6/8 that you can also count as two bars of 3 or three bars of 2
I was expecting that one as well...great song!
My fave Porky Tree track next to "Trains".
the new album is pretty smokin, but I'll leave it to someone else to figure out the time sigs
I was also expecting that one. Special extra credit to bands who can actually GROOVE in an odd time like that. Rush were masters of it.
So many great bands utilizing odd time signatures. One of my favorite songs is Porcupine Tree's The Sound Of Muzak, just because of the amazing drum work by Gavin Harrison.
Yeah, the 7/8 beat in the verse is insanely catchy !
The Sound of Muzak is probably THE best Porcupine Tree song, and the verse groove is one of the reasons why it is such a great song.
@@opettajah.3001 this and the vocals in the chorus make for a perfect song
I don't know if you will see or read this but thank you for all you do. You are keeping the music alive and well.
You've got to have a Zeppelin tune on the list. Black Dog, The Crunge, The Ocean, etc. Bonham and the boys make the odd feel pretty natural. As always, great video.
yep, I was going to say The Crunge
Came here to mention Black Dog. Hadn't thought of the others! And you're spot on, LZ were so good they made those weird times into such awesome grooves that get under your skin.
@@richardclifton-smith8705 Spot on black dog, what's great about them they aren't scared to just change signatures within songs. That's the mark of fine musicians.
The Ocean is my favorite Zep Song
What about "That's The Way'?
Rush put on a time signature clinic with “Natural Science.” Seamless shifts between 7/8, 6/8, 4/4, and 3/4 without even feeling or thinking about them . Pure genius.
my favorite Rush song. good pull.
You nailed it. Natural science is my favorite Rush song and actually my all-time favorite song. The time signature changes there are unreal. Neil was such a God.
Absolutely spot on! Genius.
One of my vey favorite tracks, from Rush or anyone else. But they put on an even more seamless clinic with 'Limelight.' Why do I say this? There's odd meter all over that song if you try to actually play it - but it NEVER gets name-checked as an odd-meter tune. Nobody even seems to notice.
Such an awesome song
One of the greatest moments in musical history is Genesis - Foxtrot - Supper's Ready - Apocalypse in 9/8 It is so confounding, I can't image the number of takes or rehearsals needed to get it right.
Given that it was Phil Collins, I'm guessing he figured it out on the first take. Collins was something like Genesis's fourth drummer and they all knew instantly he was their guy because he could play anything. Strange that he's usually not even thought of as a drummer these days.
Firth Of Fifth’s opening is even greater. Uses a mixed meter of 13/16 and 15/16 which is just insane.
Apocalypse in 9/8 is truly gigantic.
You stole my thunder-give it back!
I'm also very partial to the instrumental middle section of Cinema Show, from Selling England by the Pound. One of the most natural sounding 7/8 riffs I've ever heard. The initial melody is soaring and beautiful, especially when it comes in with the Vox Humana synth, and it's amazing how they can solo in it! The way they transition from it back into the soft 4/4 is so subtle I didn't even catch it until I finally listened specifically for it. They do it by finishing the 7 part with a repeated riff, which they then change very subtlety to put it back to 4, but most of it's the same. That's why it's not very noticeable until you suddenly realize you're back in 4, but you didn't hear it happen.
I was disappointed that Tool came up only once but you could make this entire list out of Tool songs and you still chose my favorite one so huge respect for putting this list together. Just put Right in two at number one next time :)
I guessed 5 of these correctly including Solsbury Hill and your top 3 in order :) Great video!
One notable exception is Take 5 from Dave Brubeck. Not only was it the first jazz single to surpass 1m sales, but it charted #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's just one of those songs like many Herbie and Miles tunes that are simple and complex at the same time. IMHO, Take 5 still managed to capture a lot of the "innocent sound" of the 50's-60's era in a tune that's an absolute banger with a LOT of buried harmonic and melodic depth... plus it's in SIX FLATS! lol And for a straight ahead jazz tune that's swung, has a head, an intro vamp, and solos (so it's traditional jazz form) to do so well in pop music, that's a pretty cosmic achievement.
That song is timeless, ooops, I mean immortal!
A lot of dave brubeck,s are in odd time signatures ,unsquare dance is a classic
Bassist Eugene Wright did not take a solo in T5. Somebody had to keep track of the tempo! I think I was 8 when that came out, and we had that on the turntable at our house immediately. Been a fan for 64 years since.
@@barryjones872 I love Kathy's Waltz
@@larrymiller4 Good catch, so I corrected it. I do think Morello would have been fine even without the bass (and I'm a bass player... ha!), though. If you listen and watch him, he always keeps that hi hat going on the quarters with his foot in his solo.
Zappa loved him some complicated rhythms and Vinnie Colaiuta may have been his most masterful drummer. The story that Terry Bozzio tells about watching Vinnie play "The Black Page" while casually eating sushi leaves one in awe at his sheer technical control! I was so happy to catch him with Jeff Beck a couple tours back, he was just about as amazing to watch as my favorite guitarist of all time (and both on the same stage)!
Saw Jeff beck on the 25th anniversary of the wired album totally memorable there a cool video of a old VanHalen sound check and their playing Led Boots on you tube.
13
While I really love the sneakiness of the odd time signature in Genesis' "Turn it On Again", I feel that one of their classics, like "Dance On a Volcano" (there is a "What Makes This Song Great" for this), "Cinema Show", "Firth of Fifth", "Apocalypse in 9/8" (from "Supper's Ready"), or even "Down and Out" would have made the list a bit juicier for my taste....also, "The Ocean" by Led Zeppelin would go on my list as well...But I LOVE what you're sharing with the world Rick and I am so grateful to have been steered to your channel a few years back. Congratulations and here's to your continued success!
Rick mentioned dance on a volcano a year or two ago. It's how I actually heard the song for the first time! Super impressed with it!
Dance on a volcano for sure, 7/8 and 7/4 in the same song, seamless and genius!
Kinda surprised Kashmir didn't make the list. Bonham and Page are playing to different beats (3/4 and 4/4) and don't "sync" back together until the 12th beat.
Great story, Collins says he was the one who told Rutherford that he (Rutherford) had accidentally written TIOG in 13. MR thought it was in 4 ...
Went to see Steve Hackett play live yesterday. Those meters were felt
Oohh… great to see Alice in Chains up there in the top-5. They haven’t received enough credits for the influence they have actually had on the rock world of today. Great list!
Should have been a top 21 or 19 or… any odd number though 😉
Definitely a missed opportunity
I was waiting for that one, glad it was placed so highly.
Jethro Tull should get waayyyy more than an honorable mention!
I LOVE this channel! Thank you so much for this GREAT content!
As well as a damn R&R HOF nomination. They're still holding that Hard Rock/Metal Grammy against them.
By the time I watched it, the honorable mentions section had already been cut from the video. Which Jethro Tull song was it, and do you remember any of the other mentions?
@@chrismcrouch Gotta be Living in the Past. I believe in 5/4.
@@chrismcrouch I’m sorry it was in the comments 😞 Rick did not mention it… tho I WISH HE WOULD!
Suggestion: “Living in the Past” by Jethro Tull in 5/4. And almost everything on the “Inner Mounting Flame” LP by John McLaughlin. Great video!
My band does a medley with Living in the Past, Take Five and the theme from Mission Impossible, all in 5/4. It works.
John McL was the first I had in mind when clicking the vid 👍
@@eliecanetti Not so impossible eh? 😆
@@eliecanetti Love it!!!!!!
@@eliecanetti Great idea! Post it. Love to hear it... :-)
Nick Drake's 'River Man' is all in 5/4 and just flows beautifully.
Came here to say the same. Love that song. - Flows like a river.
Exactly! A masterpiece
This is one of your best videos ever. Certainly one of the most interesting.
Odd time signatures are simply the most emotive and evocative to my ear. They pull you in and capture your attention through their irregularity. I love them so very much!
Great list! "The Crunge" from Zep was always a favorite, too.
An earlier classic, and my favorite piece, from Genesis is Supper's Ready. In the section called Apocalypse in 9/8, everyone else is in 9/8 time but Tony Bank's solo is in 4/4. Check it out!
One of the few things I like about RUclips's force-feeding me stuff I don't want - is that somehow they break the pattern in-between, and understand that no matter from how long ago, they can lay Rick Beatific YTs on me anytime.
Because they will make me smile, make me go whoa, or just make me enjoy another new musical wonder to ponder.
Love this one.
One of the most fun bits in the new live Rush set (from 1981, packed in with the Moving Pictures 40th anniversary disc) is hearing Neil Peart yell out the count after the acoustic intro to The Trees: "FIVE! SIX!"
i'd love just once to see the lead in a prog band throw it to the to drummer to introduce a new song who begins by bobbing their head silently for an awkwardly long time then shouting out "twenty-eight, twenty-nine!"
Siick
This video helped me realise 7/4 is my favourite unorthodox time signature, there's something so satisfying and propelling when the 'one' beat hits. Although I also love the combination of 5/8 and 6/8 in Four Sticks by Led Zeppelin
The alternating 6 and 7 in the single note sorta-arpeggio section of Rush's "Jacob's Ladder" is one of my favorite bits ever.
fantastic song!
Totally! And speaking of 6 & 7, the ending of Tom Sawyer reprises that theme in 7/4, but also throws in a bar of 13/8 if I'm not mistaken.
Trees is another one, 5/4. La Villa Strangiato. Natural Science. The list just goes on with that band. All good.
Add Losing it and Subdivisions from Signals. Rush has a large number of them. Some of my other favorites are La Villa Strangiato and Xanadu.
@@jordankokocinski506 YES - Neil Peart has talked about how that 13/8 measure was his "mistake" while he was learning the solo section, but they liked it so they made that part of the arrangement.
That is a great list, Rick! No complaints here. You always do a great job of explaining things. My personal favorite in 7 is Chris Squire song "Lucky Seven". Peace and God bless, Rick!
Nice mention! One of my favorite albums ever.
From Australia, respect for the Karnivool shout out, they have always been an inspiration for us as progressive musicians.
Such a great list. Loved the inclusion of Karnivool & Sting’s Seven Days is one of my favourites.
Important ones you’ve missed out:
• Led Zeppelin - The Crunge - 9/8
• Nick Drake - Riverman - 5/4
• King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Coundown - 9/8 (they also do some amazing 24 tet microtonal songs like Flying Microtonal Banana in 7/8)
• Hiatus Kaiyote - By Fire (choruses have two bars of 3/4 and 1 bar of 2/4, verses are in 10/4)
That Karnivool song sounds excellent. Must look into them.
I would have gone with The Ocean myself.
King Gizzard has tons of songs in odd time signatures (especially 7/4 or 7/8), and they often switch between time signatures in a single song. Their album Polygondwanaland is basically entirely in odd time signatures as well
@@pastamanofficial absolutely. Hard to pick a favourite album or song of theirs. Polygondwanaland is definitely high on my list. I chose that song because I loved the way they did that particular 9/8.
Another vote for Living in the Past, plus ... Take 5 by Brubeck (!) (not to mention Mission Impossible theme.) A favorite of mine is King Crimson's Frame by Frame.
Listen to the first album with Take 5… groundbreaking but rather stiff when compared to later live versions where Brubeck absolutely swings! Much more comfortable.
Could have written the same myself - you saved me the effort!
They aren’t songs but these are really cool pieces of music. Mars by Gustav Holst is also a really sick piece with 5/4 time.
Yes! My wife and kids (except my drummer son) have gotten sick of me playing Frame By Frame so often. Take 5 was a massive omission, as well.
I came here to see if he included "Living In The Past". He didn't. Jethro Tull gets no respect. It like it better than at least 10 of these songs.
Sting has some interesting songs like these too:
"Love Is Stronger Than Justice",
"Hung My Head",
"I Was Brought To My Senses"
I like the fact that Rush's "YYZ" is in 10/8 - the drums beat out the letters Y, Y, and Z (the Toronto airport code) in Morse code.
And if you're wondering why the code is YYZ - all Canadian airport codes start with Y.
Wow never new that !! )
10/8 or 5/4? I mean...they are kinda the same actually? LOL!
@@tompw3141 Because "Y"? would anyone ever fly to Canada :D Just kidding. Bad dad joke.
thats the holy grail secret of nerd knowledge. im floored.
Is love to see Rick dissect some ELP for us. Surprised I haven’t seen mention of them on the channel. Certainly gotta be some crazy time signatures in there. Tarkus, etc etc etc. love them.
Sadly a completely forgotten band these days. Those guys were incredible musicians.
Would be awesome
The really cool thing about "Money" is how Nick Mason takes the song seamlessly from 7/4 to 4/4 for Gilmore's guitar solo, then seamlessly back to 7/4.
Gilmour always felt it was very nice of Nick to shift into 4s for him
Especially after making Dick Parry do his sax solo over 7s
Yes very cool piece
@@347Jimmy Yep, I saw that in an interview with Gilmour; he was very appreciative of the change so he could think more about playing the solo and not have to concentrate on the timing.
Hey Rick. Love your channel. Jethro Tull and Living in the Past must be a rare odd-timer as it topped the charts and don't forget Take Five - another chart-topper.
How'd you miss Take Five?! The entire Time Out by Dave Brubeck is the best odd time album of all time. Kudos for including U.K. I played along with the drums to Rush's Subdivisions for decades before realizing how many time changes there were in it when trying to show someone else how to play it because the changes are so natural and smooth.
Yea, you can’t miss Take Five, a revolution in music history !!!
Really top call there. That is the song that began my path to Brubeck and Jazz as a genre.
In all fairness Rick does start the video by saying “MY top 20” so there really are no wrong answers. Take Five is an amazing song though.
I guess if this is a top 20 rock songs, fine. But I don’t know how Take Five was missed; I would argue it was most musicians’ intro to odd time.
Maybe it doesn't count as a song for Rick because I don't think there were any instrumentals in Rick's list. Maybe he needs to do another list with instrumentals? In one of Rick's live shows it would be interesting with songs that use polyrhythms to split the audience and have part of the audience clap and count one beat while the other part claps and counts the other.
Rick shows such joy talking about music. I love it.
Great list! In the 90's, we covered Possum Kingdom by The Toadies. I would count it as alternating between 7/4 and 8/4. We did a harder rock version of it and, surprisingly, it always filled the dance floor at gigs.
Little sin by the toadies in 5/4 - another fun jam
Good call! It's a fun song, albeit with kind of a depraved story in the lyrics.
Great list Rick, all of these are mind-boggling time signatures and of course, you are correct and putting Vinnie way at the top. He is crazy.... he's on the list twice with two different bands.
You should try to pick out some of these progressive bands that have drummers who have a sneaky way of throwing a metric modulation with their timing.
Hard to not include The Cars' "Touch and Go," an amazing example of polymeter, with half the band playing in 5/4 and the other half in 4/4 -- only to resolve the tension for the chorus when they all go to 4/4.
Love The Cars!
Plus one of the greatest Elliott Easton solos ever caught on wax!
Was going to say the same thing about Touch and Go! One of the best Cars songs and definitely should have been included here by Rick.
I would love for Rick to do a complete "what makes this song great" on that one!
Starts with Muse-Animals , seriously underrated song ! Love these kinds of compilation videos Rick ! Keep it up !
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Every Muse song is great!
Great song!
The solo on animal does a shift into 8/4.
@@Destro728 couldn't agree more
Frame By Frame by King Crimson would have been an interesting addition, and The Eleven by the Grateful Dead
Sadly DGM would probably have blocked the vid if he'd used anything by King Crimson.
I could think of several great KC songs that would fit the bill. Rick doesn’t give much notice to KC in videos where they would easily have entries, I’ve noticed.
Was surprised no Grateful Dead songs as they were really innovators in bringing odd time signatures to early rock in the 60s and 70s.
"Frame by Frame", "Thela Hun Ginjeet", "Matte Kudasai" -- cripes, that WHOLE record!
@@bryanciliberto they (DGM) block everything.
Excellent, as always, Rick. Awesome song picks for incredibly tricky time signatures.
My favorite is Relayer, Yes 1974. Mind bending stuff, includes groups of 8 and 3 for 11/4. RIP Alan White.
Omg. I wasn’t even aware Alan white passed. Damn, I grew up on Yes 😢
The Ocean by Led Zeppelin seems like it would’ve been fit for this list.
But you nailed #1 (we all knew that’s what number one would be) and I was really happy to Synchronocity I on there. I remember hearing it recently and stopping to count it because I too thought, man that sounds weird. I even tried experimenting with what it would sound like in 7/4 instead of 6/4.
Also when you mentioned Joe’s Garage, I was sure you were going to say Watermelon in Easter Hay, for which Vinnie Colaiuta also played drums, but Keep it Greasy is a much better example from that one.
I think The Ocean is in 15/8. Great call.
But it would have been blocked
Great video as always, Rick! Excellent picks.
Here's one I'd add from an unexpected source: The Pointer Sisters' "Pinball Number Count," from the animated Sesame Street short. It was an unbelievably complicated piece of music to throw at an audience of preschoolers. I'm sure it gave millions of kids their first exposure to odd time. Ironically, it's a song about counting and I still can't count the time signature.
ABSOLUTELY! That song is BONKERS, but excellent!
Agreed! The bass line is just nuts!
YES! I did not know it was the Pointer Sisters. That show was so cool.
"Eleven..."
Speaking of odd sources -- "Unfair" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella. I eventually admitted defeat and looked up the sheet music, and it's ridiculous.
This was awesome!!! Do a top 100!!! Seriously, I love odd signatures to begin with, so yeah!!!! Discovered new bands and tunes I didn’t know on top of it all, thank you sir!!!
I won't say that you made me love music Rick, because I've always loved music. However, you remind me why I love music. You have so many different types of videos, and they're all great. Thank you so much for your hard work, you are very much appreciated.
That’s a great observation and one I whole heartedly agree with. For me I’d go one step further and say Rick has in many ways taught me why I love music. This video is a good example of that, so many of these songs I love and yet didn’t realise they had odd meters. Now I’m going through my favourite songs and find odd meters everywhere.
Dude, Karnivool, Foo Fighters and Soundgarden on the same video. You are a rock legend.🤘
Great list! I love all your references to Temple of the Dog…such a great record!!!!
I’m surprised no Radiohead. Lots of odd meter tunes, but the bridge section of Paranoid Android is probably their best known
Oh yeah! Radiohead was definitely a glaring omission!
In another video ("Fair Use is BS"), Rick specifically mentions Radiohead & says that they're already very well known - he was trying to give lesser-known artists exposure here
Thoroughly enjoyable video. I reckon Genesis's 'Apocalypse In 9/8' from 'Supper's Ready' ought to be included in a sequel!
"the Crunge" by Led Zeppelin is in 9/8 if I remember correctly but it is easy to forget that one among the impressive catalog of the band
yeah, or Four Sticks, or The Ocean
what i remember as a kid seeing in a transcript of 'the crunge' in a guitar mag from the era was that the time sigs were *insane* and different for every bar in the measure, like 11/8, 9/8, 2/4, maybe even a 12 in there, and anyone who played the drums in school, that was like their white whale...until yyz
Isn’t Sick Again also in a crazy time?
I know it was a James Brown tribute. Does the Godfather of Soul have some odd ones?
Kashmir is 9/8 over 4/4 drumming
Hey Rick, nice list as usual!
I really wanted to see Jethro Tull's "Living In The Past" (5/4 signature) mentioned somewhere but other than that, good job!
This was the first song that I thought of when I saw the topic for the video .
River Man in 5/4 by Nick Drake. Great song and string arrangement.
How did "Take 5" not make the list?
I like songs where they throw you off by crowbarring an extra beat just once in the pattern, like The Stranglers' "Golden Brown" which is mostly in waltz time but with a single bar of common time in the keyboard riff between verses.
Slightly off the mainstream, the song "AC/DC" from Starlight Express, although 7/8 throughout, is surprisingly difficult to play. And Murray Gold used fives and sevens to great effect in a lot of the incidental music on Doctor Who.
As a drummer I would’ve split the Goliath 27/4 groove into a multiple mixed meter phrase- 7/4 + 7/4 + 7/4 + 6/4. Makes it much easier for me follow it.
i agree! There are enough strong beats that it seems impractical to force all that material into a single measure.
Easier: 3 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 3.
As soon as you said The 2nd law I thought of Animals. Love seeing Muse here, crazy great band, especially live.
The Live at Rome Olympic Stadium is desert island stuff.
Jack Stratton is the king of Bratton but muse sucks, except for live
Such a nice surprise to see them opening the list, even though it was an out of prime Muse track. Still, one of their best songs from the last 3 albums, in my opinion.
Their last good songs were on The 2nd Law. Everything since is ham fisted, tired conspiracy anti-establishment bullshit. Where did the melodies, interesting compositions, personal themes and fun go? Any hint of nuance is just gone.
Yeah, but they ripped off Radiohead too much in their career. This song has the same groove of 15 steps, without the class and the flow
Stewart Copeland is immediately recognisable.
Such an innovative drummer.
Possum Kingdom by The Toadies has odd time signature that alternates between 3/4 and 4/4. Great tune.
Cool to see Karnivool in one of your lists. Love this band!
I'm VERY glad you put Zappa in there, and encourage you to keep referring to Zappa in as many videos as possible. His versatility and creativity is unmatched IMO.
One of the best examples is the piano intro to Genesis' Firth of Fifth - the time signature moves all over the place - 2/4, 16/16, 3/6, 13/16 15/16 It is just sublime
oh, yes.
If RB hasn't already, he NEEDS to do an analysis of A Firth of Fifth -- not only time signatures, but key/chord/modal transformations are unique (to say the least). If he can figure out what's going on, then he's smarter than me (which is a given).
What a piece of music!
I got re-addicted to this 3 years ago and played it to death, but I never noticed that odd timing. Now I'm going to have to listen again.
YEAH!!!!!!! "Firth" and "Watcher Of The Skies" are my top GENESIS tunes!
RICK's gotta do those songs!!
I argue that TONY BANKS is the 2nd most important Prog keyboardist.
Wakeman is like a 2-trick pony by contrast. (And 90% of his output is uninspired filler.) (EX: why does he almost exclusively use that CHEESY synth tone all over GFTO (or is it Tormato?)? YEEESH.)
Tony Banks is far more genius than RW overall, in so many ways. (And TB has more chops than ppl give him credit for!)
I love your videos Rick. There's a old English band It Bites who did an album "Once Around The World " who has many interesting elements and one is the odd meters. Check them out.
So many great additional entries already listed here. Let me just add: Porcupine Tree - Sound of Muzak. Gavin Harrison makes the 7/4 sound soooo smooth
"Futile" is another excellent one by them in this vein.
I think this list could definitely have a part 2
Thats the song I was waiting for! 😆
At first, my unfettered outrage over the omission of Dream Theater's "The Dance of Eternity" from this list made me figuratively insane. But, I soon saw the list was rife with simplicity in comparison to the multitude of time changes in DT's masterpiece. I see you, Rick Beato. You're going to cover this magnum opus in a special video of its own, aren't you?
Whoever told you you could use 'figuratively' like that was lying.
Interesting thing is that Phil Collins had another extended bit with alternating sixes and sevens in the instrumental part of Banks/Collins piece "Robbery , Assault and Battery" off of Genesis' "A Trick of the Tail."
Art rock from Australian 80's indie group The Go-Betweens, off their album "Before Hollywood" - the song is Cattle & Cane.
Glad you used the Zappa cut. Probably the best-selling non-standard-time-signature record of all time was Take 5, recorded by by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1959. It was pretty ground-breaking for its time. I'm pretty sure someone must have mentioned it somewhere in the 8500 plus comments before mine. Also worthy of mention (and practically unheard of these days) is the music of big band leader Don Ellis. His exotic time signatures were way ahead of their time. He also experimented with a quarter tone trumpet and tape loop effects.
I agree, Take 5. Wow old school music guy! Nice.
Another worth mentioning is the original Mission Impossible Theme Song: one of my fav odd time rhythms to show students to be able to feel the even pulse amongst the syncopated off beat. Great video!
Happy to see some Karnivool appreciation! What a masterpiece of a song and album
As soon as he said 27/4, I knew Goliath would be on this list.
Rick needs to hear some COG! Just as good as the 'Vool, and just as well produced (by Sylvia Massey (has produced TOOL & loads of other great alternative rock bands)).
Best band!
@@mpk33 Love COG!
Some of them like Synchronicity or Foo Fighters are very easy for me to hear, but I can't hear this one at all
I was expecting 20 Rush songs but this is good!
#14 Seven Days by Sting is such an awesome song. (That entire album is full of gold.)
…and Synchronicity 1 is an often overlooked but amazing track from The Police.
Great list, as always.
Keep dropping the knowledge
Keep us smiling.
Seriously, is there anything better than watching Rick air drumming to a song he loves?!?! Pure joy.
Dead fact. Sting - backed up by massive rhythmic talent like Copeland, Colaiuta and Manu Katche - had a magical way of phrasing that leaves bar lines in the dust. I still swear theres an extra beat in Spirits in the Material World.
Synchronicity hits me so hard, and it feels like 6/4 at that tempo. Copeland absolutely killing it.
Sting is a masochist when it comes to odd meter time. Not only was Copeland a master class at this, but he had Vinnie playing with him as well when he went solo. I think Sting's entire song library probably has more odd-meter time songs than not, and I love him for it!
@@gustafsone
Yup... the V-man playing groups of "3" inside the 5 for Sting's tune SEVEN DAYS. What a groove!
The Police song that has me stumped trying to count it is Spirits In The Material World. I cannot air-drum that song even after knowing it for about 30 years!
@@ChemSteve
The Accent Keyboard/guitar motif from the get go is played on the Upbeats of every measure... this is what draws you into thinking it's the downbeat... but it's not.
Stewart Copeland is playing the Bass drum on beats 2+4...
The tune is in 4.
Great tune though.
It is in 6/4!
"Just Take Five"....Dave Brubeck. Must have classic on this list. Love your show!
Well done, Rick. I've always enjoyed Jethro Tull, especially the Barrymore Barlow years, but a very musical "Living in the Past" is one of my favorites. It would nicely fit on your list as well.