“There is nothing to playing the organ. You only have to hit the right notes at the right time and the instrument plays itself.”
- Johann Sebastian Bach
We did some piano talk recently, so let's switch over to the organ and synthesizer. What are some memorable and iconic songs that are heavy with those two? Boy, in the 60s and in the heyday of Prog Rock in the 70s, the organs and synths played a major role, didn't they? When you go back and inventory some of the music it's striking how prevalent the sound was. There's so many. Deep Purple's Hush and Highway Star, Yes' Roundabout, Edgar Winter's Frankenstein, The Doors' Light My Fire, Steppin' Wolf's Magic Carpet Ride, Argent's Hold Your Head Up, Gimme Some Lovin' by The Spencer Davis Group, Easy Livin', Uriah Heep… and on and on.
Got any favorites? I'll throw out three that come to mind:
- Never Been Any Reason/Head East: These guys didn't do much beyond this song, but they left their mark. I have to think every teenage boy of the era played air-keys to it on the dashboard of his car at least once. I saw them at Pershing Arena in Kirksville, MO back when the tune was blasting out of every local kid's car window. They were playing on the bill with Styx. Needless to say, they saved this song for their big finale. The crowd, no doubt cranked up on Boone's Farm and PBR, went wild.
- Speaking of Styx, I offer their Blue Collar Man: It's not really organ driven, but without that killer intro and outro, it's not the same song.
- Hitch a Ride/Boston: In reality, their song Foreplay/Long Time is the one to feature here. It's otherworldly. Tom Scholz, the master mind genius, mad studio scientist behind the band, played the organ and most every other instrument on their albums. For a shorter submission, I'll go with Hitch a Ride - beautiful change of gears organ solo, beautiful guitar work, beautiful vocals by Brad Delp, beautiful song.