I love long(ish) songs by classic rock bands/acts. These long epic songs evolved from the Beatles 2-3 minutes pop song explosion of the early 60s and helped create the major rock acts of late 60s and most of the 70s.
I do agree with the common view that some of these acts subsequently ended up taking themselves too seriously and released some overbearingly self indulgent (in some cases concept)albums as a result.
But the selection of songs I am presenting here do not belong to the "self indulgent" series! They are great classic rock songs, epic creations of once in a life time quality.
I must also add that the following are some of my favourite songs at the top of my head, in no particular order. There are many bands which do not appear here. Please feel free to leave their name + song(s) as comments. It's always nice to share music! Just remember, songs have to be from sixties to around 1981 the latest, and must be reasonably long!
1. Pink Floyd, Shine on you crazy Diamond
2. Pink Floyd, echoes
3. King Crimson, Epitaph
4. King Crimson, In the court of the crimson king
5. The Doors, Riders on the storm
6. The Doors, LA Woman (I am not a big fan of Light my fire, but it could be included)
7. Moody Blues, Knights in white satin
8. Moody Blues, Isn't life strange?
9. Eloy, Love over six centuries (A German prog rock band, well worth a listen)
10. Eloy, Mutiny
11. Eloy, The apocalypse
12. ELP, fanfare for the common man (EPL were later on guilty of self indulgent music)
13. Pink Floyd, Sheep
14. Pink Floyd, Dogs
15. Pink Floyd, Pigs
16. Pink Floyd, Atom heart mother Suite (although some accuse this piece of a little bit of self indulgence, Pink Floyd wrote and released it well before they became world famous)
17. Pink Floyd, Time
18. Pink Floyd, Mother
19. Pink Floyd, Comfortably numb
20. Supertramp, Child of vision
21. Supertramp, crime of the century
22. Supertramp, Fool's overture
23. Supertramp, A soapbox opera
24. Supertramp,Babaji
25. Supertramp, Waiting so long
27. Dire Straits, Sultans of swing
28. Dire Straits, In the gallery
29. The Eagles, hotel California
30. Fleetwood Mac, Sara
31. Foreigner, I wanna know what love is
32. Jeff Buckley, Mojo pin (Yes I know "Grace" is not a 70s album, but it is a classic nevertheless!)
33. Jeff Buckley, Grace
34. Jeff Buckley, Hallelujah (of course a cover song but great nevertheless)
35. Jethrotull, Thick as a brick part 1 & 2
36. Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Chile
37. Jimi Hendrix, hey Joe
38. Jimi Hendrix, All along the watch tower (Bob Dylan cover)
39. Joe Cocker, With a little help from my friends (Beatles original)
40. Max Meritt,Slipping away from me
41. Neil Young, Cortez the killer
42. Neil Young, Words
43. Queen, Bohemian rhapsody
44. Simon & Garfunkel, The boxer
45. AC/DC, Long way to the top
46. AC/DC, Let there be rock
47. Black sabbath, Heaven & Hell
48. Black Sabbath, Sign of the Southern Cross
49. Deep Purple, Highway star
50. Deep Purple, Child in time
51. Led Zeppelin, Kashmir
52. Led Zeppelin, Stairway to heaven
53. Led Zeppelin, Whole lotta love
54. Al Stewart, Year of the cat
55. Animals, House of the rising sun
56. Leonard Cohen, Waiting for a miracle (I like Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah, but it's an original Cohen song)
57. Steely Dan, Do it again
58. Nina Simone, Sinnerman
59. Chris de Burgh, Crusader
60. Chris de Burgh, eastern wind,
61. Chris de Burgh, Spanish Train
62. Chris de Burgh, Just in time
63. David Bowie, space oddity
64. David glamour, No way out of here
65. Snowy White, The journey
66. Bob Dylan, Hurricane
67. Roy Harper, Same old Rock (also see my review of this album)
68. Roy Harper, Me and my woman (also see my review of this album)
