Top 10 instrumental CD's

[DEADTUNES666]

I would have to say my top 10, (not necessarily in order) looks like this... A bit eclectic I know, but I'm curious how other guys are rating things...

1-Steve Vai: Passion And Warfare

2-Jason Becker: Perpetual Burn

3-Al Dimeola: Electric Rendezvous

4-Joe Satriani: Surfing With The Alien

5-Lee Ritenour: The Best Of...

6-The Rippingtons: Greatest Hits

7-Dave Brubeck: Time Out

8-Steve Vai: Ultra Zone

9-Johnny Smith: Johnny Smith

10-Stanley Clark: School Days

[kotornut]

I wanna wiegh in on this but keep in mind I'm not counting classical or Jazz since most of the albums I have of those genres are compiliations and not written as an album:

1. Joe Satriani: Surfing With the Alien-sealed the guitar deal in my life at the age of 9. Also, it is the guitar instrumental of guitar instrumentals.

2. Joe Satriani: The Engines Of Creation-showed me that Satch can do anything and sound great while doing it.

3. Paul Gilbert: Get Out Of My Yard-Made Paul Gilbert my second favorite guitarist

4. Steve Vai: Passion and Warfare-I'm not really much of a Vai fan, live he's pretty good, but this album has a lot of ground breaking guitar playing and FTLOG is a rare song that when I listen to it really think about what the title means and I hear that in the playing, the search that all people go through. I feel Steve's emotions in that song. ALthough I don't agree with the ideal the song seems to be based on (I don't know what it really is based on).

5. Phil Keaggy: Beyond Nature: Acoustic Bliss. It's strange but I always loved this stuff so much. I listened to it every night on end for a year or so when I was 12.

6. Joe Satriani: Crystal Planet-This I think could go down as the album that defines Joe Satriani's sound and playing. It's in the middle of his career and is perfectly balanced of old with new.

7. The Liquid Tension Experiment 2-in my opinion LTE is so superior to DT that I rue the day Jordan Rudess joined DT. If he hadn't maybe LTE would still exsist as a working band.

8. Phil Keaggy: The Wind And The Wheat-Acousticand electric perfection, even though it is very mellow. The song "Reunion" is most likely my favorite acoustic song ever.

9. Eric Johnson: Ah Via Musicom-I remembered "the cliffs of dover" from my childhood for years and years without even knowing who played it and what the name of the song was. I think also, after only hearing it once back in the day on old MTV.

10.Kiko Loureiro: No Gravity-I think it's vastly overlooked by many guitarsts as a great album of guitar playing.

*Paul Gilbert: Get Out Of My Yard-I love this too and thought it should get honorable mention.

Honestly, I'm not an expert nor am I very steeped in this type of music aside form what you see here and some others. I do realize it is over whelmingly guitar based too which doesn't speak for much of the instrumental genre but that's waht I know, I obviously can't speak about what I don't know. I haven't heard Jason Becker's and players like that playing and what not. Mainly because I was a teenager when grunge hit and as most teenagers I decided to do that. Then punk for the same reasons and now I finally have come back to what really made me feel alive even before I knew what I was feeling when my Dad put on stuff like Surfin' and so on.

[Brosa]

In no particular order..

Guthrie Govan - Erotic Cakes
Greg Howe - Greg Howe (his first album)
Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn
Joey Tafolla - Out of the sun
Yngwie J. Malmsteen - Rising Force (his first album)
Joe Satriani - Flying in a blue dream (Although he sings a few tunes..)
Steve Vai - P&W
Mike Stern - Odds or Evens
Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy
Eric Johnson - Ah via Musicom (Although he sings a few tunes..)

EDIT: How could i forget Shawn Lanes power of ten??? Silly me.

Guthrie is for me the best player to arise in a long time. I just love his playing, feel and compositions.

[andy7jem]

How many vocal songs are allowed before an album is no longer instrumental??

Apart from Ah Via Musicom as mentioned can i pick Flying In A Blue Dream??

The details are important before i can commit to a list

[CityofBlindingLights]

None of you have mentioned two that came to mind immediately for me, but here's my list:

1. Jeff Beck- You Had It Coming
2. Miles Davis- B****es Brew
3. Dave Brubeck- Time Out
4. Thelonious Monk- Monk's Dream
5. Sigur Rós- ()
6. Steve Vai- Fire Garden
7. Jeff Beck- Blow by Blow
8. Eric Johnson- Ah Via Musicom
9. Chuck Mangione- Live at the Hollywood Bowl
10. Go- Go Too
11. Al Di Meola- Elegant Gypsy

[Oscar Ortega]

There are a lot of great instrumental cd's...this is gonna be tough!

in no specific order...

Michele Camilo & Tomatito - Spain
Shawn Lane - Powers of Ten
Theodore ziras - Trained to Play
YJM - Rising Force (first solo CD)
Vitalij Kuprij - Extreme Measures
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
Victor Wooden - Ying Yang
Steve Vai - Passion and Warfare
Liquid Tension Experiment 2
Jerry Gonzales & Piratas del Flamenco - (Self Titled)

[jl2556]

How about Mark Bonnilia(sp?)- American Matador..

Some of you might remember the mid 80s christian band Koinonia.
They recorded a live show. AWSOME!!!They had some great players.
Abrham Laboriel, Alex Acuna, Hadley Hawkinsmith( he has the greatest feel!!!)

[CityofBlindingLights]

I'd actually like to remove Al DiMeola's Elegant Gypsy, move everything from Fire Garden and after down one, and insert ()- Sigur Rós at the 5 spot.

[Nick 6]

alright, no one mentioned him, but an honorable metion to Chris Polands 'Return to metalopolis'. Fantastic metal/fusion album that was slept on. Nice shredding, interesting phrasing, and great grooves. If you havent heard of him or checked him out, give it a shot.
Cheers

[guitarnoize]

+1 to Erotic Cakes, that tops them all!

Since noone has mentioned them:

"Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar" - Paul Gilbert
"Sound Proof" - Greg Howe
"Suspended Animation" - John Petrucci
"There's Hope" - Marco Sfogli

[Gary Qwa]

Just a quick one - 6 best albums (not in order):

1. Steve Stevens - Memory Crash (okay, there's a couple of tunes with vocals, but overall it's considered as an instrumental)
2. LTE 2 - Acid Rain amazed me and still does. Not a weak moment on this disc.
3. Jordan Rudess - Feeding the Wheel
4. Black Light Syndrome 1 - First ever album I heard from Magna Carta. After that I've bought dozens of them.
5. BLS 2 - excellent, excellent album! The sounds are way better than on BLS 1, plus the structures of the songs are more developed.
6. Derek Sherinian - Planet X. Astro wibe all the way...

[shreddersymphony]

1. Andy Timmons - That Was Then, This Is Now
2. Andy Timmons - Resolution
3. Liquid Tension Experiment - LTE I
4. Liquid Tension Experiment - LTE II
5. Guthrie Govan - Erotic Cakes

That's about it for moi.

[jim777]

Way too difficult to do, so I just stuck with some all timers and my personal faves.

1. Bright Size Life – Pat Metheny
2. Unsung Heroes - The Dixie Dregs
3. The Academy by Request – Sir Neville Mariner & The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-fields
4. Burnin' - Jimmy Bruno
5. Yin-Yang - Victor Wooten
6. The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery - Wes Montgomery
7. Between The Lines – Mike Stern
8. A Taste for Passion - Jean-Luc Ponty
9. Spiral -Hiromi Uehara
10. A Boy Named Charlie Brown – Vince Guaraldi Trio

[Clonetool]

Steve Stevens all the way. He should be on everyones list.

Originally Posted by Gary Qwa

Just a quick one - 6 best albums (not in order):

1. Steve Stevens - Memory Crash (okay, there's a couple of tunes with vocals, but overall it's considered as an instrumental)
2. LTE 2 - Acid Rain amazed me and still does. Not a weak moment on this disc.
3. Jordan Rudess - Feeding the Wheel
4. Black Light Syndrome 1 - First ever album I heard from Magna Carta. After that I've bought dozens of them.
5. BLS 2 - excellent, excellent album! The sounds are way better than on BLS 1, plus the structures of the songs are more developed.
6. Derek Sherinian - Planet X. Astro wibe all the way...