Two seconds of musical brilliance

[Squid]

What are the specific moments in certain songs, maybe just a few seconds, maybe one single measure, maybe even a solitary note, that you absolutely love?
Here are the 2 that come to my mind very quickly...

Sonic Youth - The Sprawl: This might be my favorite song ever. Anyway, the part I'm talking about is at around 1:53. The band starts playing the main riff of the song, and by this point I've become sort of lost in the song; it really has some sort of transcendental effect on me. Anyway, they repeat this riff six times, and on the sixth, just as I feel like I'm drifting out somewhere in the next universe, suddenly there are three snare drum slams and they launch into the next verse. The reason I love this part is because I can never anticipate exactly when this is going to happen, unless I happen to be concentrating really hard on it. Genius!

And on shorter, less complex note...

Depeche Mode - World in my Eyes: At the beginning, when the beat kicks in. Woohoo!

 

[The_Sweetest_Thing]

U2 - ISHFWILF...in the beginning there's just tambourine. But after 16 (yes, I counted ) tamborine shakes--right on the 17th shake--the guitar kicks in with this awesome chord and *sigh* LOVE! Yeeeaahhh....

 

[IWasBored]

that one chord at the beginning of bullet the blue sky. you know the one.

there's this one chord from coldplay--the scientist. i don't know which chord it is, but i love that. there are a lot of songs where i'll be enjoying them and then the chord progression goes and hits just one particular chord that makes the song one of my all time favourites. i know nothing about chord progressions, but i think that's what i'm talking about.


and you know that exact point in THTBA when the song started up at the end of gangs of ny?? that killed me.

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

The beginning of Streets, right after the bass kicks in and Larry hits the cymbal. That gives me chills every time, especially if it's a live recording.

Also, the beginning of Wilco's I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, when the random noises die down and there's just the guitar strumming. Yeah, I like that too.

I'm sure I could think of more, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

Edited to say that I *TOTALLY* agree about THTBA at the end of Gangs.

 

[Screaming Flower]

Edited to say that I *TOTALLY* agree about THTBA at the end of Gangs.

me too. it was stunning.

 

[Zedbetty]

The most divine few seconds of music I have ever heard are to be found at the end of Crowded House's 'Distant Sun'. You'll know it if you've heard it. That alone excuses dross like Something So Strong.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

I have an mp3 of Neil Finn performing it live, he's got some lovely extra verses on that. I can't quite remember what they were, but they were pretty lovely.

 

[brettig]

The drum beat to kickoff Like A Rolling Stone

 

[Salome]

the musical build up to the "Oh, tell me ..." bit in "Promenade"

 

[IWasBored]

the opening chords to "what's the frequency kenneth"

the point where the general chord patter changes in live's "run to the water"

also a live song, "pillar of davidson" --the "here i am locking horns with a stallion" part

yet another live song--freaks. the guitar solo-y part.

ok, those last two are a bit longer than a few seconds...

the second the drums come in on sunday bloody sunday

 

[Zedbetty]

Also I must make mention, not to be obvious or anything, of a special moment in U2's Bad. I only ever hear it in the original studio version, a slight change in the rhythm just before he kicks in with the 'isolation, desolation...' part. Subtle but effective.

 

[Zedbetty]

Another piece of pop brilliance is the choral vocals that you can hear in the background near the end of REM's Find the River.

Also the chorus of Fall on Me. Which is about two seconds long, come to think of it.

 

[Angela Harlem]

the opening chords to "what's the frequency kenneth"

the point where the general chord patter changes in live's "run to the water"

also a live song, "pillar of davidson" --the "here i am locking horns with a stallion" part

yet another live song--freaks. the guitar solo-y part.

ok, those last two are a bit longer than a few seconds...

the second the drums come in on sunday bloody sunday

Freaks just plain fucking rocks. I love that song. The cymbal boom tish right before the guitary bit....right before the vocals start again. Ah hell, the whole song just damnwell kicks. A whole bunch of 2 second moments of genius.

 

[ACROB@T]

This reminds me of a similar compilation I um..compiled a year ago for different reasons..some are a little longer than you may have wanted but worth posting anyway..got it somewhere on my hard disk..~..some are isolated moments..some certain points where a song changes which stick out in the memory..and also an indication of how bored I must have been at the time etc.

The Verve - See The Door (02.13 - 02.33)

Coteau Twins - Pink, Orange, Red (03.00-03.52) (emotive ethereal guitar solo)

Nick Drake - River Man (01.41 - 02.02) (as the strings introduce themselves for the first time)

Massive Attack - Tear Drop (04.25 - 05.25)

Jimi Hendrex - All Along The Watchtower (02.01 - 02.17)

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy (02.08 - 02.32)

Moby - Natural Blues (01.29 - 01.46)

Don Henley - Boys Of Summer (03.03- 03-07)

The Verve - History (05.01 - 05.24) (as the strings gracefully let go)

Madonna - Power Of Goodbye (02.50 - 03.12)

Sigur Ros - Viorar Vel Til Loft?r?sa (07.32 +) (when the piano calmly tempts the upcoming crescendo

Sigur Ros & Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson - B?um B?um Bambal (01.04 +)

U2 - Until The End Of The World (02.41-02.50) (love, love love....)

Muse - Sunburn (03.27 - 03.47) (the gentle piano finale)

Muse - Unintended (03.27-03.51) (Matt Bellamy's gorgeous ending falsetto)

Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight Tonight (00.38-00.45) (for the opening sombre guitar arpeggio)

Radiohead - How To Disappear Completely (00.01-00.04)

JJ72 - October Swimmer (00.30-00.44)

Radiohead - Sail To The Moon (03.26 - 03.53) (gorgeous etheral conclusion to the live performance)

U2 - The Fly (03.22 - 03.24) (Edge's stray harmonic)

BT - Satelitte (00.51 - 01.14)

Aerosmith - Dream On (01.14 - 01.30)

Jeff Buckley - So Real (03.47 - 04.10)

The Smiths - Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (01.02 - 01.05)

Pink Floyd - Marooned (04.05-04.14)

Pink Floyd - Wearing The Inside Out (02.37 - 02.52)

Smashing Pumpkins - To Forgive (02.39 - 03.10)

Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Philadelphia (00.10-00.31) (needn't say more)

The Smiths - That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore (02.00+)

Pink Floyd - High Hopes (02.56 - 03.47)

Nine Inch Nails - Dead Souls (00.58 - 01.17)

Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (05.45 - 05.51)

Procol Harum - Whiter Shade Of Pale (0.01+) (for the infamous haunting organ intro)

The Smiths - I Know Its Over (05.13 - 05.15) (Morrisey's split second falsetto)

The Verve - Weeping Willow (03.08 - 03.21)

The Verve - This Time (01.24 - 01.33)

Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin Days Of Future Passed (01.19 - 01.24)

Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored (01.13+)

Stone Roses - Made Of Stone (01.21 - 01.36) (Squire!)

The Beach Boys - God Only Knows (01.46 - 01.53) (in full disney splendour)

Radiohead - Lucky (03.47 - 04.08)

Oasis - Wonderwall (0.45+) (cello arriving)

Muse - Citizen Erased (01.25 - 01.36) (explosive sci-fi chorus)

G n R - Sweet Child O Mine (0.01 - 0.15) (promoting hundreds of grown men to pick up their air guitars)

Radiohead - Creep (0.57 - 02.00) (kerchunck! kerchunk!)

Radiohead - Let Down (03.21+) (you know, you know where you are with......)

Muse - Plug In Baby (00.06-00.12) (classical riffery)

Bruce Springsteen - The River (01.58 - 02.32) (harmonica breakaway)

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now (00.07-13)

 

[IWasBored]

acrob@t, since you went to the trouble of writing down the times (even if not right now for this thread) of all those, i'm going to honour that by going and seeing exactly what you're talking about on all the ones i can

which is most of them you have very cool taste in music

 

[bonosloveslave]

I love when Edge screams in after a few seconds into In God's Country.....

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Hmmm...

Well, as far as U2 songs go:

-The part in THTBA where the violins and all that come in
-The opening drums to "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
-"Stateless" from where the "Ohhh"s come in to the end of the song
-The piano in "October"
-The violins and cellos at the end of HMTMKMKM
-The part in "Tomorrow" where all the instruments come in at the refrain of the chorus
-The opening drums to ITABTAW
-The guitar toward the end of "Gloria", along with the last "Gloria, in te domine", etc.
-The part at the end of "Wire" that goes, "In some white track, you come the right track, cartoon cutout", etc.
-The part in "Indian Summer Sky" that goes, "To lose along the way, the spark that set the flame, to flicker and to fade, on this the longest day" and then the whole, "So wind blow through to my heart, so wind blow through my soul"
-The harmonica at the beginning of "Trip Through Your Wires"
-The whole part in "Exit" from "He went deeper into black" up through the "Oh, my love" bit
-The "Money, money, money" bit in "Desire", along with the chorus
-The part in "Angel Of Harlem" that goes, "Angel in the devil's shoes, salvation in the blues, you never looked like an angel, yeah, yeah, angel of Harlem"
-The music at the end of "All I Want Is You"
-The "Hallejuah (hallejuah)" bit in "Hallejuah Here She Comes"
-The opening music to "Even Better Than The Real Thing"
-The ending of "Love Is Blindness"
-The opening and ending guitar of "Gone"
-The piano in the new version of "If You Wear That Velvet Dress"

As far as other songs go:

-The chorus to "Anybody Seen My Baby?"-I just love singing that
-The opening guitar in "Layla" (I LOVE THIS SONG)
-The piano in "Imagine"
-The opening to "Gimme Shelter"-I love how that song starts out!
-The music in "Joe" (by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)-god, I love that song...
-The harmonica and the guitar in "Mary Jane's Last Dance"
-The opening music to "Don't Come Around Here No More"

There's some I can think of-I'll stop there for now.

Angela

 

[IWasBored]

-The guitar toward the end of "Gloria", along with the last "Gloria, in te domine", etc.

that crazy part? where it just goes nuts towards the end? that part's awesome, so is the part in "tomorrow" that does that too

-The opening guitar in "Layla" (I LOVE THIS SONG)

electric or acoustic? that is an excellent song

 

[u2popmofo]

Clinic - Distortions , towards the end, when the beat kicks in and speeds up.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

that crazy part? where it just goes nuts towards the end? that part's awesome, so is the part in "tomorrow" that does that too

.

Yep, that crazy part towards the end is what I'm talking about. I love that.

Originally posted by IWasBored
electric or acoustic? that is an excellent song

Electric (although the acoustic version's nice, too).

And yeah-"Layla" is one of my top 5 favorite songs of all time, I just adore that song. .

Angela

 

[IWasBored]

.

Yep, that crazy part towards the end is what I'm talking about. I love that.



Electric (although the acoustic version's nice, too).

And yeah-"Layla" is one of my top 5 favorite songs of all time, I just adore that song. .

Angela

that part of "gloria" is why right now i'm going to say it's one of my favourite songs

layla also has that awesome piano thingie at the end, right? *goes to download song*

 

[Squid]

Oh! I just thought of a couple more...

Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand: the descending guitar line at 5:07

New Order - Temptation: the... whatever it is at 6:22

p.s. ACROB@T - wow! there's enough great music in there that we could borrow some talent and donate it to some sorely lacking bands (no need to name names)

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

that part of "gloria" is why right now i'm going to say it's one of my favourite songs

"Gloria" is a cool song. Yes.

Originally posted by IWasBored
layla also has that awesome piano thingie at the end, right? *goes to download song*

Yes, it does.

Angela

 

[IWasBored]

can't beleive i forgot to mention this...well i didn't foreget, it's just that it's a bit longer than 2 seconds and varies in lenght depending on each show it was played at:

u2--love is blindness. the solo. live, of course.

in some parts, it's refered to as

 

[Saracene]

"Isobel" by Bjork - when the strings swell up just after the second verse, right before she sings "when she does it she means too".

 

[Angela Harlem]

Another honourable mention must be INXS's Beautiful Girl, the keyboard bit. Simple yet brilliant.