Odd-time songs that sound natural

I love that song but as you said it's in 4/4.

I should mention Virgil Donati's new album - In this life.

Do not look down has a 17/16 bass/guitar groove though, over the 4/4. But it sounds really good.

Danny Carey is another master at making odd time sigs feel right. Lateralus (as mentioned), Schism, The Pot all groove like a 4/4 song but are in odd or even compound time signatures.
The pot is mostly in 4/4 though, except for a few parts in 6/8. :) But Schism is really a perfect example for this thread, I think of the verse groove as 5/8+7/8 and the rest of the song has time signature changes all over the place but it all flows so nicely.
 
Listen to the hippies!

The Grateful Dead's "Estimated Prophet" from Terrapin Station is in 7/8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRlzIFmXqw0

Or depending on how you count it, it could be 7/4. When I first really listened to it, I found it easier to first count over it to 14 (8+6) and then break it into natural subdivisions with pick-up notes.


The Dead's "Playing in the Band" is in 10/8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR5OnOJxaNY

The Beatles' "All You Need is Love". *If I counted it right*: The main verse ("Nothing you can do that can't be done..." has 2 bars of 7/4, 1 bar of 8/4 followed by 1 bar of 7/4. You could count it as a 29 beat cycle. Then the next ("All you need") is in 4/4 for 6 bars and 1 bar of 6/4 (30 beat cycle) before repeating the whole chorus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-pFAFsTFTI

Again, these are songs that I used to listen to without ever considering that they were in odd time. The rhythm seemed to follow natural phrasing and melody rather than deliberately marking the first note of each subdivision.

(My apologies to Jeremy Bender as I had the browser open and posted just after him)
 
A great example of odd time signatures that all blend together so well would be Gavin Harrison's "19 Days." It goes 7/8, 7/8, 5/8 and repeats for the whole song. If you aren't counting you will get lost in the timing. Also, you don't have to count to enjoy the song. You can just listen to its awesomeness and pay no attention to the timing.

19 Days:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn-wtb7GY4E

I understand that all that mumbo is technically impressive and awesome, but i don't see how anyone can get off to that... Style. I guess.

Not knocking anybodies music, just throwing my opinion into the wild lol.
 
I understand that all that mumbo is technically impressive and awesome, but i don't see how anyone can get off to that... Style. I guess.

Not knocking anybodies music, just throwing my opinion into the wild lol.

Well, that particular piece of music was made to be solo'ed over. I have never seen Gavin Harrison perform the same drumming any time I have seen him. Its not really the type of music I listen to, its just a song with odd timing that flows well. I find the drumming to be very impressive, and how he (Gavin) can solo right over the timing, or solo within the timing, etc. Its just a very impressive piece of drumming, to me.

No troubles expressing your opinion. That's what a forum is for.
 
Just saw Gavin perform this during a Zildjian clinic last month: awesome! And as Tommy D noted, Gavin goes out of his way to mix things up each time he plays this song or for that matter anything else according to him. He does this to keep it fresh to him and to those listening.

While watching him play, I pay zero attention to all the time changes even though being a drummer I am very aware of them. It is simply a joy to see a consummate professional attack such a piece with totally confident, consistent strokes while conveying the feel and nuance of the piece. Great stuff!
 
Turn it on again by Genesis- 13/8 I believe.

Its hilarious watching people trying to dance to it, it sounds so like 4/4, but with the odd time, the on beat becomes the off beat and then changes backl throughout the song.
 
Just saw Gavin perform this during a Zildjian clinic last month: awesome! And as Tommy D noted, Gavin goes out of his way to mix things up each time he plays this song or for that matter anything else according to him. He does this to keep it fresh to him and to those listening.

To be honest, playing a song note for note is really taking the 'creativity' out of music in my opinion. I am sure Gavin can remember every note he plays, but he probably mixes it up because of the particular way he wants to play something, or it's played differently every time, not because he'd be going out of his way as such. It's like going to a live show and complaining it doesn't sound like 'the record'. Good points though - Gavin's a top bloke
 
To be honest, playing a song note for note is really taking the 'creativity' out of music in my opinion. I am sure Gavin can remember every note he plays, but he probably mixes it up because of the particular way he wants to play something, or it's played differently every time, not because he'd be going out of his way as such. It's like going to a live show and complaining it doesn't sound like 'the record'. Good points though - Gavin's a top bloke

Gavin told us that he does not want folks to anticipate what he will do and when performing if he sees someone "air drumming" the fill he / she expects him to play, he'll mix it up and throw in something different!
 
Superboy and the Invisible Girl from Next to Normal(music by Tom Kitt). 11/4 signature and this is from a mostly rock show (though there is a waltz and an old fashioned showtune in there as well)
 
Oh, absolutely. "Nachash" is in 15/8, "A M War" is in 17/8, and even way back on Themata they were doing stuff like Scarabs which, while not sounding entirely natural, still showed a very potent knowledge of time signature... 'generation' I guess.

Totally agreeing with you on Karnivool, especially "Goliath" comes to mind, I haven't bothered counting out that song, but it's a bunch of 6/8 and 7/8 bars that are mixed together so fluently. And despite not knowing what the total time signature is, I really love playing the song since it feels so natural.
 
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Porcupine Tree - Sound Of Muzak (can you say dance-able 7/4?)

Vessels - Ornafives (beautiful transitions)

Dave Brubeck - Take 5 (a real smooth take on 5/4)



In the end its the listener that assigns the subjective quality of 'smoothness'....more as a limit of familiarity with the time in question than a question of the song writing...

The songs above and others I have heard mentioned here are great examples of '4/4 or 3/4 like' sounding applications of 'odd timing'.

Have a gander at Gavin Harrison's "Rhythmic Illusions" Instruction Set(book and dvd I believe)...great exploration of the concept.
 
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