Seventh Wonder's Mercy Fall's album has some stuff like that on it, but it seems a little odd.
The only other thing that comes to mind is Rhapsody, and I generally don't care too much for their stuff.
I realize this probably wasn't much help, but good luck.
Oh, yeah, I'll have to re-listen to Mercy Falls. The spoken parts probably have to do with the concept mostly, right?
As for Rhapsody, I agree - the whole pocketbook fantasy thing doesn't grab me.
Also, a Dream Theater song, Space Dye Vest is very good. Maybe because Kevin Moore wrote it.
Hence the Chroma Key, who I really like, especially Dead Air For Radios. Another good one is
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner by Iron Maiden.
Yeah, I had thought about Dream Theater - there's a very brief spoken word section in Voices too (not sure who performs it). I like the delivery but the words are a bit cheesy. "Do you know that reality is immaterial?" *dramatic pause* "This is not reality." Eh heh.
I think I might be allergic to Iron Maiden. A shame, but oh well!
Ulver - Stone Angels from the new Ulver album. A recitation of a rather lenthy poem by Keith Waldrop. Then there's plenty of all sorts of concept albums too with narrative spoken-word sections, if you're interested in that sort of thing.
Great, I'll check it out, thanks. I remember once listening to Ulver - their marriage of heaven and hell album - and they mispronounced "Book of Job," as if it were like the English word "job," which made me chuckle. No one's perfect, of course, but it does kind of ruin a dramatic moment. Do the research, folks.
Why exactly are you looking for these examples, may I ask?
It's just something that is starting to interest me. I think spoken word has a certain presence to it that you can't get with singing and I'd like it if more music incorporated it. It forces the vocalist to focus more on what phonetic sounds they choose for their delivery rather than just the meaning of words, which I think is a rare talent. Basically I think a lot of prog music is a good forum for unpretentious poetry, but unfortunately you rarely see it happen. I'm attracted to the directness of it.
"After" of Riverside is maybe the only song that I can think right now about "spoken words" ... but it maybe won´t be what you´re looking for...
I'm familiar with it. I like the whispering, but not so much the "waa my life sucks" angle. I mean, come on, folks! There's more to "emotions" than these annoying cliches!
Thanks for all the recommendations, guys.
I wish there was an upload of Geoff Mann's Ooze on Youtube. It's spellbinding.
Also, another good one is Robert Wyatt's Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road. There's this bizarre psychedelic nursery-rhyme at the end. Pretty great.
