albums that end in an incredible way

Led Zeppelin 4 => w/ "When The Levee Breaks"

Blur - Leisure => w/ "Wear Me Down"

MBV - Loveless => w/ "Soon"

But that actually would make a really great closing track, come to think of it.

Predictable rockist answer = _I Am The Resurrection_ on the first Stone Roses album, especially with the false ending and everything. False endings on album closers are always worthy.

Kate, let me just ask you this:
"(We did this, but the problem with hidden tracks is... no one noticed it was there.)"

"We" who? Were you in a band? What band? Can it be possible that you are in fact muse Kate Hadley of Spaceman fame? Or am I just making this out of my tortuous mind? ;)

i noticed it, kate. it's actually one of the best tracks...

(five or six years old)
peering from some high

window;at the gold

of November sunset

(and feeling:that if day
has to become night

this is a beautiful way)

-- e.e. cummings

(And if I really *were* Kate Radley do you think I would be messing about on messageboards, or would I be peddling my sorry ass back to Jason as fast as humanly possible, crying "I'm SOOOOO sorry that I ruined your life and destroyed your band with my evil soul-destroying meddling ways!!!" ???)

(My god, I am turning into Ned today! What DID you put in those Quickspace compilations, Ned?)

So, on with the thread...

Also, Squirrel Nut Zippers' Hot ending with that instrumental (forgot the name) that sounds like the soundtrack to riding in a big bucket going straight down a well at warp-speed en route to a fiery red brick & brimstone cartoon-stylee HELL gets me every time. Classic ending to a classic album.

"Sympathy" from Sleater-Kinney's One Beat just totally kills me.

breathtaking. :)

Also, "International Lover" and "Adore" and "Temptation" shoulda all been said along with "Purple Rain." Isn't Dan Perry up yet?

er...?

Andrew WK -- "Don't Stop Living in the Red". Both an inspirational message and a good tune to boot. Send 'em home happy.

...Trail of Dead -- whatever ended _Source Tags & Codes_. A great coming down & denouement from the album's peak/climax of "Relative Ways", unlike with the last Sigur Ros album, which ended what was not only the best song of the album, but also the emotional peak. So you were left with nowhere to go...

Um...yeah. Mellow Gold = great ending.

Seriously though, the original Cerrone is right up there with the best. And "I Feel Love" brought the underrated I Remember Yesterday LP to a fantastic close. But we all knew that already.

"Pluto" into "All is Full of Love" and fuck anyone who disagrees.

I like last tracks. Especially when they sound like going home.

It starts to sag a little in the latter half I think, then it picks up with the typical rousingly POP singalong of "Holiday" and all's well with the world. Then comes "Only In Dreams", which is so sweet it hurts. An eight minute fantasy from the archetypal 3 minute band. It takes you by suprise but sooths you at the same time.

this reminds me,i've always liked the way the last tracks off bow down to the exit sign by david holmes,xtrmntr by primal scream and the contino sessions by death in vegas sound like this...i don't really listen to any of those albums much anymore,but i think the last tracks all work really well in this respect

also : Original Pirate Material (which I usually end up listening to on cold wet nights on a walkman) usually sends a shiver down my spine (or arms).

I like the Interpol one a lot.

Interesting...the version I have on Matador has the album ending with "Little Thing" (and it tacks on the Secondhand Clothes EP, so the CD actually ends with "Drop in the Ocean").

duane OTM!

At the end of "Funhouse" after the freak out is over and the waters are calming Iggy makes these noises like a sick tiger. Some type of wounded predator. (No, not THE Predator-although that would be a good end to an album)

-- robin (robin_lace...), May 24th, 2003.

Nail on head there, Robin; I was even thinking of mentioning those tracks too but the XTRMNTR one had already been checked.

Best track for sounding like going home? Feel Like Goin' Home from Pure Phase, obv. Slow Jam off the new Four Tet is currently rocking my world majorly though.

It seems hardly anyone else seems to understand the genius of this album. The last track is pretty much the rest of the album speeded up backwards, with fragments of the tracks appearing and disappearing.

The best chill-out album I've heard in ages ends with its best track, "Beauty". Not to be missed. maxelect.com

Camper Van Beethover- Tusk: As "Never Forget" ends you can hear one of the band members laugh and say "This was a bad idea."

Sundays - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic - Joy.
Sarah McLaughlin - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy - Fumbling Toward Ecstasy
U2 - War - 40
Garbage - Garbage - Milk
Pogues - Rum, Sodomy and the Lash - and the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

and for sheer giggle factor
Pogues - If I Should Fall from Grace With God - Worms

Eric Clapton - Slowhand - Peaches and Deisel
Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me - Fight

MBV - Loveless => w/ "Soon"

Well, yes. ;-)

DId I just say "Worthy"? I'm turning into Ned! Help!

Aw, there could be worse fates. But then again two of me would probably ruin the world. ;-)

What DID you put in those Quickspace compilations, Ned?

Them special drugs. Aural kind.

Oddly enough, given that Prince started this whole thread, apparently nobody's mentioned the sublime beauty of "Sometimes It Snows In April" which closes Parade (to which I am listening right now, and which gets better and better every time I listen to it).

It seems hardly anyone else seems to understand the genius of this album. The last track is pretty much the rest of the album speeded up backwards, with fragments of the tracks appearing and disappearing.

I love most of the record but I found this track to be the most pointless thing I've heard in a long time.

Before and After Science - Brian Eno (another of his great early solo albums, with two very contrasting halves. This beautifully drifts away into the ether with "Spider and I".)

Furious Angels - Rob Dougan (Just see Marcello's insightful thoughts on this on CoM... it really is a masterly ending that plays games with expectations. Even the minute's silence in context takes on profound narrative meaning.)

*not a good enough for a wonderful record*: Beach Boys' Friends... why oh why is it the shrill, awful "Transcendental Meditation" and not the sublime, drifting lullaby "I Went to Sleep"?

The way Point ends is really good too (and of all his albums it's the one I listen to most), with that long long drawn out piano note and the sound like he's dropping the microphone at the end. Just perfect.

Or "Adore" at the end of SOTT. That song is like dripping aural honey shootin' out of the sun (or something).

Also, "Catch My Drift' at the end of AR Kane's "I" is pretty stupendous.

Agreed. I usually just end up putting that song on again. It's such nebulous bittersweet fury, and it can change your whole day by listening to it.

Anyway, here are ones that come to mind:

Rush's A Farewell to Kings -- "Cygnus X-1"

In Utero -- "All Apologies"

pronounced Lynyrd Synyrd -- "Freebird" (best ending of all time?)

Zooropa -- "The Wanderer," followed by the alarm

Shoot Out The Lights -- "The Wall of Death"

Several from the Beatles --
"Get Back" from Let it Be ("hope we passed the audition")
"Tomorrow Never Knows" from Revolver
"Reprise/Day in the Life" from Sgt. Peppers

Blood Sugar Sex Magik -- that ridiculous sped through blues cover.

Neil Young either completety hit with his endings -- or completely missed. The misses are more fascinating -- "Criple Creek Ferry," "Mother Earth," "Like an Inca," "Words."

Al Green's Call Me -- "Jesus is Waiting." Yes, he is! :-)

Ready to Die -- the suicide. nothing else comes close in hip-hop.

i.e. incidental music for you to get up and leave to...

Heck, it can change your whole day by even just thinking about it. Cheers! :o)

replacements "here comes a regular" on tim
pavement "fillmore jive"/crcr and "fin"/brighten the corners
silkworm "don't make plans this friday" on firewater
pere ubu "dark" on st. arkansas
nina nastasia "that's all there is" on the blackened air

"Here Come the Warm Jets" is a great closing song that sounds like the end title theme for the album.

The last part of Zen Arcade is great with the way the slower instrumentals work into the songs and ending with the extended freak out.

PJ Harvey, Is This Desire? - the title track leaves that question hanging in the air unresolved - she's been looking for the answers for 12 songs but in conclusion can only draw a blank.

Thank you, drive through.

'Speedway', off Vauxhall and I. I love the chainsaw.

Nirvana's Unplugged in New York, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" ends the performance with a real sense of emotion and finality.

Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" (from The Downward Spiral), for the same reason.

"Gouge Away" on Doolittle by the Pixies, because the song just kicks ass.

The Clash, "Garageland" (though I don't recall if its the final track on the UK version).

Sonic Youth, "Eliminator Jr." from Daydream Nation, because it's so rediculous it rocks.

"Soon" on My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. Just perfection topping off perfection.

Black Flag, "Damaged I" from Damaged. Just sooooo fucking heavy.

[applause]

"Thank you lads."
"well, we seem to have a bit of a problem here, we... we have a landlady that doesn't like this music."
"No I don't."
"Well, so, we definitely knew that... so... it doesn't mean to... so I apologize... it's really embarrassing, but I'm sorry about this. Some people just don't have the ability to [unintellibgible]"
"I'm sorry lads. Thank you, but I'm not enjoying it."
"I'm not being like anything, am I? Am I being rude? I'm not, am I?" Alright. So, it's fine. [unintelligible]"

[laughing, then a big applause]

VU - White Light/White Heat - "Sister Ray"
MBV - Loveless - "Soon"
Oasis - (Whats The Story) Morning Glory - "Champagne Supernova"
Weezer - Weezer(Blue Album) - "Only In Dreams"
Blur - Parklife - "Lot 105"
The Beatles - Revolver - "Tomorrow Never Knows"
Duran Duran - Rio - "The Chauffeur"

"A Tribute to Jack Johnson," Miles, also has a cool ending, the spoken bit..."I'm black all right; I'll never let them forget it."

A blissful ninety or so seconds.

the dare-you-to-blink last track on the 1st Liars record
[the last tracks on Pulp's "This Is Hardcore" does the same thing to me]

and my favorite Depeche Mode song ("But Not Tonight") closes 'Black Celebration'

I'll second the metal box nomination too. actually I like "end credits"-type finishes - metal box, first two eno albums, exterminator by primal scream.

Muswell Hillbilly -- The Kinks

Ten Convictions -- Barkmarket (Vegas Throat)

totally dull record, which was certainly not unexpected from the kinks in 1993. but the final track "scattered" is so far beyond everything that comes before it on the record, almost on a par with anything on muswell hillbillies. come to find out ray davies actually wrote it in the early 70s and had been holding it back.

some other AMAZING finishes (and I don't mean whole songs, I mean just the last few seconds of an album):

sfa - radiator
love - forever changes
grandaddy - the sophtware slump
gy!be - yanqui u.x.o.
portishead - dummy (has this not been mentioned upthread?)
xtrmntr and burn piano island burn seconded
pulp - we love life
radiohead - more or less all of them
ride - gba (both versions)
the cure - pornography seconded
BOTH Secret Machines albums, ESPECIALLY NHIN ('Allll theeeese woooords...')
xtc - nonsuch
yes - the yes album

...and coming up SECOND to Orbital...

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock. Those piano chords! That finality! THEY ARE FINALLY AT PEACE WITH THEMSELVES!

Stereolab - Sound-Dust - "Suggestion Diabolique" and "Les Bons Bons Des Raisons" My favorite ending to a Stereolab album!

The last few tracks on Swervedriver's Ejector Seat Reservation are genius.

Roxy Music - Country Life - ends with "Prairie Rose"

converge - jane doe (as epic as the band ever got, the 'lost in you like saturday nights' bit is also as genuinely moving as they've ever been)
the cure - untitled (sounding soul-baringly sincere, deflated, and vital all at once)
pink floyd - echoes (when the song begins the record is admittedly nowhere near ending, but the song ebbs and winds towards a glorious finale)
yes - heart of the sunrise (nuff said)
nick drake - from the morning (a beautiful and strangely uplifting closure to a record that's almost uniformly bleak)

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Farewell and Goodnight

Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf - Mosquito Song

-- Nate in ST.P (n***p*****550...), May 3rd, 2004.

yeah boyeee

(Dwight was pretty nice when he took out that loan from us;
now Dwight don't got the courtesy to pick up the phone for us.
He made a joke and leaned in close and then he spoke, he said:
'I want Night Club Dwight dead in his grave...
I want The Nice Nice up in blazes.')

Nick is also OTM about 'Sao Paolo', one of the most big-hearted, devoutly eager-to-enthrall tracks I've heard in a while and one of my 2006 favourites.

Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl,
Someday I'm going to make her mine, oh yeah,
Someday I'm going to make her mine.