THE BEST ALBUM-CLOSER OF ALL TIME IS...

The Chameleons one that starts the thread reminds me of music that would play when I was a little boy (two to five) and my father would rent horrible-to-mediocre 80s action movies with synth-heavy rock soundtracks. Songs like that ironically take a place in my brief 1980s childhood posthumously.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH WON'T FEED MY CHILDREN. . .

it won't.

"Echoes" !!!

echoes is fantastic, it's just that i don't want to listen to floyd again for, say, another year

I'd felt that way for a couple of years. Enough time passed, and I feel good about the Floyd once again.

I love last tracks. Sometimes I wonder if penultimates aren't better, though.

Denim - I'm Against The '80s
GZA - B.I.B.L.E.
Morrissey - Speedway

The Cure - Pornography
The Cure - The Top (ending with a show-stopping title-track is srsly the way to go)
The Cure - End (should have ended their career, one might well argue...it would certainly have seen them go out very much on top)

OTM, all of 'em.

also, rock'n'roll suicide seconded, and i'm adding suede's "still life" too.

I love last tracks. Sometimes I wonder if penultimates aren't better, though.

There was once a thread on penultimate tracks that kick the shit out of final tracks, but I can't find it.

Cocteau Twins/Harold Budd - "Ooze out and away onehow"

Love how it is so quiet then just BURSTS joyously from the speakers.

4 words

Here Comes A Regular

thas it and thas all

-- ksg, Thursday, August 2, 2007 8:55 AM (Thursday, August 2, 2007 8:55 AM) Bookmark Link

Funny, I immediately thought of that when I saw the thread title. Indeed there is a big difference between "closers" and just the last track on an album.

the more i think about it, the more i feel compelled to mention cocteau's 'pur' even if it is severely ass-kicked by the penultimate track.

that record needs more love/reconsideration

some girls are bigger than others

Chameleons, _Strange Times_ - "I'll Remember" wraps up the greatest album of all-time.

Earlier in my life I'dve suggested XTC, _The Big Express_ "This World Over" which really resonated during the Cold War but has probably lost some of it's punch now. Then again...

'Mystery Achievement', _Pretenders_

"once upon a time" is a good choice, but "here come the warm jets" is my favorite, i think.

some other good ones:
dylan - sad-eyed lady of the lowlands
flipper - sex bomb
ccr - effigy
alice coltrane - a love supreme
miles davis - jack johnson (narration - not really a track i know blah blah)

how about 'would?'

Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain

There's no way I could pick one. A great closer has to have a great album to close, and I can't pick a favorite album. I still think probably "Raining Blood" would have to take it if I could only name one. I've been thinking about it a lot, and here are some of the choices competing for my favorite closers evah:

Brad's "We" (the rest of the album doesn't hold up that well for me, but I still love this song)
Bola "Whoblo"
MF Doom "Kookies"
Mercyful Fate "Melissa"
Caribou "Barnowl"
God "Detox"
Monolake "Mass Transit Railway"
Shuttle358 "Chessa"
Six Organs of Admittance "River of Transfiguration"
Ulrich Schnauss "Goodbye"

Siouxsie & the Banshees "Land's End" comes to mind for some reason
Ride "Vapour Trail"
I guess Echo & Bunnymen's Ocean Rain would be a grand candidate but because I added that song to a mixtape years ago I no longer think of it in connection with the album.

I dunno, there's a lot of really good ones, but I'm glad someone mentioned Purple Rain cause I think that really is the best example outside of A Day In The Life.

i'd like to invite you to a taste of my chalice
it's a special one, it's made of gold

Iggy Pop-Mass Production

Earth, Wind & Fire, "Be Ever Wonderful"
Erykah Badu, "Green Eyes"
Donna Summer, "I Feel Love"
Björk, "All is Full of Love"
Beck, "Ramshackle"
Stevie Wonder, "Please Don't Go"

Mercyful Fate "Melissa"

the shaggs - "we have a saviour"

i summon mr. que

"NOM"

A thread this long, on this corner of the iWeb, and no mention of After Hours?? WTF ILX? Maybe it's too obvious or something, but then folks have been chiming upthread about A Day in the Life, which is really really brilliant and all, but After Hours is just as perfect, and The Velvets didn't have to try nearly as hard. So they win.

afterhours

-- Edward III, Thursday, August 2, 2007 4:18 PM (10 months ago) Bookmark Link

afterhours otm

-- ghost rider, Thursday, August 2, 2007 4:23 PM (10 months ago) Bookmark Link

Oops, I missed this. It's "After Hours" folks.

Anyway, OTM then?

"Rocket Queen" - Appetite

mookieproof also otm

the first title coming to mind:

"blue line swinger"

I can't believe all the complaints about "After Hours" and no one has mentioned "European Son" or "Sister Ray!!" I'll go with the latter, but my private chestnut has to be "Never Forget."

Best song that happens to be a closer: "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)."

"Nebel" at the end of the great RAMMS+EIN's great "Mutter"

at the risk of sounding stuck in the past, "European Son" and "Desolation Row" are two that spring to mind

-- outdoor_miner, Thursday, 2 August 2007 06:03 (10 months ago) Link

learn to read you poxy fules

I opened this thread, searched for the first three songs that came to mind, and I had posted every one of them almost a year ago.

my ilm's playing tricks on me

i agree with "The Tourist"

the avalanches - extra kings
the white stripes - I fought piranhas

I agree with "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others"

Here Comes A Regular

thas it and thas all

-- ksg, Thursday, August 2, 2007 8:55 AM (Thursday, August 2, 2007 8:55 AM) Bookmark Link

I would've put "Answering Machine" first.

-- Pleasant Plains, Friday, August 3, 2007

I think I'd actually choose "Treatment Bound" over eithor of those

The Bewlay Brothers.

Out There Somewhere Pt 2.

led zep - when the levee breaks (awesome)
harvey milk - mothers day (really epic)
biggie - suicidal thoughts (grim)
botch - we are the romans (this is pretty epic too)
faith no more - midnight cowboy (perfect wind-down)
steely dan - king of the world/third world man (both work really well in the context of the albums that they cap off)

faith no more - midnight cowboy (perfect wind-down)

King For a Day and Album of the Year have great closers as well.

Grand Funk-I'm Your Captain

That album (*Closer to Home) also has one of the alltime great openers in "Sin's a Good Man's Brother"

REM - Find the River

SFA - Gweirridasfetjajegjaegeuau Dwfn

the first title coming to mind:

"blue line swinger"

-- alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 26 June 2008 19:51 (Yesterday) Link

Thank the Lord you mentioned this, alex. I thought I was going to have to throw a tantrum.

(also I like "Soul Survivor," "All Apologies," the loud version of "Keep On Rockin in the Free World" and "I'm in Love With a Girl." And does "Leave the Capitol" count?)

also almost forgot about "22 Going on 23"

"Piledriver", Damn Yankees