Albums with a genius penultimate track, and sucky final track

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Where you always always always skip the last track, and wish they'd just left it off.

1) Pixies, Trompe Le Monde: Motorway to Roswell --> The Navajo Know

― Tom Ledger (ledge), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 10:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Gideon Gaye. I played this once, but the last track is so long without changing (and always sounding like it's just going to) that I never played it again, and can't remember if it was any good or not!

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 10:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I was gonna say the Queen is Dead but I quite like the ending as it is, actually.

Parklife ought really to end with the noise at the end of This Is A Low, but it tacks on Hilarious Fairground Instrumental #3.

― ferg (Ferg), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 10:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Do hidden tracks count? If they do then I nominate In Utero and Nevermind.

― hmmm (hmmm), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 11:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Ooh, don't get me started on hidden tracks. Especially the ones with 20mins of silence and then 20secs of stereo-busting noise.

(Big fan of the broken piano donkey coughing jam on The Second Coming though...)

― Tom Ledger (ledge), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Hilarious Fairground Instrumental #3 is great and absolutely key to Parklife, no way should they have left it off!

― pete b. (pete b.), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 11:35 (twenty-one years ago)

"I was gonna say the Queen is Dead but I quite like the ending as it is, actually."

Haha. I was about to say that I'd kill anyone who mentions TQID.

― Franco Wanko, Tuesday, 11 May 2004 11:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Friends and Summer Days by the Beach Boys both seem to have weird choices for their last tracks. Not dreadful, just a bit pointless.

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I also agree that Lot 105 by Blur is ace. It was my favourite track when I first got the album.

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Shit, Trompe Le Monde was the first album that came to mind.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 12:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Dark Side of the Moon (Brain Damage ---> Eclipse; not sucky, but certainly anticlimactic)

― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 12:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Mmm, anticlimactic would have been a better word for the thread title I think.

Pavement, Wowee Zowee.

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 12:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Led Zeppelin's Presence coulda been possibly their best LP if not for "Tea For One", one of their most boring blues-dirges. (Woulda been fine at half the length - 9 minutes for chrissakes - or twice the tempo.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 12:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Funny, almost all Pavement albums have excellent choices for last songs but "Western Homes" just isn't one. I like the song well enough but it really isn't a great last song is it? That said I never listen to Wowee Zowee in order anyway.

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 12:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn (When You're a Free Man --> I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band)

Moody Blues - Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (You Can Never Go Home ---> My Song)

― Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 12:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Massive Attack - _Protection_

LOCK THREAD

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)

The 6ths - Hyacinths And Thistles. The shivery ballgowned gem of "You You You You You" with Katharine Whalen followed by the dismal "Oahu", which loops for 28 minutes.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Massive Attack - _Protection_

Hmmm, YES.

― Charles Dexter (Holey), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 13:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Soul Coughing Irresistible Bliss- "Idiot Kings"-fucking brilliant. "How Many Cans"- rubbish

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Beta Band - Hot Shots II. "Won" too many.

― Curt (cgould), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)

fIREHOSE's Flyin the Flannel begins with the 2 minute rager, Down with the Bass and ends with the huge clunker, Losers, Boozers and Heroes.

― ddb, Tuesday, 11 May 2004 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Ragged Glory - Neil Young

is there anyone on this planet who needed to hear "Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)" after "Love And Only Love"?

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

The Beta Band - Hot Shots Part II ("Eclipse" -------> "Won")
Slowdive - Pygmalion ("Blue Skied An' Clear" -------> "All of Us")
Mogwai - Happy Songs for Happy People ("I Know You Are, But What Am I?" -------> "Stop Coming to My House")

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

My friend Ken always bitches about how "Yesterday" is followed by "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" on the Beatles' Help!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Daft Punk - Disco:very

― nick.K (nick.K), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Led Zep III: 'Hats off to Harper.' I love Harper and Zep even more but this song is just shit.

― 57 7th (calstars), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

<em>Daft Punk - Disco:very</em>

Isn't the whole second half of Disco:very an anticlimax?

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Ahem. Luser who can't emphasise properly alert.

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

My friend Ken always bitches about how "Yesterday" is followed by "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" on the Beatles' Help!

It's not as effective as "The End" followed by "Her Majesty", but then again, the Beatles weren't as good on Help! as they were on Abbey Road.

― Kareem Estefan (Kareem Estefan), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Isn't the whole second half of Disco:very an anticlimax?

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

Rooty, though... "All I Know" is a weird track to end a record like that on. ESPECIALLY after "Do Your Thing".

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO."

(Skips through Discovery...) wow, you're totally right. I've always
just tuned out the 2nd half for some reason. Too Long ain't bad though. Although it is too long.

PS apologies for being dim but just how does one do emphasis etc?

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Like you use it in HTML

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 15:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Tried that, it escaped me tags. Unless...

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

The CD of Sonic Youth's Evol tacks their Kim Fowley "Bubblegum" cover on after Expressway to Yr Skull, when what they shoulda done is left the song playing in a lock groove for the remainder of the CD.

Nick Cave's Henry's Dream should end with the beautiful Loom of the Land, but it's followed by the decent but standard Jack the Ripper.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

abbey road, w/ that 45 sec. little ditty, but maybe it really had to be that way to release the weight of that whole love-take-make dealy

― jake in portland (cerybut), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never actually listened to the British version of Bjork's Debut with "Play Dead" at the end, but I think that tacking on that slick, bland track after the organic "The Anchor Song" would totally ruin the ending. And I usually like Jah Wobble, too.

― wetmink (wetmink), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Whoever said Beach Boys' Friends totally OTM.

All this great sweetness then..."TRAN CEN DEEEEEEEEEEEEEN TAL MEDIT AAAAAAAAAAAY SHUN MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN" UUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

...ends with the huge clunker, Losers, Boozers and Heroes.

I can't hate on any song about Billy Carter.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Stone Roses. The quality drop-off from the tight, well-crafted, anthemic "I Am the Resurrection" to the dull endless meandering of "Fool's Gold" is quite unfortunate.

― yossarian, Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

yossarian is talking the crazy talk (seeing as "Fool's Gold" is the second-best song on the album after "I Wanna Be Adored").

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:42 (twenty-one years ago)

not to mention "Fool's Gold" wasn't originally on the album.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Derek & the Dominos' Layla completely owns this thread.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

(haha "Fools Gold" is the only decent thing the Stone Roses ever put their names on)

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:49 (twenty-one years ago)

While I would hardly call it "sucky", Amon Duul II's Yeti is blisteringly solid for the first two thirds, then becomes really unfocused and meandering during the last third -- namely the improv tracks "Yeti", "Yeti Talks To Yogi", and "Sandoz In The Rain". That said, that last third of the album is still better than most albums combined, but relative to what preceded it, it almost borders on "sucky" to me, mainly as an album sequencing decision, rather than "sucky" music.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

..though I'll add that, as far as Amon Duul II goes, I'm not impressed with those tracks even as improvisatory tracks.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Sonic Youth: Sister

Schizophrenia --> Master Dick (they should have saved that one for the Ciccone Youth album)

― jeffery, Tuesday, 11 May 2004 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Wasn't "Master Dik" also a bonus track on the CD? (like "Fool's Gold"?)

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 20:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I believe so.

― jeffery (jeffery), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 20:30 (twenty-one years ago)

About "Western Homes" ending Wowee Zowee...

I always thought this was a great final track. It's the epilogue to the rest of the album. It's the fluffy mint you have after the coffee that follow the rack of lamb. If you want every Pavement album to end with some indie-classic-rock dirge, then go listen to Crooked Rain or Brighten the Corners.

I hate that "Put the Bone in the Doggie" song off of Soul Asylum's Hang Time. I hate it because I can't just sit there and digest the album when it ends. I have to lunge over to the stereo to make sure that I hit the stop button before that song comes on.

(I could program the album in sequence, leaving that one off, but I'm much too lazy for such forethought.)

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

doesnt the uk version of brotherhood by new order have that awful state of the nation tacked onto the end of it after every little counts?

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

autechre - LP5 -- "drane2" going into (after, what, 10 minutes of silence?) the untitled track 12 that's just random noises.

― Leeefuse 73 (Leee), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Wasn't "Master Dik" also a bonus track on the CD?

Yeah, the album as it was originally released actually ends with "White Cross."

― martin m. (mushrush), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 21:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Donut Bitch - I think it's kind of different on LP, though - you have one album where it's the songy things, and then another where it's the longer improvised things, so you don't really have to pick the tonearm up if you want to miss the second part. (I sometimes do - not because I don't like them, but because I don't have the time to give to them).

― jazz odysseus (jazz odysseus), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

jazzo, i would kill to just see a copy of Yeti on vinyl, much more own one, so thank you for the input. I was going by my CD copy.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

//Soul Coughing Irresistible Bliss- "Idiot Kings"-fucking brilliant. "How Many Cans"- rubbish
-- Morley Timmons //

More like the other way round!

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

autechre - LP5 -- "drane2" going into (after, what, 10 minutes of silence?) the untitled track 12 that's just random noises.

ah, but have you noticed that the random noises at the end of the album sync in with the first few seconds of the beginning?

Anyway, secret tracks don't count as they're not real tracks.

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 08:35 (twenty-one years ago)

ah, but have you noticed that the random noises at the end of the album sync in with the first few seconds of the beginning?

Dude! That's pretty cool. I'd never noticed - you must be one of those psychos who use the repeat button...

― ledge (ledge), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 08:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always thought Classic Girl was a really weak ending to Ritual De Lo Habitual.

― mzui, Wednesday, 12 May 2004 08:53 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost no way! "Idiot Kings" has this gorgeous melancholy lyric ("I've seen the cops and the robbers and I know they dance the same")with little organ swirls and it really should end the album, but instead we get boring subpar "How Many Cans" with some lame I-smoke-pot lyric, sheesh. Further proof that marijuana can be bad for you

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 09:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Why the fuck doesn't Ghostface's Ironman finish with "All That I Got Is You?

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 09:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Massive Attack - _Protection_
LOCK THREAD

Dan wins, end of. Now do as you're told.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 10:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey, thanks for listening!

And just to spite myself, I'm now gonna give you an alternative: Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash. Wow the last track's horrible.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 11:26 (twenty-one years ago)

New Order - Get Ready

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 11:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Lambchop, Nixon. 'k I'm done now.

― ledge (ledge), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 12:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Won isn't on the British version of Hot Shots II. In fact, putting ANYTHING after Eclipse ruins one of the most perfect endings of any album ever.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

I think the Soul Coughing pick is right on. However, I've spent something like ten years railing against this one, so it wins for me: Pearl Jam's Vs, with "Indifference." They're out there, kicking ass all over the place with "Leash" and you're like, "yeah! drop the leash!! get outta my fuckin' FAAACE!" and then they drop you off into this seemingly ENDLESS dirge with Eddie Vedder trying to sound poignant croaking stuff like "I'd swallow pooiisonnnn" and I think he might say something about a candle too. Meanwhile the band has wandered out into the parking lot to eat some chips because they seem to be even less present than on "Bugs" or that song where Eddie plays the ukelele a few albums later. If my focus and syntax are breaking down it's because "Indifference" has to be the WORST song Pearl Jam recorded before the year 2000, and they stuck it slap on the end of an album defined by kick-ass rockers. (Well, and "Daughter" and "Elderly Woman," but whatever.) Forget about Ticketmaster and not doing videos, THIS is what stripped Pearl Jam's fanbase down from ten bazillion to the diehards...

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 25 September 2005 05:50 (nineteen years ago)

The Bends

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 25 September 2005 05:56 (nineteen years ago)

Neil Young, American Stars 'N' Bars

― Deluxe (Damian), Sunday, 25 September 2005 10:34 (nineteen years ago)

ten months pass...

Hurting: The only other person alive who thinks 'Sulk' is better than 'Street Spirit'. Friend, I salute you...

OK, The Cure's 'Faith' has a crummy title-track which spends seven minutes doing nothing, but it also has 'The Drowning Man' just before it (which kinda speaks for itself). Elbow should have ended 'Cast Of Thousands' with 'Grace Under Pressure', and 'Poor Places' is SIGNIFICANTLY better than 'Reservations'. We're talking 'throwaway ballad versus one of the best tracks of the 00's'.

― Louis Jagger (Haberdager), Saturday, 12 August 2006 03:30 (nineteen years ago)

Fleetwood Mac - "Tusk" ---> "Never Forget"

― Steven Gardener (Hideous Lump), Saturday, 12 August 2006 04:16 (nineteen years ago)

"sulk" is terrific; "never forget" is too.

― you're killing me, larry! (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 12 August 2006 04:19 (nineteen years ago)

"Eclipse" being called anticlimatic is the craziest thing I've ever heard.

― aaron d.g. (aaron d.g.), Saturday, 12 August 2006 04:25 (nineteen years ago)

Ghostface - Fishscale: "Underwater" -> "Momma"

― The future of Rodney got a -- (R. J. Greene), Saturday, 12 August 2006 04:44 (nineteen years ago)

"sulk" is terrific; "never forget" is too.

Actually, I just resent "Never Forget" rather than hate it because "Tusk" would be so much better as the final track. Come to think of it, Fleetwood Mac Live goes from the only version of "I'm So Afraid" I like to the incredibly anti-climactic (though Buckinghamily brilliant) cover of the Beach Boys' "Farmer's Daughter." Odd sequencing, it is.

― Hideous Lump (Hideous Lump), Saturday, 12 August 2006 04:54 (nineteen years ago)

Love - Da Capo: "She Comes in Colors" ---> "Revelation"

― Matt Golden (goldmatt), Saturday, 12 August 2006 10:35 (nineteen years ago)

Destroyer's Rubies

― douglas eklund (skolle), Saturday, 12 August 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

I've never actually listened to the British version of Bjork's Debut with "Play Dead" at the end, but I think that tacking on that slick, bland track after the organic "The Anchor Song" would totally ruin the ending. And I usually like Jah Wobble, too.

-- wetmink

It _is_ annoying having to remember to stop the CD suddenly. I keep meaning to pick up an original pressing just for this reason. I first had it on cassette(!) it was played so much it turned into an alvin & the chipmunks record :(

― rollin', rollin', rollin', keep them dogies rollin', rawhide! thread (fandango), Saturday, 12 August 2006 13:58 (nineteen years ago)

Destroyer's Rubies
-- douglas eklund (doug.eklun...), August 12th, 2006.

OTM

― aaron d.g. (aaron d.g.), Saturday, 12 August 2006 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

Setting Sons - Eton Rifles > Heatwave

― sonofstan (sonofstan), Saturday, 12 August 2006 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

Hey, I like "Never Forget." All of McVie's songs on Tusk are at the very least really good, and a few approach genius.

― O'Connor (OConnorScribe), Saturday, 12 August 2006 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

i think Tusk is OTM as well; "Never Forget" is OK but it's far from a highlight.

― aaron d.g. (aaron d.g.), Saturday, 12 August 2006 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I think the only real flaw in Tusk is that sequencing glitch.

― Danny Aioli (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 12 August 2006 16:52 (nineteen years ago)

"Be Here Now". I mean: What's the point in ruining everything with "It's Getting Better Man" after the perfect finale that was "All Around The World"?

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 12 August 2006 16:59 (nineteen years ago)

'Poor Places' is SIGNIFICANTLY better than 'Reservations'

Louis you're on crack here. "Poor Places" is certainly more of a complex workout then "Reservations", however "YHF" wouldn't be half the album it is without the last three minutes of "Reservations". This is what seals the deal. This album is like a watch wound up tightly and with "Reservations" it finally gets to unwind, and stop. It's calming.

I'll offer my own preference: GBV's "Under The Bushes, Under The Stars". It should have ended with "Redmen And Their Wives", but instead drops the jokey, hey-we're-just-old-guys-pretending-to-be-rockstars "Take The Sky".

― cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Saturday, 12 August 2006 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

Liquid Swords "I Gotcha Back" -> "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth"

― The future of Rodney got a -- (R. J. Greene), Saturday, 12 August 2006 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

xpost: I see what you mean about the last three minutes, and were YHF to have ended with the cut-off feedback of Poor Places then it would have been abrupt and unsatisfactory, but what I'm saying isn't that Poor Places should have been the last track, just that it's good to the point of being almost impossible to follow, and in that respect the 'song' part of Reservations, whilst relaxing, isn't nearly so awe-inspiring as Poor Places (or most of the other songs on the album). It's still a decent track, though, so maybe putting it in my list was a bit petulant.

― Louis Jagger (Haberdager), Saturday, 12 August 2006 20:17 (nineteen years ago)

actually, yeah, i was wrong. genius penultimate track AND sucky final track, didn't quite think it through.

― Louis Jagger (Haberdager), Saturday, 12 August 2006 20:19 (nineteen years ago)

eight months pass...

mezzanine should end with 'group four', not a rehashing of 'exchange'

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 12:00 (eighteen years ago)

Sleater-Kinney: Dig Me Out

Dance Song '97 would have been the perfect ending. Tacking on the draggy Jenny afterwards is the record's only misstep.

― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 13:28 (eighteen years ago)

aw man, i like "jenny"! the heavy/sinister closer works well on that album, i've always thought.

― pretzel walrus, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 13:42 (eighteen years ago)

The Church - The Blurred Crusade

"You Took" --> "Don't Look Back"

― stephen, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 13:50 (eighteen years ago)

Sound of Silver...then...New York I Love You.

NYILY might be okay if it wasn't crooned, with so much emphasis on the lyrics. They don't hold up under the spotlight, especially when they kinda erase the "it's best to keep moving forward" sentiments of Sound of Silver.

― bendy, Tuesday, 17 April 2007 13:51 (eighteen years ago)

four months pass...

i'm not exactly answering the question, but built to spill's 'perfect from now on' has an absolute cracker of a penultimate track that might have closed out the record well. but then 'untrustable part 2' is awesome as well (if slightly less so), so who's complaining?

― Charlie Howard, Friday, 31 August 2007 04:47 (eighteen years ago)

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