Endings: Preferred ending to a CDs tracklist.

Mystery bonus questions: Do "bonus tracks" (especially "Endless, Nameless" Bonus tracks that come out of nowhere) detract from a good traditional ending...or are they like tantra...holding the moment of ecstasy in check until the disk runs out of space?

Personally I would like my stereo to explodeevery time a record finishes. But that would be a costly affair and I would need to reinstall a new stereo each time. I can't get over the fact that Off The Wall has a bonus track that is a freaking INTERVIEW. I don't want to hear about the music. I want the flipping MUSIC. By the way, it's crescendo. (Sorry.)

No need to be sorry. Creshendo is a perfectly legit answer.

I prefer songs that say their piece and then stop cold. Most of _Pink Flag_, for instance.

Songs that end with fade-outs (with the band still playing) are distracting to me. You can just picture some mixing guy in a studio slowly turning some knob. And you can't convincingly do fade-outs in a live performance, unless maybe you're using acoustic instruments and slowly walk off stage. And, particularly for rock performances, when you end on that fabulous ejaculatory last note in unison, that's the cue for the adoring audience to go nuts. If that last note is accompanied with a jump from all standing band members, well, someone is getting laid that night.

The Red House Painters' 1st self-titled album (a.k.a. Rollercoaster) ends in a particularly annoying way. Several songs are pretty lengthy - two of which, unbearably so ("Funhouse" and "Mother"). Then the last song, "Brown Eyes," starts off nicely, and then abruptly ends before the two minute mark.

Best album ending: New Order's _Brotherhood_?

I tend to like those pseudoepic dramapieces a la Moonlight Mile, Rock n Roll Suicide and those only make sense as the last song on the album so on that note

Best album ending: Sgt. Peppers (boringly obvious but true). But Chairs Missing isn't far behind.

second the brotherhood vote

What the hell *is* that song sampled at the end of Brotherhood anyway?

i always think that the last song on an album should be a summation of what has gone before, the final statement, the conclusion as in an essay. thusly - and i am biased because they are my favourite band - i would say XTC do the best last songs i have heard - from dreamy ("chalkhills and children") to grand ("the wheel and the maypole") to resigned ("the last balloon") to angry ("train running slow on soul coal") or whatever - they summarise the tone of the album and go yet further still... an ending is more important tome with an album than a start very often...

I like happy little peppy numbers after a trance-inducing workout.

Anyway, songs which fade are done as not fading live often (cf. Rebel Rebel) and better yet is songs which disintegrate (cf. 1/2 of the Mission of Burma catalog).

I would like a lengthy pause before CD bonus tracks kick in; hearing a perfect song cycle (like Ziggy) is spoiled by having something unrelated start after the album is done.

I dislike fade-outs. I can't think of a single time that I've ever heard a fade-out and thought, "Wow - that really contributed to my appreciation of the song." Fade-outs are a cop-out for bands that can't think of a way to end their songs.

I like albums to end in a long woozy epic followed by a short cheeky track to detract from the melancholia. Love it or hate it, Parklife I believe has one of the best track sequences ever.

Another album that made me wonder was "Surf's Up" by the Beach Boys. It ends:

- Day In The Life of A Tree (very emotional - pretty defeatist)
- Till I Die (a feeling of being awash and lost - defeatist but regailing towards the end)
- Surf's Up (can't figure the lyrics out but with a name like Surf's Up you can't be sure if it's optimistic or pessimistic).

This is a strange way to sequence an album, though it seems to work. I think they could have ended it with any of these songs. But it is odd to think that this is the same album with songs like "Take Care of Your Feet" and *gag* "Student Demonstration Time".

Same goes for Sunflower - lovely sequence of tracks in the middle which I would have thought would have been better placed at the end (Tears In The Morning / All I Wanna Do / Forever / Our Sweet Love). Beats me why they put the overrated Cool Cool Water and the frankly shite At My Window at the end.

I like the second to last song to be epic, and the last song to be something lighter and shorter that sounds different than the rest of the album. I also find that bonus tracks often ruin pretty good endings of albums.

I also like (or am amused by) last songs that recap things, like in United States of America, or Pop Tatari.

dud: jill scott first lp has 'bonus track' which is not only listed, but is given the index no. of 44 which means like 25?? tracks with 2-3 seconds of silence. that is not the way its done, y'all

O Nate: I dislike fade-outs. I can't think of a single time that I've ever heard a fade-out and thought, "Wow - that really contributed to my appreciation of the song." Fade-outs are a cop-out for bands that can't think of a way to end their songs.
Yep. Possibly.
Ron: jill scott first lp has 'bonus track' which is not only listed, but is given the index no. of 44 which means like 25?? tracks with 2-3 seconds of silence. that is not the way its done, y'all
You think thats bad, one of Trent Reznors little noise opuses has something like 90 of those "tracks of 1 respectful second of silence" between the last album track and the bonus track.
I liked the idea of putting all the bonus material on track 0, sound if you want to hear it you have to hit the "go back one track" button to hear it. Whose with me on this one?!

trudat

fadeouts are I think an ideal way (aside from just stopping w/o a big buildup) to end any kind of groove- or drone- based song. cadencing is for poofters in tuxedos.

I think fade-outs can be good endings, like the band is going off into the unknown. It's like when you say "'bye" and get in your car and drive away into the sunset, rather than a long, drawn-out, overly dramatic goodbye.

Bonus tracks can definitely destroy the intended closing mood of an album. One example that comes to mind is Anthony Phillips' "Geese and the Ghost", which on LP originally was intended to end with a haunting instrumental "Sleepfall". On the CD, they talked on a bonus demo, and it totally kills the feel.

Fade-outs are good for some songs. Not everything should end with an ejaculatory note. How would "Money" segue into "Us & Them" otherwise? "Sexy Sadie" is another great fade-out song.

Ironic or Annoying? R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It" ending with a fade....

Best way to end is with a run out groove which sounds good on it's own. Sonic Youth's 'EVOL' for example.

Largely because they're less common and less predictaable, I like LPs that end with an upbeat whatever - especially when they immediately follow the "long woozy epic" that would've made a more obvious LP closer. (Think of "Rock n roll Suicide" and "Suffragette City" switching places, or "Sgt Pepper Reprise" coming AFTER "A Day In The Life.") Examples: Uriah Heep's "Love Machine", "Flash Light" (Parliament), "Train In Vain" (Clash), "Damage Inc." (Metallica)

I like crescendos best, followed by cold stops, as demonstrated by Wire and taken to its zenith by the Minutemen. Don't like fadeouts, but at least I prefer them to those annoying raveups (or whatever you call 'em.) You know: band switches to free time, make some noise, singer sings song title a final time, stretching it out, then they finally stop at once with a single chord. (Whatever key the song is in, that's the chord they play, 90% of the time. It sounds "weird" otherwise.) A popular method among old-school metal bands - AC/DC used to end practically every song in this way!

Largely because they're less common and less predictable, I like LPs that end with an upbeat whatever - especially when they immediately follow the "long woozy epic" that would've made a more obvious LP closer OTM

One of my fave examples of that is 'Hounds of Love' by Kate Bush, with the fragile but hopeful "Morning Fog" closing after the drama of "Hello Earth".

Everybody loves : Short acoustic number to end with

As opposed to : "This is Hardcore" Pulp, ends with droney noise for 15 mins, at which Jarvis pops on to say "Bye bye" and noise continues for another five,..

"....I'm damaged......STAY OUT!"