Is classic prog plagued by bad ending tracks? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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Prog_Bassist View Drop Down

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Posted: June 10 2013 at 19:52

i totally disagree on aisle of plenty as well, perfect ending to a perfect album

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Ambient Hurricanes View Drop Down

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Posted: June 10 2013 at 19:45

I don't think it was plagued by bad closers more than any other era, although there definitely were some subpar ones. I think it's interesting that, whereas conventional wisdom would say that you should close with one of your strongest tracks, one that wraps up the album well, Rush tended to close their albums with tracks that weren't as strong but pointed to the next album instead of wrapping up the album they were on. Cygnus X-1, for example, sets the stage for Hemispheres, and is in my opinion one of their weaker tracks (still good, though). Similarly, Vital Signs doesn't seem like the greatest way to end Moving Pictures until you consider that it leads into "Signals" perfectly.

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Posted: June 10 2013 at 19:26

I think the classic period is just "overrated" (for lack of a better word atm), you're just realizing that every prog album in the 70's wasn't perfect :P

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RedNightmareKing View Drop Down

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Posted: June 10 2013 at 18:53

KingCrInuYasha wrote:

I thought the cold ending to "The Court Of The Crimson King" works quite well.

Thematically, I can understand "Break"; lyrically, it has nothing to do with the rest of 666.

Possible candidates:

"Lucky Man", from ELP's debut. I think it would have been better to place it between "Take A Pebble" and "Knife Edge".

"Siberiam Khatru" from Yes' Close To The Edge. It sounds more like an album opener than a closer.

The thing with Lucky Man is that is was kind of thrown in there, but I agree with you on that.

As for Siberian Khatru, I say it could've switched places with And You And I easily.

I consider drone metal to be progressive...

KingCrInuYasha View Drop Down

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Posted: June 10 2013 at 18:49

I thought the cold ending to "The Court Of The Crimson King" works quite well.

Thematically, I can understand "Break"; lyrically, it has nothing to do with the rest of 666.

Possible candidates:

"Lucky Man", from ELP's debut. I think it would have been better to place it between "Take A Pebble" and "Knife Edge".

"Siberiam Khatru" from Yes' Close To The Edge. It sounds more like an album opener than a closer.

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Wanorak

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Posted: June 10 2013 at 18:42

IMO, Aisle of Plenty is by no means weak!! It ties in perfectly as a reprise to Dancing With the Moonlit Knight.

A GREAT YEAR FOR PROG!!!

RedNightmareKing View Drop Down

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Posted: June 10 2013 at 18:32

There are certain records from the classic era that exhibit poor closing tracks, be it full or certain parts. Examples I came up with were as follows:

Selling England by the Pound: "Aisle of Plenty". I feel Cinema Show would have ended the album much more properly, and that this was a sort of filler.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway: "It.". This track doesn't really wrap the album up for me, coming in at around 3~ minutes if I recall correctly.

666: "Break". After a twisting and turning epic (All the Seats Were Occupied), we get this. A sappy pop tune, which kind of kills the flow.

In The Court of the Crimson King: "The Court of the Crimson King". The cold ending to this track after the free-jazz freakout felt a little forced. The album could've worked better with the 7-minute single version of this track instead of the 9 minute version.

Fragile: "Heart of the Sunrise". I really dislike the reprise of We Have Heaven. The cold ending to Heart of the Sunrise left me on the edge the first time I heard it, and kind of makes the listener beg for more, adding suspense to the next album Close to the Edge. But the reprise... not exactly the ending for such a great album otherwise.

So, is it just me, or do some prog albums suffer from a mediocre last track? Like I stated before, certain parts of tracks or just full ones.

I consider drone metal to be progressive...