Albums with great endings
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Top 10s and lists
Forum Description: List all your favourites here
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=135080
Printed Date: June 19 2025 at 07:53
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Albums with great endings
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Subject: Albums with great endings
Date Posted: June 16 2025 at 18:22
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I've thought about this one for a while and now have finally gotten around to posting it. I guess you could list songs with great final moments and I could list final songs with great endings but since I don't always pay close attention to song titles I'm just going to list a few albums that I think have great endings. A few off the top of my head to get things going. Carmen - Fandangos in Space (it ends with acoustic guitar but the part right before that is really intense) Yes - Fragile (the original lp version had the door opening and closing) Le Orme - Felona E Sorona Halloween - Merlin (the second half of the album isn't as good as the first but the last minute or so is very intense and maybe the best part of the whole thing) Captain Beyond - Same (this one might take the cake- what an intense ending) Rush - Hemispheres (the "we can walk this road together" part just moves me everytime) Genesis - Selling England By The Pound (I like the way it kind of brings the whole thing full circle) King Crimson - Larks Tongues in Aspic (it sounds like the whole world is exploding at the end of LTIA pt. 2) Caravan - In The Land of Grey and Pink (it starts to slow down then bam we're done) |
Replies:
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: June 17 2025 at 05:32
Hi, (I have to look at my collection to find more ... ) Actually the side 2 of the LP in FOR GIRLS THAT GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT is the better one with the orchestrated parts to the end, with an explosive out. And the orchestration side of it is magnificent. Alan Stivell - Symphonie Celtique ... there are two sides of the double LP that are outstanding and both have an orchestral part with it that has a crescendo until it is over the top. It becomes crazy, but it is far out to play loud and enjoy. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - It's side 1 complete, and ending with Two Tribes and Fury. The whole thing had been building from the start, and it ends hard and fast and very crazy. Hawkwind - Electric Tepee. The ending piece is like saying that Hawkwind just does pow wows in concert. And the album is an acid rock non stop thing, that most Hawkwind fans can't handle and instead go for the cheap material by ______. No piece of music, no matter how weird or strange, better explains a band than this one regardless of what kind of music. It's a seance, or in different terms, a pow wow native American style ... or African style, or Aborigene style. Nektar - Recycled. The last piece in it, pretty much ended Nektar and I think it specified that Roye was not well, or probably read to call it. The rest of the material released was stuff they had already done in concert for some time. He gave his heart to the music, and it was special and then some. But it was a sad ending to a magnificent trip. The Doors - Riders on the Storm. Need we say more? Vangelis - Blade Runner Sdtk - Tears In The Rain. One of the most poetic and beautiful things ever done visually and with music. It really puts out an impossible ending otherwise. Just hearing it, is enough to make you feel it! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: June 17 2025 at 09:32
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I'll have to think a bit more about this topic, but the first one that springs to my mind is: Santana - 'Every Step of the Way' - the mood of the 'Caravanserai' album just builds and builds from the opening of 'Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation' right through to that magnificent climactic ending. ------------- "Christ, where would rock & roll be without feedback?" - D. Gimour |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: June 17 2025 at 10:09
| Gentle Giant - Freehand. The last note of "Mobile" ends, then there is 20 seconds of silence before the unexpected drum fill. |
Posted By: Steve Wyzard
Date Posted: June 17 2025 at 13:26
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I'm sure I'll think of more after I post this, but here goes: 1. YES - 90125 "Hearts": truly transcendent + 2 Rabin guitar solos. 2. SAGA - Worlds Apart "No Stranger (Chapter Eight)": track fades to sound of a movie projector, as if a movie's ending. 3. ANTHONY PHILLIPS - Wise After the Event "Now What Are They Doing To My Little Friends": was totally floored when I first heard this 40 years ago. 4. YES - Going for the One "Awaken": a bit over-the-top, but still amazing. 5. CHRIS SQUIRE - Fish Out of Water "Safe (Canon Song)": that haunting zither! 6. GENESIS - A Trick of the Tail "Los Endos": perfect instrumental sum-up. 7. U2 - Boy "Shadows and Tall Trees": not prog, but still the greatest album ever written about the adolescent experience. 8. MARILLION - Brave "Made Again": the perfect ending for the best album of the 1990s! |
Posted By: Jaketejas
Date Posted: June 17 2025 at 13:34
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Some really good ones listed above! I also like how Styx's Paradise Theater ends ... essentially how it begins |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: June 17 2025 at 14:14
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I thought about "hearts" for 90125. I don't remember the last song on GFTO though. Is it "awaken?" I also agree with A Trick of the Tail by Genesis and almost included it but went with SEBTP instead. Pink Floyd's The Wall is another good one because it brings the whole thing full circle as if it's all just one big loop. Kind of weird but I like it. |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: June 17 2025 at 14:39
Btw: I only include albums with at least four songs: & Peter Hammill: -(In the) Black Room / The Tower (Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night ) -A Louse Is Not a Home (The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage) -Flight (A Black Box) Radiohead: Street Spirit (Fade Out) - (The Bends) Motion Picture Soundtrack (Kid A) Life in a Glasshouse (Amnesiac) True Love Waits (A Moon Shaped Pool) + Blue Öyster Cult - Astronomy (Secret Treaties) Van der Graaf Generator - Sleepwalkers (Godbluff) Pentangle - Jack Orion (Cruel Sister) Magma - De Futura (Üdü Ẁüdü) Kraftwerk - The Man Machine (The Man Machine) Art Zoyd - Génération Sans Futur (Génération Sans Futur) David Bowie - Lady Grinning Soul (Aladdin Sane) Camel - Lady Fantasy (Mirage) Genesis - The Fountain of Salmacis (Nursery Cryme) Curved Air - Piece of Mind (Second Album) Guapo - King Lindorm (Elixirs) Can - Bel Air (Future Days) Roy Harper - Me and My Woman (Stormcock) Le Orme - Maggio (Contrappunti) & most Swans-albums I care about:) |
Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: June 17 2025 at 19:39
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Triumvirat-Spartacus (a triumphant ending to a spellbinding album, both lyrically and instrumentally) Bruckner Symphony No. 5 -4th (and final movement) what I see as "A Symphony as Cathedral"; the last few minutes bring me to tears almost every listen King Crimson-In The Court Of The Crimson King (final track) |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: June 17 2025 at 21:19
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Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick. The final five minutes, with John Evan and Barrie Barlow going off, the strings that come out of nowhere, and Ian's acoustic reprise. Yes - Fragile. "Heart of the Sunrise". Enough said. Genesis - Foxtrot. "Supper's Ready", the sections "Apocalypse in 9/8 (Co-Starring the Delicious Talents of Gabble Ratchet)" and "As Sure as Eggs Is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet)". Genesis - Seconds Out. "Los Endos" with both Bill Bruford and Phil Collins on the drums. King Crimson - Red. "Starless." Deep Purple - Made in Japan. "Space Truckin", the explosive final four minutes. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 00:40
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King Crimson's "Starless and Bible Black" ends with "Fracture." Best ending ever. (SBB doesn't get nearly enough love on PA IMHO!) https://youtu.be/ZaD7gk7BTwU?si=aZ_egba8jUJrHmtQ&t=1" rel="nofollow - Fracture YouTube ------------- I am not a Robot, I'm a FREE MAN!! |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 02:06
| The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 04:12
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Maudlin of the Well - Part the Second ------------- 
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Posted By: Rick1
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 04:14
| I am always relieved to hear the end of 2112. |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 04:39
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It shows just how far ELP have fallen down the pecking order that no one has yet posted Lucky Man. This for me is the very best album ending, nothing else gets close. If you want nightmares then Tool - Lateralus. Vangelis - China ends perfectly with the piece Summit. You are now alone on one of the highest mountain peaks. Totally is that. |
Posted By: Rick1
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 04:49
I would go with Lucky Man - absolutely. Still raises goosebumps. I also love John Greaves 'don't disturb me' song rounding off Henry Cow's 'Unrest' 'Elephants' that ends National Health's first album floats off into the ether nicely as well... |
Posted By: Octopus II
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 05:53
'Soon' by Yes, at the end of Side 1 of Relayer.  |
Posted By: essexboyinwales
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 06:29
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Closer by IQ, to round off Frequency. Same goes for The Narrow Margin on Subterranea! And Guiding Light on The Seventh House!! And Never Land on Dominion!!! 😂 ------------- Heaven is waiting but waiting is Hell |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 06:37
Yes, that's a great one. Not sure how I forgot about it. One of the best album endings ever actually. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 06:39
That doesn't close the album though otherwise we could just as easily say the title track to Close To The Edge. 
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Posted By: progaardvark
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 08:48
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A couple off the top of my head... Pink Floyd - Wish Your Were Here Alan Parsons Project - I Robot Solaris - Marsbéli Krónikák Present - This Is Not the End Spock's Beard - The Kindness of Strangers Henry Cow - Western Culture ------------- ---------- i'm shopping for a new oil-cured sinus bag that's a happy bag of lettuce this car smells like cartilage nothing beats a good video about fractions |
Posted By: MortSahlFan
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 09:27
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Dark Side of the Moon "Eclipse" really sums up the album, and is just perfect. ------------- https://www.youtube.com/c/LoyalOpposition https://www.scribd.com/document/382737647/MortSahlFan-Song-List |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 10:15
| Off the top of my head it would be the end of "A Song for all Seasons" by Renaissance. EPIC |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 10:30
Since you brought it up, "Hemispheres" doesn't close Hemispheres, the entirely instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" does. ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: June 18 2025 at 10:31
| ^And 2112 doesn't close 2112. |