Albums with great endings
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=135080
Printed Date: August 14 2025 at 01:09
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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) 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) Marillion - Misplaced Childhood |
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. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: July 01 2025 at 16:49
| I just finished listening to Marillion's Misplaced Childhood and realized that it belongs on the list also. The last three tracks or so that go into each other are all very intense. There's a few slow parts on the album but it it definitely ends on a high note and I like the way White Feather fades out. Wow. |
Posted By: Frets N Worries
Date Posted: July 01 2025 at 17:17
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The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, the whole sequence of songs leading up to 'It' always blows me away. Since they're on the sight, I'll throw in 'As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again' by The Decemberists, Joan in the Garden might be the best closer I've ever heard. ------------- I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat... |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 01 2025 at 21:54
Yep that's an album that climaxes perfectly 
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Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: July 01 2025 at 22:40
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Side One of "Close to the Edge," full stop! ------------- I am not a Robot, I'm a FREE MAN!! |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: July 02 2025 at 00:23
But that's a great beginning, isn't it? 
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Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: July 02 2025 at 01:24
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For me a few Floydian albums have truly great endings in that they have a tendency to sum up the whole spirit of the album: Bike - 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn' (also the closer on both collections it has appeared on, i.e 'Relics' and 'Echoes - The Best of Pink Floyd') Brain Damage / Eclipse - 'Dark Side of the Moon' Outside the Wall - 'The Wall' Sorrow - 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason' High Hopes - 'The Division Bell' Louder than Words - 'The Endless River' ------------- "Christ, where would rock & roll be without feedback?" - D. Gimour |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: July 02 2025 at 08:12
It doesn't end the album though. |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: July 02 2025 at 08:55
That's exactly what i meant with my silly remark.
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Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: July 02 2025 at 15:19
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One more reason decaf is no good, folks. ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: July 07 2025 at 20:12
| High Hopes on The Division Bell from Pink Floyd. Also, a great ending to their discography... until it was no longer so. |
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: July 07 2025 at 23:53
Agreed. IMO only 'Louder than Words' the closer on Endless River is decent enough, but mostly the album has a 'work in progress feel about' it. ------------- "Christ, where would rock & roll be without feedback?" - D. Gimour |
Posted By: proggy123
Date Posted: July 09 2025 at 10:42
| The Moody Blues - Long Distance Voyager ends with "Veteran cosmic rocker". |
Posted By: proggy123
Date Posted: July 09 2025 at 10:42
| and Veteran Cosmic rocker |
Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: July 09 2025 at 11:31
Probably my pick out of those already named. ------------- I make typos so you see I'm not a machine, but I may be a machine pretending to not be a machine. |
Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: July 09 2025 at 16:31
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Came Down and Closer by IQ, while not prog masterpieces on their own, work really well as album endings. ------------- 
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 09 2025 at 22:55
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^ Quite mellow tracks for sure and with the dreaded fade out if I remember correctly. I'm not a fan of the latest album but I do like the closer on that Never Land, also very mellow. They seem to repeat this 'trick' a lot
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Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: July 14 2025 at 20:15
For me, "Louder than Words" is one of my least favorite from the album, and even more so given how it took the place of swansong from High Hopes. The rest of the album I felt was very pleasant for the most part. I just wish they had chosen to incorporate those instrumental segments into the songs that came on Division Bell, for most of the album sounds like it belongs along with it, and even have segments reminiscent from The Division Bell. |
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: July 15 2025 at 02:01
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Oh totally agreed that their 'proper' career closer is High Hopes. Maybe the stuff on 'Endless River' could have been included on an expanded re-issue of the Division Bell instead of as a separate album, seeing as it's mostly from the same recording sessions. I find it an interesting listen but often speculate on what many of the pieces might have developed into. ------------- "Christ, where would rock & roll be without feedback?" - D. Gimour |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: July 15 2025 at 02:44
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Steve Hackett’s Shadow of the Hierophant. National Health’s Elephants. Premiata Forneria Marconi’s Via Lumiere. Can’s Bel Air. Caravan’s Six Feet Underground. All fantastic ways of ending an album. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: July 15 2025 at 02:55
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^ Nice! Ever heard the full unedited version, where the end-crescendo last for five minutes+ more? I've always wanted it to go on forever, so I've replaced the original version with this for my digital version. |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: July 15 2025 at 03:27
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^Oh yes! That is my prefered way of listening to the track. Some 15-20 years ago when I first heard it I vividly remember wanting it to continue forever. So when I came across the remastered cd with this elongated version, it fairly quickly became the go-to - especially for special evenings together with friends. When I say special just think Hunter S Thompson. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 15 2025 at 10:50
| The last track on Opeth's Last Will and Testament. Not a fan overall but that is great. |
Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: July 15 2025 at 12:45
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about a week ago, I was driving home from work along country roads, sun setting, and enjoyed the final movement of M9 from start to finish... perfection. ------------- Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson |
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: July 15 2025 at 13:20
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Toccata by Sky on Sky2 - what a way to end an album - it just doesn't get any better than that. ------------- "Christ, where would rock & roll be without feedback?" - D. Gimour |
Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: July 16 2025 at 02:58
I love Sky 2 ------------- Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson |
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: July 16 2025 at 10:16
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It's certainly their finest work - they kind of lost something when Monkmnan left. ------------- "Christ, where would rock & roll be without feedback?" - D. Gimour |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: July 16 2025 at 13:56
So the 17 minute version is the original? I think the ending goes on long enough (if not too long) as it is. I'm not even sure I would call it an ending since it takes up more than half the song! |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: July 16 2025 at 14:34
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Utopia - The Ikon Chick Corea Elektric Band - Charged Particles Bubblemath - Be Together Haken - Visions |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: July 22 2025 at 17:43
| Be Together by Bubblemath is a song and it doesn't end the album. Great song though and maybe their best. |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: July 22 2025 at 18:24
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^Yeah, I typed the wrong song. It should be Bubblemath - The Sensual Con. However, there are songs listed in this thread that don't end an album, for example, 2112.
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Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: August 04 2025 at 20:23
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Island in the Darkness off Tony Bank's "Strictly inc." album is a great ending and, moreover, the only good track on the whole album. Ż\_(ツ)_/Ż -------------
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Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: August 05 2025 at 00:52
O do like and enjoy The Endless River in its own right. And The Division Bell is actually one of my favorite Floyd albums (3rd place, just after WYWH and Animals). But I do feel The Division Bell could have ended up being even greater if they had used some of this material that ended up in The Endless River to develop longer instrumental passages for the songs in The Division Bell itself. |
Posted By: Fercandio46
Date Posted: August 05 2025 at 01:56
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Egg - Long Piece No. 3- Part Four (From The Polite Force) (On the often austere Canterbury trail, and from one of Dave Stewart's many bands, an ending that promises power and doesn't disappoint.) The Allman Brothers Band - Whipping Post If - The Promised Land Jeff Beck - Diamond Dust (From Blow by Blow) Keff Hartley Band - Change (From The time is near...) (That sense of epic, of the epic sound that reigned in the '60s and '70s in blues bands that could mutate into psychedelia, funk, and jazz in a second, but also into classical and get animated with Bach.) Led Zeppelin - How Many More Times (From LZ 1) (The icing on the cake for a debut album that had it all, a compendium of everything they were and what they were going to do.) Peter Hammill - (In the) Black Room/Tower (From Chameleon in the shadow of the night) & A Louse Is Not A Home (From The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage) (As another forum member previously mentioned...closing these classic Peter albums with these two...(to me they are Suites!) makes it by definition not one but two great finales!) Return to Forever - Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant (From Romantic Warrior) (The two previous RTF albums were already great works, but of those that generate periods of transition, very free and spontaneous where they could go anywhere... and they did! In Romantic Warrior, the story was different, and there the compositional level would grow and lose a certain spontaneity and freshness to gain in complexity and perfection, that epic air that goes hand in hand with flamenco and baroque and, of course, romanticism.) Renaissance - Touching Once (Is So Hard To Keep) (From Novella) (Everything with Renaissance, Jon Camp's restless and precise bass, John Tout's exquisite piano, Annie Haslam's reigning voice were great album finales...I highlighted this one as did another forum member, but Scheherazade is one too. Her voice, that instrument, hits the precise note and sustains it, elevates it, and takes us to another world. The promise of another world. You can even see it!) |
Posted By: ThyroidGlands
Date Posted: August 10 2025 at 11:19
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Focus - Hamburger Concerto ------------- ⋆la faulx⋆ |
Posted By: Valdez
Date Posted: August 10 2025 at 12:09
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An oldie but I like the way T.Rex electric warrior ends with “Rip Off”. The crazy saxes and all! Great album. ------------- https://bakullama1.bandcamp.com/album/maxwells-submarine |