Irritating and/or inconclusive fade-outs on tracks

[ccbaxter]

Perhaps the most baffling Beatles fade-out is on Dr Robert, when you can  -  only just - hear the song actually end properly. So why fade it?

[difbrook]

And I absolutely love songs that fade in - my absolute favourite example being "The Bed's Too Big Without You" by The Police.

"Man Out of Time" by Elvis Costello does a similar thing, I seem to recall.

certainly does! It's actually a completely different take of the song, a shambolic going-absolutely-nowhere, this-isn't-really-working,-is-it-lads?  thrashabout that's been bolted on to the front (and the end as well). Thing is, it *works*...

[Sheriff John Indolent]

Another good one is The Clash's 'I Fought The Law' fading up on Topper's drumroll, making it sound like the cavalry approaching. And 'Train In Vain' as well of course, which works even better when you remember that it wasn't even listed on the original LP sleeve.

"...and bongo jazz a speciality!"
pause
drum beat fades up
Hang on, what's THIS?!

[waste of chops]

Inspiral Carpets "Real Thing" fades in on a repeating organ riff; I used to listen to it and try to guess when the song would kick in.

[23 Daves]

Perhaps the most baffling Beatles fade-out is on Dr Robert, when you can  -  only just - hear the song actually end properly. So why fade it?

Not really in the same league, to be honest, but Carter USM's Bloodsport for All did the same thing - it had a massive long 45 second fade-out, where at the very tail end, if you turned your stereo right up, you could hear Jim Bob scream "Waaa-aargh!" then hit a final loud chord on his guitar.  As a sulky teenager, I used to see if I could turn the volume on my stereo up gradually as the track faded out so I could hear it how it was "supposed" to be.  

It's edited differently on their "Best Of" though.  Aren't I a mine of useful information?

[buttgammon]

At the end of 'The Eternal' by Joy Division, you hear Ian Curtis shout something before a piano key plays. I have tried turning the volume up and doing all sorts, but the shouting still sounds muffled. I just can't work out what it is.

[another Mr. Lizard]

Bowie's 'Boys Keep Swinging' - I could quite happily listen to that climactic scratchy guitar solo for ever, and am deprived of doing so by the fade...


Teenage Fanclub's 'Norman 3' is an unusual case - single version fades and leaves you wanting more - album version is ever-so-slightly expanded at the end, but leaves you with something of a "careful what you wish for" feeling.

[trotsky assortment]

Perhaps the most baffling Beatles fade-out is on Dr Robert, when you can  -  only just - hear the song actually end properly. So why fade it?

If you crank it up loudly enough, Suede's lovely b-side 'Asda Town' does that too.  I've always assumed they wanted the proper fade out, as it's not really noticable when played at regular volume.

[trotsky assortment]

Perhaps the most baffling Beatles fade-out is on Dr Robert, when you can  -  only just - hear the song actually end properly. So why fade it?

Not really in the same league, to be honest, but Carter USM's Bloodsport for All did the same thing - it had a massive long 45 second fade-out, where at the very tail end, if you turned your stereo right up, you could hear Jim Bob scream "Waaa-aargh!" then hit a final loud chord on his guitar.  As a sulky teenager, I used to see if I could turn the volume on my stereo up gradually as the track faded out so I could hear it how it was "supposed" to be.  

It's edited differently on their "Best Of" though.  Aren't I a mine of useful information?

Daves, is the single version the same as the version on '30 Something'?  It's been a while since I dug out the single, but you've made me all curious now.

[trotsky assortment]

I have an old scratchy version of the White Album that has a few interesting differences with the common version found on CD, amongst them a Helter Skelter that dosen't fade back in after it fades out - quite an ineffective ending really, the drumrolls and screaming are very much needed for the contrast into Long, Long, Long.

That'll be a mono pressing, I think Del.  All stereo pressings are the same as the currently available CD with the extra bit after the fade.  
Mono pressings of Pink Floyd's 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' have some different bits to later pressings, interestingly.  Can't remember offhand what they are though.  TJ?

[Ray Le Otter]

Perhaps the most baffling Beatles fade-out is on Dr Robert, when you can  -  only just - hear the song actually end properly. So why fade it?

In same ball park is The Charlatans "Tellin' Stories" which has a great ending which fades out gradually to a lovely string sequence and you can just hear the song end.

Also see Pet Shop Boys "Heart" on "Actually".

[Catalogue Trousers]

For me, one of the most annoying fade-outs has to be Elvis Costello And The Attractions' Let Them All Talk. That great, urgent punchy brass/percussion/synth(?) combo that just gallops on and on, and then fades. A rare instance where a big, definite final chord would've been very welcome.

Paradoxically, I love the way that the piano soars and soars over the band at the conclusion of the full-length version of Shut Up by Madness - somehow, that one works better for fading out rather than coming to a clear stop.

[23 Daves]

Daves, is the single version the same as the version on '30 Something'?  It's been a while since I dug out the single, but you've made me all curious now.

I'm not sure, actually... I think the album version might cut suddenly into another track?  I'll dig it out tonight and check.

Rather tragically, I sold my 7" copy of "Bloodsport For All" some years ago...

[El Unicornio, mang]

I have to admit, I've used fade-outs before just out of sheer laziness (ending a song well isn't as easy as it seems, and usually it comes down to everyone just striking their instruments one last time, which can get repetitive)
If a song has an ending which is kind of a refrain going over and over, or a load of guitar noodling, a fade is necessary I think.

[Ambient Sheep]

It got me thinking that there are actually quite a few tracks that fade out long before they seem to have realised their full potential, or fade just as they've introduced a new exciting part.  KLF's "Kylie Said To Jason", for example, introduces a completely new segment bang on the fade-out which sounds more driving and uptempo than the rest.

Another classic example of that is Supertramp's "The Logical Song", which has that wonderful silly bit suddenly tacked on at the end, that sounds like it could go somewhere.  It lasts longer on the album edit, but still ends too soon...

[DJ One Record]

PiL's "Swan Lake (Death Disco)" has a particularly annoying ending on the vinyl version of "Metal Box" - where it would require a fade, they seem to have gone with a locked groove instead.

[Darrell]

False endings are the best. Buggles' 'Video Killed The Radio Star' has a cracking zombie resurrection after it finishes. And the Beach Boys's original version of 'Help Me Ronda' [sic] is fourth-wall-breakingly deconstructive about fade-outs, constantly delighting in the silliness of riding the fader up and down so no-one really knows what's happening anymore.

And the more said about the HeeBeeGeeBees' 'Boring Song' the better.

[ccbaxter]

Another song that inexplicably fades out just as you can (just about) hear it resolving properly: "That's What I Like" (aka "The Sandwich Song") by Chas and Dave, otherwise notable for the insurpassably excellent lyric: "...takin' me dad for a pint or two and a Sunday mornin' stroll,/Licorice pipes and baggy suits, Glenn Hoddle scoring a goal..."

[Huzzie]

One of my favourite fade-outs is Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others by The Smiths, where it creates a wonderful effect of leaving the song playing in the listners' head even after it's finished (well it does for me!). This track also has a great fade-in with a false start effect.
.

Well, apparently, that was an accident. Stephen Street faded in too early or something. But they kept it.

Not the way I heard it.

In the (fantastic) book  Songs That Saved Your Life it is said to be a deliberate attempt to make it sound like you are walking to the door of a club, through an open door you hear a band get louder as you get closer then the door is shut. The music fades back in again when you open the door and walk in.


I am sure I heard Johnny say this too somewhere.