Manics closing tracks

[andy]

Listened to satt on the way home from work and it struck me how "throw away" winter lovers is as a big bombastic cliched rock song. It reminded me of how I feel about symm and then I thought of manics opening and closing tunes, and how they differ. I can't think of a bad opening track on an album, yet closing tracks are very hit n miss (more so miss). I'm going to abbreviate everything here for ease (read lazy)

Gt - ctrr is a great tune - hit
Gats - gats is pompous overblown rush lite fodder - miss
Thb - pcp - ace - hit
Emg - nsaf - ace - hit
Timttmy - symm - generic stadium rock - miss
Kye - foswfmc - generic grrr angry power punk - miss
Lb - ca - worst track on the album, ruins perfection - miss
Satt - wl - see foswfmc - miss
Jfpl - wlw - poignant - hit
Pfaym - dbe - generic power pop rubbish - miss
Rtf - 30 year war - boring - miss

So IMO 4 hits and 7 misses. Why do they end on such a damp note?

[Manicben]

I think the populous is going to disagree with you there. The closers tend to be a lot of peoples favourites from albums. Specifically Lifeblood and Rewind the Film.

[Suicide Aldi]

Agree with GATS and Dont be evil being a rubbish closing track, disagree with freedom of speech, cardiff afterlife, winterlovers and 30 year war though. All are great in there own way and seem to fit perfectly.

SYMM is a funny one though, although its not the best manics song it does sort of leave the album on a somwhat icey note. The thing is, i couldnt imagine anything else fitting at the end of this is my truth, except maybe montana autumn 78.

[beautifuldistortion]

Cardiff Afterlife is the perfect way to close Lifeblood - damn I love that album!

[Lancashire Potter]

I agree that most closers are weaker than the average album tracks:

CTRR: -
GATS: --
PCP: -
NSAF: 0
SYMM: --
FOSWFMC: +
CA: +
WL: -
WLW: -
DBE: ++
3YW: ++

Ratings relative to album quality (PCP and NSAF surely are better than DBE and 3YW).

[Suicide Aldi]

I think PCP is my personal favorite closing track.

[Europa Gluten Free]

Originally Posted by andy

Lb - ca - worst track on the album, ruins perfection - miss

I've read some shite in my time on this forum but this is the biggest load of steaming shite I've ever seen.

[Dac X Lee]

Originally Posted by andy

Listened to satt on the way home from work and it struck me how "throw away" winter lovers is as a big bombastic cliched rock song. It reminded me of how I feel about symm and then I thought of manics opening and closing tunes, and how they differ. I can't think of a bad opening track on an album, yet closing tracks are very hit n miss (more so miss). I'm going to abbreviate everything here for ease (read lazy)

Gt - ctrr is a great tune - hit
Gats - gats is pompous overblown rush lite fodder - miss
Thb - pcp - ace - hit
Emg - nsaf - ace - hit
Timttmy - symm - generic stadium rock - miss
Kye - foswfmc - generic grrr angry power punk - miss
Lb - ca - worst track on the album, ruins perfection - miss
Satt - wl - see foswfmc - miss
Jfpl - wlw - poignant - hit
Pfaym - dbe - generic power pop rubbish - miss
Rtf - 30 year war - boring - miss

So IMO 4 hits and 7 misses. Why do they end on such a damp note?

Well, on the other hand, Know Your Enemy, Tigers and Journal end with bonus tracks. I see you were satisfied with the Journal's closing, but maybe there's a reason for the other two albums....
I don't hate their endings, though....

Anyway, I must agree with you on Generation Terrorists. That track is not amongst my favourites, but it is indeed a great choice for an ending. Especially when you think how the very song finishes too --- "there's nothing I wanna see, there's nowhere I wanna go".

[andy]

Originally Posted by Dac X Lee

Well, on the other hand, Know Your Enemy, Tigers and Journal end with bonus tracks. I see you were satisfied with the Journal's closing, but maybe there's a reason for the other two albums....
I don't hate their endings, though....

Anyway, I must agree with you on Generation Terrorists. That track is not amongst my favourites, but it is indeed a great choice for an ending. Especially when you think how the very song finishes too --- "there's nothing I wanna see, there's nowhere I wanna go".

Agree gt starts and ends perfect:

First line on lp "you need your stars"
Last line on lp "there's nothing I wanna see, theres nowhere I want to go"

Perfectly summed up their disillusion as they commented on the music scene at the time: boring, sterile, easy, no rock stars. By the end of recording richey (more so than others) was demoralised by the time in the studio - making his collage then ripping it down burning it, the emptiness he felt when shopping on the 'company credit card', drinking and sonic the hedgehog

[The Gutless Wonder]

Coming to the defence of GATS as an album closer here!

[Suicide Aldi]

Its a shame donkeys was recorded after gold against the soul, as that would have been the perfect closing track.

[MSPKYE]

Originally Posted by proevpete

I've read some shite in my time on this forum but this is the biggest load of steaming shite I've ever seen.

Originally Posted by beautifuldistortion

Cardiff Afterlife is the perfect way to close Lifeblood - damn I love that album!

THESE. It's a beautiful track! And I love how it just ends abruptly, like a massive musical full stop. I think apart from SYMM and Don't Be Evil I've loved all the closers, they've always done them well, same for the openers for that matter.

[tzb]

Originally Posted by andy

Lb - ca - worst track on the album, ruins perfection - miss
Jfpl - wlw - poignant - hit
Rtf - 30 year war - boring - miss

I think to some extent you have a point, but disagree completely with these three.

[amnesic]

I was just thinking the other day that RTF was unusual in that I actually liked the last song, which bar PCP was a rarity for me.

[FacelessSenseOfVoid]

Cardiff Afterlife is my favourite Manics song.

Then again I wouldn't expect any different than silly views from a Blues fan....!!!