Entertainment For Lively Minds
Fade Out Fade In Fade Out.............
Posted by Stuart Graham on 22 October 2008 - 7:59am.
The print in a well thumbed paperback doesn't pale into nothing as you get to the end. Your lover doesn't fade into invisibility at the moment of sexual ecstasy - unless your Mr. Fantastic of course.
Then why is it more than every second recorded song fades out the end. Why not finish the goddamn song? Many times the tune is just beginning to kick -in - then it is slowly taken away from you.
And don't get me started on tracks that Fade OUT then IN again a la In Every Dream Home A Heartache.
Any other Wordsmith out there have examples of this questionable practice?
- More from Stuart Graham.
- Login or register to post comments
-
Off the top of my head....
"That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" by The Smiths fades out then in again.
"Rocking Chair" by Oasis fades in.
It is a strange practice indeed.
Why?????
Yes indeedy. But why Fade Out at all- that's what I want to know?
It can have some artistic merit a 'course but not Every other track for goodness sake.
Stop it at once!
Inexcusable
...because eventually, unless they're completely studio-bound shut-ins, they'll be playing the song live, at which point they'll have to end it somehow. Unless they give the soundman a nod and he turns all the faders down, leaving the band wondering when its safe to stop soundlessly strumming.
It can be effective for false endings, though - to cite an ancient example, in ELP's epic "Tarkus" suite, the penultimate section ends with a pseudo-military marching beat, gradually fading into the distance, so you lean forward, straining to hear, perhaps cranking the volume up a bit - and then with a loud gong-crash, the main theme comes back in at full pelt, full volume, to wrap things up. Lovely. But most fadeouts are just lazy failures to work out a proper finish.
I've Got Blisters on me Fingers!
The original Helter Skelter fades back in again.
'Divine Intervention' by Matthew Sweet also pulls this rather marmitey trick.
Isn't it a bit like
those Monty Python sketches that were funny up to a point and then lost their way and ended rather lamely?
Or Spike Milligan saying "What are we going to do now?"
If you told that to a Python they'd be rather hurt
as that was the very reason why they didn't do punchlines. They hated the way a great sketch would be ruined by a disappointing punchline.
Isn't it because...
..it sounds better on the radio? If the end of a track is being used as a bed for the DJ then it sounds a bit sudden if it just ends.
Closure, baby!
I think you're right!
But that's no excuse for album tracks that won't get much airplay.
It's done by the best, mind (and ELP).
Gimme some closure, baby!
I have never really got the fade-back in....
...on Led Zeps "Thank You". I would prefer to have heard it all, at the same volume.
I think...
it's Tangerine by Zep where the song starts, then sort of fades/peters out, then starts again. Not sure why, maybe they fluffed it the first time, but I like it.
Having played in (albeit unsuccessful) bands...
When we have recorded tracks, fading in and fading out add variety to the starts and ends of songs. Much like a conversation of "let's start with the bass" might be. It presents an alternative to the rhythm guitar starting all the time, which is generally how a song is first presented to a band. I imagine successful bands have the same thinking.
This doesn't make it good, but might explain it.
I'm thinking the end of Thank you
JPJ's organ meanderings.
Right at the end of The Harder They Come by Jimmy Cliff
the organ player just seems to give up, play a few bum notes nd then stop...presumably he thought the song would be faded...
Premature fade out
2 songs which I have always thought fade out way too early are 'Caves of Altamira' by The Dan, and Macca's 'Take it Away'. Both, coincidentally, fade out just when the brass section is getting into full swing, and taking the song off into the stratosphere.
Gary
Yes, Premature Fade Out
Yes, Premature Fade Out - that sounds like a delicate condition.
Absolute Beginners by Bowie is another - the 12 inch version has no such premature problems.
Blimey, just remembered......
Premature fade in alert. The single version of Dire Straits' (should this be in the guilty secrets strand)Your Latest Trick is sufficiently shortened as to miss out nearly all of the fabulous sax and trumpet (Brecker Bros?)that make it the stand out track. Annoyingly, you have to cull it from the 12 inch single to find that out....
Ditto
Guitar solo in Blondies "Rapture"
Ditto - not fade away please!
Or Keith don't go you might say. Some Rolling Stones tracks (on Exile On Main St as I recall) where fine guitar but fading playing is lost to us and also Velvet Underground 'I'm Waiting for my Man' - a few more bars required.
Elvis
Suspicious Minds.....
Wan't this a trivia question?
Name a reggae song which fades out - answer, there are none. Either Hepworth or Ross, they fade into each other after a while.
I was once given a good piece of advice by one Simon Masterson (don't look for him, he isn't there any more) - "A fade out is a cop out".
Comfortably Numb and Sheep by Pink Floyd
Album versions fade out way too fast during great guitar solos. Another minute (like the live versions) would be much appreciated.
THE most sudden fade-out?
I have always thought Waterloo Sunset had a ridiculously abrupt fade-out. It reminds me of those times I was making a C90 compilation, and in trying to squeeze one last song on to the end of a side, saw the empty spool coming around, whereupon I had to whack the record level down in about half a second.