Great album openers/closers

[Andrew]

I was listening to Boogiewoman by He Is Legend again tonight and just thinking about how that's such a perfect way to close out an album. One of my all time favs, honestly.

Anyways, it got me to thinking about a question I asked on Twitter a few years ago and I'll ask it again here:

What album(s) have both the perfect opening/closing tracks? As I look into my own answers for this it's actually way harder than I thought it would be tbh. I can find great openers and great closers but ones who get 'em both are few and far between.

In fact, only one I can really think of is Protomen Act 1:
Open:

Fin:

 

[mud]

postal service - give up definitely

Open:

Close:

 

[Scott]

the easy way to answer this is to use albums that are perfect, front to back. so the first that comes to mind has to be Coheed and Cambria's Second Stage Turbine Blade. neither of these tracks have left my head since the first time I heard them.

opener:

closer:

however. there are far too many perfect albums out there for me to not effortpost a bit. so, for your consideration, in the order I remember them off the top of my head and in Opener/Closer format:

2) The Raw and Searing Flesh and The Disaster March by The Lawrence Arms, from The Greatest Story Ever Told.
​

a tale as old as time: a punk band with two vocalists, one who does the alt rock/emo type tracks (Chris, in this instance) and the one who sounds like a drunk little goblin on the punkier cuts (Brendan, of Nihilist Arby's... fame? i think it's funny at least)
it opens with one of the best (and certainly best at the time of recording) Chris tracks across their entire discography and closes on an excellent Brendan one. Raw and Searing Flesh is a beautiful intro to the album that immediately sets the tone, and Disaster March, while not the scrappiest Brendan track on the album, fits wonderfully as the outro with its lyrical callbacks.

3) Enter By The Narrow Gates and North Star, Inverted by Circle Takes The Square, on Decompositions: Volume Number One
(there is no volume two)
​

eight years between albums, though the first half of the album was released in EP form a year earlier. a band known for their chaotic, grindy screamo with post rock flourishes decides to kick off their second full length with a 7 minute sludge/doom metal track, and it turns out they're really good at that too.
north star inverted is another genre switch. at 11 minutes long, it's the longest CTTS track but only devotes 2 minutes of its runtime to the heaviness of the tracks prior. the bulk of it is an acoustic jam you could sing around a campfire, and for my money is the most touching moment in their discography.

4) Gardenia and Whitewater by Kyuss, on Welcome To Sky Valley
​

i don't really have some big description for these ones. album has some of the best riffs ever laid to record and these two tracks have my favourite of those riffs. gardenia's got some sick bass work and if the riff that kicks off whitewater doesn't make you feel something, you may be a lost cause. easily the best thing homme's been attached to, and I like QOTSA. just a different beast entirely

5) Messes of Men and In A Sweater Poorly Knit by mewithoutYou, on Brother, Sister
​

thee greatest band. this isn't even my favourite album of theirs (that would be Ten Stories) but without a doubt has their best opener/closer combo. messes of men showcases mwY's new indie rock direction immediately and opens with the line "I do not exist", which is repeated toward the end of in a sweater poorly knit, bringing the album full circle. a sizable portion of my enjoyment of their music comes from aaron's lyrical ability, but to really get into why would probably just devolve into me quoting entire songs here. in a sweater poorly knit in particular is just packed with excellent lyrics and could arguably be the band's crowning achievement, as the entire thing just builds and builds until the final refrain of "the trap I've set for you seems to have caught my leg instead."
you really just have to listen, read along and absorb it, assuming you can get past the weird talk-singing. i know it took me a while to really get into them, but now they're on my mind constantly

​

 

[digitalsurrealist]

Del Mar County Fair 2008 (Underscores/Maxwell Young)

 

[Nobonus]

I think this is my favorite opener of all time lol, such a visceral display of emotion with a wonderful build up and explosion near the end.

 

[Andrew]

bawmp

Incredible closing track for so many reasons, but there's beautiful and powerful feeling that's hard to describe here. Like... this is a song that has a very distinct "this is where the cast marches off as the credits roll" feel to it. It's so good.

 

[Scott]

completely forgetting to include power metal's crowning achievement in my initial effortpost may be my biggest shame.

it may surprise you to find out that the album called Nightfall in Middle-Earth is a concept album about The Silmarillion, but you're gonna have to trust me when I say it's true. if the Valinor's empty now/Allied the elves and men/They shall be damned! in A Dark Passage doesn't overload your cheese sensors and go full circle into being the coolest thing you've ever heard, this may not be the album for you. one of the first CDs I ever bought and to this day there's nothing else in this genre that comes close

 

[mugrootbeer]

its pretty good!!

 

[Terminal Phase]

First track on the album. Paid a pretty chunky price to get a vinyl of this but man was it worth it.

Another great contender from my favorite Chemical Brothers album.

 

[Terminal Phase]

Realizing I completely misread the first post in the thread, apologies. The final song off of the Chemical Brothers album I posted previously, [Catch Me I'm Falling] works well as a closing track, but I don't think it reaches "perfect" status.

If live albums count then the opening and closing tracks of Daft Punk's Alive 2007 are the closest thing I can think of to being perfect openers and closers.

Cvmpliant's Astrogirl has a really strong starting track [Another World(Breath)] and ends with a 10 minute song [The Girl From Outer Space] that's almost ambient at times, but throws in a hard hitting crescendo before returning to the tone at the beginning of the track.

The Glitch Mob's Ctrl Alt Reality almost makes it but I think [The Flavor] would've been a better opening track than [All The People] (it's still a good song but The Flavor feels more like an opening track if that makes sense.) [Higher] is a really good closer regardless.

 

[kevin supermarket]

hi. this is my favorite album ever. the ending song is my favorite song ever. the extended version is necessary to the experience. this whole album is very good (if you choose to listen to it all though, be aware that Bubbles gets jarringly loud half way through).