YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 95 (Album Closers)
(Originally finalized on September 10, 2024)
Preface: Concluding our celebration of Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) this week, we'll be looking at songs that appear at the very end of an album's tracklist. Although it's less likely (but not unheard of) to find an album's biggest hit at the tail end of the album, I do find that bands of the classic rock era tended to, in a great number of cases, end their albums with a bang. Some of the best songs from many notable bands are album closers; let's listen to a few!
Monday: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - American Girl [Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, 1976]
Comments: Since we ended last week's theme with a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers song, it seems appropriate for us to begin this week's theme with another one. From their self-titled debut, this is another one of my top favorites (along with Breakdown, from the same album), and one of their most popular, enduring hits - for good reason.
Tuesday: Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird [Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, 1973]
Comments: For better or worse, this song has been reduced to a cliche, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a good one. And though the sentiment could be abused by one who would run away from responsibility, it remains an uplifting message of freedom, especially if you're trying to look on the bright side of things in the midst of impending loss.
Wednesday: The Allman Brothers Band - Whipping Post [The Allman Brothers Band, 1969]
Comments: Continuing our string of debut album closers (and it won't be the last we listen to this week), this anthem for the downtrodden is one of The Allman Brothers Band's greatest songs. In concert, it could stretch out to over twenty minutes of jamming (as heard on At Fillmore East), but if you've only got five minutes, the studio version will suffice.
Thursday: The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again [Who's Next, 1971]
Comments: It says a lot about how great this album is that I picked both its opening and its closing track for my AOR themes (pity it didn't have a title track :-p). It's even more remarkable considering that the album we got was the scraps from the aborted rock opera that was supposed to follow Tommy. But who's complaining?
Friday: Led Zeppelin - How Many More Times [Led Zeppelin, 1969]
Comments: Led Zeppelin had other strong album closers, including two that were featured on my Blue Zeppelin theme. But none of them are quite so climactic as this epic mashup of two blues standards by Howlin' Wolf and Albert King (among other things), performed in a way that only this band could do with such aplomb.
Saturday: Deep Purple - Space Truckin' [Machine Head, 1972]
Comments: Machine Head marks the pinnacle of Deep Purple's classic output, with the Mark II lineup (distinguished by Ian Gillan's position as lead singer). The only reason Highway Star didn't make my Album Openers list is because I already used that song for a previous theme. But the closer's also quite memorable - and a little bit humorous.
Sunday: REO Speedwagon - Dead At Last [R.E.O. Speedwagon, 1971]
Comments: From their debut album, I'm throwing this wild card into the mix - despite not being very well-known - because I recently discovered it, and because I love finding examples (there are plenty out there) that prove that bands that put out white bread "Lite FM" ballads like Can't Fight This Feeling can really rock out... when they try.
Honorable Mentions: I imagine I'm starting to sound like a broken record at this point, but this is another theme with many great options that didn't make it onto the list - whether it's because I've already featured those songs on other themes, or because I only had seven slots and they didn't make the final cut. But what a list we ended up with!