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Favorite final albums by a band/solo artist?


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Which bands who broke up or stopped making albums have the best swan song albums?

 

My Favorites:

Morphine-The Night

Elliott Smith-From a Basement on a Hill

R.E.M. Collapse Into Now

Beatles-Let it Be

Del Amitri-Can You Do Me Good?

LCD Soundsystem-This is Happening

The Soundtrack of Our Lives-Throw it to the Universe

Uncle Tupelo-Anodyne

 

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Big Star - 3rd

Brinsley Schwarz - The New Favourites Of...

Shrimp Boat - Cavale

The Replacements - All Shook Down

The Beatles - Let It Be

The Boo Radleys - Kingsize

Velvet Underground - Loaded

Led Zeppelin - In Through the Out Door

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Uncle Tupelo's "Anodyne" is top notch in my book. Sentimentally (because R.E.M. is my favorite all-time band), and because it's an underrated album which too few people heard, I I'll also agree about "Collapse Into Now." I know they weren't the same after Bill Berry retired, but I miss that band.

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Ha..I did a double take..I guess we are both right..I like Abbey better anyways

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/hey-its-friday-wanna-argue-about-the-beatles-last-album-20130614

Cool article.

 

For me, Abbey Road just has that swan song feeling to it. Yes, Let it Be was released afterwards, and there was work done on Let it Be (by the Beatles, whether John was already gone, or participated at that point) after Abbey Road was released, but Abbey Road feels like a final goodbye, especially with The End. Plus, it has George Martin all over it, which is nice.

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Cool article.

 

For me, Abbey Road just has that swan song feeling to it. Yes, Let it Be was released afterwards, and there was work done on Let it Be (by the Beatles, whether John was already gone, or participated at that point) after Abbey Road was released, but Abbey Road feels like a final goodbye, especially with The End. Plus, it has George Martin all over it, which is nice.

can't argue with that logic

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so this is just a comparison of the final albums of bands--as opposed to arguing that the final album of the band is better than the band's prior albums?

No just a discussion on which groups went out with a bang or solid album verse fading into oblivion

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Sentimentally (because R.E.M. is my favorite all-time band), and because it's an underrated album which too few people heard, I I'll also agree about "Collapse Into Now." I know they weren't the same after Bill Berry retired, but I miss that band.

I agree, Collapse Into Now is an excellent and sorely underrated album.  After a few not so good ones.  And I also miss that band very much.

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so this is just a comparison of the final albums of bands--as opposed to arguing that the final album of the band is better than the band's prior albums?

which is a much tougher proposition... i'll vouch for these:

 

Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You

unwound-leaves-turn-inside-you.jpg

 

Big Black - Songs About Fucking

2476974.jpg

 

Tar - Over And Out

tar-over-and-out.jpg

 

Fugazi - The Argument

the-argument.jpg

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CCR were only together for about 4-5 years, though. Always amazes me. Besides (and even despite) that last album (which was shit and which didn't have Tom Fogerty on it), they were a huge success.

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Tough category.  Most bands break up because they start to suck (CCR, Ramones, etc) .  Few final albums are good.

Absolutely true. I tried thinking of final albums of a bunch of artists I like, and came up empty (Dead, Warren Zevon, Phil Ochs, Camel, Gong, Be-Bop Deluxe...). I think you guys have nailed all the albums I know about and like. The only one I haven't seen on here yet that I might mention is Avalon by Roxy Music. Kind of a weak album compared to earlier Roxy classics, but it's still pretty good.

 

I could make an argument for Steely Dan's Gaucho, but then they came back later and did a couple things.

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