10 Favourite albums with best opener and best closer!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

My 6th choice

Time to go back to a more obscure popular beat combo

New Model Army - Impurity

Not renowned for having magnificent opening and closing songs on an album (they usually manage one or the other). This one manages it though...

It starts with Get Me Out, an up-tempo start to the album

And closes with Vanity, it has a funky vibe to it but doesn't lose its indie charm.

[Charger]

My 6th is

BRUTAL PLANET

Kicks off with an absolutely beast of a song with the title track that is hands down Alice's best title track ever! That riff alone...wowza!

Finishes off with the absolutely brilliant Cold Machines.

This is ace ace combo right here!

[Vyn]

Brutal Planet is excellent!

As far as Therapy? goes, I binge-listened to a lot of their output and I find that I like their first 4, with the rest trailing off as time goes on. But those initial offerings are stellar!

Here's my next offering:

After Celtic Frost unleashed Emperor's Return on the world, those purveyors of death metal thought it fitting to shift gears, releasing a collection of songs that are encouraging and uplifting. Each track carrying a subliminal message such as, "You're special," and, "You're worth it and so loved".

No they didn't. To Mega Therion is a ground-pounding jackhammer to the crotch! I'm including Innocence and Wrath along with The Usurper as one opening track, although the former stands sufficient in its gloomy foreshadowing, the combination makes more sense to me, like Sabbath's E5150 and The Mob Rules. And it slams hard.

Necromantical Screams wraps the album up in fitting fashion, maintaining the energy and atmosphere.

[Charger]

My 7th is

HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING

This was a bit of a battle between this and Streets... Unlike ZZZ I won't cheat and ignore intros so Wake Of Magellan can't be even in the consideration.

But the opener here is something truly special in terms of 24 Hours Ago! Which is just a monster of a rocker and Jon's vocals on that are just incredible. And this does beat the title track of Streets quite a way!

The closer is fast short rocker in Devastation which is a bit of a hidden Savatage gem...here however Streets would have had the lead with Believe as that is my all time favourite ballad. Just a lovely song indeed...but Devastation is no slouch either by any means!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

My 7th choice... I was going to pick something else but then I remembered this one...

The Who - Who's Next

It starts with

Baba O'Reilly

... a fantastic way to start an album.

It ends with

Won't Get Fooled Again

... quite possibly my favourite Who song.

Their only No. 1 in the UK single or album.

[Charger]

Oh yeah! That's a great choice! Heck of an opener and an epic closer! My favourite Who song for sure!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

As far as Therapy? goes, I binge-listened to a lot of their output and I find that I like their first 4, with the rest trailing off as time goes on. But those initial offerings are stellar!

I'll probably have to check out the first three now!!!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I got Hall of the Mountain King a year or so back, and while I quite like it overall I'm no fan of 24 Hours Ago I'm afraid!

[Zzzptm]

Motorhead... Bomber

Two of my favorite Motorhead songs are the bookends on this album, Dead Men Tell No Tales and Bomber. So, yeah!

[Charger]

I got Hall of the Mountain King a year or so back, and while I quite like it overall I'm no fan of 24 Hours Ago I'm afraid!

Now we're getting to the cream of the crop I think...

My pick # 8 is

POWERSLAVE

Kicks things off with Iron Maiden's best ever opening track ACES HIGH which has to be one of the best album openers of all time! Fast and furious and charges on with a purpose.

And closing off with Iron Maiden's best ever track and one of the best epic songs clocking over 10 minutes ever.

Sure pretty much everything in between is gold too but come on these two are in a class of their own! BRILLIANCE!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
Crap, I forgot about Powerslave!

Choice 8

Having decided to exclude albums with side long epics, I didn't have too much choice with my prog favourites. But I had an obvious  choice with Fragile by Yes, it's not a perfect album overall but it starts and ends very well.

Opening track is Roundabout

I would usually go with a studio recording, but I like this live version from the 2017 R&R HoF show with Geddy Lee guesting on bass.

Musically complicated and diverse but brilliant.

The last track is Heart of the Sunrise

Starts heavy, changes to a gentler sounds and soars to great heights in its 11+ minutes.

[Vyn]

You all have been posting some great stuff - I'm onboard with all of it!

My next one is David Johansen's solo release from 1978, creatively titled "David Johansen".

It opens with Funky but Chic, a song about clothes

It wraps up with the idiosyncratic Frenchette, a tender song about searching for love. Hey, let's just dance!

I'm not a big fan of the guy, but that record, at that time, hit the ball out of the park with its New York sardonic cheekiness, and those two songs by themselves earend him a notation in the history of rock.

[Zzzptm]

1978, a great year for that post-punk power pop where bands just cold dropped the prog schtick and got back to the basics.

A year for Utopia, in short:

Trapped kicks things off with a blast of fresh air, mixing a light lyric on the main verses with a heavy, crunchy chorus, bridge, and close-out. This one's a constant go-to for my playlists. Great opening salvo for any album, and it's on this one.

Then, lots of good rock follows, to end with the following:

This is blue-eyed soul, no question about it. Todd Rundgren's always had a soft spot for Philly Soul, and he does a great job of it when he interprets either a standard or his own compositions in that style. The whole song needs a good play-through, as different parts sneak in and out until you realize, holy crap, this just became a different song altogether! It's an uplifting, positive tune that puts out a good vibe in just a few minutes of play time.

[Charger]

9th on the list is


RAINBOW RISING


The keyboard intro leading to Tarot Woman is suberb and it's great that it wasn't cut as a seperate track so it can be included here!

And ofcourse the closer is the epic A Light In The Black. Although it's not up there on the same level of awesomeness than Stargazer it's still one hell of a tune and a great way to close the album!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I did wonder about Rainbow Rising, but I'd keep wishing that Stargazer was the last track!


9th Choice

Rush - Signals

One of their best half dozen or so albums, but the best when it comes to opening and closing tracks...

The opener is:

Subdivisions - Synth rock at its finest.

The closer is:

Countdown - in praise of NASA and its Shuttle programme, very atmospheric. When one of the shuttle's blew up just after launch, Tommy Vance played this as a mark of respect at the beginning of his Friday Night Rock Show... it was just perfect.