Cold Endings (Songs that faded out but have since been released with a Cold Ending)

HB,

Personally, I prefer cold endings but fades are historically accurate for so many tracks.

In some cases, the fades are so historic that changing them would change the effect...a song like Hey Jude comes to mind with that long, long fade down, as an example!

Bob

 

Fades are cool. I'm glad we've been able to hear them now and then.
A nice treat.

 

It’s a funny thing. Recordings can’t be confused for live performance, but those cold endings give me more of an illusion of a live performance, or at least the illusion of a live performance’s documentation. Still, I suppose there’s no way to get around what we expect today, considering what we heard yesterday.

 

HB,

I agree! Many recordings during the Mono years were, of course, live in the studio recordings w/o overdubs.

Bob

 

Bob,

I may be mistaken, but were (still are?) fades thought of as adding a final polish to a production? Radio aside, there’s plenty of these in Rudy Van Gelder’s work from the ’60, for example. It certainly wasn’t necessary.

 

HB,

I have long thought that fades were actually edits in Jazz recordings versus being Radio friendly for Pop recordings. I am not a real historian on the history of the fade ending, however!

Bob

 

Me neither. Just to complicate things further, Miles Davis said something like, “When they leave all the mistakes in, that's when they’ll make real jazz records.” Yet, Miles became one of the first to conscientiously use invasive editing to his benefit! I guess nothing’s simple. Oops, time to go to work, time to fade.

 

A couple more:

"You've Got Your Troubles" by The Fortunes used to fade out; my only reference was the original 45, so that might be the stereo version that continues to a cold ending.

"Summertime Blues" by Eddie Cochran, I think, used to have a fade.

These don't technically fit the category, but the 45 versions of these had a cold ending even though the LP versions faded out:
"Kyrie" by Mr. Mister
"I Want a New Drug" by Huey Lewis and the News
"Sisters of the Moon" by Fleetwood Mac

 

Something I've always wondered -- what is considered to be the first recorded song to have a fade-out? (I don't know the answer to this -- any takers?)

 

Great thread! I just listened to a boot (Peter Sellers tape?) that has Sexy Sadie with an extra 30 seconds at the end that was faded out of the White Album version. While I can see why they made the fade on the LP where they did it's always a thrill to hear a *little* bit more of your favorite songs. When I was a kid I used to always crank the volume during the fade so I could hear what was going on and I would invariably scare the **** out myself when the next track came on at NASA like volume levels!

Chris

 

Dirty Water by The Standells has a cold ending on their Hippo/MCA Best of collection and The Knickerbockers- Lies also runs to the end on the 2CD "Knickerbockerism" on Sundazed.
Was'nt there a track from Jackson Browne's The Pretender that had a cold ending on CD but not on the original vinyl LP? I'm thinking it was the title track but I could be wrong....

 

The Grateful Dead's "Morning Dew" has a cold ending (found in the remaster of the band's self-titled first LP from their Rhino/WB box set The Golden Road).

Jim W.

 

I also believe that Rick Nelson's "The Very Thought Of You" didn't have the CHA-CHA-CHA cold ending before recent reissues!?!

Chris C

 

I don't know if it was first, but the oldest song I know that has a fade is "Goodnight Irene" by the Weavers (1950). Actually, if you listen really closely, the song has a cold ending, but it's so soft you might not notice (like Ricky Nelson's original 45 of "Travelin' Man").

"In the Mood" by Glenn Miller (1939) has sections that superficially sound like a fade, but in that case, the band is merely playing softer and softer until the full-blown ending.

 

Cold Choir Ending

The original Canadian-American label 45 of "It's
Cold Outside" by The Choir has a fade down
right before the harmonies fall apart at the end.
I think that all of the reissue versions have the
"ragged" cold ending (Sundazed CDs, etc.)
Also, the 45 version of "I'll Be Your Mirror" on the
new Velvet Underground & Nice deluxe edition
ends cold, unlike the l.p. version. It sounds like
it may have a different lead vocal track as well.

 

Here's a weird one:

On Pete Townshend's "All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" album, "Slit Skirts" ends on a guitar solo that's faded out.

On the best-of CD, "Slit Skirts" doesn't end cold, but Astley lets the guitar solo play out longer, then throws in an extra half-chorus, then plays the guitar solo again and fades it. It's a cool solo, so it's neat to hear more of it, but the execution is hamfisted and goofy.

Ryan

 

Let's not forget, from the recent thread about the "secret remaster of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours", Gold Dust Woman has a cold ending (and cold start) now instead of the fade-out (and fade-in) of the LP and original issue CD.

Although the 8-track released at the time with the original LP also had the cold start and ending which didn't reappear again until years later in the remastered CD form.

Joel

 

Actually, it still fades at the same spot...they just edited a chunk out (an instrumental "one sunny day, the world was waiting" section).

It irritates me highly that they cut this section out, I love it! It's a perfect breakdown.

 

"The Fuse" fades on the original LP (and on the superb-sounding DCC too, I might add), but on the first CD release it ends cold.

 

Freebird - Skynyrd ends faded, however, on (I think it is) Gold and Platinum it adds about an extra minute to the song and ends cold. I hope I got that right

 

Gardo, Are you saying that the currently available version of "The Pretender" does not have the cold ending to "The Fuse" ?

 

The soundtrack version of "Quadrophenia" by The Who features "The Real Me" with a cold ending (oddly edited too, it sounds) instead of Roger's repeated "therealmememememememememememe" fading into the instrumental "Quadrophenia" on the original album. I listened to the soundtrack edition of "Quad" (2000 reissue) in the car yesterday and I think it sounds great.

 

I'm kinda fond of the Roger Glover remix of Black Night which chugs along for an extra minute or more to a cold ending.