The best career closer (final track on final album) ever?

(Oh! Sweet Nuthin' is a great pick but . . . )

yea Bowie kinda knocked this outta the park

Bowie is a perfect album closer

Either "Motion of Ariel", the last song on the last full Loud Family album Attractive Nuisance, or "Don't Bother Me While I'm Living Forever", the last Scott Miller song on What If It Works, the collaboration with Anton Barbeau.

Talk Talk - Runeii

and "A New Jerusalem" on Mark Hollis, and the two minutes of silence that follows it.

I've heard "Wanda Lu" by Tim Buckley described as a particularly unfortunate example of a weak final song.

bowie is the most boring possible answer to this question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk3aSPZlSHs

my new answer to this is Tyro (and by extension Toenut) bowing out of music entirely with Remember When We Were Very Young, which isn't on the internet, and thus remains my secret and you'll have to trust me

hilariously enough, most of the suggestions upthread weren't even the last song from the last album in the end

obviously this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myVEzbFVO0Y

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - voodoo chile (slight return)

George Harrison- Got My Mind Set On You

Bob Marley - Redemption song

Is a very fitting swan song methinks

I wish there was a treaty between your love and mine

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - voodoo chile (slight return)

Since Band Of Gypsys was the final album released during his lifetime — new material, new performances, personally overseen by Hendrix — I’d think it would be “We Gotta Live Together.” Decent enough, but not as heavy or poignant as “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).”

But that album is not THE “Jimi Hendrix Experience”

Lou Reed - "Junior Dad"

It's not my favorite of theirs by any stretch, but "Two Suns in the Sunset" is a pretty good closer to the Waters-era Pink Floyd.

Battery In Your Leg used to be such a great example of this

It's not my favorite of theirs by any stretch

It is mine

Yeah, there was a whole conversation about this on another thread. I still remember buying it when it came out and thinking (1) it sounded like a Roger Waters solo album, and (2) it sounded exhausted.

Normally I'd be the last to mention the Beatles (in any context), but I think "Get Back" is a pretty great capper to their career.

Several people advocating for "Her Majesty" upthread.

Chet Baker's "Almost Blue" from the Let's Get Lost soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4IridL_2XU

xp Oh, sorry... I don't know what that is (isn't Let It Be their last album?). Lol

Buckingham/McVie: "Carnival Begin"

Goodbye Baby is also a great last FMac track.

the original Cockney Rebel - Tumbling Down

xp Oh, sorry... I don't know what that is (isn't Let It Be their last album?). Lol

Interesting question; Abbey Road was recorded after, but released before, Let it Be. I think the judges would accept either.

XPS There was a new Fleetwood Mac EP that came out shortly before Christine came back, but it's kinda obscure (initially download only, Buckingham 's "Sad Angel" popped on the deluxe 50 Years-The Chain comp).

xp Thanks; guess I should probably have my I Love Music account frozen for a few weeks or something, as punishment for that particular error…

xp Yeah I meant just in terms of the albums. A bit of a sad false start that EP in hindsight.

“John Prine - when I get to heaven” is an all time closer. Only he could get away with something so on the nose.

I’m okay with Ode to the Mets being the strokes final song, it’s a very strong way to go out

I'm Gonna Crawl, or really All My Love. Led Zep peaked in their final twelve minutes :)

i'm sorry but no

The Blue Nile - Stay Close

and (presumably and sadly)

Low - The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off)

Ohhhhh fuck that's who I was thinking of! I knew there was a recent addition thy completely raised the bar for this

*that

I haven't often said on here how The Price You Pay is probably my favourite Low song these days

Sisters of Mercy "I Was Wrong"

Co-sign the price you pay. Devastating song

I do consider The End as the final real song on the final Beatles record, with Her Majesty being a bit of a silly bonus 'P.S.', but I acknowledge it's a bit of a stretch.

Some others:

Peter Gabriel Genesis: It
Phil Collins Genesis: Fading Lights
Roxy Music: Tara
Oasis: Soldier On

With “DJ”, “Disarray” and “The Price You Pay”, Low managed three absolutely crushing album closers in a row. If any of those three albums had been a final album the last song would have felt like a resonant full stop.

The Yardbirds - "Think About It"

White horses is a great couplet to the price you pay. You know what is called king from the first track of the last album, and the last (literally) blends into the first

*coming, not called king sheesh autocorrect

fading lights otm

I like that the final song on the final Cure album of their lengthy upwards ascent is 'End'.

Actually, the final track of their imperial phase was called The Top, which would have been another very fine way to go out

*cheery grin*

Sure the game gets a lot easier if you draw an arbitrary boundary at the last album you liked.

that was kind of my point lol