Great songs with a terrible section

I mean there's almost nothing it can do that won't be an anticlimax after the song proper, so why not, it has bathos at least

It's fantastic, weirdly poignant

Captain Sensible - Glad It's All Over. Absolutely gorgeous sounding but on some listens the stupid lyrics get in the way a bit too much

That too xp

Bee Gees "I Close My Eyes", a perfectly lovely piece of 1967 pop-psych with a bizarre piercingly-annoying wordless vocal hook at the end of each chorus

Faust - Jennifer; the old timey saloon piano at the end.

― Chris L, Thursday, September 8, 2022 7:45 PM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

awww I like that bit. though I don't really consider it part of the proper tune

the Faust one that comes to mind for me is that squeaky backwards organ feedback at the end of "Miss Fortune" - always have to turn it down because it really does hurt my ears

Elvis Costello once wrote that at one time, any song of his that had any potential for sweetness needed to be given the harshest possible treatment. I think he was talking about "Deportee."

Anyway I have never felt that it was necessary to have "Man Out of Time" begin and end with the double-time distorted outtake spliced in. Your opinion may differ. The song would have been fine.

"Captain Sensible - Glad It's All Over. Absolutely gorgeous sounding but on some listens the stupid lyrics get in the way a bit too much"

Literally every single King Crimson song with lyrics would be much better without lyrics. I would love that band if they had never had a singer ever. Or if the lyrics were sung in Sigur Ros' Hopelandic. Or Magma's kobaian. Or if they were whistled.

For that matter ELP's oeuvre is ruined for me by Keith Emerson's keyboard playing and Greg Lake's singing and guitar and whatever other instruments he played e.g. harmonica or banjo or whatever. If someone remastered their albums so that they were just Calm Palmer drumming and nothing else they would be fantastic.

check out "Tank" on the 1st ELP album, might be your jam

I’m not…. super crazy about the slow spooky horror music of “children of the grave”, but I accept I’m wrong

horror music SECTION I mean, with the organ or whatever

Half-inclined to add the “Wot’s ‘e like?” in “Buffalo Stance.”

Outro to Queen's "Seven Seas of Rhye" where they go into a rendition of "Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside". I know it's a segue into the intro of the first track on the following album, which is a pretty good trick, but it's still crap.

Literally every single King Crimson song with lyrics would be much better without lyrics.

Agree with this 100% (and I really like Greg Lake's voice, but KC's lyrics were jabbering nonsense at best, jabbering sexist, homophobic nonsense at worst).

Runnin Blue by the Doors would maybe be my favorite Doors tune if weren't for Krieger's cod hillbilly chorus break down barf

Great example

I think Jimmy Buffett's "Come Monday" is a great song, except for the "I can't help it honey..." bridge which is so completely nails on a chalkboard to me that I'll pull my earbuds out and just skip that part of the song altogether.

I could really do without the spoken word poetry break in the Doors' "Peace Frog." Way to kill a groove. Only 16 seconds long but I want to snip it out so bad.

"Ducks On a Pond" by the Incredible String Band is actually three songs in a row: one great, one fine, one terrible. I understand the thematic relation between the parts, but most of their "good-timey" stuff falls flat for me.

I almost mentioned that song earlier. I also hate the "Keep the home fires burning" part of their song "Darling Belle" which, otherwise, is one of the best and most affecting things they ever did.

I opened this thread and immediate hit ctrl+F to search for "Eyes Without A Face". The 'rocking out' is less of an issue than the rapping.

Lol it’s not great but neither that nor the rapping ruins the song for me.

Not terrible but the 'Leeeeee...eeeeeeisure' in XTC's Le(eeeeee...eeeeee)isure would benefit from only appearing once

Half-inclined to add the “Wot’s ‘e like?” in “Buffalo Stance.”

― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Tuesday, September 13, 2022 8:30 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

WOT?!

I've never come to terms with the drum break in 'like a motorway' that interrupts the sleek night driving synths at least two too many times.

_Half-inclined to add the “Wot’s ‘e like?” in “Buffalo Stance.”

― The self-titled drags (Eazy), Tuesday, September 13, 2022 8:30 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink_


WOT?!

"Going to California"

(Was only half-inclined with “Buffalo Stance” — maybe I’ll come around!)

BREATHE DEEP
THE GATHERING GLOOM
(*click*)

i wouldn't say it's "terrible" per se but the extremely jaunty intro to "girlfriend in a coma" always cracks me up. my wife and i couldn't agree if it's riffing on disco or country but it does feel out of place, even with the rest of the upbeat instrumentation of the song.

whenever i see this thread title my brain parses "terrible section" as meaning like a part of an orchestra like string section or woodwind section

that sounds like a Zappa thing

Hahaha!

The Beach Boys - It's Getting Late is a lumpen Huey Lewis type chorus mixed with gorgeous rising-and-falling verses

It might just be me but I’ve always found the middle “Father, forgive me” bit of Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin” a bit of a slog. It seems musically and lyrically ordinary in an otherwise fantastic record.

The original album version of "Moonchild" by King Crimson. Every time I listen to it, I am tempted to create my own edit.

Could really do without the “meow meow meow meow” bit in Luna’s “Moon Palace”

Feel the need to defend many examples brought up in this thread, but I have the exact opposite opinion of the "father, forgive me" section in "It's a Sin" - beautiful musically and lyrically, crucial to the song, even

But you did remind me of a PSB bridge I really don't like in an otherwise good song: the "everybody's got to live together" section in "So Hard"

ok if we're gonna talk about bridges how about "Orinoco Flow". its such a cool New Age single because it's so brisk and catchy, unlike what you would expect from the genre. there's nothing else like it. so why not just stick a slow tuneless part in the middle just to ruin the flow

ruin the orinoco flow you could say!

no I agree actually. The best thing about it is that when the chorus returns it sounds even better

...but it's great because it blurs out like that then comes back even better! You're like, "oh, is that all the candy I get?" Then you get some more.

It does run the risk of throwing away the momentum though. It's lucky it doesn't imo

There was a really good youtube cover of Primal Scream's Slip Inside This House (i.e. based on their version not 13FE) which is gone now I think but in the middle it went into this sparse fusty breakbeat bit and it sort of spoiled it.

No problem with "Crash Into Me" being a permanent CVS staple, but the sing-songy "I'm the king of the castle" toward the very end grates on me.

Just heard the chopsticks part of "Blinded By The Light" in a Starbucks and was reminded how it could be clever hearing it the first time, but grating if it's now part of a background-music song.

Runnin Blue by the Doors would maybe be my favorite Doors tune if weren't for Krieger's cod hillbilly chorus break down barf

Completely agree!
Several Doors songs have already been mentioned here, there are probably more - I think the Soft Parade title track may also be an example, but I'm not entirely sure how to dissect that one. I think the spoken-word "petition the lord with prayer" opening is just embarrassing. The "let me give you sanctuary" bit, I find one of their most beautiful moments. I do think it's a good thing that it flows into different directions, but I'm not so keen on the segment that follows. It works for me again when it picks up with the "welcome to the soft parade" part. Not sure about the last section. Overall, it feels to me like it should have been their masterpiece, but fails.

I still thought to mention the crying children in 'The Kids' by Lou Reed. It may fit the theme, strengthen the meaning, add to the atmosphere and whatever, but -even if it's pretty short- it's really not fun to listen to. It also puts negative weight on the entire album for me: I'm rarely in a mood to put it on simply because it is the album with the crying kids.

Bob Ezrin never misses an opportunity to get wailing, yelling or chanting children in his productions.

otm

opening 2 minutes or so of The Fiery Furnaces “Benton Harbor Blues.” Like, it’s the Fiery Furnaces so it’s kinda to be expected, but they had a hook so good they had to just throw “Benton Harbor Blues - Again” at the end of the album to knock off those annoying parts.

That’s nothing compared to the high-pitched whistle in “Whistle Rhapsody” (…not that I consider either of these to qualify as “great songs,” but they sure would’ve been better)