Fade out

TAMLA Motown Records�know a thing or two about making hits stick to a simple rule. With less than half a dozen exceptions, Motown singles fade out at the end of the song.�

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ABC, on the other hand, feel that this is not a good rule to play by. The wonderfully histrionic Look Of Love stops dead at the end, as though fading out from such hysteria would be too weedy for words. The majority of record labels, however, opt for the Motown method and slide into silence.

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Radio disc jockeys are taught to 'chase the fade' i.e. talk over the fading seconds of a song in order to avoid that dread of all broadcasters, 'dead air', otherwise known as silence to the rest of us. For them, being caught unawares by the sudden ending of a record while they are busy eating lunch, rushing back from the loo, arguing with their producer, or what ever they do while music is playing, must be the worst of all nightmares.

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Many a muttered moan must have flown David Bowie's way when songs like Jean Jeanie and Queen Bitch were regular fixtures on the nation's airwaves.

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Some songs, such as Len Barry's classic white soul hit 1-2-3 and The Four Tops' Reach Out fade so quickly that they're gone almost before the listener has had time to miss them. Others, such as Ram Jam's Black Betty and Diana Ross' Love Hangover seem to be on the last�lap, even before they really manage to get going.

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As with everything in music, it's a matter of personal taste. Do you prefer to snap out those last few syllables, before you jump up and change songs, or would you rather stroll slowly over to the stereo humming those last few bars at full volume, while your musical hero(s) slip quietly away into the ether

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