Songs that fade in...

Thousands of songs fade out at the end, but I can only think of a handful that fade in at the beginning. There's the Beatles' "Eight Days A Week" and the Supremes' "Come See About Me" (both fast 'n' drastic fade-ins) and the Four Seasons' "Who Loves You" and Abba's "Fernando" (long, slow fade-ins that were moider to cue up...) Also a couple instrumentals; Herb Alpert and the TJB's "A Banda" and (this goes back to the 50's) David Seville's "Armen's Theme." Anybody remember some others?

"More than a Feeling," definitely.

Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"

Billy Squier - Don't Say No

Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer."

Wishing You Were Here -- Chicago (surf sound fades up)

Supertramp, "Take the Long Way Home." That very first long note fades in very quietly. Probably set off dead-air alarms at some stations, unless it was edited from the intro, as some stations did.

BostonRandy said:

Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"

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I'm not sure I would necessarily call that one a fade-in. The shakuhachi flute is soft at the beginning, but it doesn't really fade, it's right there; then you slam right into the Stax horn line.

On the Road Again - Canned Heat

frankberry said:

Apollo 100 - Joy

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Beautiful! Thanks for reminding me. There is a thin line between records that fade in and those that just start very softly. A couple I've remembered that start softly are First Class' "Beach Baby" (also got faded out short on a lot of stations) and the Cuff Links' "When Julie Comes Around" (I recently put that on a mix tape and had to start with the gain wide open and ride it down with each added instrument.)

I guess if Chicago's "Wishing You Were Here" qualifies with its sound fx open, the Platters' "Harbor Lights" might too. This is a little off topic, but there was a top 40 station here in the 70's where playing records that started soft or slow was verboten; they had to be slip-cued at the "kicker." (For that reason, I remember tunes like Tony Orlando's "My Sweet Gypsy Rose" or Cher's "Dark Lady" usually starting with a wwoww...)

Over my Head - Fleetwood Mac

Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride.

Aldo Nova - Fantasy

False start - James Blunt - You're Beautiful

Hawaii Five-O - The Ventures
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep - Mac & Katie Kissoon

The Reflex - Duran Duran
Steal Away - Robbie Dupree
Never Ending Story - Limahl
You Won't See Me - Anne Murray
Swingtown - Steve Miller Band

R

Waiting For A Girl Like You - Foreigner
My Love - Paul McCartney

Another one from Foreigner, I Don't Want To Live Without You.

R

I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night -- Electric Prunes

And a partial qualifier: Sweet Cherry Wine -- Tommy James & the Shondells. (Organ fades up, but the bell that introduces it is normal volume.)

The only music-playing stations that I ever worked for were primarily country music stations, and I was working for one when Reba McEntire's "For My Broken Heart" came out. It had a long slow start, and the music didn't really kick in for about 40 seconds. Here it is, for those of you unfamiliar with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhOyxKQYr6M

Unfortunately, we had a guy working there at the time who had a nasty habit of trying to "fix" things that weren't broken. We "carted" all of our current songs (it was a small AM station), so he tried to "fix" that one by editing out that long slow start. Unfortunately, he created one with levels that were just completely wrong. There were several attempts at correcting this, but it was never gotten right. (I don't remember any complaints about the original carting job.) Finally, we just played it straight from the CD (with that long intro), but by then, its chart run was nearly over anyway. (I believe that there was a single of that one which indeed omitted that first 40 seconds or so.)

Robert Bass said:

Swingtown - Steve Miller Band

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I believe that "Swingtown" would qualify as a "soft start." I am taking a listen to it right now. I always loved the "wind machine" on that one. It starts out with just the drumming, and ends with just the drumming, and then finally the wind machine wipes out even the drumming!

And someone can check this for me. I believe that the single of "Reflex" starts out fading in, but the album version is different. A station near me played (I believe) the album version while it was a hit. Edited to add link to album version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5oecKJ6g7c

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel did NOT fade in, but within a few seconds, the piano on the intro got soft enough that the automation on our FM sister station mistook it for dead air and went on to something else, and sounded the alarm. We typically only heard about 30 seconds of "Bridge." (It was more like a pier!) It seems like "Lonely Days" by the BeeGees, and maybe a handful of other tunes also similarly set off the dead-air alarm.

firepoint525 said:

I believe that "Swingtown" would qualify as a "soft start." I am taking a listen to it right now. I always loved the "wind machine" on that one. It starts out with just the drumming, and ends with just the drumming, and then finally the wind machine wipes out even the drumming!

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This may be a case where on the album version it doesn't, but on the single version it does. My copy fades in at the drumming.

R