One of the most underrated closing tracks of all time. Perfectly wraps up this cinematic masterpiece of an album. If the track before this one, “Live At Dominoes,” is the climactic final chase and satisfying ending scene, then “Extra Kings” is not only the place for the credits, but for a suspicious hint of a sequel.
The first forty seconds have to be sampled from a mysterious ending of a movie. You know the type where the camera slowly zooms in on a key piece of the story that has been discarded, but actually suggests something bigger occurring in the future? That’s exactly what I think of. The eyes in the broken mask light up again, the character with amnesia winks at the camera, the lost treasure map washes back up on shore, the powerful gauntlet falls into the hands of the apprentice, etc. But just as the true nature of where things are headed next, the film unexpectedly cuts, sending us back to the main story on a very satisfying, yet unsatisfying note. Credits play in the background as we see our characters wrap up their comical adventure on this crazy pleasure island.
Has anyone ever written an imaginary film to this album? I would love to do something like that. Either way, you should probably listen to this whole record to get the scope of why this is such a closing track, but alone it’s pretty great too.