| The Final Curtain | |
| Type: | compilation |
| Longtype: | (with DVD) |
| Artist: | Further Seems Forever |
| Cover: | Further Seems Forever - The Final Curtain cover.jpg |
| Border: | yes |
| Released: | April 3, 2007 |
| Recorded: | 1999, 2004, June 17, 2006 |
| Genre: | Indie rock, Christian rock, emo |
| Length: | 74:16 |
| Label: | 567 |
| Producer: | Bruce Fitzhugh, Michael Lewis |
| Prev Title: | Hope This Finds You Well |
| Prev Year: | 2006 |
| Next Title: | Penny Black |
| Next Year: | 2012 |
The Final Curtain is a compilation album and DVD by the Pompano Beach, Florida rock band Further Seems Forever, released in 2007 by 567 Records (formerly Undecided Records). The album includes the band's final live performance recorded on June 17, 2006 at The Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as several rare and previously unreleased songs. The DVD contains video of the final performance, a band interview, photo gallery, and behind the scenes footage.
The album's bonus tracks comprise both the most recent and earliest eras of the band. Tracks 12-15 are outtakes from the band's 2004 album Hide Nothing, recorded with lead singer Jon Bunch. "Pagan Poetry" is a previously unreleased cover of a song by Björk, while the acoustic tracks were originally released as bonus tracks on Best Buy versions of the album. Tracks 16-20 comprise the band's earliest recordings from 1999, when Chris Carrabba was the group's lead singer. These are the complete recording sessions for the band's debut EP From the 27th State, on which these demo versions of "The Bradley" and "New Year's Project" appeared along with "Justice Prevails." The versions of "Just Until Sundown," and "Pictures of Shorelines" included on this compilation are previously unreleased.
Russ Breimeier of TheFish.com stated that while the acoustic tracks and other extra material on The Final Curtain were a nice addition, "the final concert is poorly performed and recorded, making this a disappointing conclusion to the brief-but-impressive run of Further Seems Forever [...] It might have played well in person, but simply does not translate to disc. Production values are so-so at best, with a rough sound mix and home-video quality camera work."[1] He noted the performance of "The Moon Is Down" as "especially sloppy" and remarked that while Bunch's singing had sounded "terrific" on Hide Nothing, "the singer seems out of his league here, out of breath on 'New Year's Project', letting the audience handle most of the high parts, and missing notes throughout the set."[1]