madra sneachta Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 There I am leafing through Mojo, when in the reissues section I come across a review of TFE. Another hatchet job, I assumed, but no........ Three stars, and here's a transcription of the review "Brain-box Canadian trip rediscover guitars" To outsiders, Rush will never escape their roots as a Dungeons and Dragons metal band. Those days were gone more than 15 years gone by the time of Test for Echo, one of five reissues from '89's Presto onwards. Throughout the '80s, frontman Geddy Lee was multi-tasking : playing keyboards with his hands and bass pedals with his feet while squealing lyrics about middle aged ennui and the nuclear arms race. After '93's weak Counterparts, a complete rethink was in order. The next, Test for Echo, witnessed the rebirth of Rush as a hard rock band, and the return of Alex Lifeson's fabulous jarring guitars ; the stand out track Driven piloting a riff as heavy as anything on their very first album. Being smart alecs, they still couldn't resist a smart alec instrumental, Limbo, yet there's a warmth here that had long been missing from Rush's work. Mark Blake OK, not a fawning review by any means, but one of the fairer I've seen in the UK music press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilPeartFan2112 Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 Test For Echo has some good songs. It's a really good CD. So glad I own it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostGirl Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 "brain box" and "smart alec" interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilPeartFan2112 Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Nov 30 2004, 04:57 PM) "brain box" and "smart alec" interesting Very interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circumstantial tree Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 Test for Echo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilPeartFan2112 Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Nov 30 2004, 05:01 PM) Test for Echo NOOOO!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostGirl Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Nov 30 2004, 04:01 PM) Test for Echo Now that smarts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pags Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 QUOTE (madra sneachta @ Nov 30 2004, 04:50 PM) There I am leafing through Mojo, when in the reissues section I come across a review of TFE. Another hatchet job, I assumed, but no........ Three stars, and here's a transcription of the review "Brain-box Canadian trip rediscover guitars" To outsiders, Rush will never escape their roots as a Dungeons and Dragons metal band. Those days were gone more than 15 years gone by the time of Test for Echo, one of five reissues from '89's Presto onwards. Throughout the '80s, frontman Geddy Lee was multi-tasking : playing keyboards with his hands and bass pedals with his feet while squealing lyrics about middle aged ennui and the nuclear arms race. After '93's weak Counterparts, a complete rethink was in order. The next, Test for Echo, witnessed the rebirth of Rush as a hard rock band, and the return of Alex Lifeson's fabulous jarring guitars ; the stand out track Driven piloting a riff as heavy as anything on their very first album. Being smart alecs, they still couldn't resist a smart alec instrumental, Limbo, yet there's a warmth here that had long been missing from Rush's work. Mark Blake OK, not a fawning review by any means, but one of the fairer I've seen in the UK music press. I'm glad he gave it the 3 stars. Hopefully out of a total of 3 available??? However, two things make me want to smack this guy in the head. 1) Counterparts weak??? Does this man have ears?? 2) "Test for Echo, witnessed the rebirth of Rush as a hard rock band, and the return of Alex Lifeson's fabulous jarring guitars" -- I guess I can understand this mis-statement due to the fact that he WASN'T listening to Counterparts!! Ok - kudos to what he said about Driven, as it's such an amazing song. That tune makes you feel like you're doing 150 mph even when you're sitting still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 I don tunderstand his knocking of Counterparts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oberon Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 He likes Limbo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CygnusX-1Bk2 Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 I think Counterparts is better than TFE, sonically and musically. TFE has some great pieces but isn't as cohesive as CP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweetmiracle Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 QUOTE (paganoman @ Nov 30 2004, 06:09 PM) I'm glad he gave it the 3 stars. Hopefully out of a total of 3 available??? However, two things make me want to smack this guy in the head. 1) Counterparts weak??? Does this man have ears?? 2) "Test for Echo, witnessed the rebirth of Rush as a hard rock band, and the return of Alex Lifeson's fabulous jarring guitars" -- I guess I can understand this mis-statement due to the fact that he WASN'T listening to Counterparts!! Ok - kudos to what he said about Driven, as it's such an amazing song. That tune makes you feel like you're doing 150 mph even when you're sitting still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-0-0-1-0-0-1 Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 QUOTE (paganoman @ Nov 30 2004, 05:09 PM) ...two things make me want to smack this guy in the head. 1) Counterparts weak??? Does this man have ears?? 2) "Test for Echo, witnessed the rebirth of Rush as a hard rock band, and the return of Alex Lifeson's fabulous jarring guitars" -- I guess I can understand this mis-statement due to the fact that he WASN'T listening to Counterparts!! Exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riv Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 A friend of mime once said, "Music Critic? That's like Steve Martin, some funny rice". He didn't actually say 'rice'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Presto45 Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 TFE is awesome Also Counterparts is better though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madra sneachta Posted December 1, 2004 Author Share Posted December 1, 2004 Personally I prefer Counterparts too (although I concur absolutely with Paganoman about Driven). Thing is, on this side of the Atlantic, there's so little coverage of Rush in mags like Mojo that anything even vaguely positive is a rare and refreshing change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prince by-tor Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 QUOTE (Moonraker @ Nov 30 2004, 05:10 PM)I don tunderstand his knocking of Counterparts. I AGREE....Counter Parts to me is coming back to the hard rock thing..If you don"t agree you can my Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madra sneachta Posted December 1, 2004 Author Share Posted December 1, 2004 QUOTE (prince by-tor @ Dec 1 2004, 11:17 AM) QUOTE (Moonraker @ Nov 30 2004, 05:10 PM)I don tunderstand his knocking of Counterparts. I AGREE....Counter Parts to me is coming back to the hard rock thing..If you don"t agree you can my I ain't an educated man as all you Fleet Street preachers know, but am I correct in deducing you're a Whitesnake fan Prince By-Tor?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proggy Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Great, thanks for posting this review, Madra Sneachta! For once I have to agree with the critic here... CP (much more uneven in my ears -and at times truly unbearable ) doesn't hold a candle to TFE (the first six tracks are all really good and I also love Carve Away The Stone as an album closer.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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