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Happy 30th P/G


goose
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So, Saturday was the 30th anniversary of the release of Grace Under Pressure. I loved it from the get go. I was into the ska revival as well as the Police, and appreciated RUSH exploring that genre of Rock and Alex integrating the Andy Summers sound.

 

Kid Gloves is a favorite track, and the solo is stellar. :notworthy:

 

http://img.rush.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/grace-under-PRESSURE.jpg

Edited by goose
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GUP is the only album that took me a few years to appreciated. Can't pick a favourite track, it's pretty consistent through out. It's got another different atmosphere from all of their other albums, the band continuing to exlore the keyboards sound and having difficulty to produce the whole thing.
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I love the album (and its cover art too), but I don't think it's as consistent as some of you guys do (the first four tracks are amazing, but The Body Electric and Red Lenses are way at the other end of the spectrum).
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My favorite, hands down, Red Sector A. Even though it's got a hell of a lot of electronic equipment, it is still a badass song.

 

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY GRACE UNDER PRESSURE!!!

http://images.dpchallenge.com/images_challenge/1000-1999/1157/800/Copyrighted_Image_Reuse_Prohibited_848304.jpg

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I always question that release date. For one thing, albums usually were released and/or stocked on Tuesdays (sometimes Mondays). April 12th was a Thursday that year. Our record store didn't have it until April 17th, a Tuesday, complete with a date stamped on the cover. I bought it on April 21st, a Saturday when I was at the mall. I went every weekend to see if the new album was in yet. I never heard MTV give a specific release date, only "spring", so I kept an eye out every weekend that spring.

 

Regarding the music on Grace Under Pressure, I was disappointed upon first listen. I was expecting another "Signals" kind of album. I only had Signals and Moving Pictures at the time and those two had more in common in my opinion. Grace Under Pressure was a completely different kind of music to me. It was very cold and the synths that were on there had a metallic, tinkly sound that I didn't care for. It was a depressing album bought on a very overcast, chilly and raw day as I strongly recall. Plus, a lot of drama was just about to begin in my life and it's a year full of disappointment and sadness. Even now when I hear the album, I can't help remembering the sadness of that year, especially the tune "Between the Wheels", which amplified my emotions everytime I heard it. When I would play the album, I often took the needle off after Red Lenses. Between the Wheels was too harsh of a tune to close the album with. Much like Subdivisions, this song was one I felt had aspects I could relate to.

 

The album has grown on me over the years and I even like "Between the Wheels" and feel it's one of their best from the album.

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I liked p/g when it came out, and it was the last Rush album I liked for over a decade. (Well, I might have liked Counterparts if I had heard it when it came out, but I didn't hear it until the 2000s.)

 

I've been through so much since this was released, I feel like this was at least two "previous lives" ago.

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It took me a long time to get into the album. Between The Wheels is a killer song, especially live.
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I liked p/g when it came out, and it was the last Rush album I liked for over a decade. (Well, I might have liked Counterparts if I had heard it when it came out, but I didn't hear it until the 2000s.)

 

I've been through so much since this was released, I feel like this was at least two "previous lives" ago.

Power Windows was the end for me. Never purchased anything after that or cared for anything for many reasons. Real life and family began and the music changed way to much for my taste anyway. Clockwork has come the closest since then to the sound I enjoy but alas its still overdone too..... :sigh: :codger:
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GUP's one of their best albums. excellent lyrics, geddy's vocals are great, the production and the metallic, cold sound that CT talked about all help to contribute to the overall feel of the record, and it has some of their best music. people bitch about synths and how it's an "80s-sounding" album (which makes a lot of sense considering its release date, huh), but good music is good music. don't have to be shrieking about hobbits and black holes all the time to sound good. Edited by bathory
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Love it, too. It has its occasional flat spots here and there, but the theme and music was really relevant for that time. If u didnt hear this album in the mid-80s u probably won't have a deeper appreciation for it. One of my favorites....better than anything released after 2000.
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I love the album (and its cover art too), but I don't think it's as consistent as some of you guys do (the first four tracks are amazing, but The Body Electric and Red Lenses are way at the other end of the spectrum).

Between the Wheels took me forever to like. I still find the keyboards irritating. But, like on the other tracks, Alex is in great form.
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GUP's one of their best albums. excellent lyrics, geddy's vocals are great, the production and the metallic, cold sound that CT talked about all help to contribute to the overall feel of the record, and it has some of their best music. people bitch about synths and how it's an "80s-sounding" album (which makes a lot of sense considering its release date, huh), but good music is good music. don't have to be shrieking about hobbits and black holes all the time to sound good.

You are right about Ged's voice. He really does a great job on this album.

 

The production is cold, especially contrasted with the warm, fuzzy, wads of cotton production of Signals. One thing I really liked about the album on release was the clarity.

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Easily my favorite Synth album (Well, maybe Power Windows comes close). There really isn't a bad song on the album. I think the title is also the coolest album name Rush ever came up with.
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This was the first studio album I ever bought (I had Rio, R30, and Time Machine). To this day, it remains my favorite. Distant Early Warning, Red Sector A, and Between the Wheels are all in my top ten, Kid Gloves and The Enemy Within not far behind, and The Body Electric and Red Lenses are also somewhere in my top twenty-five (I have a playlist on my iPhone if you want proof!). I love the cool, dark, dystopian theme to the lyrics (DEW and BTW especially), and the power in the keyboards (especially in RSA). Geddy's voice was great, Lerxst was…well, Lerxst (in BTW more than any of them), and Neil was as ineffably great as ever. Grace Under Pressure rocks! Best album ever!
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I got into the band after Permanent Waves was released. GUP was the first one I bought that there was a little hesitation in embracing it. Power Windows and Hold Your Fire pretty much made me give up on the band for a long time. I've come to appreciate them more, but they're both still pretty close to the bottom of the list. I never really think of Signals as a heavy synth album for whatever reason, so GUP is really the start of the synth era in my mind. I remember reading an interview with Alex at the time where he said he had been listening to bands like U2 and The Alarm, and I think it really showed.

 

Anyways, happy anniversary GUP. Maybe I'll give it and GUP Tour 1984 a spin this week.

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The first song I heard off the album was BTW, and I didn't like the beginning keyboard sound (since then I've grown to appreciate it much more). But I loved DEW and The Enemy Within from first listen; also Red Sector A, and Afterimage was always a favorite too. I didn't really appreciate The Body Electric until hearing it live on the CA Tour.

 

Don't think I'll ever be a huge fan of Kid Gloves or (especially) Red Lenses though. I'd put it ahead of Signals but behind everything from the 2112 to MP period (and CA), and ahead of everything from PoW to SA.

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Second favorite Rush album. I can listen to this album the whole way through multiple times a day.

A lot of variety on it, and one track isn't dependent on another.
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This album has a special place in my heart :heart: since it is the one that got me started listening to Rush in 2011. I played it over and over on my ipod and just couldn't get enough of it. I enjoy all the songs a lot :kisshug:
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