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Jacobs Ladder finishes it off


johnnyonthespot
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should have played countdown live

 

To me, that song is way too dated, and I'm pretty sure I remember reading a comment from one of the guys that the band felt the same way. I'm really glad they didn't play it.

 

I wouldn't have minded because I like the song but I can't say I ever expected them to play it on this tour.

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should have played countdown live

 

To me, that song is way too dated, and I'm pretty sure I remember reading a comment from one of the guys that the band felt the same way. I'm really glad they didn't play it.

 

I wouldn't have minded because I like the song but I can't say I ever expected them to play it on this tour.

 

I agree that song aged the worst from anything off Signals.

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Personally I think that the only reason they played Jacob's Ladder is on account of all of the squeaky wheels on TRF. Same reason why they played Xanadu in its entirety.

 

Same reason they played "Losing It". Someone was doing their homework perusing the Rush boards, there's no doubt about it.

Edited by Xanadu
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should have played countdown live

 

To me, that song is way too dated, and I'm pretty sure I remember reading a comment from one of the guys that the band felt the same way. I'm really glad they didn't play it.

 

And what's wrong with that? Music with "dated" sounds takes me back to the the time it was made - for better or for worse. And isn't it really more a question of what sounds good to your ears? I guess I've never really understood the use of that adjective, "dated."

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Personally I think that the only reason they played Jacob's Ladder is on account of all of the squeaky wheels on TRF. Same reason why they played Xanadu in its entirety.

Agreed and broke out the double necks. Guess Ged passed on the coonskin hat idea even though it was in the video at the beginning (correct me if I'm wrong) of the show... :) Edited by Narps
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Same thing with Camera Eye. Despite fan requests, they ignored it for years and Ged was on record saying he hated it. Finally for TM tour, they had to play it and ended up reconnecting with why they thought it was good enough to record in the first place. I read recently that Ged now looks forward to it when it's in the set. So yeah, I think maybe they SHOULD have listened to us fans more. :)
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I think they should have been paying closer attention to fan requests all along. I've been pining for JL(as my most requested) for at least 20 years and knew it would kill live. The fact that it DOES kill.....yawn. Old news to me.
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should have played countdown live

 

To me, that song is way too dated, and I'm pretty sure I remember reading a comment from one of the guys that the band felt the same way. I'm really glad they didn't play it.

 

And what's wrong with that? Music with "dated" sounds takes me back to the the time it was made - for better or for worse. And isn't it really more a question of what sounds good to your ears? I guess I've never really understood the use of that adjective, "dated."

 

You said it yourself: "for better or for worse." For instance, the keyboard sounds on Power Windows date that album big time -- it's SO '80s! -- but there's a certain charm to that sound now (to me, at least).

 

In the case of "Countdown," the song was written around their Shuttle launch experience, and to me, it sounds that way -- they experienced something awesome and just HAD to write a song about it right then and there! The lyrics sounded kind of forced and hokey back then, and sound even more so now. Some really clunky phrases in there. I can't imagine Geddy singing this song 33 years later with any conviction. Again, just my opinion.

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I really enjoyed the flavour of "Oh, I can't sing that anymore? WATCH ME" in some of the setlist choices :D

 

Ged gave it his absolute all throughout the entire set, most noticable in Headlong Flight and basically the whole second set (with the obvious exception of Cygnus X-1: Book I: oh...I CAN'T sing that anymore, heh. Here's an epic instrumental though.). THREE times he hit that mega-note in HF, and it blew me away every single time.

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should have played countdown live

 

To me, that song is way too dated, and I'm pretty sure I remember reading a comment from one of the guys that the band felt the same way. I'm really glad they didn't play it.

 

And what's wrong with that? Music with "dated" sounds takes me back to the the time it was made - for better or for worse. And isn't it really more a question of what sounds good to your ears? I guess I've never really understood the use of that adjective, "dated."

 

You said it yourself: "for better or for worse." For instance, the keyboard sounds on Power Windows date that album big time -- it's SO '80s! -- but there's a certain charm to that sound now (to me, at least).

 

In the case of "Countdown," the song was written around their Shuttle launch experience, and to me, it sounds that way -- they experienced something awesome and just HAD to write a song about it right then and there! The lyrics sounded kind of forced and hokey back then, and sound even more so now. Some really clunky phrases in there. I can't imagine Geddy singing this song 33 years later with any conviction. Again, just my opinion.

 

Oh, okay - it's not the "sounds" per se but the lyrical content of the song - sort of the same criticism that people have about Virtuality?

 

I agree about the 80s keyboard sounds - but I simply don't like the sound of those things - I suppose there's charm, but that's where it sort of ends for me - those keyboards just seem more synthetic, less performed and more programmed, and more there for the sake of themselves, like they're a spreading bacteria or something. I like the sound of the 70s keyboards, the Moog or whatever, because they have a certain unique character. I do like the sound of the keyboard in countdown, and I like that kind of sonic mix.

 

I suppose the lyrics are a bit heavy-handed; on the other hand, I've never witnessed a space shuttle launch, so I can't say with any confidence that I wouldn't have felt that it was like "the whole world exploding" and all that.... "sleeping white dragon" is perhaps a bit goofy, but for some folks it might be evocative.

 

I appreciate the different perspective. On some level it's mysterious to me how two people can hear the same song and have different reactions, but it's also cool that that happens.

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I was kind of bummed that they didn't play Cut To The Chase or Turn The Page since they're both in his range, but oh well. I'm definitely happy with what we did get.
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I was kind of bummed that they didn't play Cut To The Chase or Turn The Page since they're both in his range, but oh well. I'm definitely happy with what we did get.

 

CTTC is up there as one of the best songs they never played.

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Jacob's Ladder has been a Top 3 song for me since it came out, and has not wavered - I am thrilled that they broke it out, but some of the motivation might have to do with the fact that, while still from the classic era, it is still within Geddy's range

 

It is a brilliant piece of music, and the fact that they held off playing it for so many years only added to the mystique

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should have played countdown live

 

Since the song is about the maiden voyage of the Columbia isn't it true that the boys stopped playing the song live when the shuttle tragically exploded in 1986?

 

AFAIK it was only played on the Signals tour. It was THE song that got me hooked on Rush when I was dragged along with a couple of friends to see them in 1983. I was an impressionable 14 year old who was also a space nut - so much so I held a cassette recorder in front of the TV speaker for the first shuttle launch. I still have the tape :)

 

So dated, hokey, whatever, Countdown will always be special to me.

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should have played countdown live

 

Since the song is about the maiden voyage of the Columbia isn't it true that the boys stopped playing the song live when the shuttle tragically exploded in 1986?

Yes, great point! I was going to say "Pretty hard to play that song after what happened to Columbia" and I wasn't even thinking about Challenger.....
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