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What was the first true synth based Rush song?


fraroc
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Even though the keyboards were introduced to Rush in 1977, In my honest opinion the first true synth-era Rush song was The Camera Eye. No bass guitar is played at all in the first minutes of the song, only keyboards. Many times in the song, Ged switched between keys and bass. Of course, this makes Witch Hunt the second synth based Rush song. Overall, I think those two songs, Camera Eye and Witch Hunt, was what set the stage for what Rush was going to be for the rest of the 1980s, with songs that prominently feature Geddy Lee playing both bass and keyboards in the same song.
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The synth intro to 2112 definitely set the template, that and the synth in Tears... ;)

 

 

Actually though TCE and Witch Hunt is pretty spot on. I might argue that Ged was getting the hang of composing synth based stuff by Hems on Circumstances and The Trees, but not really any standalone pieces or full songs until TCE and WH.

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Keep in mind I'm talking about songs where synths are very prominent, in songs like Xanadu, A Farewell To Kings, YYZ and Tom Sawyer, they're more of an accent.
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Xanadu popped into mind, if those synths, i'm no expert

I would agree with this.That swirling intro to 2112?.I think Terry Brown did that.Tears?I think that's a Mellotron and Hugh Syme played that.Is Red Sector A the song with no bass? That could technically be it. I think Subdivisions and Countdown are the first real heavy synths songs.
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The first true synth-keyboard song is Subdivisions as it's the instrument that carries the melody, without it the song is a dud.

 

....well more of a dud, actually...since Signals is a dud to begin with, because well, Signals uses keyboards. :P

 

I don't agree Signals is a dud, but I do agree about Subdivisions being the first.

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The first true synth-keyboard song is Subdivisions as it's the instrument that carries the melody, without it the song is a dud.

 

....well more of a dud, actually...since Signals is a dud to begin with, because well, Signals uses keyboards. :P

 

I don't agree Signals is a dud, but I do agree about Subdivisions being the first.

 

...old Rush Good; new Rush Bad :D

 

rinse, repeat

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AFTKs is full of synthy goodness but it was just used as another instrument to compliment the songs. I agree that Subdivisions is the first one where the entire song is carried by it. Thus the slow slide into hell. ;)
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I'm not sure what qualifies as "synth-based," but 2112 was the first album to feature a synthesizer (the intro to the title track is played on an ARP Odyssey). Also, starting with A Farewell to Kings (and lasting for most of the remainder of their career) the Moog Taurus bass pedals were used extensively, both in studio and live. This pedal-based synthesizer was used not only for its native sounds but most significantly as an interface to play the key-based synths (like the Minimoog and Oberheim). Edited by mattroland76
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As far as written on the keyboards. First one?

 

Subdivisions.

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