The Synth Era dosen't get half the love it deserves from Rush fans and the band itself

[tangy]

Don't forget about the excellence of Jim Burgess and Anthony Richards on synth arrangements on "Middletown Dreams" and "Emotion Detector." Two songs I will cherish until I die.

 

I like those two tunes but wtf were they thinking.

 

Andy Richards from what i read yesterday was known for working with wham! And frankie goes to hollywood.

 

Rush is the odd band in his discography.

Edited February 26, 2018 by tangy

[Texas King]

I'm a fan of Signals and P/G and like Power Windows quite a bit. Apart from Mission, Time Stand Still and Force 10 I don't care for HYF. They made some really good tunes during that era(esp. Subdivisions, Analog Kid, Between the Wheels, Distant Early Warning and Marathon) .

But I would put their prog/hard rock stuff from CoS to Moving Pictures ahead of all synth-era albums.

[tangy]

Every single Rush documentary, or brief written history of the band glosses over the best period of the band like "meh, it happened. Subdivisions was the big radio hit in the early to mid 80s after Tom Sawyer. Geddy's hair looked like a Davy Crockett hat, Whatever. Now let's talk about how great Counterparts is and how it's superior to every record that came out from 82 to 92."

 

Hell, even most Rush tribute bands do a very 90s and 70s heavy show and only do like 2-3 synth era songs at the max.

 

You know what? f**k that. It's time the synth era got the love it deserves from Rush fans. Geddy's bass playing and singing were at it's peak around that period, Geddy was multitasking between two different instruments effortlessly, Alex's chord structure became even more unorthodox and interesting. The music was very similar to the new wave groups of that era, but elevated to a much higher level. It was intricate, palatable, the songs weren't too long or drawn out, it was the perfect era for Rush.

 

I would rather hear all of Grace Under Pressure or Power Windows in it's entirety than Hemispheres.

 

Nearly all tribute bands won't touch anything before Signals and many of those stop at Moving Pictures. so as a rule I won't bother with them because that's not exactly my idea of a good time..

 

I think you mean after signals?

 

You raise an interesting point about tribute bands. Their reluctance to play the snyth years says something.

 

Not sure what it is though....

Means they have taste...

 

Maybe

 

More likely its a matter of financial feasibility. If the demand was there it would be going down for sure.

[tangy]

I got a few tribute discs with best being working man.

 

Even the tribute discs diss the synth era!

 

 

[Del_Duio]

My first RUSH album was ASOH and honestly to me for a VERY long time that's what I thought of when I heard "RUSH". I mean holy crap there's so much going on in songs like Turn the Page and Marathon and it all just blew me away that only 3 guys were doing it all. Synth era is very highly-rated with this guy!

[Del_Duio]

Every single Rush documentary, or brief written history of the band glosses over the best period of the band like "meh, it happened. Subdivisions was the big radio hit in the early to mid 80s after Tom Sawyer. Geddy's hair looked like a Davy Crockett hat, Whatever. Now let's talk about how great Counterparts is and how it's superior to every record that came out from 82 to 92."

 

Hell, even most Rush tribute bands do a very 90s and 70s heavy show and only do like 2-3 synth era songs at the max.

 

You know what? f**k that. It's time the synth era got the love it deserves from Rush fans. Geddy's bass playing and singing were at it's peak around that period, Geddy was multitasking between two different instruments effortlessly, Alex's chord structure became even more unorthodox and interesting. The music was very similar to the new wave groups of that era, but elevated to a much higher level. It was intricate, palatable, the songs weren't too long or drawn out, it was the perfect era for Rush.

 

I would rather hear all of Grace Under Pressure or Power Windows in it's entirety than Hemispheres.

 

Nearly all tribute bands won't touch anything before Signals and many of those stop at Moving Pictures. so as a rule I won't bother with them because that's not exactly my idea of a good time..

 

I think you mean after signals?

 

You raise an interesting point about tribute bands. Their reluctance to play the snyth years says something.

 

Not sure what it is though....

That's it's wicked hard and there's only one Geddy, that's what it says!

[Del_Duio]

Honestly though I think the problem some might have with a lot of the synth stuff listening to it now is how dated some of the sounds themselves are. Take a great song like "Red Tide" and remove the cheesy DAH DAH DAH DAH synths out of the beginning and end (after that awesome piano riff) and the song improves tremendously. Even on an excellent song like Territories some of the samples just don't hold up too well anymore.

[toymaker]

The "synth era" Rush had great songs with some weak instrumentation choices. The later stuff had some weaker songs with better instrumentation choices. If only it were the other way around, I could throw some of those later Rush albums into storage along with my copies of Hot Space, Invisible Touch and Kilroy Was Here.

[fraroc]

Every single Rush documentary, or brief written history of the band glosses over the best period of the band like "meh, it happened. Subdivisions was the big radio hit in the early to mid 80s after Tom Sawyer. Geddy's hair looked like a Davy Crockett hat, Whatever. Now let's talk about how great Counterparts is and how it's superior to every record that came out from 82 to 92."

 

Hell, even most Rush tribute bands do a very 90s and 70s heavy show and only do like 2-3 synth era songs at the max.

 

You know what? f**k that. It's time the synth era got the love it deserves from Rush fans. Geddy's bass playing and singing were at it's peak around that period, Geddy was multitasking between two different instruments effortlessly, Alex's chord structure became even more unorthodox and interesting. The music was very similar to the new wave groups of that era, but elevated to a much higher level. It was intricate, palatable, the songs weren't too long or drawn out, it was the perfect era for Rush.

 

I would rather hear all of Grace Under Pressure or Power Windows in it's entirety than Hemispheres.

 

Nearly all tribute bands won't touch anything before Signals and many of those stop at Moving Pictures. so as a rule I won't bother with them because that's not exactly my idea of a good time..

I don't understand your statement at all. Won't touch anything before Signal? and stop at moving Pictures? Moving Pictures was before Signals so you already cancelled that out with your first statement. So all tribute bands play Signals and only Signals. LOL I am in a Rush Tribute band and we play MOSTLY songs before Signals. We are looking to add a few of the post Signals songs but the audiences we play to seem to like 2112 through Signals. We can play Dreamline, Distant Early Warning and Red Sector A but that is about as far as I can go. I love our setlist!

 

Set 1

Spirit of Radio

Subdivisions

Limelight

Entrée Nous*

Camera Eye*

New World Man

XYZ

Jacob’s Ladder

 

Set2

R30

Tom Sawyer

Closer to the Heart*

Broon’s Bain*

The Trees*

Xanadu**

Analog Kid

Freewill

Red Barchetta

Overature/Temples

 

(Encore)

La Villa Strangiato*

 

 

Yeah well guess what....I challenge you.

 

Emotion Detector, Mystic Rhythms, Digital Man, All parts of Fear, Open Secrets, Mission.

 

Then you'll live up to your name :)

Edited February 26, 2018 by fraroc

[toymaker]

Every single Rush documentary, or brief written history of the band glosses over the best period of the band like "meh, it happened. Subdivisions was the big radio hit in the early to mid 80s after Tom Sawyer. Geddy's hair looked like a Davy Crockett hat, Whatever. Now let's talk about how great Counterparts is and how it's superior to every record that came out from 82 to 92."

 

Hell, even most Rush tribute bands do a very 90s and 70s heavy show and only do like 2-3 synth era songs at the max.

 

You know what? f**k that. It's time the synth era got the love it deserves from Rush fans. Geddy's bass playing and singing were at it's peak around that period, Geddy was multitasking between two different instruments effortlessly, Alex's chord structure became even more unorthodox and interesting. The music was very similar to the new wave groups of that era, but elevated to a much higher level. It was intricate, palatable, the songs weren't too long or drawn out, it was the perfect era for Rush.

 

I would rather hear all of Grace Under Pressure or Power Windows in it's entirety than Hemispheres.

 

Nearly all tribute bands won't touch anything before Signals and many of those stop at Moving Pictures. so as a rule I won't bother with them because that's not exactly my idea of a good time..

I don't understand your statement at all. Won't touch anything before Signal? and stop at moving Pictures? Moving Pictures was before Signals so you already cancelled that out with your first statement. So all tribute bands play Signals and only Signals. LOL I am in a Rush Tribute band and we play MOSTLY songs before Signals. We are looking to add a few of the post Signals songs but the audiences we play to seem to like 2112 through Signals. We can play Dreamline, Distant Early Warning and Red Sector A but that is about as far as I can go. I love our setlist!

 

Set 1

Spirit of Radio

Subdivisions

Limelight

Entrée Nous*

Camera Eye*

New World Man

XYZ

Jacob’s Ladder

 

Set2

R30

Tom Sawyer

Closer to the Heart*

Broon’s Bain*

The Trees*

Xanadu**

Analog Kid

Freewill

Red Barchetta

Overature/Temples

 

(Encore)

La Villa Strangiato*

 

 

Yeah well guess what....I challenge you.

 

Emotion Detector, Mystic Rhythms, Digital Man, All parts of Fear, Open Secrets, Mission.

 

Then you'll live up to your name :)

 

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmckgwl1sr1qfc55k.gif

[Segue Myles]

Fans each like what they like. Whining that plenty don't agree with your tastes is less to my taste than any era you favour more than me.

[Rick N. Backer]

OTOH, Visions and Illusions is one of the best soundboards out there.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbFq6Tn64qo

[Princess2112]

I really don't know many people personally who know Rush, which is one of the reasons I joined this forum, so I can't really comment on the different periods. Compared to most here, I am sure that I am least familiar with the band, but from what I know, I love the 80s sound of Rush. I own Grace, and I love it

[toymaker]

I really don't know many people personally who know Rush, which is one of the reasons I joined this forum, so I can't really comment on the different periods. Compared to most here, I am sure that I am least familiar with the band, but from what I know, I love the 80s sound of Rush. I own Grace, and I love it

 

Hey Princess! How many Rush albums do you have? To be a real Rush freak on here, you have to rank them in fine detail! I also love Grace Under Pressure. Sometimes my head feels like the egg in the vice . . .

[fraroc]

Fans each like what they like. Whining that plenty don't agree with your tastes is less to my taste than any era you favour more than me.

 

I think that one of the fundamental things about liking something is the ability to give constructive criticism about things you don't particularly enjoy about said thing.

 

For example, when the synth era was over, Geddy completely lost his experimental side.

[JohnnyBlaze]

Fans each like what they like. Whining that plenty don't agree with your tastes is less to my taste than any era you favour more than me.

 

I think that one of the fundamental things about liking something is the ability to give constructive criticism about things you don't particularly enjoy about said thing.

 

For example, when the synth era was over, Geddy completely lost his experimental side.

 

“Geddy completely lost his experimental side” is no different to me than something like “Alex lost his balls in the 80s”. I’ve got no issues with either statement but one statement isn’t more valuable or constructive than the other.

[vaportrailer]

Fans each like what they like. Whining that plenty don't agree with your tastes is less to my taste than any era you favour more than me.

 

I think that one of the fundamental things about liking something is the ability to give constructive criticism about things you don't particularly enjoy about said thing.

 

For example, when the synth era was over, Geddy completely lost his experimental side.

 

That’s a bald statement, and as a near-bald man I take umbrage. Umbrage I say!

 

He didn’t lose any of his experimentalism. Check out the layered bass parts on Vapor Trails. He also got pretty heavy into vocal harmonies post-keyboard era.

Peart played the same damn drum solo for years (for the most part), so he has to be even less experimental than poor Geddy.

And Alex has only ever played guitar! Talk about not thinking outside the box! He should’ve learned the lute, like Steve Howe; or the crumhorn, like Ritchie Blackmore.

 

[Texas King]

New wave-era Geddy looked so UNCOOL! And I hate that Steinberger bass!

But music was cool.

 

http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/images/books/success-under-pressure/success-under-pressure-9.jpg

[RushFanForever]

Trent Reznor mentioned in RUSH: Beyond The Lighted Stage about the synth era being his favorite.

 

The rest are from the feature '40 famous Rush fans pick their favourite Rush songs.'

 

Dave Kerzner appreciated the 'Signals' era and in particular 'Losing It' according to here.

 

Robert Reed of Magenta appreciated the 'Power Windows' era and in particular 'Marathon' according to here.

 

More here also below.

 

DAVE BROCK

HAWKWIND

 

"I'd go for Between The Wheels from Grace Under Pressure. It has a powerful synth-bass presence, and some fantastic lead guitar playing from Alex Lifeson. This is a good, heavy piece, with interesting lyrics. Overall, a great prog rock number, from one of their best albums. Hawkwind toured with Rush in the States during the 70s - jolly fun was had by all of us."

 

STUART NICHOLSON

GALAHAD

 

"I'm a big Rush fan, and my favourite track is probably Marathon from Power Windows which, for me, was their last truly great album. We actually used to play that song in local pubs in the early days of Galahad, which raised an eyebrow or two as it was such a big sound, especially for the time."

 

GRUTLE KJELLSON

ENSLAVED

 

"I've picked a Rush fave for this that has little to do with the classics. Today, my Rush song is one of the hits of my youth; one of the legendary songs on the Hear 'n Aid [famine relief] album. You know, when heavy guys used to care: Distant Early Warning. Not necessarily the best Rush song, but the best of the 80s."

Edited February 27, 2018 by RushFanForever

[Todem]

The Synth Era really began with Signals to my ears. That was the album that started the polarizing effect on Pioneer Rush fans. I was a Moving Pictures child. That was my first foray into Rush. Then I went backwards from there and Signals was my first proper release where I was waiting with baited breath and also went to see them live for the first time as a wide eyed 13 year old middle school kid.

 

I was blown away by Signals. I ate it up. I thought it had such an amazingly warm sound. Yeah Alex was under mixed....but his guitar work was fantastic. Grace Under Pressure sealed it and you were either with them and evolving with them or you let them go. Power Windows and Hold Your Fire were the crescendos of the synth period where they did all they could with midi and sequencers etc. Just amazing stuff.

 

78-87 was the very best period for Rush IMO. Starting with Hemispheres which was the pinnacle of their prog period and ending with Hold Your Fire which was the grand finale of the synth period.

 

Counterparts was the first Rush album that captured the pre Signals sound again in both approach, song writing and production. I love CP.

Edited February 27, 2018 by Todem

[Entre_Perpetuo]

The synth era gets plenty of love from fans. Whatever they say in a few books and documentaries isn't nearly as important. Many fans would take Signals through HYF over CoS through Hems in a heartbeat, no questions asked. If there's an argument to be made for any era not getting enough love from fans, that would have to be the 90s (+ Presto). Now, I don't like RTB, and CP is vastly overrated to my ears, and as much as I do enjoy Presto and T4E, they never really get beyond average quality for a Rush album to me. I'm no humongous proponent of that era is what I mean to say, but even I can see those who stand by those albums as loyally as those who stand behind the synth era or the prog era are pretty few and far between. But the thing is the fans are still out there. I've seen folks on this board rank RTB as their favorite Rush release, which blows my mind, but is a totally valid opinion.

 

Rush's fanbase is one of the more forgiving and accepting ever to exist. IMO, pretty much every album has its fair share of fans and detractors (well, not many detractors for MP and PeW, but that's about it). That's a great accomplishment in my book.

[tangy]

Trent Reznor mentioned in RUSH: Beyond The Lighted Stage about the synth era being his favorite.

 

The rest are from the feature '40 famous Rush fans pick their favourite Rush songs.'

 

Dave Kerzner appreciated the 'Signals' era and in particular 'Losing It' according to here.

 

Robert Reed of Magenta appreciated the 'Power Windows' era and in particular 'Marathon' according to here.

 

More here also below.

 

DAVE BROCK

HAWKWIND

 

"I'd go for Between The Wheels from Grace Under Pressure. It has a powerful synth-bass presence, and some fantastic lead guitar playing from Alex Lifeson. This is a good, heavy piece, with interesting lyrics. Overall, a great prog rock number, from one of their best albums. Hawkwind toured with Rush in the States during the 70s - jolly fun was had by all of us."

 

STUART NICHOLSON

GALAHAD

 

"I'm a big Rush fan, and my favourite track is probably Marathon from Power Windows which, for me, was their last truly great album. We actually used to play that song in local pubs in the early days of Galahad, which raised an eyebrow or two as it was such a big sound, especially for the time."

 

GRUTLE KJELLSON

ENSLAVED

 

"I've picked a Rush fave for this that has little to do with the classics. Today, my Rush song is one of the hits of my youth; one of the legendary songs on the Hear 'n Aid [famine relief] album. You know, when heavy guys used to care: Distant Early Warning. Not necessarily the best Rush song, but the best of the 80s."

 

Interesting.

 

You add a lot to this forum by sharing your knowledge. Thanks dude!

[ytserush]

Love synth era Rush. While earlier Rush sound is starting to sound more interesting to me than it once was, I do think it's a shame that the band doesn't really talk about it. I think there's a lot of stuff that has gotten any mention. I find enjoyment in the fact that they made a lot of money in the 80s.

 

The documentary was funny. They glossed over almost all of the juicy trivia mentioned about almost disbanding, family drama, etc and went straight to "We started using guitars again on Presto. Now Roll The Bones was..."

 

One reason it got glossed over in the doc was that Sam Dunn was not a fan of that period so it got the short straw.

The narrative was very much "they lost me with the keyboards...", with most pro musician fans echoing that sentiment. Personally, I liked the synth era, although some songs/albums have aged better for me than others.

 

Alex may not have been dominant in the mix in those years, but he flat out shreds. It just isn't your typical guitar hero stuff which I guess disappoints some people.

[ytserush]

Fans each like what they like. Whining that plenty don't agree with your tastes is less to my taste than any era you favour more than me.

 

I think that one of the fundamental things about liking something is the ability to give constructive criticism about things you don't particularly enjoy about said thing.

 

For example, when the synth era was over, Geddy completely lost his experimental side.

 

Agree with the first sentence.

 

Disagree with the second one. Geddy got bored with them (and felt trapped by them live) and Alex helps Geddy decide quicker. Geddy was wanted to focus more on improving his vocals and his ability to write songs. His priorities shifted.

[snowdogged]

I agreed with something that I read in this thread, can't remember what it was, but I definitely agreed with it.