Leaderboard

No one is easier to own it all then the police. Sex Pistols? :P

Have you heard Crash Of The Crown yet? It's almost as good as The Mission! No, I haven’t…just added to my library now, I will check it out. (The things I miss, when I choose to live under a rock!).

Guided By Voices- Mag Earwhig Styx- The Mission

Iron maiden-A Matter Of Life and Death (10/10) Mick

:cheerleader: Happy birth-a-versary to TRF's Lord of Vinyl!!!

edited

:cheers: Happy Birthday and Happy 9th Anniversary Zumbi! :cheers: A double dose of YYZumbi- I hope today was wonderful for you, and included lots of Lita Ford! Cheers and best wishes!

Metallica-Black album (9/10) Mick

:rose: :rose: :rose: :rose: :rose: :monalisa: :rose: :rose: :rose: :rose: :rose:

Saxon- Denim And Leather (9/10) Judas Priest- Angel Of Retribution (10/10) Angel Of Retribution is a stunning STUNNING modern classic. It's an album I overlook, so every time I come back it blows me away!

Judas Priest- Killing Machine (9/10) Saxon- Wheels Of Steel (9/10)

You're right, it's definitely different. But it doesn't sound like they made an adjustment to my ears. It sounds more like a totally different take. Now we know Rush swear they never kept alternate takes, and there are none listed in the track list for this album, so my guess is what we're hearing in the unboxing video is actually the live rendition included in the "Live In YYZ" full concert recording. The drums and guitar sound a little more live to me as well, though it's weird that the vocal is so pronounced in the mix, but then that may just be the mix of the unboxing video and not the song itself. In any case I find it very unlikely that they went back and doctored any of the studio recordings, especially without Neil in the room. It just wouldn't make sense seeing as 1. they haven't done that to any of the other albums since they've been doing these 40th anniversary releases, and 2. Moving Pictures is, note for note, perhaps the most perfect recording Rush ever made. I would not be surprised if the band themselves agreed with that sentiment. Ummm... It's the live version.

Saga - The Human Condition ZZ Top - Eliminator

And, ironically given its departure in the elimination threads, Obsession is UFO's "victory lap." A few other notable ones IMO: Def Leppard - Hysteria (coming after Pyromania) Ozzy - Diary of a Madman (Blizzard of Ozz) Aerosmith - Rocks (Toys in the Attic)

To all the folks that think there's no demand for 40th Anniversary sets after Signals, you're so wrong. I'm 53. Plenty of us grow up during your much despised "keyboard era" and it is the soundtrack of our teenage years. Grace Under Pressure was my first new Rush release and my grails are a full audio show which includes the Red Lenses drum solo and the best version of Between the Wheels + the full concert video on Blu-Ray. After that, I'd flip for full audio/video shows of Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll the Bones, Counterparts and Test for Echo. I know there are bits and pieces of Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Presto and Test for Echo out there, but I crave full professionally mixed shows of all those tours and video would be amazing! Rush made a hell of a lot of albums post Terry Brown and there are many of us who love them just as much as you folks enjoy the Terry Brown era.

:heart: :heart:

:hug2: :hug2: :hug2:

:hug2: :hug2: :hug2:

Thought about some of those, didn’t think about others. Green was probably the only one I was really strongly considering, but in a way Green is the moment REM actually made it. Document was definitely the breakout album, but Green is the one that actually sounds like a breakout album. More hits, more commercial sounding, a bit closer to their soft and easy going sound on the next two records. But it could definitely be on this list. Some could say they made it with Out of Time since Losing My Religion is their highest charting hit at number 4 and Shiny Happy People even cracked top 10. Oh, and winning MTV's video of the year moonman was nice as well.

Curious, where would you rank Power in the Kansas discography? I've got the rankings like this right now: 1. Leftoverture 2. Point of Know Return 3. Masque 4. Song For America 5. Kansas 6. Vinyl Confessions 7. Power 8. Drastic Measures 9. The Absence of Presence 10. The Prelude Implicit 11. Monolith 12. In the Spirit of Things 13. Audio-Visions 14. Somewhere to Elsewhere 15. Freaks of Nature Interesting, honestly higher than I thought you'd have it by about 1 or 2. I really wasn't sure what you thought about Absence and Prelude. Here's mine as of right now, I've been enjoying PoKR a lot lately but Leftoverture is still probably the objectively better album. 1. Point of Know Return 2. Leftoverture 3. Song For America 4. Masque 5. The Absence Of Presence 6. The Prelude Implicit 7. Kansas 8. Power 9. Vinyl Confessions 10. Drastic Measures 11. Monolith 12. Freaks Of Nature 13. In The Spirit Of Things 14. Audio-Visions 15. Somewhere To Elsewhere You can tell I'm a big fan of the last 2 records, there's just something about them that make them special to me. I did want to put Absence over Masque, but I wasn't fully confident in that decision. I like the new ones, they're full of proggy goodness and melodic high points, but although I like the vocalist he's no Walsh, or Elefante. And I don't think the songs quite measure up to Livgren era. I definitely understand considering you grew up with the Livgren stuff. Personally, the Absence title track is one of my favorite Kansas songs, top 10 for sure maybe even top 5. As someone who heard Prelude and Absence before Masque and Song For America, I guess that could explain a bit more why I like them so much. And it's interesting because I've thought Platt kinda sounds a bit like Walsh and Elefante combined in some ways. Seeing them live really helped to enhance my view on just how strong his voice is, however I never was able to see Walsh or Elefante live either so I can't compare. They are definitely better I think than Monolith and Audio-Visions, which I always thought were a big drop-off from the first five albums. Especially Audio-Visions which I think suffers from the fact that Livgren and Walsh spent a lot of creative energy on their solo projects that year.

Curious, where would you rank Power in the Kansas discography? I've got the rankings like this right now: 1. Leftoverture 2. Point of Know Return 3. Masque 4. Song For America 5. Kansas 6. Vinyl Confessions 7. Power 8. Drastic Measures 9. The Absence of Presence 10. The Prelude Implicit 11. Monolith 12. In the Spirit of Things 13. Audio-Visions 14. Somewhere to Elsewhere 15. Freaks of Nature Interesting, honestly higher than I thought you'd have it by about 1 or 2. I really wasn't sure what you thought about Absence and Prelude. Here's mine as of right now, I've been enjoying PoKR a lot lately but Leftoverture is still probably the objectively better album. 1. Point of Know Return 2. Leftoverture 3. Song For America 4. Masque 5. The Absence Of Presence 6. The Prelude Implicit 7. Kansas 8. Power 9. Vinyl Confessions 10. Drastic Measures 11. Monolith 12. Freaks Of Nature 13. In The Spirit Of Things 14. Audio-Visions 15. Somewhere To Elsewhere You can tell I'm a big fan of the last 2 records, there's just something about them that make them special to me. I did want to put Absence over Masque, but I wasn't fully confident in that decision. I like the new ones, they're full of proggy goodness and melodic high points, but although I like the vocalist he's no Walsh, or Elefante. And I don't think the songs quite measure up to Livgren era. I definitely understand considering you grew up with the Livgren stuff. Personally, the Absence title track is one of my favorite Kansas songs, top 10 for sure maybe even top 5. As someone who heard Prelude and Absence before Masque and Song For America, I guess that could explain a bit more why I like them so much. And it's interesting because I've thought Platt kinda sounds a bit like Walsh and Elefante combined in some ways. Seeing them live really helped to enhance my view on just how strong his voice is, however I never was able to see Walsh or Elefante live either so I can't compare.

Curious, where would you rank Power in the Kansas discography? I've got the rankings like this right now: 1. Leftoverture 2. Point of Know Return 3. Masque 4. Song For America 5. Kansas 6. Vinyl Confessions 7. Power 8. Drastic Measures 9. The Absence of Presence 10. The Prelude Implicit 11. Monolith 12. In the Spirit of Things 13. Audio-Visions 14. Somewhere to Elsewhere 15. Freaks of Nature Interesting, honestly higher than I thought you'd have it by about 1 or 2. I really wasn't sure what you thought about Absence and Prelude. Here's mine as of right now, I've been enjoying PoKR a lot lately but Leftoverture is still probably the objectively better album. 1. Point of Know Return 2. Leftoverture 3. Song For America 4. Masque 5. The Absence Of Presence 6. The Prelude Implicit 7. Kansas 8. Power 9. Vinyl Confessions 10. Drastic Measures 11. Monolith 12. Freaks Of Nature 13. In The Spirit Of Things 14. Audio-Visions 15. Somewhere To Elsewhere You can tell I'm a big fan of the last 2 records, there's just something about them that make them special to me. I did want to put Absence over Masque, but I wasn't fully confident in that decision.

:yes:

(I promise this gets to Rush in a second) I was just listening to a drum cover of Jet City Woman by Queensryche (great song), and when the guitar solo section came I noticed how the drums just kept playing straightforward even when there were lines and phrases coming from the solo that I would think might ask for a little nod or fill in response from the drums. It sounded like the drummer couldn't hear the solo, just the backing track, and I figured well that may well have been the case! The solo was more than likely overdubbed afterwards, so the drummer wouldn't have known what to play along to other than the very simple hard rock backing. In that scenario the guitarist has to make choices of where to play right in line with the already recorded backing track and where to let his phrasing flow a little more freely even though no one in the backing track will respond to it. Then I thought about Rush. Now, Rush certainly didn't write and record the solos before the backing tracks. That would be very difficult and kind of crazy to imagine. And Rush also didn't tend to record things all at the same time so that they could play off of one another in real time. But, what they did do, that I think is responsible for some of the magic, is they let Neil compose his drum parts after the song proper had already been hashed out by Alex and Geddy. Now, I doubt the guitars and vocals were actually recorded first, but it seems to work the total opposite way in Rush of how most bands operate. Usually the drummer will be laying down a groove--maybe a complex one, maybe a simple one, probably somewhere in between--and the other bands members will play over it as a foundation. But in Rush, I often find it's the rhythm guitars (and keys at times) which provide the song's basic foundation, and the bass, the drums, the vocals, and the guitar solos are all playing off of that. It's totally unusual, because Neil then has the freedom and opportunity to play off of what he already knows is there, which allows him to find where all of the fills should go and really fill the track up with great magic drum moments. I think what also helps is that Geddy is such a hyperactive bassist at times, especially in guitar solo sections where the rhythm guitar will drop out at live shows forcing the bass to pick up the slack there. So when it gets to a solo section, and the solo hasn't been recorded yet, Neil at least already knows what the bassline is, and it's usually quite detailed and active, so Neil can write a similarly detailed and active drum part to complement it. Suddenly when Alex goes to solo over it, the track is already vibrant with magic interplay between Geddy and Neil, giving him much more phrasing and melodic information to feed off of as a soloist. Thus the magic happens that leads to great solo sections like Freewill. Now of course, I'm speculating a bit. I can't say for sure exactly what happened in those writing and recording sessions, but I know that the order in which you do things will inevitably affect how they're done, and I think Geddy and Alex giving Neil the space and freedom to fully compose his drum parts after working out the bass and guitars is something really special in the rock world. I think most bands will kind of indicate to the drummer what kind of beat they're looking for under a song that they've written, or just jam it out in real time. Those methods can be wonderful as well, but none of them produce that peculiar magic of interlocking parts that Rush always did. Oh and then, just to make things even more in synch, Neil's role as lyricist establishes a direct link between drummer and singer, a link that I think most bands overlook. Drums are usually the lowest on the totem poll in terms of melody and what people generally pay attention to in a song, whereas vocals are usually the highest. Separated by literally every other instrument in the mix, it can be easy for the drum part and the vocal part to kind of ignore each other... but they shouldn't! And in Rush they never did. With that essential link between Geddy and Neil established by Neil's role as lyricist, Neil would always be keeping the vocals and melodies at the forefront of his mind when composing drum parts, and would take the extra effort to play along to the song rather than just the groove, to let the drums sing in the gaps where Geddy doesn't. And on the flip side, Geddy's role as the bass player meant he was always intrinsically locked in to everything Neil was doing (the bass acts in many ways as an extension of the drums, adding body to the hits which naturally fade away). So when he would figure out how to sing and play something at the same time, he would be, rhythmically speaking, doing something very similar to figuring out how to sing and drum at the same time. This is where so much of the magic comes from, I think, that the vocals and drums, theoretically the two parts farthest away from each other, were intrinsically connected by the dual roles of both players. Then both of them are playing off of Alex as well, whose riffs and arpeggios are often the songs' true anchors, and this incredible togetherness makes it all the more freeing and magical to break into a solo or a jam. This is what makes Rush the greatest power trio of all time.

Honestly, I love all of them for different reasons. I'm much more forgiving of live concerts than of studio recordings.

You're right, it's definitely different. But it doesn't sound like they made an adjustment to my ears. It sounds more like a totally different take. Now we know Rush swear they never kept alternate takes, and there are none listed in the track list for this album, so my guess is what we're hearing in the unboxing video is actually the live rendition included in the "Live In YYZ" full concert recording. The drums and guitar sound a little more live to me as well, though it's weird that the vocal is so pronounced in the mix, but then that may just be the mix of the unboxing video and not the song itself. In any case I find it very unlikely that they went back and doctored any of the studio recordings, especially without Neil in the room. It just wouldn't make sense seeing as 1. they haven't done that to any of the other albums since they've been doing these 40th anniversary releases, and 2. Moving Pictures is, note for note, perhaps the most perfect recording Rush ever made. I would not be surprised if the band themselves agreed with that sentiment.

No one is easier to own it all then the police. Sex Pistols? :P Lol You got that right

Oh lol Death Of The Celts is one of my favorites on it. Same! (But I'm with Mick, I bloody love this album) I mean, I don't dislike the album, lol. Lots of great stuff. I just don't think it comes close to, say, Brave New World. Far better than the other new Maiden album I have though: The Final Frontier. I love Senjutsu more than BNW, but maybe not as much as TFF. Well we're just totally flip flopped then! lol Senjutsu's NOT better than BNW so i'm on your side here honestly here i'd rank modern Maidan like this 1. BNW 2. A Matter of Life and Death 3. Senjutsu 4. Book of Souls 5. Dance of Death 6. TFF Mick

The Edge

Curious, where would you rank Power in the Kansas discography? I've got the rankings like this right now: 1. Leftoverture 2. Point of Know Return 3. Masque 4. Song For America 5. Kansas 6. Vinyl Confessions 7. Power 8. Drastic Measures 9. The Absence of Presence 10. The Prelude Implicit 11. Monolith 12. In the Spirit of Things 13. Audio-Visions 14. Somewhere to Elsewhere 15. Freaks of Nature

Went with Thin Lizzy here. Two banger albums in one year.

I like it for the same reasons I like Echoes and Concrete. Lots of light and shade. Learn To Fly, Generator, Headwires, Stacked Actors, Aurora, Next Year are all bangers. The Foos are capable of putting out raw, heavy stuff like Wasting Light and TCATS, but also more dynamic stuff like the aforementioned three to great success.

Is it truly that, or is it possibly that a lot of these series have people vote off the latest without having listened to it? That literally happened with Deep Purple and Heart. It's frustratingly lazy

Thought about some of those, didn’t think about others. Green was probably the only one I was really strongly considering, but in a way Green is the moment REM actually made it. Document was definitely the breakout album, but Green is the one that actually sounds like a breakout album. More hits, more commercial sounding, a bit closer to their soft and easy going sound on the next two records. But it could definitely be on this list.

Probably been covered before, but Ian Grandy says he recorded Neil's audition. How can we get in touch with Ian and see if this recording actually still exists? http://guitarinterna...s-first-roadie/

Damn! His saxophone solos on One More Red Nightmare were astounding. RIP

Dang. Possibly the first iconic rock and roll saxophonist, definitely the first iconic prog saxophonist. Then to follow that already resumé maker of a stint in KC with stint in Foreigner right when they first hit it big? That’s two towering peaks in any career right there. As a sax player myself, I mean this most sincerely. Rest in peace.

.. you cannot take them to a Rush show like I did back in the day (my kids are in their 20s now) but you can still introduce them to the music of course - and I am sure you will... But here is the really cool part: some (many? think of the improvements to medical technology coming...) little kids today will likely still be alive and kicking 90 years from now, so they will witness 2112 and celebrate the return of the Elder Race! They will praise your name on that night. So that got that goin' for them... which is nice.

Big Brother has entered the chat.....

I feel the same way Geddy does. I appreciate metal in general and respect Metallica and own their first two albums but I can only take them in small measured doses. After two or three songs that all starts to sound the same to me. And in general I could never listen on a consistent basis to a band whose only themes in their music are death pain war misery and anger. It's too depressing