Jump to content

staunchally

Members
  • Posts

    106
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation

6 Neutral

About staunchally

  • Birthday 10/17/1971

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://

Member Information

  • Location
    Morristown, NJ
  • Interests
    Music, Reading, Psychology, Mountain Climbing, Horseback Riding.
  • Gender
    Male

Music Fandom

  • Number of Rush Concerts Attended
    3
  • Last Rush Concert Attended
    MSG 4-10-11
  • Favorite Rush Song
    At the Moment, "A Farewell to Kings"
  • Favorite Rush Album
    A Farewell to Kings
  • Best Rush Experience
    Hearing "Tom Sawyer" for the first time at 10 years old. Recorded it on a cheap tape. Rewound over and over until machine ate it. Got upset and asked my father to fix it. It didn't work.
  • Other Favorite Bands
    Yes, Genesis, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath
  • Musical Instruments You Play
    Guitar, Keyboards
  1. Please explain. Some thing I read a few years ago...might have been an excerpt of Sammy Hagar's book. He said that Ray was looking to get a 'better singer' for Rush about the time he joined VH. I'm not saying any of this is false. I honestly don't know, but we shouldn't take everything we read and hear as truth.
  2. Really liked what you had to say about Madrigal.
  3. So faster is better? When discussing talent, it ought to be considered, as well as complexity in general. Saying "Feeling only matters, technique doesn't mean anything to me" is irrelevant to the discussion and only reveals a personal bias. I voted "No" for the above reasons, even though I personally enjoy Rush more than RTF, KC etc.
  4. "One take" makes good copy. People don't always tell the truth.
  5. "Bonham is a fairly pedestrian drummer when you strip away the glamor and prestige". Great reviews. I really like the criteria you've chosen and your take on things. I'm not a huge Bonham fan. I like him just fine, but you can say things like this about almost anybody. "Eddie Van Halen isn't that great if you take away the flash. Ditto Vai et. al. I don't hear "pedestrian" in Bonham. Nor do I hear "glamor and prestige". I hear a highly creative powerhouse.
  6. Please explain. Some thing I read a few years ago...might have been an excerpt of Sammy Hagar's book. He said that Ray was looking to get a 'better singer' for Rush about the time he joined VH. "Why can't women go to stonings Mom?" "Because it's written!! That's why!!!"
  7. It's when artists DON'T change that I lose interest. Exactly. Couldn't have said it better myself.
  8. Red Sector A -- yes! I totally forgot about that solo. It's great. It serves the song rather than vice versa. It's a great bridge, heightens the tension, takes you on a mini-journey, and has a real melodic sense. Natural Science sounds worse with every passing year. That spacey bizarre prog shit just sounds more and more antiquated as I get older.... Happy someone agrees with me on Tom Sawyer and Freewill. Tom Sawyer's solo has some bizarre amelodic phrasing in it. And Freewill's solo sounds like static to me -- it might as well be totally disconnected from the rest of the song. What Tom Sawyer DOES have that's incredible-- --(other than the fills, the lyrics, the singing, the bass, the keys, etc)-- --is the way that small motif gets passed around first from the keys, second to the guitar, third to the bass, all in about 12 bars. "DEE-do-dee-do-DEE-do, DEE-do-dee-do-DEE-do." You know the one. It's awesome the way the SAME FRAGMENT is passed like a hot potato from instrument to instrument, and in such a skillful way most people don't even notice it happening. Agree that part in TS does totally rule!
  9. Nothing wrong with being "awash in keyboards". Power trio is a term bestowed upon them by others. Even if they are a power trio, who's to say they can't use keyboards. The usual "artists should never change" nonsense.
  10. Love Chemistry, but don't quite understand not liking a song for lyrics. I know you're not saying this. Lyrics have no bearing on the "sound". If it had lyrics you (not you, the generic "you") liked, you'd like the song? Why? It sounds the same. Admittedly, I'm not a lyrics guy, meaning that I appreciate good lyrics, but it's the sound that I like or not.
  11. I seem to recall reading that sometime in the early 80s - possibly about Limelight. I wonder when they actually started practicing this method though. Can anyone link to an interview where they mention it? I have my doubts they did it on anything prior to AFTK the album which is when these angular, jagged solos started showing up (although there were hints of the style in solos on prior albums). The song A Farewell to Kings specifically was a new kind of solo for Alex at the time and I think it can be argued it was the prototype for Tom Sawyer's great solo. It's more abstract in nature than denoting a specific emotion through melody. Of course, Rush went full-tilt with the odd time sigs on AFTK which must have forced Al to get really creative with his soloing. Can anyone identify another guitar player soloing quite like this prior to AFTK? Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage, Cinderella Man, La Villa Strangiato also have stand out solos in this style. It really emerged as one of his musical signatures as time went on. Sometimes hearing someone else competently playing Al's stuff can be a refresher on what a musical genius the guy actually is. http://youtu.be/GN5taxJRg5g I kinda get a John McLaughlin vibe from the Kings solo. JM played a lot of fast, atonal stuff. I wonder if Alex was listening to John. I know Neil liked Billy Cobham.
  12. Just curious, doesn't Fountain have a couple of solos? Which ones don't you like? I posted that I find Alex's solo's to be hit or miss, so I admire your courage! I like the ones in No One at the Bridge and Bacchus Plateau.
  13. I know I'm entering a minefield when I say that I find Alex's solo's to be hit or miss 3 faves: La Villa Working Man-Hammersmith 78 Red Sector A- brilliantly melodic, fits the atmosphere perfectly, a chordal solo which he excels at. 3 Least faves: Freewill Tom Sawyer- For the same reasons stated by OP Natural Science- second solo, I don't usually like the "spastic elbow tremolo picking" Compositionally and rhythmically Alex is unassailable.
×
×
  • Create New...