staunchally

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.

Really liked what you had to say about Madrigal.

The session guitarist. :P

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.

"One take" makes good copy. People don't always tell the truth.

"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.

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!!!"

It's when artists DON'T change that I lose interest. Exactly. Couldn't have said it better myself.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Are you mentally challenged?

That's a good point about Geddy on rhythm. Might've sounded a bit thin. I wish they had given it the old college try anyway.

Have been digging early Rush these past few weeks, especially A Passage to Bangkok. Took a look at some of the early setlists, and was surprised to see that it wasn't played live until the Hemispheres tour. While I enjoy all eras of the band, there was a certain spark to the early days that I've been really enjoying. When bands are really young (pre-25) there's a "go for the jugular" mentality, with a touch of naivete, that is lacking from later work. Makes perfect sense of course, because they've matured. Anyway, I'm getting off topic too much. I would've really enjoyed hearing Bangkok live during the AWAS era. The energy they had during that era would've killed on this tune. I'm curious as to why it wasn't played. I don't think there's really a solid answer, other than "Well, they didn't play it!" I was hoping for a Massey Hall outtake or something that featured Bangkok, but alas, no dice. Anybody else here who would have dug hearing live Bangkok in '76? Especially the solo.

I really wanted to hear Chain Lightning Presto and Available Light. At least we got Presto 21 years later. I liked Presto when it came out, but I was really preoccupied with Dream Theater in the months before Presto came out. Interesting. You were a fan when When Dream and Day Unite was new? Did you see them live at the time?

Not sure if true or not, but rumor has it that the former owner of the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, N.J. where the shows took place, recorded virtually all shows within a given time frame. (I'm guessing mostly '70's, early '80's). Could be true, as when I go to Chiller Theatre (convention held in Parsippany, N.J.) I see tons of bootlegs from Capitol Theatre shows, roughly 1975-1982. Rush, and many other great bands, played there in 1977-78. Maybe 1980.

Picture's of Al with a Pyramid, although this one is striped(?!) http://www.google.co...9QEwAg&dur=6526 Great picture! Does anyone know when that picture was taken? Recording of "Kings" maybe? I wonder what song(s) he played it on?

QUOTE (They Bow Defeated @ Aug 14 2012, 07:48 PM) QUOTE (staunchally @ Aug 14 2012, 07:14 PM)I know plenty of liberal atheists who are "holier than thou" because they're "Oh, so smart" Aren't all liberals? I guess we know who your Staunch Ally is: http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Latino-Mormons-Romney-BT.jpg Actually, he's not!

QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Aug 14 2012, 07:11 PM) QUOTE (staunchally @ Aug 14 2012, 08:10 PM) QUOTE (theredtamasrule @ Aug 13 2012, 08:41 PM) QUOTE (They Bow Defeated @ Aug 13 2012, 07:48 PM) A realization I had lately: it is impossible to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and be a Republican. Go Neil! Yeah! f**k christian republicans! Liars! Excuse me?!!! theredtamasrules is being sarcastic. Oh, okay. It's kinda funny .

QUOTE (deslock @ Aug 14 2012, 06:23 AM) Neil was just making a generic off-the-cuff remark about the Christian Right, which has oodles of hypocrisy (if you can't even acknowledge that, then there's no point in discussing it). Neil has been at odds with them for ~35 years, so this is nothing new. And though his views on religion are more prominent on the last couple albums, they're also present in songs written in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Tom Sawyer is often cited, but the atheist/agnostic block on the T4E tour (Freewill, Roll the Bones, Resist) is what stands out to me. I refuse to acknowledge it because there is no such thing as the Christian Right. Who is its leader?