hem

I hope we get another album from them. More so than a tour. But the years are ticking away and I can imagine that time away from normal life would get more difficult. My own feelings, based on nothing other than hunch, is that if they get together in 2014 we will have something new the following year. If not, that may be it, and I am okay with that. I've got enough Rush in my collection to be more than satisfied.

I loved It Bites back in the day. "Once around the world", especially the title track is to my mind a classic. When Francis Dunnery left I thought that was it. Then the reformation with new singer/guitarist - I just didn't have any interest. However, the two new albums ("The tall ships" and "Map of the past") are both very, very good. Anybody who likes prog rock with a dash of pop should check them out.

Star trek? I thought you had to be born in Greece to be a Greek.

I loved Alex's soloing style during the very late 70's to mid 80's. His tone was majestic, his phrasing was direct but very interesting and his choice of notes always took me by surprise (think there was a little Holdsworth influence going on there for a while) so most of my favourite solos of his are from that period. Off the top of my head, my absolute faves: La Villa Strangiato Freewill End of different strings Tom Sawyer Limelight Analog Kid Afterimage Between the wheels

I was surprised to see so little interest in this band here. I was a real It Bites fan back in the 80s. "Big Lad in the Windmill" was great Proggie-pop "Once around the world" didn't leave my cassette player for months. The title track was of absolutely epic proportions. "Eat me in St Louis" was all hard rock with a twist. I didn't know they had reformed with a new singer until a few months ago, but I think "The tall ships" is their second best album after "Once around the world". I heard they have a new CD out now. If you haven't heard them, especially if you like Gabriel era Genesis, you would do well to get your hands on "Once around the world" and "The tall ships". Fantastic band. I still don't understand why they didn't become more well known.

QUOTE (GUP1771 @ Jun 3 2012, 05:54 PM) I actually thought before hearing the samples that (for some odd reason) I wouldn't like this song. Both samples have alluded that this could turn out to be one of my favorite songs from the album. In fact, besides The Anarchist (which I was also surprised by with both samples), The Wreckers is the only song I'm absolutely surprised by. I love how it flows and the chorus is so beautiful and melodic. I can't wait to hear it in full. I kind of find it interesting that this is the song that both Alex and Geddy switched instruments, and the song turns out to have such a powerful melody. We all know Geddy is the melodic side of the band, so maybe that had an impact when he played guitar this time around. Let's hope we hear similar melodic moments in the other songs, especially their choruses! I guess perhaps that is why it's such a good melody. Didn't Geddy say that as a writer of vocal melodies, the keyboards satisfied him more than the bass. So, if they did swap instruments and Geddy was on guitar, a more melodic and harmonic instrument, that he would find a better melody might not be so surprising. If this really is true, Geddy should write on guitar or keys and then work out his basslines later. All of the keyboard albums had such strong tunes and for me at least, this is what Rush has been missing since the early nineties. I have very high hopes for this song, even just based on that 30 seconds alone.

Axl is a bit of a wanker. That is all.

QUOTE (psionic11 @ Mar 24 2012, 12:17 AM)QUOTE (hem @ Mar 23 2012, 09:49 AM) I first heard Rush back in the early 80s as a teen (old, yep) and was immediately a fan. I dug back from Signals to the beginning and then bought the next few albums from GUP as they were released. I loved the music, but it was the timing that was important in retrospect. I was 15, enjoying life, new to playing the guitar, probably had a nice girlfriend etc. Rush was part of the soundtrack of those years to me. I lost interest in Rush after Roll the Bones for quite a few years. I had changed. So had the band. I think a lot of us older ones can say, if we are being honest, that most music goes far beyond just the music itself. It is a complete package of everything in our lives at a particular time. Those first few albums I bought (basically Permanent Waves to Grace under Pressure) mean more to me than all the others put together. Are they better? They are for me. But I won't pretend that I am being objective and basing my opinions solely on the music. My feelings are based on a time of which those albums were a part. I'm looking forward to Clockwork Angels because I really do like Caravan. But I don't expect Rush to ever make me feel like I did when I was 15, because I'm not 15 anymore. Except for when I play the albums that I had when I was 15. Your post has a lot of weight with me, but I want to highlight these lines: "I think a lot of us older ones can say, if we are being honest, that most music goes far beyond just the music itself. It is a complete package of everything in our lives at a particular time." That applies to any of us at any age at any particular time. The music, the songs, the style, speaks to us that relate to it ACROSS our whole lifetime. Imagine you're 18 again. Today. What a foreign world it would be, compared to when we were 18 and loving RUSH... Yet if you're actually 18, what a strange juxtaposition it's gotta be... amidst cheesy Muzak, tired rock radio, FOTM dubstep/IDM/electronica, countless *alternative* sub-genres or faked rebellious screamcores... here we are in 2012 anticipating another RUSH album, rooted in musical 70's sensibilities, from which everything else vaguely musical in a power trio context suggests.... BOTTOMLINE: Enjoy the m0ment, and if it connects to something historically significant, then relish your artistic wisdom.... Correct yes, my wording wasn't the best. I was trying to respond to the original poster and how some of the older folk here might disparage newer material and that very often we are not being objective. I think that for many of us, music has more freight during our teenage years than at any other time in life. That's probably why the music we discover at that age can never be topped. It's an emotional response as much as anything else.

I first heard Rush back in the early 80s as a teen (old, yep) and was immediately a fan. I dug back from Signals to the beginning and then bought the next few albums from GUP as they were released. I loved the music, but it was the timing that was important in retrospect. I was 15, enjoying life, new to playing the guitar, probably had a nice girlfriend etc. Rush was part of the soundtrack of those years to me. I lost interest in Rush after Roll the Bones for quite a few years. I had changed. So had the band. I think a lot of us older ones can say, if we are being honest, that most music goes far beyond just the music itself. It is a complete package of everything in our lives at a particular time. Those first few albums I bought (basically Permanent Waves to Grace under Pressure) mean more to me than all the others put together. Are they better? They are for me. But I won't pretend that I am being objective and basing my opinions solely on the music. My feelings are based on a time of which those albums were a part. I'm looking forward to Clockwork Angels because I really do like Caravan. But I don't expect Rush to ever make me feel like I did when I was 15, because I'm not 15 anymore. Except for when I play the albums that I had when I was 15.

As far as I am concerned, Alex IS a religion.

Hate sci-fi pretty much across the board. Probably explains why I don't like a lot of Neil's lyrics until "Permanent waves" when he started writing more about his take on reality. What was all that by-tor stuff about, anyway?