GUP1771

QUOTE (trenken @ Jun 3 2012, 07:10 PM) I hate to keep bringing up Mars Volta but I REALLY love their guitarist Omar. The dude is ridiculously creative. In the chorus of this song he uses dissonant chords, and in the verses uses weird effects to fill out the sound. Im way more into what he's doing than Alex these days. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pafNgzGRjFk Then in the same song totally switches it up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pafNgzGRjFk#t=03m05s EDIT: guitar at 4:30 rules too. One of my favorite guitarists out there right now. Wow, that's really trippy and out there!

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!

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Jun 3 2012, 02:14 PM) Let me the first to predict that with 53% of the people saying their expectations were lowered (I'm assuming especially after the 2nd set of clips), that there's going to be a lot of backlash once this album comes out. I know a lot of people are predicting best album since Moving Pictures or best album since people started banging rocks together, but if we get 53% of people thinking 30 seconds in the middle of the songs lowered their expectations ONE DAY AFTER THEM BEING RELEASED, there's going to be a lot of disaffected fans with this album. I'm not saying this is good or bad, just an observation. I'm still hoping to love some songs, and doubtlessly many people will love all of it, but I'm definitely seeing more than the seeds of discontent being sewn. Certainly it won't have the VT-like backlash, but easily at least at the level of S&A-like backlash. We don't know exactly where the Italian samples were taken from the songs. Obviously it's not the beginning, but sometime after (for most of them that is), but that's all we know. And we also gotta remember that some of the songs are pretty lengthy, so therefore the samples that we heard might not be even close to the overall song. I will say that my expectations were lowered a bit from the Italian samples, but that's because they were raised sky high from Walmarts samples. I voted that my expectations were lowered after hearing each Italian sample once. However, hearing them a few more times afterwards, I have warmed up up to them. It's definitely a waiting game. We all know that we can't judge a book by the cover. The album might have the backlash as you said, but many people who voted like I did might be pleasantly surprised by giving careful listens. Hell, just to throw out there, it took me many listens for Rush's classics like 2112, Hemispheres, Xanadu, all of Moving Pictures (besides Limelight and Tom Sawyer) to warm up to them. It always takes me many listens to process the songs before I can like them. There's only been a few select songs that have made me go, "HOLY CRAP, I LOVE THIS!!!" Rush is a band that surely requires an acquired taste, so I'll be giving it a try. Let's just hope that people give it a fair try, and don't go into this and convince themselves they already hate it. If people give a fair listen of the new material, and still decide it's not their cup of tea, no worries. It's all good.

QUOTE (SchemingDemon @ Jun 3 2012, 08:20 AM) QUOTE (losingit2k @ Jun 2 2012, 11:50 PM)QUOTE (jesse2112 @ Jun 2 2012, 11:24 AM) Wheres the all of them option? Good option, but basically the thread was to figure out which song was being perceived as the best track from just listening to the 30 Minute clips! It look like Clockwork Angels for now is the front runner! Where'd you find 30 MINUTE clips? That's like, half the album! STOP HOLDING OUT ON US DAMMIT, YOU SEE HOW TESTY WE GET! I'm pretty sure that was a typo and instead should have been seconds.

Heh, I should have avoided listening to those samples. I was so pumped when I heard the Walmart ones, which indicated a lot of diversity, and these clips kind of sound the same for the most part. The only thing that stood out for me was The Wrekers. That was so beautiful and flowed really nicely. I haven't heard a melody like that from Rush in a long time. I'm a bit bummed, but I'll wait. 30 seconds only reveals so much, so I'll wait to see what the full context will be.

Jeez, the anticipation for a leak is making everyone loopy.

QUOTE (LeaveMyThingAlone @ Jun 2 2012, 03:50 PM) There is a big difference between being a Rush fan and being allowed to dislike some of their albums and some of their songs, and those individuals that seem to thrive on the negative. Anyone that says everything Rush has put out is awesome is a blind fanboi or just lying themselves. The problem I have sometimes are those certain people that choose to always EMPHASIZE the negative, or gravitate to subjects about something wrong with Rush or one of the songs on a particular album. Within this forum, there are definitely certain posters that when I see them post something it's a safe bet that more often than not it will touch on something they don't like about Rush, or a song off Snakes and Arrows, or what's wrong with Headlong Flight instead of everything that's right about it. I think we all know these people in real life. Those types of people that seem to relish the negative or gravitate to it and don't seem happy unless something is wrong. A lot of threads and posts on forums like this get a lot more attention when they're negative so we see a certain group that will always seem to gravitate to those subjects, and they seem to be emphasized more. As I said, these types of people exist everywhere in real life and fan message boards are a perfect spot for those type of people to be able to relish in the negativity.

QUOTE (Rush Cocky @ Jun 2 2012, 12:34 PM) QUOTE (ArrowSnake @ Jun 2 2012, 03:27 AM) The only thing that annoys me sometimes is the constant whining about Neil's lyrics. "He's to negative, he can't stop bashing faith" Those lyrics ARE annoying. He talks about it so much its as if he's trying to convince himself that it's true. Hopefully Rush is done with this topic after this album, as it's been beaten to death. I liked it better when he wrote about hobbits, necromancers, black holes and space travel. That said, I am totally looking forward to this album! I think we should all hold off and wait until we hear the album in it's entirety before assuming the entire CA story is about bashing faith. It might be, but it might not. That really goes for both the yayers and nayers.

I just knew what to expect as soon as I saw the thread title

http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?showtopic=74401 Little late there.

QUOTE (trenken @ Jun 1 2012, 09:59 PM) QUOTE (ReflectedLight @ Jun 1 2012, 09:53 PM) QUOTE (trenken @ Jun 1 2012, 09:47 PM) QUOTE (ReflectedLight @ Jun 1 2012, 09:30 PM) QUOTE (trenken @ Jun 1 2012, 08:59 AM) Those 2 lines of lyrics bug me. Neil isn't writing in his old slightly cryptic/creative style that I loved where he used lots of metaphors instead of saying what he really means and is writing much more direct now, not trying to mask what he's trying to say at all, but it doesn't matter to me much. I'm so burned out on this religion/god bashing that he is so hung up on that as long as the music and vocal melodies are strong it wouldn't even matter to me if they just recited nursery rhymes in every song. sounds like he picked up where he left off with s & a. time to move on neil.... Well he just writes about I guess what's most relevant to him at the time. He felt compelled to keep going on with this so it's obviously something that's very important to him. I appreciate that, I wouldn't like for him to force anything just for the sake of changing it up and not write from the heart, but I was really hoping he got this out of his system with S&A. Honestly I wouldnt mind it as much if he tries to mask it more. Write in a much more abstract way, saying something without really saying it instead of what he's doing now just writing very directly. It doesnt matter if the concept is deep if you just tell us exactly what you mean. Hemispheres has a deep concept and he constantly danced around what he was trying to say which I loved, but he doesn't do that anymore. Even just those 2 lines tells me he isnt willing to put the effort in to coming up with clever metaphors anymore. He just takes his thoughts and those are the lyrics now. a worldly well traveled guy like himself, you would think he could come up with something different on this one after s & a. Yeah I hear you. After just having a baby I was hoping for something very positive and uplifting. It would have been a real refreshing change of pace. Nope, back to attacking the concepts the religion is based on. He's trying to dress it up a little more with the steampunk theme and I guess a character, but obviously it's still really just about the same things he got into with S&A. Oh, so you've heard the entire album, eh?

I only enjoy hearing Xanadu and Closer to the Heart from this album (although I haven't come back to take a look at the other songs in a long time), and since Closer to the Heart is heard ALL the time, I would love to see Xanadu. I know people say they want the entire thing or nothing. That's just silly. Something is better than nothing and I would gladly take it.

Sorry, but that just won't happen. They wouldn't even come close to a nomination no matter how good it is.

Did anyone else think that the new intro to BU2B had a dark western feel to it? It kind of sounded like the protagonist was getting off of his ride and beginning to reflect. A lot better executed with that new intro! Clockwork Angels opening blew my mind. So different and mysterious from Rush. Everything is really cool from what I've heard so far. I can't wait!

QUOTE (danielmclark @ May 31 2012, 03:58 PM) MOTHERF&$&*%&$*$%*%&$ WINDOWS MEDIA FILES. Someone download these things for us Mac users, huh?! I second this!!!

QUOTE (trenken @ May 30 2012, 07:20 PM) QUOTE (Tombstone Mountain @ May 30 2012, 02:27 PM) QUOTE (trenken @ May 30 2012, 02:17 PM) QUOTE (Tombstone Mountain @ May 30 2012, 02:14 PM) The last two efforts S&A and Clockwork Angels have a refined yet raw sound...Is this all due the production team of Nick and Rich? If so, thank you Nick...you certainly know what the hell you're doing! How was he able to get what other producer's seem to fail at...which is a fantastic sound and getting the band to attack their instruments??? Rush didn't have other producers that failed at it. Actually I think the only time it ever really failed was Vapor Trails, and that was because they tried to produce much of it themselves. They didn't have a guy in the studio saying, "NO Geddy, STOP layering your vocals!" They took total control of VT and it was a mistake. They are not producers and it helps to have someone in there for quality control. That's what all producers do so it's not Nick per say, but just the fact that Rush let him be a real producer. Any producer with any skill can get Rush to sound good, but Rush has to be willing to listen to them and take their advice. If they don't, we end up with VT that sounds worse than some garage band recordings Ive heard. I gotta say that T4E sounds weak to me. the songs are OK but nothing that sticks with me. Nick has had a HUGE impact on Neil, more so than any producer i can recall. I wonder why Nick was able to work with neil in ways other producers couldn't??? T4E is a decent quality recording, just nothing special about it. The dynamics are a little weak. As far as Neil, I'm really not hearing anything very special with him on the new songs. I know a lot about drumming and I know what he's doing now is not nearly as difficult as some of what he was doing in the past. I think what Nick is getting Neil to do is free flow more, more improvisational style drumming rather than compositional, if you know what I mean by that. But to me that isn't usually apparent to the listener. I'm sure Neil is very excited about it, but us as the listener can't usually notice the difference. When I listen to HF, I can't hear a guy that's free flowing that much, I just hear him playing the parts we're meant to hear. I don't think it really matters if what Neil is doing is difficult or not. As long as it kicks ass, pleases him, and serves the purpose of the song, then that is great. Neil is a lot more aggressive on the new tracks and the overall consensus around the internet is that people are excited about Neil's drumming. Those who have covered Neil on youtube for Headlong Flight have said the drumming is very fun. Difficult playing doesn't always equal a good song. (And in my opinion, I do think what he does at points is pretty difficult, although he surely has done more difficult stuff in the past. Regardless, the drumming is great.)

QUOTE (Tombstone Mountain @ May 30 2012, 12:22 PM) QUOTE (Zanadoo @ May 30 2012, 12:18 PM) Am I the only one that thinks his age has matured his voice and it's better than ever? That's what I'm saying...Nick really encourged him to throw caution to the wind and wail...been a looooong time since we've had that kind of effort. Just prepare though that rest entire album might not have that type of vocal delivery, so don't get disappointed. There are definitely going to be softer and more melodic moments on the album, so they'll probably be a diversity in his delivery.

QUOTE (snowdog2112 @ May 30 2012, 11:45 AM) There will almost certainly be 90 second clips put up on itunes any day now. They were put up about 10 days before the release of the recent VH album and that seems to be generally what they do for everybody. Of course 90 seconds for something like BU2B2 is the whole song so they may leave out shorter songs. The only one they have up now is a 90 second clip of Headlong Flight. Amazon typically does 30 second clips. I've been checking itunes a couple times a day, it should be soon. Yeah, I believe so too. From what I've noticed with shorter songs, iTunes will offer a 30 second clip instead of a 90 second clip, so songs like BU2B2 should still have a sample offered.

Does anyone know how high Headlong Flight charted on other charts besides Classic Rock Radio that Rush-O-Matic mentioned?

Whoops, double post.

They're definitely a band that I feel you need to cherry pick their catalog, but they do have good songs. So what if they lean more towards a pop rock side than their origins in prog? They write catchy, melodic songs that have art rock nuances at points. My best advice is give them a shot listening to 30 second samples and see if anything sparks your interest, especially their stuff beyond their debut album. It can never hurt giving a few minutes to hear a few songs.

Heh, I thought the videos were cool and broke up the show a bit. When Rush plays, they're very serious and dedicated, so it's nice to see them goof off a bit with some humor in videos. The videos weren't that long. They were about 5 minutes each. That's 10 minutes out of 3+ hour concert. Come on, it's not a big deal. (Oh, and I'm not including the closing video with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel since that's at the end when the concert is pretty much over. It's not taking away from anything.) As to the Clockwork Angels tour, I think it will open with steampunked theme video that has humor in it as usual. Following, I think the band will open with a classic. It's a safe bet. The Spirit of Radio is such an excellent opener, and really fires people up. I'd love to hear it again as an opener, but they'll probably open with something different this time around. Subdivisions would probably be a good opener and would be an easy song for Geddy's voice to warm up with.

QUOTE (Tommy Sawyer @ May 28 2012, 09:44 PM) QUOTE (rushgoober @ May 28 2012, 06:10 PM) QUOTE (GUP1771 @ May 28 2012, 02:54 PM) People are always gonna say that music during the time they grew up is great and everything afterwards is crap and can never match up. 20 years from now, my generation will most likely view the 2000/2010's as amazing and view music in the future as "crap." It's a never ending cycle and comes down to nostalgia and what you know. I disagree, or at least I don't fit into your description. I grew up in the 80's, somewhat at the end of the 70's, but I really didn't start paying attention to current music until the beginning of the 80's. My absolute favorite music is from the mid 60's to the mid to late 70's, and it's NOT what I grew up with - I was alive for a good part of that, but not listening to it at the time. In fact, It wasn't until the mid to late 80's that I started really getting into that era I like some music from the 80's, 90's and today, but mostly I really love that vintage stuff, and it's not because it was the music of my formative years, but because it's the music I truly judge to be the best. Sure there's great stuff out there all the time, but back then there was a LOT more of it. I am 15 and do you think I like cookie-cutter pop crap? I was listening to earlier (a friend recommended it) and I didn't think it was too bad. Then I realized it was just Peter Gabriel v2.0. In regards to both your examples, I was talking about the majority. There are always exceptions like in your cases, as well as me (since I prefer music before my time as well), but my statement was about a majority overall. I should have specified that.

QUOTE (mazyyz @ May 28 2012, 08:38 AM) Music never peaks, it's constantly evolving. I find myself listenting to songs that I hated when they came out years ago and actually enjoying them. I entered the thread without reading anything and wrote my own opinions. After I posted, I read through the entire thread and realized you echoed my exact points beforehand. Great minds think alike!