They Bow Defeated

QUOTE (ReflectedLight @ Aug 28 2012, 06:34 PM) QUOTE (WCFIELDS @ Aug 28 2012, 05:56 PM) Neither! make that 2 votes for neither. So predictable.

QUOTE (mmm_donuts @ Aug 28 2012, 03:35 PM) Best album since their last one. Sucks to be you, I guess.

All of the Roger Dean Yes covers, especially Relayer: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3185/3048427279_8f0f1e265c.jpg I was one of those who would buy an album just for the Roger Dean cover: Greenslade, Uriah Heep, etc.

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Aug 27 2012, 07:59 PM) QUOTE (They Bow Defeated @ Aug 27 2012, 04:14 PM) I just got an Amazon shipping notice and should be getting the Lizard anniversary/remix edition later this week. I'm also looking forward to The Great Deceiver Vols. 1 & 2, hopefully next week, as that's probably my favorite lineup/era (Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Cross). The only remix version I've heard is ITCOTCK, and I seriously didn't like it. I mean, yeah, obviously the improved sound was cool, but I do NOT get the point of remixes - taking music you know and love that was made decades ago and changing it. It just doesn't sound right and the whole thing seems wrong to me. Make it sound clearer, absolutely, but actually change it? The remix of Poseiden seemed to be very well done. On Pictures of a City, everything seemed clearer and more present than I remember. Also, I think all the anniversary editions include the original mixes on the second disc. Anyway, I just got the shipping notice on the rest of my KC order and also three Brand X albums. Anyone into these guys? Great stuff! Now I just need to track down Moroccan Roll somewhere.

Wow, tough call! On a given day, I could vote for any of them. If CA had a better mix it would probably be my clear favorite, but today I picked Headlong Flight. The amazing thing is, those five tracks could have been nearly a full album in the vinyl days. Hemispheres is, what, just about 36 minutes?

QUOTE (GernTheFish @ Aug 27 2012, 08:34 AM) It's a nice break from the harder, more complex songs on the album. Perfectly placed IMO. The only S&A similarity to me is the acoustic guitar. But it still has a little more drive to it than, say, Working Them Angels and feels more like a CA track. And it is perfectly placed after five straight heavy songs. It gives a nice little breather before diving back into Seven Cities. Anyway, plenty of classic Rush albums had slower/quieter tracks like Madrigal, Different Strings, Tears, etc. so I'm not sure why it's a problem.

In Cosmos, Carl Sagan said "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." We already have documented evidence of non-supernatural crop circle creation by hoaxers, enthusiasts, and even commercially created circles for advertising: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Sthlm_gtb_top.jpg Here's a pretty elaborate circle created by just five people (I think) in only four hours: But there is no documented evidence for crop circle creation by UFOs, aliens, or other supernatural sources. So the burden really is on those who believe this extraordinary claim to come up with overwhelming evidence, like a video showing a UFO actually creating a crop circle. I'd love to see it! And just for the record, I do believe there's life out there somewhere. But due to the huge distances involved, I think it's unlikely they've visited Earth. And if they did travel all that distance, why fiddle around in the dead of night creating mysterious crop circles, rather than just tapping into CNN?

You have to ask yourself which is more likely: 1. Large groups of humans designing and mapping out these crop circles, and then going out and executing them at night, maybe taking several hours. 2. Alien beings travelling incomprehensible distances to Earth (or coming through wormholes, stargates, etc.), only to create these enigmatic crop circles rather than contacting humans directly. http://i1.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/005/848/ancient-aliens.jpg

I just got an Amazon shipping notice and should be getting the Lizard anniversary/remix edition later this week. I'm also looking forward to The Great Deceiver Vols. 1 & 2, hopefully next week, as that's probably my favorite lineup/era (Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Cross).

QUOTE (ReflectedLight @ Aug 27 2012, 01:01 PM)QUOTE (WCFIELDS @ Aug 26 2012, 08:08 PM)Sounds like something that was thrown together and highly influenced by Nick/Foo Fighters for sure.. without a doubt. I guess Alex and Geddy lied about swapping instruments and jamming when they came up with The Wreckers. They were secretly listening to Foo Fighters CDs, trying to come up with something that would please fanboi Nick. Then Nick gently dominated the weak-willed Al and Ged, like Neil does so often, to steer the song in the direction he wanted. I heard they even brought in Dave Grohl to sing the chorus, but decided not to use his tracks at the last minute.

QUOTE (StellarJetman @ Aug 26 2012, 07:46 PM)Fanboys ruin everything. You mean, "haters ruin everything," right? It seems to me that it's the bashers/haters who are having a hard time dealing with dissenting opinions in this thread. After all, go ahead and post whatever negative opinions you want: CA sucks, Nick sucks, The Wreckers sucks, the mix sucks (I'll partly agree on that one), whatever... But it's a messageboard, right, so shouldn't you should expect others to post THEIR reactions? Or if someone disagrees with your negative viewpoint, are they just supposed to STFU? By the way, I can understand how some might dislike the chorus or verse of The Wreckers, but how can you not love the bridge? It's some of the most "cinematic" Rush music we've heard in a LONG time. When Ged belts out "oh the human chain/leaves a bloody stain" with that string part, it's really one of those old-school Rush moments.

QUOTE (mmm_donuts @ Aug 23 2012, 08:25 PM)Hmm I give my opinion to a question that was asked and I get a response similar to the angry crowd from the beginning of Witch Hunt (He said "Guitar Center"! Burn him at the stake!). I'm just providing my opinion based on the musical structure of the song...a little more precise than 'it rawks!' Each to his own, but lots of other people in the forum are not fond of the song either. Bangster, I hear what you say. It's definately not about 'note flash'. Heck one of my favorite Alex solos is Bravado, which is simple but very moving and powerful. But I'm not hearing anything special about this song. Compared to Caravan, CA and Headlong Flight, this song doesn't come close. I actually like Halo Effect (an even simpler song to play) better than Seven Cities of Mold. Perhaps the attraction to this song for some people is that it is simpler to listen to than the other CA songs. If you like cheeseburgers over filet mignon, so be it. My reference to Guitar Center was that a beginning guitar student could play most of this song. I guess that reference was lost on some people. The last time I was in Guitar Center was a year ago to buy a PA for our business. Seems like other people know a lot more about Guitar Center than I do, so I wonder who the real GC trolls are. People, show a little class to other people on here who have different opinions than your own. I was hoping that Rush fans were more intelligent and open minded but instead, the forum is turning into high school cafeteria all over again. Well, your first post was to bash The Garden, immediately followed by posts bashing Seven Cities and Countdown. And you seemed to be trying to "prove" that Seven Cities sucks, based on your guitar playing experience. Followed by your observation that it's "totally lame." So I wouldn't be surprised that you're not exactly greated with hugs and high fives. Like you say, we're all just giving our opinions.

QUOTE (Tarkus406 @ Aug 23 2012, 10:16 PM) The Endless Dream by Yes Starts out bitchin proggy unbelievable ass kickery, then turns to nice lovely piano music then works its way into Sunday-school hymnal church choir weirdness. It's awesome! Excellent song! Talk is very underrated, IMO, and holds up better for me than The Ladder, Union, and other late period stuff.

QUOTE (Mr. IsNot @ Aug 24 2012, 12:04 AM) I was brought up to believe Neil Peart was the man We are shitty drummers Neil's the one in that awesome band Neil Peart is the man Neil Peart's the best No fan will be acknowledged Meeting fans is Neil's lest. Neil is the best Believe in what we're told Bruford, Rich, and Stubblefield Dumb fools just got schooled Buy all of his books and crap Until our final buck While our Hero Neil Peart Doesn't give a f__k Much anger I sense in you.

QUOTE (DistantEarlyRushFan @ Aug 23 2012, 02:27 PM) I think We Hold On is one of the better tracks on S&A. I will agree with you about WTW being better than it. It's not bad, but it's still in my bottom three for S&A. I like the instrumental/jamming sections a lot, but not so much the vocal sections. Especially the "how many times" verse sections, where it sounds like Ged needs a quick Starbucks run to perk him up.

Interesting, he's only ten years older than her ('74 versus '84). I would have guessed 15 or 20. Still, these two are certainly destined for their own reality TV show on MTV or VH1.

QUOTE (CygnusX-1Bk2 @ Aug 23 2012, 01:18 PM)S&A is a much better album for many reasons. I wouldn't put it in my top 3 Rush albums by any stretch but it surpasses every other recent release going back to Counterparts. CP, S&A and Presto fall just below the 70s and 80's albums for me as those were the Rush albums I grew up with so I have a lot more emotional investment in those records but in terms of material and even productions S&A is head and shoulders above CA which to me is so badly squashed it is not listenable for the most part plus the material just does not have that same intensity and passion as the first 2 tracks. It's not horrible but it isn't great. S&A is great. And yet only 11% of TRF members would agree with you... http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?showtopic=75900 I like S&A a lot, but the second half is definitely dragged down by three mediocre tracks: Bravest Face, Good News First, We Hold On. If you leave out Hope and BU2B2, since they're both short "linking" songs, it's even more clear to me that CA is a stronger effort. IMO, the weakest CA song (Wish Them Well) is still stronger than BF, GNF, and WHO. The strongest S&A songs (Far Cry, Armor and Sword, Faithless, Malnar) are very good, but IMO they can't quite hang with the likes of CA, The Anarchist, Seven Cities, Headlong Flight, The Wreckers, and The Garden. EDIT: I do agree with you about the compression on CA vs. S&A, but for me it's more than made up for by the songs.

Red and Starless by King Crimson.

QUOTE (tommyali @ Aug 23 2012, 10:32 AM) Sorry. I'm not drinking the cool-aid. Ugh, you were doing fine up to this point. So there's no need to imply that those who prefer CA are brainwashed drones who are just buying into the hype. There are many of us who really do prefer CA. Most of us actually. The only place where I do agree that S&A is better is in the final mix and mastering.

QUOTE (CygnusX-1Bk2 @ Aug 22 2012, 06:52 PM) Go ahead and listen to something that sounds good then listen and get back to me. I would suggest anything recorded before the 90s. Yeah, there are some problems in the mix throughout CA, especially on the title track. Mastering-wise, it's not horribly loud but it does seem to be super compressed. The vinyl is better but sadly still not great. Luckily, the songs more than make up for it. But I do hope we get a Steven Wilson remix at some point. His King Crimson remixes are pretty sweet.

QUOTE (Mika @ Aug 22 2012, 12:47 PM) QUOTE (They Bow Defeated @ Aug 15 2012, 06:41 PM) QUOTE (rushgoober @ Aug 15 2012, 06:36 PM) Just as long as Neil jettisons the ridiculous big band part of his solo, he can do whatever he wants. It was cool at first, but yeah it's worn out its welcome. He should have gone with the ESL YYZ-based solo for the Time Machine tour. Yeah, I agree... while I admire Neil's monster ability with drumming, I've been a bit surprised at his drum solos for the past few tours... not sure what it is, they don't seem to be 'drummy' enough! (Hope that makes sense!) I was watching the 2112 / Moving Pictures Classic Album dvd the other night, and there was this clip of Neil drumming away, doing what seemed like an improvisational solo in a studio. I remember thinking, man, I wish his concert solos were like that! And I wish I could get that solo in mp3 so I could listen to it... I'll have to search around, see if I can find the solo I'm talking about. Yeah, I was watching The Rhythm Method from A Show Of Hands (out of YYZ) and thinking it would be cool to see him get back to that more "aggressive" approach. Given his playing on CA, I do think it's a possibility.

QUOTE (eshine @ Aug 21 2012, 11:45 PM)To bring up "Guitar Center" is embarrasing for you - and indictaes that you spend far too much time there yourself, probably overplaying loudly for attention or listening to what the kids are up to so you can try and keep up. Yeah, he might one of those middle-aged guys in Guitar Center on a Saturday afternoon showing off his chops on a Petrucci signature model way loud through a Line 6 amp. weedly-weedly-weedly-weedly-weedly-weedly Or one of those teenagers who plugs in and immediately starts in on the tapping section from Eruption. Seven Cities is admittedly no wank-fest (thankfully), but it's still a fun tune. It's the first CA song that my drummer friend and I gravitated towards jamming on. The Anarchist is also fun, and of course Headlong Flight.

QUOTE (mmm_donuts @ Aug 18 2012, 08:50 PM) Ok guitarist here so let me tell you why 7COG is medicore on a musical level. First, Geddy's riff in the beginning is pretty much just a standard funky riff in E...something he probably whipped up by warming up. The main riff in the song is slow plodding garage band basic. The solo is feedback noise...heck the solo in Wish Them Well is more creative. The chorus chord progression is A G E, which is heavy metal 101...any kid that's been hanging around a year at Guitar Center can play that. This song is extremely cliche and one of the worst on the album. Even worse it goes on for over 6 minutes. I was trying to figure out what the chorus reminded me of and it's Spinal Taps Big Bottoms. If you doubt my opinion, put the lyrics to the chorus of Big Bottoms to 7COG and it fits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qDgCmzh5ao I hope they leave this one off the tour because it's totally lame. Looks like you'll fit right in with some of the haters around here.