Blue2112

Clockwork Angels by a nose in front of the Garden. I give the nod to CA due to its classic Rush stylings. I think that both CA and The Garden deserve inclusion on any top 10 all time list. Time will tell if they deserve top 5. Both are incredible Rush songs.

Still #1 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/music-rock-classical...=UTF8&node=5174

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Jan 14 2012, 04:31 AM) No. Go to a gig. And they've got plenty of live albums out there. That's enough. Agreed. They play different versions of the classic Rush songs every tour. With the quality of the live recordings there is no need to re-record those songs in the studio.

David - Great job! Loved the score and flow. Great how you captured the mid-section of the Trees with the synth quietly working its way into the backdrop. Thoroughly enjoyed it, looking forward to the next version. Maybe Far Cry You can play one of my parties anytime. Blue

QUOTE (greg2112 @ Dec 29 2011, 10:24 AM) QUOTE (Ron2112 @ Dec 28 2011, 05:01 PM) QUOTE (greg2112 @ Dec 28 2011, 01:57 PM) Question: is the Caress of Steel disc demonstrably better than the 97 remaster? In a side-by-side, the Sector version sounds better than the '97 version to me. Whether that qualifies as "demonstrable" or not is another issue.... Peace, Ron Thanks Ron, appreciate the assessment. Trying to figure out, which, if any box set to purchase, and COS is a key album Buy all 3 sets. They are all significant improvements and the DVDs are incredible.

QUOTE (Jaminbenb @ Dec 29 2011, 10:05 AM) QUOTE (Tommy Sawyer @ Dec 29 2011, 10:01 AM) QUOTE (drbirdsong @ Dec 29 2011, 12:49 AM) QUOTE (Jaminbenb @ Dec 28 2011, 09:37 PM) ...although I did "acquire" copies of the Sectors releases... So you are a thief. I am not one to start judging who is or is not a "true" Rush fan, but stealing their music is absolutely not right. Because they couldn't possibly be a gift or contest prize? Or borrowed? or heard at a friends house, or in his car? In the spirit of By-Tor we should all play nice. No stealing accusations, no Geddy can't sing accusations. All is good, our demented Canadian friends are nearing their 60th birthday and still rocking strong!

QUOTE (Jaminbenb @ Dec 28 2011, 04:18 PM) If you are going to debate the quality of speakers for your review of these re-releases, then you may as well not even buy them...if the engineer that did the work on it mixed ONLY for "reference standard" type speakers, then he needs to be kicked VERY hard in the ass and not be allowed to do ANY work on ANY band's music AGAIN! I don't know any engineer worth his salt that WON'T try the mix on great speakers, crappy speakers, his car stereo, his next door neighbor's crappy car stereo, an old boom box, etc. So what, do you think they all sit there and ONLY listen on one system? nah! My recording prof told me that if I don't listen to my mix on at least FIVE different sources, I'm crazy! Truthfully, my best reference for mixes was always on a pair of Radio Shack bookshelf speakers..if it sounded good on that, then it sounded good on my Infinity's! Hey good advice - thanks!

QUOTE (Captain Avatar @ Dec 26 2011, 09:00 PM) My question is this... Are they better than the original cds? I never bought the 97 remasters or any of the gold discs and I was thinking about upgrading my collection with the sector sets. Knowing that they didn't measure up to what you were expecting/hoping them to be, do you still nonetheless consider them to be better than the originals and worth the purchase for someone in my situation? Forget about what some of the other posters have said, from a sonic perspective the Sector sets sound light years better than the original CDs issued in the 80s. Yes there are some additional sounds added to HYF (strings in Mission) and there is a short (less than 1 sec) drop out somewhere in Fly By Night. But so what - the discs sound fantastic listened to soft or loud. The better the audio system the bigger the sound differential. Enjoy

QUOTE (danielmclark @ Dec 27 2011, 05:02 PM) QUOTE (WCFIELDS @ Dec 27 2011, 02:13 PM) QUOTE (danielmclark @ Dec 27 2011, 10:07 AM) QUOTE (Blue2112 @ Dec 27 2011, 09:01 AM) Good free standing speakers cost $3,000. Yeeeah. No. "Good" speakers oughta run you about a hundred bucks. Spending three grand on speakers, you're getting pro-level audiophile speakers. Nobody in their right mind spends thousands of dollars on "good" speakers. IMO, nobody should be spending more money on a home audio set up than most people spend on a new car, but hey, if they've got money to burn... A hundred bucks doesn't buy good speakers....uh, no... Nah, you can get "good" for that much. Not "very good" or "what I'd choose if I had choices", but merely "good". Okay, I'll concede to "decent" for a hundred, "good" for a little more But "good" shouldn't set anyone back three grand, that's all I'm sayin' You are right not just good speakers but very very good speakers. I spent about that on JML lab free standing speakers about 12 years ago. They still sound fantastic. My point with good speakers is that they can last for 20 years or more if properly cared for. The other points about declining return of audio quality per incremental $ spent I agree with as well. At a certain point the increase in quality is not worth the $ spent. $3k spent on my main listening speakers for the long term was a great investment.

QUOTE (drbirdsong @ Dec 27 2011, 09:26 AM) QUOTE (ak2112 @ Dec 25 2011, 08:06 PM) I listen to my music on a $20K system This statement is really bugging me. Do you really have a 20 THOUSAND DOLLAR system? Really? If you had said a 2 thousand dollar system my thoughts would be that that is a lot of money for a sound system, but understandable for a music lover. Just what does a 20 THOUSAND DOLLAR sound system consist of? Not too challenging to get there. Good free standing speakers cost $3,000. A pre-amp amp set up is another $5k. With Tubes more. Cd, multi zone system, sonos, wiring and installation and you are close to $15k or more.

QUOTE (D3strukt @ Dec 26 2011, 12:42 PM) Honestly, I download Rush albums, give it a listen, and if I don't like it. I don't buy it. This happened with Roll the Bones initially. You could also listen to the samples on iTunes as well. They are streamed @ 256 Kbps AAC and sound very good. You get 1:30 sample time which gives you a decent flavor of the song. Plus no hassles of finding a good copy to download. This may be an easier way to see if you like an album.

QUOTE (danielmclark @ Dec 26 2011, 11:40 AM) QUOTE (drbirdsong @ Dec 26 2011, 07:40 AM) If you want the "ideal" versions then invest in a high end turntable and listen on vinyl. I know this is a can of worms, but... why is vinyl automatically the best representation of the recordings? I've heard lots of vinyl releases in my life, and people can talk about how "warm" they are - a nebulous term, to say the least - but I've never thought that something I heard on vinyl was the ultimate experience compared to something I've heard on CD. A properly mixed and mastered recording will sound no worse on CD than on vinyl, IMO. Happy to agree with you this time

QUOTE (Ron2112 @ Dec 26 2011, 08:42 AM) Glad you like them since ultimately, all that matters is how they sound to the individual listener and his or her's own system. However, one of your statements is simply not true and that's the statement that there is more dynamic range. I suppose if you're comparing them to the horrible 97 remasters then that might be true, but the Sector remasters have MUCH less dynamic range than previous releases for these albums, including the SHM-CD releases. That probably isnt going to matter to many people, but for me it is critical. [/quote] We may be argunig semantics at this pont, but I agree with DMClark's assessment. As with the recent Beatles' and Floyd remasters, the bass end on the Sector sets just sounds like it has much better resolution than any previous releases. Whether that's "dynamic range" or is labeled with some other term is up for debate, but my ears aren't lying to me. Peace, Ron I agree Ron2112. The Sector remasters have a much "warmer" overall tone. Richer and clearer with more punch and clarity to the bass. They sound as good as a 1st turn on my 25 yr old B&O turntable would have sounded. I am very pleased with the work of Chykli and VanDette.

QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Dec 26 2011, 01:26 AM) QUOTE (rushgoober @ Dec 25 2011, 11:08 PM) QUOTE (danielmclark @ Dec 25 2011, 10:52 PM) QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Dec 25 2011, 11:42 PM) All of you so called diehard Rush fans who will try and get the album way early on the Internet through leaks and illegal downloads are TOOLS. Shame on you! Call it what you want, but if I see that it's been posted somewhere before the release date, I'm going to download it and enjoy the hell out of it. Then on the release day, I'm going to buy it on CD and whatever other format they decide to play with, like the special edition MVI of Snakes & Arrows they put out. Yep, bought it twice. That's how much illegal downloads hurt the band when die hard fans do it. Caravan/BU2B? Downloaded it, then bought the tracks on iTunes, then bought the CD, then bought the vinyl (albeit on eBay, so it doesn't count toward the "the band doesn't suffer" argument). Then, I'll buy those two songs again as part of Clockwork Angels. Twice, probably. Three times if it's on vinyl, CD and MVI if they do that again. We die hard fans are the only ones bands don't have to worry about. They get our money no matter what - and more than once per album, oftentimes. I really doubt most anyone would have a problem with someone illegally downloading an album prior to release if they also purchase it once it's released. I agree! Yes for as long as you buy the actual CD Or download on iTunes.

I'm not sure we need remasters for anything after VT. Rush in Rio can't get much better given the constraints of the original recording. Feedback is fine, down and dirty as it should be. R30 is a great sounding recording. One must supplement a Blu-ray audio rip for the missing sons. To my ears S&A is a fantastic recording and wouldn't seem to be a good candidate for a remaster. For S&A live maybe you could cleanup the top end a litllte, but do we actually need that? I am thrilled with that live disc. Time Machine is superb, just wish they recorded an earlier show when GED wasn't sick and his voice sounded less stressed from the cold he had. Clockwork Angels should sound great as well. So I get Sector 4 but do we need a Sector 5? Probably not. Btw, I would replace VT in Sector 4 for DS. I think DS sounds great. Just my 2 cents

QUOTE (losingit2k @ Nov 30 2011, 11:09 PM) I think it's a great idea the show would start off great! As Allways! The Set list might look like this: Set 1: Instrumedley: (Finding My Way, By-Tor & the Snow Dog, The Necromancer, Something for Nothing, Cygnus X1, Hemispheres (Prelude), Natural Scinece) Limelight Analog Kid Kid Gloves Cut to the Chase Vapor Trails Cold Fire Where's My Thing? Show Don't Tell Distant Early Warnings Freewill YYZ Set 2: Caravan BU2B New Song from CA Instrumental from CA New Song Form CA 2 Clockwork Angels (Epic) The Big Money Lock and Key Middletown Dreams Test For Echo Mal Nar/ Drum Solo Alex's Solo / The Trees Xanadu (Entire) 2112 Overture/ Temples/ Finale Encore: Far Cry Tom Sawyer The Spirit of Radio Great show!

Btw a final review of Limelight from Ridgefield WA 6/28/2011 sees the strong Ged voice returned. No hoarseness and the ethereal magic of Limelight is back! Clearly he was sick during the filming/recording of Time Machine!

Ok, here is my view on Geddy's voice circa 2011 leg of Time machine Tour. I have compared vocals from Albuqueque 6/29/2010 (1st night of the TM tour), Irvine CA 8/31/2010, Chicago IL 4/12/2011, and the beloved Time Machine Cleveland 4/15/2011. As a point of reference I also listened to S&A Live from 2008 and R30 from 2004. I used Limelight as the comparison track, focusing on some of the more strenuous parts ("...all the world's indeed a stage and we are merely players, performers and portrayers..."). Alb. NM 6/29/2010: 1st night of the tour, the magic is there. No strained notes, the ethereal quality of the vocal is there. It doesn't sound strained or hoarse. And this is from a boot, I'm sure it sounded better live. Irvine CA 8/31/2010: Still got the goods. Maybe a tremor here and there, but nothing bad. Still the good clear Geddy feel. Harmony is great, tuning is fine, vocals are strong. Chi. IL 4/12/2011: Well, not the same as the beginning of 2010 TM. A bit more strained and even slightly hoarse. An 8 vs. the 10 of opening night. Cleve. TM 4/15/2011: 3rd concert in 4 nights and it shows. The band was off on the 14th and Geddy likely followed his ritual of a late sleep in, mellow day, good dinner. His voice does sound hoarse, akin to singing with a cold. The magic is there, but it is not a 10. At points Ged sounds awesome, others a bit flat and not as harmonic as other shows. In tune but slightly flat. IMHO he was sick this night and had been sick for the week prior. S&A Live: Clear harmonic and beautiful. R30 Live: Ditto. So my conclusion is 2-fold: 1) Ged was clearly sick and battled through a schedule of performances. Unfortunately TM was being recorded on 4/15 no matter what 2) a little bit of Father Time, although much less than the this Post and Forum suggest. Overall, Ged is fine but Rush needs to do less shows and avoid 5 shows a week. 2 - 3 a week without back to back nights is what the Dr ordered. Then Ged will sound glorious like it was 2008 all over again

The ESL on the Sectors set is by far the best version ever released. The muddiness is gone, cymbals and synths are clear, bass is tight - no more distorted Rickenbacker. I highly recommend ESL and ASOH.