GangsterOnBoats

If this album didn't exist, and can't say I would listen to Rush. This was the gateway to getting into them when I first did, given my progressive and fusion tastes. I think that they really hit a good mark with this record, and it is the first album I learned on guitar from beginning to end. It also opened me up to enjoying the other Rush records, although I am not a fan of Presto, Roll the Bones, or Test For Echo that much I think that although some of it may seem cheesy, it really was Rush's highest musical achievement. I mean Alex hardly uses any power chords in the epic on the first side, which is unusual now as thats basically all he uses.. a dyad for goodness sake.

QUOTE (Alchemical @ May 7 2012, 07:55 AM) QUOTE (EmotionDetector @ May 7 2012, 07:52 AM) One of the best things I see on these reviews is that, for almost every song, the reviewer mentions an "Alex solo". It keeps coming up over and over...and that makes me happy! Yes! I knew Alex would shine on this record. Can't wait to hear his supposed "BEST RIFF EVER" on Carnies! With a song title like "carnies" it must be good

What if they do a Christmas record? Not the ordinary kind, however. Neil will actually get to rewrite each of the Christmas carols. "Jingle bells I hate God" and "Clockwork Angels, we Have heard on high" will be the first two singles

Well, according to someone at Music Radar, the first track doesn't have any noticeable differences, but BU2B does! http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/rus...y-track-542931/

Wow, BU2B sounds like it got an overhaul...hmmm

Random, but I've found that playing "Xanadu", "Afterimage", and "Losing It" in order sounds fantastic!

1. Camel 2. Allan Holdsworth 3. Soft Machine 4. Jeff Berlin 5. Yes 6. The Beach Boys 7. The Who 8. Genesis 9. Dixie Dregs 10. ELO

Alright, let me see what I can conjure up... I think Alex is the least talented musically out of the three. That is not saying he is a bad player, but his skills are not as developed as the other two. However, he is a funny personality, unlike the other two (for the most part). That being said, I don't think Neil is the best drummer on the planet. I think there are plenty of drummers (Chad Wackerman, Bill Bruford) and heck, even Mike Mangini is more technically skilled, but I think Neil applies what he knows to the music better than mangini. Also, I think that Caravan and BU2B are two of the weakest songs Rush has ever released, lyrically (I can't stop thinking big x40000) and musically (BU2B relies on four chords.

Well, considering they will tour even just two songs (Caravan/BU2B), I think they should release a 30 second snippet from a cover song after this next tour and then tour that 30 second snippet. After that, they will release the full version of the song and tour based off of that. Then an r40 tour, an album 2 years later and then the cycle begins again

Why does Alex look like he's ten years older than he was last time I saw him in April 2011

Although when I lived back in New Jersey I went to Princeton Record Exchange (one of the world's most famous record shops) and some in Pennsylvania, I haven't been able to find any particularly good shops for vinyl near me in coastal Carolina. However, there is a 2nd and Charles store that is close by which sometimes has some good findings.

I really wish the remaining Floyd would do SOMETHING together, but without Rick, it would be hard and disappointing if they didn't get a good replacement.

Freeze Totem

A few of us did our own versions of a couple Python sketches "Silly Job Interview" and "Ministry of Silly Walks". You can watch it here. But pardon the awful acting

For the past year or so, I have been working on an important piece of music, which really has been a long hard journey. I started recording in November for a demo and did all of the guitar work and drums. Over the past month or two, my brother Jay (who goes under the name PrismEye on here) added bass and keyboards (along with some preliminary mixing and fixing my stupid errors). Though I have yet to record my vocals for the song yet, we have decided to unveil a working demo of the song. Of course, there are some fixes to the mix to be made and other things to be added, but we felt it was in a state to "road test" it on you guys. Although I have had many different influences throughout, my primary ones would have to be the guitar work of Andrew Latimer (his use of the harmonic minor scale is absolutely beautiful) and Allan Holdsworth (perhaps the greatest guitar player to walk the earth). "The Man In The Background" begins with the sounds of guitar chords fading in (resembling an organ or keyboard sound). The first 7 or so minutes of the piece are very much fusion based, which is how I've been writing recently. Throughout, there is a progressive edge to the song, with varying time signatures and instrumentation. The second 2/3 of the song are composed of a very progressive solo section which, in addition to vocals to be added later, features several guitar, synth, and bass solos. I hope you all enjoy it, and please let me know what you think! You can hear the song and download it here. Some highlights to listen for in the song: 0:00- Beginning of the song (duh!), but also faded in guitar chords 0:44- Introduction of rest of instruments 3:10- First Synth Solo 4:07- Start of 6/8 section, featuring harmonized guitar interplay 6:55- Guitar parts that sound like the howling in hades 8:55- Crazy odd time signatures synth solo 9:28- Crazy odd time signatures guitar solo 11:49- Bass solo featuring fretted and fretless bass playing 12:37- 2nd guitar solo (harmonic minor solo) 14:01- Section that Jay calls "hell" because there are so many harmonizing guitar parts that it made mixing a living hell 15:03- Final guitar solo 19:26- Return of the main theme 19:55- Big, out of key, final chord 20:12- End http://i1144.photobucket.com/albums/o492/dsiebold/Cover-TheManInTheBackground.png

Wash the salt into the earth

I think that Corgan's idea of being more progressive and complex is great for a "modern" band, however, his hopes are cut short by sticking to too simple and obvious and overused chord progressions.

Rik Emmet is perhaps one of the best classical and electric guitar players out there, up there with Hackett, Howe, and Steve Morse (who are all underneath holdsworth However, I am not a fan of the drummer's vocals and some of it is a bit too blues rocky for my tastes. I think if they did more songs like blinding light show I'd enjoy their music more

I think the gimmick is so overused I couldn't bear it at all. However, if they did a 4-D tech show, I would be impressed

Heck yes, I've been playing this game for a while and its pretty epic. You can add me I'm davidksiebold on the game.

Dog Years Alien Shore

I think the first set of feedback songs were really the early Rush influences, considering it was mostly blues-rock songs. However, it would be fantastic to hear them do a covers album of some progressive influences!

I can only imagine what the lyrics would be like Probably something about gangsters and boats

Well, it doesn't seem that way to me! When I listen to it on my itunes, Hemispheres comes right after (alphabetically organized) and it makes my favorite album by Rush sound like the production of RTB!

I was really hoping to go see it, but I think the prices are a bit outrageous. Then again, so many musicians, so much work goes into it...