barkeep

I actually agree with this. Since Geddy is getting older, they're playing more of their 80's hits, which is actually fine. If they ever played more of their 70's material again, there would have to be numerous changes down to their sound in order to compensate for Geddy's current vocal range, which I'm sure many purists would hate to hear.

1. Emotion Detector 2. Open Secrets 3. Red Tide 4. Cinderella Man 5. Grand Designs 6. Neurotica 7. Turn The Page 8. Afterimage 9. Available Light 10. Red Lenses

QUOTE (vancraig @ Sep 6 2012, 07:50 PM) Im going to guess this tour has a focus on signals.....30 year anniversary and Strings hMM recipe for 2 tracks for sure! They better bring back The Analog Kid if they're going to make it Signals worthy!

I'm pretty sure they will. I mean, they have to, right? I mean, they even left us hanging with Different Strings, with Alex's solo fading out in the end, and haven't heard it live since, ever! I mean, WTF!?

The first time I was introduced to Rush was on a gaming forum where the topic was showing this drummer's video on his Roland Electronic drum kit doing some covers, as well as some improvisational solos. Then he linked an audio clip of Spirit of Radio, showing an example of how this band called Rush inspired him to start playing drums. When I first listened to Spirit of Radio, at first, I was like "wow, this band sounds totally different than most bands I've listened to." This was 8 years ago, and over time, it was on and off. Then Tom Sawyer was introduced to me 5 years ago, when Rock Band started to become popular. At that point, it started building up, and soon I bought my first Rush album, which was Moving Pictures, back in the summer of 2009. At that point, it started spreading. I then picked up 2112, then Signals, and then... well, everything else is history. I was hooked! My collection of Rush albums are just about complete. The only missing albums are Test For Echo, Vapor Trails, and Snakes & Arrows.

Signals and Power Windows are equally tied in my book for various reasons. However, if I had to choose one album between the two, it's Power Windows, because as the title implies, it's a very powerful album in a very wide range from various aspects. Signals had the exact sentiment, albeit different intentions and topics, but the same general message I found was still clear and the same when compared between the two. Perhaps the swing vote for me was Emotion Detector, which has a special place in my heart whenever I listen to this song. Still, both albums are equally good.

QUOTE (Deckiller @ Apr 19 2012, 07:03 PM)18. "Emotion Detector" This is going to be a long write-up, and most of it will be tangential to this song. I've had a lot of built-up things to say. Sorry if it seems disorganized; I'm going to leave it as raw as I can. This song is bloody fantastic. I can't say enough about the synths in this song. This is synth work at its finest. THIS is where all those years of experimenting paid dividends. The keyboards in this song are just so beautiful, ethereal, and powerful. They paint a vivid landscape of a futuristic city built in the frontier that may seem cold and distant as you approach it at night, but then the sun rises and you see that everything in front of you is personalized. It's not quite as uniform as we would expect - there are variations in architecture and the interiors are still pretty damn personalized! It's a landscape that serves as the antithesis of the suburbs in "Subdivisions". For the future, it's very...human. Power Windows in general sounds like it could be the soundtrack of a tasteful, character-driven scifi series. It's cold and futuristic, but at the same time full of the "goodness of humanity": care, pride, optimism. Rush can be very effective when they take the role of disciplined, gentle giants. This song - and this album, really - could also be the soundtrack to an alternate version of 2112's world, where music and culture won out but technology continued to flourish. The beautiful synths resonate with us...they are a celebration of our uniqueness as individuals, and how our identities and our ability to forge our identities gives us something to live for. If we're all the same, then we lose our individuality and our will to live. We will self destruct if we lose our identities as people, and we will become mindless husks like the ones seen in Mass Effect. And if we're all like that...well, then the world will turn into that which is seen in 2112. We humans can still flourish in the future, even if things become more sterile as a consequence of technology. There's nothing wrong with a realistic vision of the future that is still optimistic. And that's one of the things Rush are the best at conveying: realistic optimism. You hear it in their lyrics, in their careful use of major chords, and in their interviews. The melodies are beautiful, as are the synths. Granted, Lifeson took a backseat in this period and Neil emphasized timbre over technique, but the songs are timeless and crafted from the heart. They NEVER lost that ability; they just changed their sound and emphasis over the years. I mean, come on: instruments are a vehicle for music. If you're about to reunite with your long lost wife, who cares if she comes home on a plane or a train? It doesn't matter to me - as long as the instruments are played well, sound good, feel good, and blend together nicely with the melodies. And by god, the synths certainly helped Geddy construct some beautiful melodies - at Alex's expense, sadly. And I'm going to be honest here: the synths may have reduced Alex's role, but they sure as hell helped elevate his soloing. On this song in particular, he didn't have much room to work in the verses and choruses, so he compensated by unleashing what might be his best solo (or close to it). I envision it as a powerful beast being caged up, its owner waiting for the right moment to unleash it upon the crowd. Every note of the guitar solo is brilliant. Should we, the audience, use the solo and the song as an...emotion detector for Alex during this time period? Could the solo be conveying his frustrations about being so...restricted? It's understandable why they couldn't sustain this period. Alex is an important creative force in the band, and most of their best material is written with him at the helm with the other two boys. I just feel that the "synth era experiment" paid dividends for Rush for a period of time, with one of those dividends being this gem. The fact that this song broke into the top 20 was justified enough for me to finally create an account here, after lurking on this topic since its inception. Personally, this song is heavily underrated in my opinion, and this breaking the top 20 on this whole list (which is very impressive by the way) deserves the respect it didn't get before, among other songs. I personally love this song the best, and the whole Power Windows album. I completely understand why other people disliked this album, but one thing is for certain, Power Windows is the pinnacle of everything on what they can do, and then some.... well, at least in my opinion anyway. Please, continue hammering away!