Empty Mindless Spectre

Rush: What You're Doing, Before and After, Working Man Fly By Night: By-Tor and the Snowdog, Fly By Night, Making Memories Caress of Steel: The Necromancer, The Necromancer, The Necromancer, The Necromancer, The Necromancer, The Necromancer, The Necromancer 2112: 2112, Lessons, Something for Nothing A Farewell to Kings: Xanadu, Cinderella Man, Cygnus X-1 Hemispheres: La Villa Strangiato, Hemispheres, Circumstances Permanent Waves: Natural Science, Spirit of Radio, Jacob's Ladder Moving Pictures: YYZ, Red Barchetta, Limelight Signals: The Analog Kid, The Weapon, The Digital Man P/G: Afterimage, The Enemy Within, Between the Wheels Power Windows: Emotion Detector, Marathon, Middletown Dreams Hold Your Fire: Open Secrets, Prime Mover, Lock and Key Presto: Show Don't Tell, Red Tide, Available Light Roll the Bones: Where's My Thing, Neurotica, Dreamline Counterparts: Cut to the Chase, Leave that Thing Alone, Nobody's Hero Test for Echo: Driven, Dog Years, Limbo Vapor Trails: Peaceable Kingdom, Earthshine, One Little Victory Snakes and Arrows: Malignant Narcissism, The Main Monkey Business, Far Cry Clockwork Angels: Headlong Flight, The Anarchist, Caravan

Is this a trick question? It took me all of two seconds to choose Headlong Flight. I like most of this album very much, but Headlong Flight is head and shoulders above the rest as far as I'm concerned. :finbar:

Just to throw one out there that no one has mentioned yet, the solo from What You're Doing has some killer licks that really speak to me in it. It's one of those songs that makes me make weird faces when I'm in my car alone listening to it. :haz:

I wish I could "like" this post three times - once for each of the three killer solos in The Necromancer. I'm curious to know which of the solos is your favorite?

I swear the first time I heard Bacchus Plateau at the beginning of the solo I thought it was a flute or a piccolo or something. To this day, I've never heard anyone make such a clean, high pitched sound with a guitar like that. I completely agree that is just an amazing solo that I wish was extended another minute or two.

I also like ITIGB. I see it as sort of an AC/DC song on steroids, with some added complexity and thought provoking lyrics. I also like Lakeside Park, particularly the drums. It is a different style than Neil normally plays, but great just the same. I also love the nostalgic "Everyone would gather on the 24th of May…" verse. I always think of happy childhood memories when I hear it.

Well it is certainly one of my favorites. I love everything about it, from its name and album cover to the songs themselves (especially 'The Necromancer'!!!). In answer to your question, I think I would say yes and yes. Yes it is absolutely a great album. To the second prong of your question, I think RUSH has always been an evolving force, and CoS was an important part of that evolution of RUSH. It is easily one of RUSH's most creative efforts, and yes, I think it paved the way for 2112 and everything that came after it. But it is SOOOOOO much more than just a building block to the future of RUSH. I find it a bit sad that so many fans, and possibly even RUSH themselves, undervalue and under appreciate this pure, raw, energetic, creative, fantastic album.

I agree, because they have already played almost all of PW on the past two tours. It would really suck if they do that, just for that reason. :finbar:

Looks like a copyright infringement suit waiting to happen to me.

Wow. I am speechless… my Dad was a big Buddy Holly fan and never understood my passion for Rush, I'm sure he was smiling down on me as I watched that.

That's the only song I actually want off the album. Almost agreed… I also would love to see The Enemy Within.

I think 'Making Memories" is great example of an older song that would be popular with casuals, but if you're looking for a more recent under appreciated song from the synth era that I think can be well received by non-Rush fans, I think 'Emotion Detector' would be a nice choice.

Shouldn't a Buddy Holly cover be mixed in there somewhere? Beat me to it lol. 'Not fade away' Well that would be the perfect choice since the Alex interview (recently posted by Jag2112) revealed that they actually recorded a version of 'Not Fade Away at some point when making the debut album! :clap: BTW, I was only joking, as I would NEVER have actually expected that RUSH would cover a Buddy Holly song.

That would work.... :cheers: If we are going to do this lets get it right. Michael Schenker shows up... UFO does the Strangers In The Night set and then after intermission :rush: does All The Worlds A Stage. I drop dead and end up wherever it is I go.... :haz: Yeah that's not going to happen. No worries though as with Vinnie Moore playing with them now you can close your eyes and not even know the difference. :haz:

in 1977, yeah Have you seen UFO lately? They have Vinnie Moore playing guitar now, and can still rock with the best of them. Granted Phil Mogg gets a bit long winded at times with his story telling but aside from that they put on a great show.

I also don't think RUSH would or should tour with another band, but if for some reason they decided to, I think UFO would be a good choice and strong possibility.

Yikes… I have to STRONGLY disagree with you on this one. I really like the 'Oracle: The Dream' section, but more emphatically, Alex's 'Soliloquy' solo is one of my 5 favorite solos for sure. How you can be a RUSH fan and not like that solo is beyond me, but you are certainly entitled to your own tastes and opinions. And continuing along, 'The Grand Finale' just flat out ROCKS as well. (Disclaimer - I probably have at least 10-15 Top 5 favorite Alex solos :bump: )

Not really a tough conclusion to draw, considering how Geddy keeps making it a point to say that Faithless and The Garden are "one of our favorites" every time they play them. I always also assume he is speaking more for himself and Neil more so than Alex, but who knows, maybe Alex has gotten soft in his old age as well.

I have a lot of concerns here. It doesn't really sound like they're all that interested in going back out on tour. It sounds more like they're being pushed into it, and they are going along with it for now, but that could easily change at any time, including right up to the last minute. No one wants to see another RUSH tour more than I do, but I'm not sure how excited I am to see them tour if their hearts aren't into it. Maybe (hopefully!) they will become more enthusiastic about touring when the time comes, but it's just too early in the process for me to really get my hopes up. I also suspect that if they do tour, it may be in a more limited fashion with fewer shows, and perhaps with more time off between shows, or maybe a few "mini-vacations" of say 1-2 weeks off, dispersed throughout the schedule. I really hope a 2015 tour materializes, but I'm not counting any chickens yet. As for the article, it was a very enjoyable read, and thanks for providing the link.

I know, right? Only covering 14 albums… how disappointing! :laughing guy:

Wait a minute…. are you whining about me whining about people whining about people whining about setlists? :o

Tom Sawyer might be a classic but I like the other 6 songs on Moving Pictures a lot more. It has nothing to do with Tom Sawyer getting a lot of radio play. Limelight gets a lot of radio play too but I still like Limelight a lot more than Tom Sawyer. Not a big fan of drums I guess?

I would extend that to 3:24. Yeah, I was surprised and quite disappointed this song wasn't chosen for the CA tour, especially given some of the songs chosen instead.

Affirming in what way? That Rush was headed in the wrong direction? :P It is a positive, life affirming song. Take a moment for what's around you. From MP to Presto, I enjoyed virtually every album less than the previous one. But that doesn't mean there weren't great songs and great lyrics (especially lyrics) on those albums. TSS is among the best, IMHO. I agree with most of what you say here, except for the TSS part. I just really don't see anything that great about the song. It's very plain and overly simplistic IMO, including the lyrics. I think Lock and Key, Prime Mover, Mission and Open Secrets are all light years better than TSS, both lyrically and musically.

Geddy's extended bass solo at the end of Leave That Thing Alone on The Time Machine Tour. :geddy: :ebert: