PlayTheRoot

Also, humorously enough, Geddy's most challenging lines can probably be found in the earlier non-prog material.. Anthem and Working Man are bass boot camps. Also, stuff like Analog Kid and Digital Man are extremely complex. Lord knows how they wrote those.

La Villa is an effing killer. Every time I seem to have the bass or guitar part down I find a new subtlety that I didn't notice before.

I dunno man, Alex's guitar work on S and A was fantastic to me. There's something I just love about the layering of acoustic and distorted guitars and Alex sprinkles it throughout, PLUS he finally brought back the glorious open string chorusy chimes from their more technical days. Armor and Sword could be consideres a microcosm of Lifeson's entire body of guitar work. It's got everything, open strings, natural harmonics, chorus and delay, chunky power chords, and tasty acoustic work.

I really wish these folks would come up with more creative questions than asking about 2112 or about the Down the Tubes tour. Those two seem to be the only topics interviewers ever ask about... I mean c'mon, someone has to have the balls to ask the band if they'd ever consider playing a CoS medley or maybe Before and After or something nobody has beaten into the ground yet.

Love the little chimey riff that the song opens up with. All and all, an average track by Rush standards though.

Not sure if this thread is still on-topic or not, but while I do enjoy CA, the OP definitely has a point. People are quick to hail this record as one of their best, when in fact it may be one of their most streamlined, basic releases. The riffs are simple meaty distorted power chords for the most part, and the songs are mostly verse-chorus standard rock fare. This album is pleasant but it doesn't hold a candle to the epics of yore, or even the 80's synth material which was highly complex in its own right. The main gripe I had about this album is that the majority of the songs are the same tempo and time signature. I also sorely miss Alex's shimmering chorus-y odd-voiced guitar chords that seem to have completely disappeared after making a joyful re-appearance on S&A, in favor of chunky simple rock chords All that being said, I listen to it probably once a day, and have really taken a liking to the title track, The Anarchist, Headlong Flight, and The Garden.

Firstly, my original song, I know there are several mistakes, was a bit of a rushed job: http://soundcloud.com/vilna4/some-prog-rock-80s-rush-style A Farewell To Kings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6YDUF5Lnbo Jacob's Ladder (MIDI backing track, sorry folks): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSgBcQ7yh9Q Enjoy! Feedback appreciated!

If I may add, I also feel that the super-strats he used at this time, along with the other strat-shaped guitars (like the one used in the Big Money vid) fit Alex the best. I actually prefer them to his current selection of Gibsons and PRS's

The bass part underneath that is so goddamn tricky. Confuses my fingers every time I try to play it. Amazing sequence

Pigeonholing EVH as a stock shredder really isn't fair. Some of his rhythms, especially on the Sammy Hagar albums are actually very Lifeson-esque, awash with chorus and delay and tons of cool voicings and open string tones.

Does anyone absolutely love Alex's shimmering chord tones on the 80's synth albums? (Aside from them being the best albums that Rush has to offer ) I mean, in songs like Digital Man, DEW, Mystic Rhythms (that one is even more special, because I believe it is on an electro-acoustic), Chemistry, Countdown, The Big Money, and others. I've never heard another guitarist other than Lerxst nail such a clear, crisp, three-dimensional rhythm tone, while also retaining a sharp aggression, and clearly doesn't sound limp or clean, other than some of the tones on HYF (my least favorite offering) which do sound rather wimpy, and yet still miles better than any other cheap 80's arena act this side of GTR. Come bask in his glorious TOANZ with me. Some of my faves: DEW: Marathon: Digital Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCFcWdco1nw&feature=relmfu Kid Gloves: