Rutlefan

It's already a strong collection of songs of course, but I always wished that Let it Be included Don't Let Me Down and Maybe I'm Amazed. I doubt MIA had been written when the LIB material was recorded, but it was released before LIB was released. Would have fit perfectly and the 1st McCartney album wouldn't miss it as it sucks so badly that even MIA can't redeem it. On that note, I wish What's the New Mary Jane had taken the place of Revolution 9.

One more for La Villa. Weakness as well for Red Barchetta, Liemlight, Different Strings, Bytor, and that bit in Hemsipheres right before Geddy sings "The universe divided as the heart and mind ..."

This mirrors my experience exactly; I could have wrote this except I wouldn't have wrote it so well. I grew up with '70s Rush and it would be a huge understatement to say that were my favorite band. They WERE like best friends. When Signals came out I was pretty disappointed; it was like being slightly let down by a friend but I wasn't worried about the relationship. Then GUP came out. I liked it better than Signals but my friend had become more remote -- this was not the Rush that I loved so dearly. On its own merits I thought GUP was excellent (and still do; if Signals is Rush doing Police, than GUP is Rush doing The Fixx, but with more menace), but it wasn't "my" Rush. When PoWi came out I realized that Rush had moved on to a different crowd and we were no longer a couple. We've reconciled over the last couple years and I've come to like their newer stuff (esp S&A) but it will never be like it was ATWAS through ESL, and GUP was the beginning of the split (Signals was a disappointment, but it was still my Rush). Nevertheless I've always thought it is an excellent album. It kind of stands on its own in that there's no other Rush album quite like it.

Change Becomes Us by Wire. If you don't know this band, they released three groundbreaking/seminal/definitive lp's from '77 - '79 (which have since become legendary among post-punk afficianados, their tracks covered by many, REM's Strange being the most well-known). Then they split up in '80 though they had a bunch of great material for their 4th lp. After five years of solo projects they reformed but left the earlier unreleased material behind and went on a very different tangent (much like Rush did in the mid-'80s). They finally - 33 years later - returned to the "Lost 4th lp" material and the result is Change Becomes Us. Freaking masterpiece. Atmospheric Prog Post Punk (they were dubbed Punk Floyd after their moody 3rd lp; this is in the same vein). Check out Adore Your Island and Time Lock Fog for a sample. If you like those, Doubles & Trebles and Re-Invent Your Second Wheel are a good intro as well. Other releases that got my attention: Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine, and The Church. Wire won going away, though.

Shoo Bee Do/Candy-O The Trees/La Villa Strangiato Song Remains the Same/Rain Song

____________ I feel a pain in my chest and me left arm is going numb. Is that serious? That was a very in depth analysis and I enjoyed it. We will forever disagree but I respect your opinion. My opinion? Glad you asked! So much to love about this masterpiece. The crashing in on the ear piercing, "Then all at once the chaos ceased.." gives me goose bumps. The visual imagery of, "Those who could not fight brought tales of old to light" does the same. The lyrical, metaphoric battle between heart and mine, I think, is clever beyond words. Now musically... I think the transitions in that song are magnificent. I don't know if you play an instrument but the way it works in and out of various parts is exactly as it should be. It fits. Geddy's bass playing supports that song in an unbelievable way. Most of his lines are harmonies with his vocals that lay over Alex's chords beautifully. Aggressive yet melodic. There are almost two separate songs going on simultaneously. The Sphere ties everything in together and has a "finally at peace" feeling after an epic battle. Bravo boys. It was hell to produce and destroyed Geddy's voice doing that tour but it is my "desert island album" for sure and I appreciate the sacrifice! __________ Happy to see a fellow enthusiast; as I said, it's my favorite Rush album, and when I consider it, it's probably my favorite album by anyone, in that if I could only have one album, that would be it. And re the transition statement, I admit that as a non-musician, it's a purely non-technical judgement. I'm not suggesting the musicianship isn't above reproach, but rather my subjective judgement as to how it all flows together. As a matter of personal taste, I prefer Hemispheres to 2112, for example, but I think 2112 flows much better.

Easy I think. And since you said you're curious, I'll give you an answer to rival a mythic Rush anthem about the duality of human nature. Though Hemispheres is my favorite Rush album, and among my handful of favorite albums by anyone, I think the title track is pretty sketchy in several places. Not saying Hemispheres side I is not great, but it's far from perfect. Besides the manifest clunkiness (like the music backing "I bring truth and understanding, ...." for example) and inelegant transitions (IMO), much of lyrics are somewhat hokey ("I see the gods in battle rage on high..."), and I've never been able to tolerate the saccharine sentiments of the final part, The Sphere. Master of subtlety Neil is not; for someone who bristles at the pronouncements of those he sees as irrational demagogues, he tends to be very preachy in a "I know better than you" kind of way, which he'll spell out in usually painfully obvious terms. Hemispheres Side I is an example. Like Closer to the Heart and Cinderella Man, his chiding that we should do/be better is fairly abstract and friendly (can't disagree with the sentiments, it's the "Has it occurred to anyone else that we should be nicer to each other?" obviousness of it all), whereas with songs like Anthem, Something for Nothing, and Freewill (among many others) he tends to be speaking down to the ignorant and lazy among us unwashed masses (Ayn Rand had a word for the Collective; I don't remember what it is). I mostly like Neil's lyrics of this period of Rush, but I always thought that Cygnus X-1 and Hemispheres (the song) play into the hands of his harshest critics. Just my opinion, and like I said, I like the piece, I just don't think it is perfect (far from it).

In another thread Re-Rushed commented that Side I of Moving Pictures is perfect. Too true, so what other album sides qualify? I'm thinking that means not only sides that have no weak tracks, but that the tracks perfectly compliment one another, or flow into one another. Too early for me to think too hard, but here's my very non-eclectic start: Rush Moving Pictures Side I (most perfect side of all) Rush Hemispheres Side II Rush 2112 Side i and Side II The Beatles Abbey Road Side II Radiohead OK Computer Side I Yes Close to the Edge Side II Led Zeppelin IV Side I and Side II Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti Side II and Side III Rod Stewart Every Picture Tells a Story Side II Queen A Night at the Opera Side I If The Clash had spread their stronger Sandinista! songs over two discs instead of three, leaving the remainder for a great bootleg or extras album, they probably could have made four perfect sides. As it is, sides I, II, and IV still come close.

Late coming to this thread, but as a huge Beatles fan (even more than The Rutles!) I'll flake out and refuse to name favorite albums because I really do think they are all great in their own way. I do have a soft spot for Revolver though, and along those lines, my favorite period is '65 and '66; that's for me the ideal intersection of their increasing song-writing talent and declining economy of their song-writing approach (meaning longer and more complex songs as they matured). Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and the singles Ticket to Ride, We Can Work it Out, Paperback Writer, and Rain... those are pretty much definitive as to what music I like: perfect power pop. No one did it, or has done it since, like The Beatles of the mid-'60's. Once in awhile a band approaches their heights with a kick-ass song like Cheap Trick's He's a Whore or The Replacements' I Will Dare, but no one did it with the consistency and quality of The Beatles. There's nothing I know of like Tomorrow Never Knows, especially the more minimalist first take. Velvet Underground's Venus in Furs comes closest for me I guess, but again, Beatles did it over and over again. So, no favorite albums, despite a love for the middle period, but I will name my (very) favorite songs: I Feel Fine, Paperback Writer, I'm Only Sleeping, Tomorrow Never Knows, Dear Prudence, Julia, Across the Universe, Because. Score: John 7, Paul 1 (none from George, though I love his songs).

Don't know how I overlooked this one; without any exaggeration, each of the first three tracks is a masterpiece: The Best of Leonard Cohen -- Suzanne/The Sisters of Mercy/So Long, Marianne First heard this album on a long Midwest road trip many years ago. Gray winter day. Tedious, isolated, lonely. A fellow passenger lent me the cassette and I spent the next several hours listening to it as naked trees and empty landscapes passed by. I was imprinted; now can't hear these songs without thinking of that drab van trip, and how this album redeemed it.

I think pretty much all of Songs of Leonard Cohen (or his first Best of...) could be nominated. Good example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UASy-aY2T0

All the early performances I've heard are tight and powerful. I can only imagine the "sloppy" criticism comes from Page's later playing (I can understand that, whereas I don't know where the criticism of Jones, Bonham and Plant would come from). To be fair though, the guy is usually playing parts better suited for multiple guitars.

I like Country AND Western. No really, my spread goes from classic rock (Kinks/Beatles/Zeppelin/early Aerosmith/Pink Floyd/etc) to art/post punk (Joy Division/early New Order/Wire/The Fall/The Buzzcocks/Swell Maps/etc.) Those two genres don't have a lot of mutual admirers yet they make up the bulk of my favorites. Of course like most everyone I like other stuff from Vince Guaraldi to Shivkumar Sharma.

Ah, you know your Judy Collins! Judy Collins meets Chicago meets Cocteau Twins/Dead Can Dance I guess.

For comparison:

Excellent. I wonder if it inspired this. First few bars sound pretty close.

Johnny Cash American Recording IV: The Man Comes Around -- The Man Comes Around, Hurt, Give My Love to Rose

OK, last one. Revisiting Eliott Smith I came across this one. This guy did sad like few others. I had suggested the more upbeat Waltz #2 for one of our wedding reception songs but my wife shot that one down as still too depressing. As an aside, though I've long listened to Smith's music, I only recently discovered that he grew up as a Rush fan (along with the other usual suspects, like Dylan and the Beatles). Not something you normally expect from a an Indie folk rock outsider, though Rush were always outsiders as well, so maybe it makes some sense. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqcap3F_bKQ

And a close second... RIP

Resurrecting this thread as no song had stuck out to me before until I recalled this. The only song or video that has ever made me tear up.

Yes!

This Mortal Coil It'll End in Tears -- Kangaroo/Song to the Siren/Holocaust

XTC Black Sea -- Sgt Rock (Is Going to Help Me)/Travels in Nihilon

Pixies Trompe Le Monde -- Motorway to Roswell/The Navajo Know My Bloody Valentine Loveless -- Soon Teenage Fanclub Bandwagonesque -- Alcoholiday/Guiding Star/Is This Music? Along with Nirvana's Nevermind, the alt rock masterpieces of 1991. What a year.

And I'll nominate Trompe Le Monde's Trompe Le Monde, Planet of Sound, and Alec Eiffel. One of my favorite albums. The last minute of Alec Eiffel is so cool. Very prog.