Entre_Perpetuo

Muse? Wow, did not expect to see them mentioned! Good on you! I enjoy them a lot. Thank goodness for the Internet or I never would have found them. Back before I discovered Muse I basically didn't listen to music made after the "classic rock" period (bad term, I know). Then some dude online said "hey man, I really like this band muse and I think you would like 'em to cause they're a little bit like Queen!" I said sure, he sent me some videos, Time Is Running Out became my favorite Muse song and I've been in love with them ever since. Now I'm supremely "psych(o)"-ed for the new album this June! I remember you had that signature with a bunch of album covers on it a while back and I remember seeing Black Holes and Revelations on there. Can I assume those were some of your favorite albums?

Top three bands: Queen, Rush, and Muse, in that order. And Queen's only got Rush beat out cause I found them first. Plus no band will ever have a song that represents their entire career better than Queen with Bohemian Rhapsody.

Xanadu (full rendition) Just picture it, the lights suddenly go way down, the crowd hushes, the screen is black, and a single low bass pedal can be heard throughout the arena. Slowly but surely people begin to understand and realize that the greatest miracle of the night is occurring, and they begin to cheer, but not too loud, the song's only just begun. Woodblocks and chimes and violin guitar notes shimmer and fade in throughout the arena until Alex starts playing that signature riff. Once, twice, a couple more times then....BOOM!! Lights go up, spot on Alex, drums and bass come in with a crash, and the crowd breaks into full on cheering as the song explodes into epicness. That's how to start a concert.

Giant, rambly response to the conversation about bands and lineup changes and stuff: So anyway, people complaining about this possibly being Rush's last big tour? Yeah, that's annoying. I feel lucky to be able to see them at all, seeing as this will be my first ever Rush concert. If you've seen them like five times already and you're complaining, just remember the sixteen year old kid and his dad who are going to see them for the first time ever on this final tour and realize how lucky you are to have seen them all those times that you did.

Side one is quite possibly one of the most perfect roughly twenty minutes of music ever pressed onto vinyl. Side two is a major grower, but still nowhere near the perfection of side one. Unfortunately, I wasn't in love with the album at first since the only song I hadn't heard yet on side one was Red Barchetta (which was awesome, but only made for sixish minutes of newfound love beside fourteenish minutes of "heard it"), and side two initially disappointed me. TCE didn't live up to the high standards I had held for Rush epics for a long time (my dad caused me to love it later on though), Witch Hunt seemed to be going somewhere but then never living up to the buildup on my first many listens (I still consider it the albums weakest spot, though I've taken time and much care to listen more closely and found it's quite a great track), and while I loved Vital Signs, I wished it didn't end on a fade out and it didn't seem to compensate for the rest of side two's perceived lacklusterness at the time. I guess since I had been going in chronological order from 2112 on, even though I knew what eighties Rush sounded like (I had a good idea of it anyway) and I knew this album would be a major shift, Permanent Waves fooled me into thinking I would still hear a ton of seventies Rush on the album, which I'd obviously grown to adore by that point. So when I got to Moving Pictures and was disappointed by half of the songs I hadn't heard before and already knew three sevenths of the record by heart, something just seemed off. Where was the immortal Moving Pictures I'd been told was their best album ever? Why didn't The Camera Eye excite me near as much as any of the previous 7+ minute Rush songs I'd listened to? Why was Witch Hunt arguably less exciting? When it comes down to it, I think I was half asleep the first time I listened to the album, so TS, YYZ, and Limelight all seemed unexciting since I'd already heard them, Red Barchetta made impact, but not a whole album's worth, The Camera Eye and Witch hunt failed to stimulate my sleepy brain enough for me to okay close attention to them, and, if it hadn't been for Vital Signs' sudden loudness, weirdness, and cool synth line/bassine, I might have been permanently disappointed. Time did do its healing though, and now I see how amazing the whole album is. WH is still the weakest moment, but everything on the record is much better than I first thought.

My show's not till June, so it will be really very tough, but I can probably keep from seeing spoilers if I distract myself with loads of schoolwork. However, my Dad will probably find out...and somehow manage to tell me or get me to look...gah! I wanna know! But I don't...

I just discovered this exists....awesome. Superbly awesome. I'd call it a true collaboration, though the writing style isn't very Rush.

Clockwork Angels > Hemispheres Yes! Hemi just didn't do it for me on the first few listens. CA, on the other hand, blew me away right after I got used to the lower voice (was my second Rush album, first being 2112).

1. A Farewell To Kings 2. Permanent Waves 2.5. Moving Pictures 2.75. Signals 3. 2112 (the title track is not allowed to leave my top three, I just can't bear it) 4. Clockwork Angels 5. Power Windows 6. Caress Of Steel 7. Hemispheres 8. Grace Under Pressure 9. Presto 10. Test For Echo

Hip hip! Bologna! At any rate. Happy birthday! I was actually just listening to GuP yesterday.

Rush--Most YEAOOW!!! OOHHH YEAH!! Fly By Night--Most astonishing sonic advancement over predecessor Caress Of Steel--Most surprising commercial failure 2112--Most best song A Farewell To Kings--Most madri-cal ;) (yes, I've used that one before) Hemispheres--most over-perfect Permanent Waves--Most fresh on every listen Moving Pictures--Most perfect first side ever Signals--Most wonderfully nerdy Grace Under Pressure--Most haunting Power Windows--Most perfect synthesis of synthesizers in a hard rock band of all time Hold Your Fire--Most controversial Presto--Most guilty pleasure Roll The Bones--Most poorly affected by production Counterparts--Most attempted grunginess Test For Echo--Most plain old rockin' ... Clockwork Angels--Most awesome album since Moving Pictures

So I had a random idea. List every album as the most ____ of them all! I'll be back later with my list. Go for it! :)

Those original versions would still be there for you to enjoy. It's just that reinterpreting some of those songs could be cool. Imagine how an 80's synthfest song given a 70's vibe might appeal? Hrm...well, yeah I guess your right. I would probably enjoy both versions. So at any rate, how's about getting a re-recording of Finding My Way through Working Man with Peart on drums?

I think they'd have more success from just remastering/remixing the albums which are in most need of better sound than actually changing their already recorded material. Someone somewhere loves that one aspect of that one song which you hate (e.g. I love all the synthiness of Power Windows, and the rap in Roll The Bones really makes the song a highlight of its album for me), and changing it would break their heart. ...however, it would be interesting to hear the debut recorded with Peart.

Tom Sawyer? Oh, yes. You see that song goes up to eleven. It's one better. ;)

I thought she died from cancer a few years back? Or am I thinking of someone else? :( That's sad...

Thanks for your input. I'll definitely be looking up other sources, but to have my exact questions answered would certainly be most helpful. I hadn't considered a regular letter; it sounds interesting, and probably a great idea. :)

Thanks! Advice (and realistic prediction) appreciated! :)

Find Neil's address and just knock on his door. Make sure you wear a Rush shirt, he likes that. Knowing enough about Peart and his preferences with fans, somehow I don't think that would end very well... Thanks anyway! :)

Thanks :)

So I'm a junior in high school and I'm in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. For the IB program (which lasts through both my junior and senior years), I have to write a four thousand word extended essay on a topic of my choice. I have chosen the topic of Rush's 2112, namely its lyrics and its mass cultural impact. Put (semi) simply, over the course of the next year (starting about now), I will be writing a four thousand word essay examining the lyrics and cultural impact of Rush's breakthrough album in order to explore the question of why 2112 had and has continued to have such a prominent cultural impact including its lasting and incredible effect on Rush's fanbase. At the present moment I have not begun writing yet, but I am gathering a list of sources which I may intend to cite in the paper. While I was talking with my school librarian earlier about finding good sources for such an essay, she suggested I try to find a way of setting up some kind of interview (anything from exchanging e-mails to meeting in person) with the man behind the lyrics, Neil Peart. I think this would be absolutely awesome, but I'm not sure how to make it happen. So I've come here to ask you all: what do you guys think of the idea of setting up some kind of interview with Neil where I can ask him questions about his lyrics on 2112 and his opinions about the reasons for the albums humongous and lasting popularity and impact? If I were to do this, what would be the best way to contact Neil and set this up? What kind of interview should it be? Email? Social media? In person? What do you guys want to know that I could ask Neil regarding the topics my essay will be covering (2112, lyrics, cultural impact, effect on fanbase, etc.)? Should I ask questions regarding anything other than my essay What other ideas/opinions do you guys have that might be useful? I'm asking the fan base's advice on this, so feel free to ask other Rush fans you know what they think. ...and go. :)

hrm... Mystic Rhythms Hemispheres Witch Hunt The Big Wheel Afterimage Leave That Thing Alone The Necromancer The Pass Turn The Page Prime Mover Just to be clear, I love like all but two of these songs very very much.

Dude, they HAVE to play Fly By Night now, I can't believe I didn't realize it before. Opening a medley with it would also be pretty sweet. Only foreseeable unreality I see with your medley is that Ged kind of hates Lakeside Park...and pretty much anything pre-2112 for that matter. And welcome welcome welcome! :)

Xanadu... ...probably not.

Counterparts was a huge return to form sound-wise after the previous two albums' quietness and the 80sness of a number of other previous albums (not that that was necessarily a bad thing; it went well with the music at the time). It was about time Rush not only wrote mainly guitar driven songs that rocked hard (some of the eighties rocked hard and wasn't guitar driven, RTB was the opposite), but that they had a definite rock production as well. That said, Rush's greatest sound and production is undeniably found on PeW and MP. Those two albums are in a realm of their very own, perhaps that of the greatest produced albums of all time.