Wil1972

Tie between Hot in the Shade and Asylum. But I voted Shade.

I guess the comparison to the first Rush album is not really surprising because Rush was compared to Zep at the time. As Gene Simmons referred to Rush as 'what the hell is this? Canadian Zeppelin?'. But once Neil came aboard they quickly migrated to something different knowing that they didn't want to be known as Zep clones. So I guess the Gretas got everyone's attention with the first album, but the real test is where they go from here. If they continue with the Zep clone stuff, they'll burn out quickly.

 

They just haven't found their Neil Peart yet.

Rage in the Cage - J Geils Band

Resurrecting this thread because I've been listening to them a lot lately. Love Primary, In Between Days, and most of Disintegration and Wish, their two best albums IMO. End and Just One Kiss are personal favorite deep cuts.

Elder is a good album but maybe not a good KISS album... It's just so far outside of their wheelhouse. Kind of like Yes doing a Love Gun. It is strangely attractive though. Most of the material is solid, although "Odyssey" is dreadful. If "I" had been on any other makeup-era KISS album it would be hailed as a KISS classic.

For my two cents, I've never griped with any of his 70s stuff. You want to write fantasy lyrics? Fine by me, as long as they portray a likable fantasy. Most often I find they do. In fact many of his non-fantasy lyrics from the 70s I love as well. Something For Nothing, Circumstances, In The End. I find these personally inspiring. As far as his 80s lyrics, I like them just as much, but for different reasons. He trades in fantasy references for a kind of everyday social motivation/commentary that I find unforgettable and affirming. Natural Science, Limelight, Subdivisions, Losing It, The Camera Eye. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. Heck, I can get some pretty motivational meaning out of Tom Sawyer with a little bit of work. I do think he started having some notable misses around HYF/Presto. I've never cared so much for his word game lyrics (though Red Lenses has a couple nice lines and works well with Ged's delivery). Also, once his everyday life lyrics started getting very on the nose, they lost their magic. However, I don't really mind until CP. Some of the lyrics on that album are just unpleasant to hear, cringey at best really. T4E isn't quite as bad, but mostly trades in an acute displeasure for a dull boredom. I've never really read much of the lyrics on VT actually, and the production is such that I don't really pay attention to them when I listen to it, but what I have made out of them has been a return to form. SnA is where Neil begins to get too preachy for my taste (Faithless could easily be my least favorite Rush song, by the numbers ballad with lyrics I truly dislike). But CA brings it all back home for me with Neil's grand return to fantasy, something I believe he writes well. Were there another album in the works, I would hope Neil would mine his fantasy side for inspiration once again, as I don't think he ever lost his touch in that genre of lyric.

 

I think that Snakes & Arrows contains couple of Neil's best lyrics. People who call songs like Faithless ''preachy'' are usually those who are offended because they contain a view that is different than their own.

 

Faithless does contain a view different than my own, and I don’t disrespect Neil for holding that view. However I still dislike the lyric of it, the same way I dislike most Christian rock for being too preachy, despite the fact I believe the vast majority of the content myself.

 

Well your first sentence confirms my suspicion. Neil's lyrics have always been kind of ''preachy''. Some like them and some do not. Faithless is in my opinion a very strong lyric and the only dislike seems to come from adults who for some reason believe in these children's stories that are called religion.

 

I don't like Faithless because it sucks as a song, like about 75% of that album.

Cool article.

Rush lyrics are like members of this forum:

Most of them don't make sense, they think they're smarter than they are, and they peaked in the 80s!

 

Some are peaking right now... :smoke:

Contents under Pressure is good even though the author's writing style is clunky. But it's a nice look at their albums and tours.

 

Skip to the 1:30 mark.

 

 

Good stuff!

 

Skip to the 1:30 mark.

 

Clearly, having no interest in The Carpenters on the principle that they sounded lame very nearly deprived me of hearing one of the most underrated drummers of all time. Yowza!

 

I'm not a big fan of their music either but Karen was quite the drummer.

I think Micky Dolenz deserves more respect.

 

He wasn't even the best drummer in The Monkees...

 

Haha, yep -- that would be Davy Jones.

 

Skip to the 1:30 mark.

Anything about his Wals?

there's 4 of them in most rooms.

 

and at least one dor.

 

That's off the Wal.

58. King's X - Faith Hope Love

Saw them 7 times over 20 years... But wasn't able to make the R40 tour due to personal issues at the time. I am so glad they released a DVD of it though.

I think Micky Dolenz deserves more respect.

RIP.. Grew up on Laverne and Shirley.

Catch the spit

 

 

6. Lock And Key

 

The albums most infectious and catchy moment. Seriously the chorus here is unbelievably hooky!

 

Don’t want to silence

A desperate voice

For the sake of security

No one wants to make

A terrible choice

On the price of being free

I don’t want to face

The killer instinct —

Face it in you or me

So we keep it under lock and key…

 

Amazing lyrics and yet you can sing along to this and forget it has a deeper message. I could imagine in an alternate universe this song being a big hit. One of the best sounding songs on the while album, Alex is an absolute beast on this track!

 

Beautiful and for the synth era, quite heavy.

 

And six songs in I need to just say that Geddy sounds absolutely wonderful vocally. I love his eighties voice. More restrained and so rich!

 

10/10

 

Easily the worst song - along with Tai-Shan - on that album, IMO. Never could dig this one.

4. Second Nature

 

I have said before that for a long time this album was my number one. Four songs in, it may still be my favourite Rush album.

 

Powerful, beautiful songwriting. The synths sound so glorious here and it is just...well...it hits me hard emotionally. I find this album very therapeutic.

 

You could apply these words here to the world at large, or as I do, to how life is for each of us as individuals. We all want to see things in life change. But we can't always, but we can still try.

 

Today is different,

And tomorrow the same

It’s hard to take the world

The way that it came

Too many rapids

Keep us sweeping along

Too many captains

Keep on steering us wrong

It’s hard to take the heat —

It’s hard to lay blame

To fight the fire —

While we’re

Feeding the flames

 

9/10

 

An underrated song.

Rubber Soul-Revolver-Sgt Pepper-Magical Mystery Tour- White Album, hands down.

Someone needs to do this for Signals.

 

There’s one for Subdivisions somewhere that I’ve heard

 

Cool, I'll have to find that, thanks!

Someone needs to do this for Signals.

I Think I'm Going Bald definitely sounds more like debut material; as mentioned Vital Signs sounds like Signals. I think a lot of AFTK and Hemispheres sound interchangeable. And SnA sounds like a bonus disc of outtakes from My Favorite Headache.

Some bonus...

 

Haha! Exactly.