Wil1972

We can add different versions of songs since there are so many artist variants but we can add other winter holiday songs so this list can go on as long as it needs to

 

1) Holly Jolly Christmas- Burl Ives

 

 

2) Christmas Song - Jethro Tull

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzH0O44xs9s

 

3. I Believe in Father Christmas - ELP

1. The Beatles

 

2. Rush

 

3. Yes

 

4. Steely Dan

 

5. U2

.

RIP... Great memories from Hee Haw.

http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19820100kerrang.htm

I love Rush but a movie about them?

 

It would be dull.

 

I mean Beyond the Lighted Stage on them was basically a movie, and what an amazing "documentary" that was.

 

Agreed but there is a big difference between a really personal documentary and the telling of a story of three nice guys who form a rock band and do drugs and stay friends and cause no controversy ever.

 

That's a typical Canadian soap, right? :-D

RIP

 

Excelsior!

I have the Replay X3 box set and I'll throw on this DVD as background noise/viewing. Never bothered getting the vinyl.

 

ATWAS is a better album, GuP live is my favourite live DVD and Hands is fun too

 

GuP is stellar. In spite of the collective fashion disaster on display by the band.

My vinyl copies of 2112 and A Farewell to Kings came with some dude's graph paper drawings of different Rush logos folded up inside the sleeves. I appreciate the nerdiness.

 

I found a copy of KISS Alive on vinyl and someone left notebook pages of their "sign in" book where his friends listed things like their favorite foods, films, groups, etc. Fun little random thing.

My mint vinyl copy (sans the shrinkwrap which got damaged in a move and I removed) of Exit... Stage Left I bought 25 years ago. Still smells new.

Is this anyone's favourite live album?

 

I think many fans hold it in high regard in spite of its overproduction. I do for sure. It impressed the heck out of me that they sound that good live. The Exit... Stage Left concert DVD is essential viewing.

 

So I continue my marathon with the final album of the second stage. Honestly have no expectations. This is a live album, cool setlist, and to be honest absolutely no hype.

 

Is this a good one? Will I enjoy it? Live albums are very hit or miss for me, with All The World's A Stage proving to be a major hit.

 

But I will just enjoy this for what it is, and leave my thoughts below.

 

Pros: it's Rush at their peak and the set list is amazing.

 

Cons: those annoying spaces between the tracks.

I saw one with a hype sticker but realized when I was about to share it that it was a remastered version. Still looking for an original.

.

 

Interview in Classic Rock. Reading between the lines, Lee, and presumably Lifeson, didn’t initially comprehend Peart’s decision to retire - “I started to understand”. Interesting that he mentions that “since then” they’ve remained friends which suggests there was some friction in the initial decision.

 

Link to whole article?

 

It's on issuu, which I find hard to read; I'm going to buy the magazine! (I have to keep hitting the + button too many times! ) But here is the link, the interview is on Page 36.

 

https://issuu.com/pr...-_december_2018

 

Thanks!

 

Interview in Classic Rock. Reading between the lines, Lee, and presumably Lifeson, didn’t initially comprehend Peart’s decision to retire - “I started to understand”. Interesting that he mentions that “since then” they’ve remained friends which suggests there was some friction in the initial decision.

 

Link to whole article?

Outside of Driven, Resist and Time and Motion, TFE really is hit and miss. Some mediocre tracks. Though I will say Carve Away the Stone never fails to be an odd little earworm for me.

It is annoyingly intriguing, isn't it? :P

 

A clever element of the song is how the aimless, meandering yet circular repetition of the song mirrors the punishment endured by the cursed Sisyphus.

 

 

Sisyphus, Ixion, and Tantalus...

 

 

https://www.ancient....n-and-tantalus/

 

It certainly gets stuck in my head! :-)

Outside of Driven, Resist and Time and Motion, TFE really is hit and miss. Some mediocre tracks. Though I will say Carve Away the Stone never fails to be an odd little earworm for me.

Limelight is the song that made me a fan as well. I knew who Rush was before that since the radio played their hits a lot. But I never really paid attention to the songs much. Then one day when I was 14 Limelight came on the radio and for the first time I actually paid attention to the lyrics. They really struck a chord with me. I thought "Wow, nobody else writes lyrics like that". I bought Chronicles not too long after that which is a great compilation to introduce the band to someone. Started getting their albums and they've been my favorite band for 25 years now.

 

Chronicles was my first too.

Only an 8? You don't know nothing, buddy lol.

 

I don't think about their other epics too often when listening to Natural Science. I think it's a great song that stands very well on its own. Never got the impression they were recycling sounds from past songs.

 

10/10

 

When I listen to this album, I always feel slightly disappointed by it. Now I have never tried to explain why before but chose to do so with this thread.

 

Permanent Waves was my third Rush album after both MP and 2112, and I remember still not finding it completely enthralling. All I've done here is try to give some thought as to why after several years I still don't quite love this album as much as others.

 

Note I said "as much". Because love this album I do. I tried to make that as clear as possible haha

 

But you're supposed to love it as much as we do!

6. Natural Science

 

This album is bookended by two very accomplished and beautiful experiments in style and technique. Natural Science carries a lot of the grand ferocity of the Cygnus epics, balancing that with the grace and beauty of the more arrestingly seductive likes of Xanadu or La Villa Strangiato.

 

Sadly, though, it doesn't really offer enough fresh ideas to really match the true grandeur and uniqueness of the best of the last three albums. I know Natural Science is beloved by many. But its always been a "very good" epic Rush song to my ears.

 

I just think by this point they were right to tone down the extravagant proggier side of their sound, because Natural Science is the result of what had been intended to be a much bigger, ambitious epic. If this is a culmination of all the best elements of it, then I think they were right to cut it down to size. Because what we have here is more of, and I hate to say this, the same.

 

But I sound more heavily critical than I ought too. I really do admire and enjoy this song, and whilst it doesn't end the album at the same level as it began, it damn well tries too, and almost succeeds.

 

8/10

 

Have to disagree here. NatSci is one of their best epics. I understand your criticisms but to me PeW is a darn near masterpiece, only surpassed by MP.

 

I hear you! But I've never disliked this album, I just don't love it as much as many others.

 

But 8/10 is a high score and it does not deserve anything less. If you think its stronger, I truly cannot argue. Every song is full of merit, but some fans are bound to prefer certain records over others.

 

Exactly. At least you rank it pretty high.

5. Different Strings

 

There is once more some of that rather enjoyable fantasy imagery at play in the lyrics. This is also another very good example of Rush toying with dynamics and creating truly beautiful sounds. But the song is missing a little something for me. It feels like it is building for a climax that never arrives, and whilst the chorus has some more beautiful lyrics, it is still not amongst the finest songs that Rush have in their arsenal. It feels similar in style to the likes of Tears or Closer To The Heart, but not quite as accomplished or as affecting as either.

 

Still, a lovely, if mildly forgettable, soft ballad from a band that has and will continue to do this sort of thing better.

 

7/10

 

Different Strings is the Madrigal of this album; by itself it's a rather inconsequential track, but within the framework and flow of the album, it - and Madrigal - works.

 

Not sure, because I love Madrigal as a standalone track, whilst for me Different Strings is almost dull, and whilst it takes nothing away from the impact of Natural Science, it adds little either. Madrigal worked as an intermission between the more fantasy themed earlier tracks and the darker, moodier science fiction of the last. Different Strings merely blurs Entre Nous and Natural Science together to create a rather underwhelming finale to what had started out as another perfect Rush album.

 

Madrigal is just okay to me on its own.

5. The Camera Eye

 

I've heard fans call this song one of the least impressive Rush epics.

 

I think they got it wrong, and instead talked about Natural Science instead.

 

The Camera Eye is one of the greatest Rush songs of all time! And yes I know I say This a lot, but trust me you won't be hearing it as often once this album is over. The Camera Eye is a lushly produced beauty. I love the production here, it sounds warm and bright, whilst the music is heavy and at times very muscular. It takes all the lessons they learned from their seventies prog successes and adapts all those best elements for the eighties. No longer do we have the mystical feel of Xanadu, or the ambitious and overtly dramatic twists and turns of the two part Cygnus X-1 epics. K stead we have a longas song infused with the new stylistic approach of the likes of Spirit Of Radio or Limelight. This is Rush using their heads to draw upon their past and move their sound forwards, perfecting all my minor issues I had about the previous album.

 

The Camera Eye is in no way disappointing. I have always loved this song, and I shall continue to shout it's defence! I think its mostly well regarded anyway, but I personally feel that it is far greater than it is given credit for.

 

The Camera Eye is a major reason why Moving Pictures outlasted being simply "my first Rush album" and instead endure as one of my all time favourite records by any band ever.

 

Side one had the amazing Red Barchetta. It has its equal on side 2 in The Camera Eye. I regard both as mini-epics, as I think their running time are outweighed by the absolute onslaught of terrific narrative and thematic ideas, and phenomenal execution.

 

Rush continued to evolve beautifully and it is an aweinspiring thing to observe and hear.

 

10/10

 

For years this was my least favorite track on the album. Now it's Witch Hunt. But I love every song on here. TCE just took longer.

1. Tom Sawyer

 

I really do not know what to say about this song. It was the first Rush song O ever heard, and the very first play made me sit up and take notice. It sounded like nothing I had ever heard before, and I immediately liked it. The synths, the drumming, the rhythm, the vocals (I had no issue with them at all), the strange song structure...even now my brain cannot make sense of it and I never tire of listening too it! It is one of the greatest rock songs the world has ever seen!

 

It has groove and the way it develops never ceases to pull me in. I know for many fans this is overplayed, but considering I have never heard Rush on the radio or been exposed to a the same old stylist staples tour after tour, I can safely say this song still sounds fresh and exciting to my ears.

 

I don't really have a clue what it's about and I don't need too. It's a classic and one I hope I never tire of.

 

And for the record, I enjoy this song more than Spirit Of Radio, which is the closest song I can think of to this one.

 

And a sidenote: Rush have the most surreal sounding hit singles.

 

10/10

 

Tom Sawyer is a gateway drug for many into the world of Rush.

6. Natural Science

 

This album is bookended by two very accomplished and beautiful experiments in style and technique. Natural Science carries a lot of the grand ferocity of the Cygnus epics, balancing that with the grace and beauty of the more arrestingly seductive likes of Xanadu or La Villa Strangiato.

 

Sadly, though, it doesn't really offer enough fresh ideas to really match the true grandeur and uniqueness of the best of the last three albums. I know Natural Science is beloved by many. But its always been a "very good" epic Rush song to my ears.

 

I just think by this point they were right to tone down the extravagant proggier side of their sound, because Natural Science is the result of what had been intended to be a much bigger, ambitious epic. If this is a culmination of all the best elements of it, then I think they were right to cut it down to size. Because what we have here is more of, and I hate to say this, the same.

 

But I sound more heavily critical than I ought too. I really do admire and enjoy this song, and whilst it doesn't end the album at the same level as it began, it damn well tries too, and almost succeeds.

 

8/10

 

Have to disagree here. NatSci is one of their best epics. I understand your criticisms but to me PeW is a darn near masterpiece, only surpassed by MP.