Modern_Day_Warrior

Dire Straits

I'll do one each for some of my favorite bands. Rush comes first. Hm.......... It's really hard to decide, but I think it comes down to either Fly By Night or La Villa Strangiato. I'll have to Fly By Night, just because it is so nostalgic, how the chords are slightly out of tune to give it a cool edge. Led Zeppelin, also a hard one, but I think it would have to go to Since I've Been Loving You. Although Stairway has the classic intro, I have to go with this because it is so smooth and sublime, until it builds up to the main song. The Who!!!!! This is a really hard one! There are soooooo many. Here is a short list: Baba O'Riley, Who Are You, Eminence Front, Won't Get Fooled Again, Pinball Wizard, Love Reign O'er Me, and My Generation. But out of all of those it comes down to just two: Baba O'Riley and Love Reign O'er Me. Baba is just incredible, and those opening synths are the sound of freedom. But I do have to applaud Love's use of classical piano. I just have to pick Baba, though, just amazing. Jimi Hendrix! All Along The Watchtower and Machine Gun come to mind. Machine Gun is the best for Jimi, because of how awesome and iconic it is. And finally, the best band for intros (in my opinion), Pink Floyd. There are so many it would take another post to list them all. Here is a compiled list: Astronomy Domine, One Of These Days, Echoes, Time, Great Gig, Shine On, Wish You Were Here, Dogs, Pigs, Sheep, and many, many more. Out of all of these I can reduce it to five: One Of These Days, Echoes, Shine On, Wish You Were Here, and Sheep. OoTD is really awesome, with the reverse cymbals and bass, Echoes is a master of buildup, as well as Shine On, and WYWH has a great guitar solo, and Sheep is keyboard wizardry. Overall, though, the grand prize goes to Echoes, for best intro by Pink Floyd, and best intro OF ALL TIME. I love how it just starts out with the single high noise, and it slowly builds up to the wonderful first line, "Overhead the albatross, hangs motionless upon the air, and deep beneath the rolling waves, in labyrinths of coral caves." Thanks to anyone who read this whole post!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that's not just my bias towards Zeppelin over some sh*t band called Spirit, it also just doesn't make sense. In the song Taurus, the supposed inspiration for Stairway To Heaven comes in around 30 seconds into the song. It is similar, but it does have its differences. Taurus goes downwards, whilst Stairway goes up. Also, if Led Zep copied my song, I would be happy! And it also happened 40 years ago! Why are they just taking it to court now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alex Lifeson v Eddie Van Halen? That's a no brainer. I would definitely choose Alex! Alex is extremely versatile; he can play a ripping riff with a ton of overdrive and then play a fluid, dynamic solo that flows and cries with emotion. Eddie Van Halen just plays really damn fast. I think the best example of Alex's guitar skill is La Villa Strangiato. It starts with a little acoustic guitar solo, before changing to a dreamy section with keyboards and glockenspiel. After that, an epic guitar riff comes in, followed by his best solo, the one in A Lerxst In Wonderland. It is so amazing, and it just screams with emotion. After that comes Monsters!, which was a good riff, then some jazz fusion stuff, and a cool blues section, before returning to the main theme/riff. An incredible show of guitar skill: and he holds it up for 10 minutes! Overall, however, I would have to say the best guitarist of all time is Jimi Hendrix. He was soooooo innovative! Every guitarist after Jimi shows some bit of him in them. I was quite angry that Brian May, of all people, won against Jimi. I mean, sure, May is good and all, but he isn't Hendrix. Another thing I was surprised about was how high Alex got. On most other voted lists he comes in at somewhere in the low 60's.

I had to go with Rush In Rio for this one. When I was deciding, the first choice I knocked out was A Show Of Hands, simply because it is almost all 80's Rush, and I am a much bigger fan of the 70's stuff. I knocked out Different Stages after that, just because for some reason I've never liked it much. Next I knocked out Exit Stage Left. I know, I know, that's surprising and all, seeing as it is one of their more popular live albums, but compared to the two that would be left after that, it doesn't stand a chance. That left me with All The World's a Stage and Rush In Rio. This was really close, and don't get me wrong, I LOVE ATWAS, but Rush In Rio came in first. I love Rush In Rio for many reasons. The setlist was excellent, covering a good bit of their music, the bass tone was bloody amazing, the crowd was great, and I love how you can hear them singing along in YYZ. Also, Alex Lifeson's monologue thing in La Villa Strangiato is absolutely hilarious. Rock On! \m/ (^_^) \m/