diatribein

Bruce Dickinson spent an entire career doing vocal exercises, meticulous warm-ups and taking care of his voice in every conceivable manner. With proper care one can have very few repercussions from a lifetime of singing. Geddy never did any of that and by his own admission spent a great deal of the 70s & 80s screaming out vocal melodies. That kind of stuff does do damage, especially when you don't take the extra care before the show to warm up properly. Not that Geddy was ever close to Bruce Dickinson in terms of singing ability, but the wear and tear is certainly manifesting itself a lot more on Geddy because of the way he treated his vocal chords for all those years.

Diatribein is too much of a poser for RUSHHEAD666. I guess it really is time to check into poser rehab. .

I don't actually think Signals sucks, but Kid Gloves, man! That song is off the rails great!!!

The issue isn't with Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer being in KISS, the issue is them wearing the Ace Frehley & Peter Criss makeup & costumes and adopting a stage persona & singing style that mimics them. My favourite KISS lineups don't have Peter Criss in them. I would take any of the Eric Carr (except Animalize) lineups over any others. I was more than happy with the last lineup before the reunion with Eric Singer & Bruce Kulick in the band. Heck I LOVE Carnival of Souls and think it might be KISS's best album. So, no my problem isn't the fact that Ace & Peter were replaced. The problem is these two guys in the Ace & Peter costumes are making a mokery of the band. It's a really bad joke. Either take the stupid makeup off or let them develop their own unique makeup and persona. Thayer copying Ace's stage movements, unique singing style and general demeanour is particularly nauseating. Your analogy would only work if they hired some dude who would wear the same sort of skull-cap hats and tried to look exactly like Neil behind the drum kit while mimicking his drum style to the nth degree. It would only be apt if Geddy & Alex try to fool the paying public into believing Neil is still there by using some Neil clone. That makes the band into a joke, which is exactly what post 2002 KISS is. It's a carnival show or a Los Vegas act. It is a waste of everybody's time. RUSH with Dave Lombardo or Mike Portonoy or Mike Mangini would be fine for most fans as long as Geddy & Alex are honest and treat the new drummer with respect; not turn him into some drum playing cardboard cutout of Neil Peart. There will always be purists who demand there be no lineup changes ever, but that is the minority. Just look at one of the most successful rock bands of the last 20 years, Pear Jam. How many drummers have they had? Honestly, in a four to five instrument rock band (voice is an instrument) the easiest and most seamless part to replace is the drums. I think the only real place that the loss would be felt would be if Neil is not part of the writing process, since his lyrics are unique and a staple of the band's sound (whether you like them or not, this is true).

I've got that! :7up:

This is a really interesting statement! I haven't thought of it that way. Certainly the tinny treble overload sound is a huge problem for both of those albums, but I agree that the songwriting was in many ways superior to some of the more recent albums; Clockwork Angels being the most egregious offender. I still feel like there is a drop-off from the stellar work of the 80s synth era albums, both in terms of songs and sound especially on Presto, but I hadn't thought of Rupert Hine's contributions beyond the overall sound. Of course this is a faulty way to think about things, because of course producers are heavily involved in arrangements and would be responsible for all the things you mentioned. I think my takeaway is that those two albums ended up being a real mixed bag of wonderful and problematic, but overall came out better than many of the subsequent albums, especially Clockwork Angels, Vapor Trails, and Counterparts. Thank you for bringing up this point.

You were a teen/early 20s in the 80s? I was a preteen to teen in the 80s. Didn't hit my 20s until well into the 90s! Grace Under Pressure was the album that was out when I first became aware of music.

Bravest Face is EASILY one of the 5 best songs recorded by the band this millennium. In fact, I think all of them are on this album! Great lyrics and an amazing acoustic guitar riff by Alex. What's not to like?!?!

When I was listening to Faithless yesterday I thought, "Maybe I was too hard on it. It's not so bad." A couple of minutes later while the song was still going, I thought, "Come on end already! Jeez, why don't you end?!! End!!!" :P That's exactly how I feel about Clockwork Angels! It just keeps going and going and going for seven and a half damn minutes!!! It is unrelentingly bad. Faithless is wonderful and even if you happen not to like it, there is still a full 2 minutes less of it. I admit that Faithless isn't musically one of the 5 best tracks on Snakes & Arrows though. It really is more of a powerhouse in terms of lyrics. That is where the song really shines. Still, there is so much other awesomeness to choose from on this album, that one can hardly worry about this one song.

1. Nuno Bettencourt 2. Alex Lifeson 3. Warren Cuccurullo 4. Vito Bratta 5. Eddy Van Halen So I guess that means yes.

Dude, listen with your ears. Instrumentals are usually very melodic. Jeez. Instrumentals are boring and put me to sleep. My ears don't work as well when sleeping. Sorry. No, but honestly I think instrumentals are a waste of time in rock music. They are fine as a classical piece or a score for a film/show, but I have no use for them otherwise. There is never a point in my life when I actively want to put on an instrumental to listen to it. I love RUSH, but like none of their entirely instrumental compositions. I tend to hate the word "filler" that is bandied about so loosely on this board, but if I would use that word for anything it would be to describe ALL of the instrumentals on the various RUSH albums. The only thing they do for me is take up space that would otherwise be reserved for a complete song with lyrics and vocals. Hand Over Fist started off as an instrumental until they found it handy to fit some lyrics to it. Headlong Flight as well. I like Hand Over Fist in part because of the lyrics. Had it been an instrumental, I would not have bothered with it. I WISH Headlong Flight had been an instrumental, because then it wouldn't have been released as a single and I could ignore it! I really dislike that song. It irritates me to no end that it was the 1st single from Clockwork Angels and that it is held in such high esteem by RUSH fans. I consider it the 3rd worst song on Clockwork Angels (Behind Seven Cities of Gold & Clockwork Angles). It would be easier to disregard if it was just an instrumental. No. I just don't listen to it, ever. I almost never listen to whole albums. I used to have YYZ on my RUSH Part I mix, but I dumped it for In The Mood because I realized that the only reason I had it on at all was because it was nominated for a Grammy and that it is held in high esteem by many. I decided that it wasn't so important to the RUSH catalogue that I had to have it in the 120 songs that I have in my mixes so I dropped it for a an actual single that RUSH played well into the 80s and feel pretty good about it. But no, I never sing to it. That would be silly and also imply that it is catchy, which it is not. .

What is the catalogue number on your Power Windows? ANC-1-1049, ANC-11049, VANK-1049, or ANK-1049? And while you are at it, let us know the # on Grace Under Pressure as well. Thanks! . The Grace and Windows are VANKs :) The Exit was something else.. I forget.. but it was the original CD tracklisting (no Bangkok) Thanks! The Power Windows VANK has a small error. Have you noticed it? The beginning of Emotion Detector is actually on the end of the Middletown Dreams track. Meaning if you pop in your CD and just press track 7, the beginning we be slightly cut. If you listen through there is no problem. All it means is that if you need to rip these songs to put on a mobile device or your computer you will need to reassemble Emotion Detector with some music editing software by attaching Middletown Dreams to the start of Emotion Detector and cutting a second before the original track start. I think i-tunes lets you set ripping times to be X seconds before the start too, so that would work as well. If you want to put the album on shuffle or listen to it out of order, you are shit out of luck. Exit... is probably WAGK-1035. That is the most common one.

Dude, listen with your ears. Instrumentals are usually very melodic. Jeez. Instrumentals are boring and put me to sleep. My ears don't work as well when sleeping. Sorry. No, but honestly I think instrumentals are a waste of time in rock music. They are fine as a classical piece or a score for a film/show, but I have no use for them otherwise. There is never a point in my life when I actively want to put on an instrumental to listen to it. I love RUSH, but like none of their entirely instrumental compositions. Okay. The fact remains that a melody can be played on any instrument. It don't need words. That is fine, but by the definition of the word CATCHY in regards to ROCK MUSIC (not classical, not jazz, no other forms of primarily instrumental music) is almost exclusively used to describe the VOCAL MELODY. I'm not making this shit up. Ask anyone who is not specifically a RUSH fan, but just generally likes rock music to list you the 10 songs they find to be most catchy and they will list you a bunch of songs with vocal melodies. That is kind of what rock music, and especially popular rock music, is all about. Nope. Riffs and licks are very catchy. All the way back to Chuck Berry. Rhythm and groove are incredibly catchy. Expand and accept! I am certainly not going to accept something ridiculous just because you think it is right. Go ahead and ask your not RUSH fan friends to list you what they think are catchy rock songs and see how many instrumentals they mention. My bet is zero. Maybe you should accept the fact your idea of what is catchy fails at identifying what most people enjoy in rock music. Oh and I listen to Iron Maiden who have plenty of large instrumentals parts within songs, but I know that Rime Of The Ancient Mariner isn't catchy, while Run To The Hills is. That is not to say which song I like better as a composition (Rime), it has to do with understanding the conventions of catchy rock music.

Dude, listen with your ears. Instrumentals are usually very melodic. Jeez. Instrumentals are boring and put me to sleep. My ears don't work as well when sleeping. Sorry. No, but honestly I think instrumentals are a waste of time in rock music. They are fine as a classical piece or a score for a film/show, but I have no use for them otherwise. There is never a point in my life when I actively want to put on an instrumental to listen to it. I love RUSH, but like none of their entirely instrumental compositions. Okay. The fact remains that a melody can be played on any instrument. It don't need words. That is fine, but the definition of the word CATCHY in regards to ROCK MUSIC (not classical, not jazz, not other forms of primarily instrumental music) is almost exclusively used to describe the VOCAL MELODY. I'm not making this shit up. Ask anyone who is not specifically a RUSH fan, but just generally likes rock music to list you the 10 songs they find to be most catchy and they will list you a bunch of songs with vocal melodies. That is kind of what rock music, and especially popular rock music, is all about. .

Dude, listen with your ears. Instrumentals are usually very melodic. Jeez. Muzak is based on the whole idea of vocals-free, easy listening melodies. I hardly think that invoking the merits of MUZAK should elicit any points with anyone that actually likes music! This must be the first time in history when I have made a point that is in agreement with Ted Nugent!!!

Dude, listen with your ears. Instrumentals are usually very melodic. Jeez. Instrumentals are boring and put me to sleep. My ears don't work as well when sleeping. Sorry. No, but honestly I think instrumentals are a waste of time in rock music. They are fine as a classical piece or a score for a film/show, but I have no use for them otherwise. There is never a point in my life when I actively want to put on an instrumental to listen to it. I love RUSH, but like none of their entirely instrumental compositions. I tend to hate the word "filler" that is bandied about so loosely on this board, but if I would use that word for anything it would be to describe ALL of the instrumentals on the various RUSH albums. The only thing they do for me is take up space that would otherwise be reserved for a complete song with lyrics and vocals.

Different Strings by default. The other 3 are all really terrible songs.

Beethoven's 5th? Vivaldi's Spring? The music from Star Wars? Countless sitcom theme songs? I guess the John Williams Star Wars score sorta catchy, but not really. I mean certainly the Imperial March (for example) is a brilliant piece of music that is wonderful to listen to, but as much as I like it, I don't really go around humming the tune. I do, all the time. :cheers: I think you are making my point. Within the domain of classical music (of which film scores should be included) melody is exclusively produced by instrumentation. Therefor what can be considered to be catchy must be derived from instrumentation since it is the only source of melody. Rock music does not follow these conventions. Melody is principally delivered with lyrics by vocal performance. Exceptions are usually like Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da where the melody hook is still in vocal form, but without the lyrics. Instrumentation alone is rarely considered the melody and therefor not really the part of the song normally associated with being catchy. Again, someone like Joe Satriani works melody in the form of guitar into his music, but he is not considered to be an artist that produces catchy music since his style of songwriting falls outside of what constitutes catchy rock music. .

Beethoven's 5th? Vivaldi's Spring? The music from Star Wars? Countless sitcom theme songs? I guess the John Williams Star Wars score sorta catchy, but not really. I mean certainly the Imperial March (for example) is a brilliant piece of music that is wonderful to listen to, but as much as I like it, I don't really go around humming the tune. I feel similarly about the classical pieces you noted. Vivaldi's Spring does have a very nice melody that is memorable, but catchy? Is catchy to you just the ability to be memorable? The only sitcom themes I can even remember have lyrics (Three's Company, The Jeffersons)... oh wait, I suppose there is the Simpsons theme, but I wouldn't call it catchy at all. Either way I would say that in the context of ROCK music (of which RUSH are certainly a part of), that lyrics & melody and the combination of the two are an essential component of catchiness. This is why someone like Joe Satriani is, at best, vaguely known by the public. If instrumentals were an important part of popular rock music, he would be huge and many of his songs would be considered catchy. Had RUSH been an exclusively instrumental band none of us would be here right now discussing them, because they would have never gotten past album #4. I look at the instrumentals they produce as more of an indulgence they can take because they have produced enough ROCK music people love (public outside of an insular fan community) that they can do some things (instrumentals for example) simply for their own edification. .

I don't understand how instrumentals can be considered catchy. There is nothing to sing along to. Melody is an integral part of catchiness for me.

Such a GREAT album! I only really ever skip the 3 instrumentals and Good News First. Everything else is just wonderful. If I am forced to pick a Top 10: 01. The Way the Wind Blows 02. Bravest Face 03. Workin' Them Angels 04. We Hold On 05. Far Cry 06. Faithless 07. The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum) 08. Spindrift 09. Armor and Sword 10. Good News First Honestly any one of the songs in my Top 5 could be #1 for me. They are all spectacular and among RUSH's finest work. This album also contains my absolute favourite lyrics by Neil. I really like his approach to social justice and atheism on Snakes & Arrows. It means so much to me to have such important topics that are very dear to me personally given a voice to in a thoughtful and engaging way. I cannot express enough how meaningful this album is to me from a lyrical perspective. .

Only have a handful of Anthems myself. I'd have a lot more but I didn't find out the different masterings until much later. I just picked up A Show Of Hands A2-1055 (https://www.discogs.com/Rush-A-Show-Of-Hands/release/5400570) to finally complete my collection. It is still mostly VANK & WANK with the ANMDs of Moving Pictures & 2112, but those very first pressings in the mid-80s are super hard to find since they made so few of them. Think about this, our population was 26 Million in 1985. CDs were expensive (roughly double the price of cassettes) and therefor an item that was only really affordable for a small subset of that population. To top it off, the majority of music sales were to people under 25 (especially teenagers) and you can see why there was little demand for these very first CDs ever pressed. Even a popular band like RUSH couldn't expect to sell more than a few thousand nationwide! It was only in the very late 80s and early 90s, when CDs started to become the more dominant format, because of people replacing their collection, that prices went down a bit and more units were sold. It was then that Anthem did larger pressings and those were all VANK & WANK. If those second pressings sold out then you got to the ANK & ANMD runs, but as you can see, only the most popular albums ever got to have a third run before the RUSH Remasters. They are difficult to find, but in my opinion very much worth it.

What is the catalogue number on your Power Windows? ANC-1-1049, ANC-11049, VANK-1049, or ANK-1049? And while you are at it, let us know the # on Grace Under Pressure as well. Thanks! .

You see, that it exactly how I feel about Side A of Hemispheres, Everything except Lakeside Park & Bastille Day on Caress Of Steel, Side A of Rush (1st album) and the two 10+ minute songs on A Farewell To Kings. They are all such a slog to get through and so much work to keep listening. I have to really force myself not to fast-forward through all of that stuff. Those over 10 minute long songs with all the starts and stops and weird fade-ins are way to trying for me to bother with. Music should be fun and engaging and I feel none of that with those songs. I just feel worn out. Snakes & Arrows is nothing like that for me. It is intense and inspiring from beginning to end and touches on so many things that I feel all the time. It is everything I want from music, not just RUSH. .

I don't have have an Anthem Moving Pictures CD so my fave so far is the Mobile Fidelity. I like the warmness of it. Can you put up a picture of the Waveforms of Vital Signs so we can compare to the 3 I have up?