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Weatherman

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Everything posted by Weatherman

  1. Yeah, the pioneers aren't always the "best" or most popular players either. They just hear things differently. They're first. I acknowledge that Eddie was a genius, but his solos are hard to listen to because of the squeals and mania. His rhythm playing was much easier to digest.
  2. It's my favorite song on Presto and I totally get why they named the album after it. Presto is a singer's album. Geddy was at his best from HYF thru RTB.
  3. Yeah I've heard that before. It definitely brings him down to earth.
  4. Interesting. I went the opposite here. I discovered them as songwriters: my classically-trained professional pianist cousin gave me MP and said "study these guys, they're amazing". So I learned to play guitar by learning Alex's parts. I never idolized them UNTIL My first concert, Roll the Bones tour. Alex was flipping incredible. I remember watching his fingers on Spirit of Radio and going "ohhhh he's better live than in the studio, shiittttt". Then they became larger than life and pretty much stayed that way, in my mind.
  5. The music on that album was clearly made by three people who could barely see straight from the drugs. It's aural sludge. The music before (FBN) and after (2112) is so much brighter by comparison. Put down the hash oil boys! I'm not surprised by the booger sugar in the early 80s. But I am surprised that they persisted using it all the way through the late 90s, at least.
  6. Agreed, and Gene Simmons making fun of them for being so "straight" wasn't exactly accurate either.
  7. I don't know how someone could listen to their 1970s output and think they WEREN'T on drugs. Attention all planets of the solar federation...
  8. I have no problem with this never happening. It's so terrific to hear Alex in a different context in Envy of None. He's really versatile. Ged will have a harder time separating himself from Rush with future music, since his voice is the sound of Rush, and since he was the driving force behind the band. Listening to Ged's memoir really showed me how he was "the director" of the Rush story, so to speak.
  9. At a certain point they stopped making albums that were 90% great and 10% mediocre and started making albums that were 10% great and 90% mediocre.
  10. I hear Bram van der Berg will be available starting next month.
  11. I've written over 50 books and countless educational materials. I can't remember what's in 95% of them. Just yesterday I was reading through a history exam for work. It took me about ten minutes before I realized that I'd written the exam, over eight years ago. I can only imagine how much more memory degrades across 40 years.
  12. Agreed, with two additions: 1) I got the sense that he wasn't telling us everything about what went wrong in his marriage, or how he saved it. 2) Big takeaway for me was that Ged is much, much more forceful a personality than many people assume. Inside the band, I would say he was first among equals.
  13. I'm looking forward to 10,000 words on French wine in the unabridged version.
  14. This is what happens when we drag girls to a Rush concert. Many such cases.
  15. He does need attention. I think it's mostly that.
  16. I often like to point out that before he'd even turned 18 he 1) knocked up his girlfriend and 2) started a rock band. We all know what happens in those cases. 99 out of 100 times, the guy leaves both the girl and the band, with a lot of lifelong regrets. Alex stayed with the girl AND the band. He stayed with both for 50 years, and carried everyone through to success. That says a lot.
  17. Yeah - they sounded terrific live at that time, and Alex was composing his best, most melodic solos.
  18. Based purely on the songs I find myself replaying the most (listed in reverse chronological order): 1) Dreamline 2) Bravado 3) all of Presto minus Superconductor 4) Time Stand Still 5) Turn the Page 6) Lock and Key 7) The Weapon 8) Subdivisions 9) all of MP 10) 2112 (Overture/Syrinx)
  19. PLEASE for the love of God tell me this is going to happen. I know there've been rumors ... but what a gorgeous match it would be.
  20. I've been torturing my young wife with the audiobook on our long cross-country drive this month. She's 29 and has little idea who Rush is. But she's actually enjoying Ged's narration -- not the album recording bits, but the human interest anecdotes. She liked Chapter 3 (Holocaust history), and the part about drugs. I'm also interspersing songs with the chapters. So far, her favorites include Time Stand Still, Turn the Page, Tom Sawyer, and the Overture/Syrinx parts of 2112. She's a fantasy nerd so I think she'll ultimately come around to full fandom. It might take another couple years. There's hope for millennials yet!
  21. Replacing Neil is a fool's errand. Nobody wants that gig. Solution: No percussion at all. Instead, a full orchestral tour. I can see the marquee now: "Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson: The Best of the Synth Era, featuring the Vienna Symphony Orchestra."
  22. I'm listening to the audiobook and loving it. Biggest surprises: 1) the separate lives that Ged and his wife have lived 2) Neil's drug use (Alex was no surprise) 3) Alex drunkenly destroying the hotel room in England for no reason sounded suspiciously similar to his felony charges at the Florida resort
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