Jump to content

Weatherman

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    581

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Weatherman

  1. Weatherman
    Honestly, most of PW, HYF, and RTB could be rerecorded. My ears didn't like Power Windows eve when I discovered it in the 1990s. Now that I've been listening to huge, dynamic, immaculate recordings by electronic artists, it would sound even worse. Still, if you put a gun to my head and said name one tune to fix the recording, I'd say Bravado, because it's such a GREAT great great song. I would want to start by rescuing the ones worth saving the most. (Especially Neil's drumming on that third chorus. Whew. It still blows my hair back.)
  2. Weatherman
    I love his inclusion of Meddle by Pink Floyd. What a great album. Alex has referenced David Gilmour's influence a few times. You can hear some of Gilmour's influence in YYZ, especially in the cascading hammer lick that signals the beginning of the spacey Floydian bridge.
  3. Weatherman
    Is 2112 not Prog? Well yeah, but the second side isn't so much. And I only listen to Overture and Temples of Syrinx anymore. But now it's mostly 1981-1993 for me.
  4. Weatherman
    You forgot Ghost of a Chance. It's a buried jewel on the back nine.
  5. Weatherman
    You know it's a great band when you can rediscover songs twenty years later after you stopped listening to it ... and the songs sound better than you remember them. Open Secrets is one of them.
  6. Weatherman
    To answer why bad things happen to good songs ... Sometimes it's something personal -- like Alex didn't like a transition or Neil didn't like a lyric. Long-term bands do a lot of horse-trading as the years go by, and if nobody really fights for a song, more than one good song will slip through the cracks. I'm a big U2 fan and man oh man have those Irish lads let some jewels disappear. "So Cruel", for example, is even better than the first time I heard it almost 30 years ago. How many times has it been played in concert? It was played exactly 4 times in 1992. Any other band recorded that, it would be the center of the setlist for decades. But the internal dynamics of the band killed it.
  7. Weatherman
    Cut to the Chase is a surprise. That was made for arenas. Wonder why they overlooked Lessons for 40 years. It's a great tune.
  8. Weatherman
    Neither. My prog ears got cooked a long time ago. (It happens when you play guitar. You can burnout on something you used to love.) These days? I really only listen to 2112, Moving Pictures, Signals, Presto, half of Roll the Bones, and Counterparts. Plus a few scattered songs from the synth era. Maybe that'll change.
  9. Weatherman
    Just went back to listen to Vapor Trails. I haven't listened to it in 17 years. I found the 2013 remix on YouTube. Skipped around a lot, listened to about half the songs, pieces of others. Sadly, my original opinion is unchanged -- it's probably their worst album. Uninspired songwriting, unoriginal sound, weird vocals. They really lost the magic on this one. I wish it weren't so. Next up to revisit: Snakes and Arrows. Last time I heard those songs was on the S&A tour.
  10. Weatherman
    Okay, it's not a hoax. I listened to Xanadu and Tom Sawyer and the freaky phrasing in the solo of the latter is definitely Alex. Not many people can play like that. I withdraw my earlier comment. (bows, leaves room quietly)
  11. Weatherman
    I'm skeptical. Limelight is totally out of tune. The low E and I think the G are out. Alex's guitar tech wouldn't have ever handed that instrument to him like that. Also, the playing is sloppy. Lots of slipped strings, pacing issues. Verdict: I say hoax. (But I didn't listen to the whole recording.) I hope I'm right.
  12. Weatherman
    I can't believe that Different Strings was never played live. I've been playing that piece on guitar for twenty years, and it's beautiful. Alex himself said that he loves playing it, so I assumed it was in a setlist at some point.
  13. Weatherman
    I've played the classical intro for about twenty years. People sometimes ask me who that's by, and I say Bach.
  14. Weatherman

    Changing

    Weatherman replied to Red3angel's topic in Rush

    Those synth stabs were the last dying gasps of the 80s. There's a couple more sprinkled around Presto. That is hilarious that someone hates a band because of two lyrics in a deep cut. It would be like me saying that I hate the Rolling Stones because of a single lick that Keef played on the second chorus of side 2, track 4 of their 15th album. ;-)
  15. Weatherman
    Oh, you mean literally stolen? As in physical goods? Nothing. But when I jam with people, I sometimes steal a Lifeson part and twist it, syncopate it, make it my own. I was jamming with a drummer and repurposed that great arpeggio in E at the beginning of "Xanadu", made it sound a bit more reggae, transposed some of the notes. We got a good 15 minute session out of that. The drummer wanted to know where I came up with it. My secret. :-)
  16. Weatherman
    I always thought Alex wore the 80s style pretty well. My girlfriend is from Europe and knows zero about Rush but she agrees. I was showing her some photos and she really liked this one below. For a few years, he was handsome.
  17. Weatherman
    I'm new here. Are you saying that lots of forum members disappeared after the retirement in 2015?
  18. Weatherman
    It's not the songwriting that makes it sound like "Diet Rush"; the songs are structurally equivalent to the songs on the previous 4 or 5 synth era albums. It's the sound engineering that weakens the album. I wish all their music from GuP to RtB could be re-recorded to sound like Counterparts.
  19. Weatherman

    Changing

    Weatherman replied to Red3angel's topic in Rush

    IMO it's overall the strongest of their "pop" albums. Show Don't Tell, The Pass, Scars, Available Light, the acoustic guitar in the title song, even the simple piano arpeggio in Red Tide -- it's all terrific. And I love how Geddy learned how to sing with his chest voice instead of his head voice. Listen to the verses of Hand Over Fist for an example. He sounds so much better when he does that. "I feel my spirit resist, but I open up my fist" is a great moment from that song, and when Neil comes back in with that hard snare crack right after ... it's great. It's not revolutionary songwriting or anything but it's just SO professional well done.
  20. Weatherman
    I think I know what you're looking for. There's an album called Counterparts you should check out. ;-)
  21. Weatherman

    Changing

    Weatherman replied to Red3angel's topic in Rush

    Yeah, I'm preparing to give the final three albums another try. I feel like I didn't give them a fair shake first time around. I don't think I even finished Clockwork Angels.
  22. Weatherman

    Changing

    Weatherman replied to Red3angel's topic in Rush

    Neil is unbelievable in the outro of Bravado. He's absolutely on fire without indulging; his feel is perfect. I loved it 30 years ago and I still love it today. The period 1979-1998 sounds much better to me today than it did a few years ago. Funny how our ears change depending on outside factors like deaths.
  23. Weatherman
    Losing It. I haven't heard this song in a few years. It sounds better than ever. Just think what they could've done with their tight 80s songs rerecorded using modern production values.
  24. Weatherman
    Geddy stated that he's discovered publishing to be interesting after working on his Large Bible of Fat Bass. I could see him writing a Rush-centric book of some sort, especially since he's always been the group leader and is obviously the most emotionally invested in the group. Alex, God love him, but I can't see him typing a single chapter of anything. He's a crackup and they tend to be terrible writers.
  25. Weatherman
    LONG PIECES: La Villa Strangiato is off the chain, obviously, showcasing all of his styles. But also 2112 for that delicate "Discovery" interlude. I play that part sometimes on a classical and nobody recognizes it. SHORT PIECES: Red Barchetta has pretty much every guitar element that made him famous. But not YYZ. It doesn't have those famous arpeggios. I'd have to closely listen to Signals and Presto again, to find more finalists.
×
×
  • Create New...