The400Boys
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Posts posted by The400Boys
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I just read the article and was surprised at just how many photos there were of NEP, including one with Foster. Donna Halper said that from all the years she knew Rush she had perhaps one picture of herself with Neil.
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Personally, I wouldn't know one wine from another. I only use it for cooking. I remember 30 years ago when I was working as a young prep cook in a high end restaurant in Toronto... it was not uncommon at all for someone to send an $800 bottle of wine back because it was "unacceptable." Holy shit... people like that make me sick to my stomach. Just trying to put on a big show...
Peter Gabriel's "Big Time" - the perfect song for these clowns.
Quit whining.
and starting wining?
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At the right angle I can see that.
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Interesting. I didn't know most of the other artists.
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Each of those shows ran about 60 minutes on radio. From that point most if not all of the quotes from subsequent anniversary shows are not new.
I'm one of the new kids on the block to the TRF. The interviews were certainly new for me, but if you know where the originals are please do tell. I'm probably not be the only one who would enjoy hearing longer shows.
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- I found some interviews online that I hope are new to the forum (Yes, I did a search first.)
-The only interview I heard so far myself is Signals, but it was pretty good.
-Enjoy!
(Rush only)
Permanent Waves 40th Anniversary
https://www.inthestu...son-neil-peart/
A Farewell to Neil Peart
https://www.inthestu...t-alex-lifeson/
Signals
https://www.inthestu...d/rush-signals/
Moving Pictures
https://www.inthestu...esonneil-peart/
Power Windows 35th Anniversary
https://www.inthestu...e-alex-lifeson/
Echoes of Fallen Rockers (including NEP)
https://www.inthestu...fallen-rockers/
(Interviews, live tracks, mixed stuff under the tag "Rush" that is not exclusively Rush)
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Clockwork Angels is truly a masterpiece. It is a story laid out in the form of an album that takes us through a young man's journey through life...It is very universal...It is perfect ending catalog piece to Rush's discography.
It's also a very consistent album. I don't want to skip any tracks. Doing that, of course, would ruin the story's continuity.
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I did a search on "worst album covers" and enjoyed myself until...
...I found that one website includes Hemispheres. https://www.kerrang....-in-metal-ever/
I'll pretend I never saw it. ("We suspend our disbelief, we are entertained")
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I use that sort of judgement on all albums. If there's filler in an album I'll lower it's grading regardless of how great the good songs are.
1 This and the posts about album sides reminds me of the "less-is-better effect" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Less-is-better_effect:
Wikipedia gives the example of how a dinner set with two dozen intact pieces is regarded as less valuable than a set with 31 pieces plus some broken pieces. It's pretty illogical; clearly 31 functional pieces have more utility than 24 pieces.
Likewise with music, we value it more if it has only high quality songs only than if a dog or two accompany the same songs. (Again, illogical. You can just delete the offending tracks or pretend that they were all bonus tracks.
2 Back to the question: No, It's a solid album but (as others have said) Rush has so many good albums that it's hard to say that this one outshines them.
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It's all a matter of taste.
As for Geddy and Alex's taste, they hated Tai Shan.
In the past, Geddy described "Tai Shan" as "an error," saying that the guys "should have known better." Back in 2016, Alex Lifeson said the song is "easily" "one of the worst" songs the band has released.
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The most depressing lyrics Peart ever wrote, I wish I had that instinct, I wish I had that drive
From the guy who wrote 2112. Sad!
With the theme of authoritarianism, let's not forget the seriousness of "My lifeblood...Spills over"
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(A couple more thoughts:)
Flesh and blood and fire
"Flesh and blood" can mean
1. Human beings, especially with respect to their failings or weaknesses.
2. one's own flesh and blood. One's blood relatives, kin
"Fire" can mean "burning passion or excitement"
Connecting the two joins together humans emotionally (anticipating the next line "Lives connect in webs of gold and laser wire"
Superman in supernature
Needs all the comfort he can findCompare this to Dreamline (1991, 5 years befor T4E)
Like lovers and heroes
Lonely as the eagle's cry
(Here again is the same sense of isolation from Nietzche's Superman.)
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The lyrics are fantastic, imo, and represent a rare moment when Peart is being less than literal. Love the song!I have mixed feelings on Time & Motion. I like the music (not including that convoluted synth loop most fans seem to hate) but the lyrics make little sense . The best part is the middle "The mighty ocean dances with the moon" section
It is autobiographical in nature and shows his desire to get the most of limited time and a limited life. We start with the title. Time & Motion Studies are a way to improve efficiency by observation and measurement of the individual steps. They are used typically in factories and other workplaces and have been criticized by labor unions because the emphasis on efficiency dehumanizes workers, judging them by measurable numbers and parameters.
Time and motion
Wind and sun and rain
Days connect like boxcars in a train
Fill them up with precious cargo
Squeeze in all that you can find
Peart did. e.g. Recall that instead of riding a bus during the last few tours like his band mates, he rode a motorcycle between gigs (to make "better" use of his time).
Spontaneous elation
And the long-enduring kind
Recall that like Geddy and Alex, he had relationships that spanned decades
Time and motion
Flesh and blood and fire
Lives connect in webs of gold and razor wire
Semiconductor circuits are made of very thin gold wires.
Spin a thread of precious contact
The "web" is both the worldwide web and the way in which human lives connect to each each in a complex fashion like a spiderweb.
Squeeze in all that you can find
Spontaneous relations
Recall that Peart enjoyed striking up conversations with people as he traveled backgrounds (you know, as long as they had no idea who he was and did not try to follow him home)
And the long-enduring kind
The mighty ocean
Dances with the moon
The silent forest
Echoes with the loon
1 Note the vast difference in size of the ocean vs. the moon, the vast forest vs. the loon and how the smaller is in play with the larger.
2 The ocean symbolizes something vast and eternal and moon symbolizes the passage of time; the eternal and the ephemeral meet and dance.
3 Here is also the stark contrast between work environment and the actual environment. Nature is not to be measured but is simply experienced.
Time and motion
Live and love and dream
Eyes connect like interstellar beams
Note the progression (Days connect,,, /Lives connect.../ Eyes connect...)
Superman in supernature
Needs all the comfort he can find
1 "Superman" is a translation of Übermensch, the idea introduced by philosopher Friedrich Nietzche of a being superior to other humans in terms of intellect and philosophy. The superman understands there is no absolute morality for humans. that morality is a social construction and therefore illusory. For the ordinary person there is a general dissatisfaction with the world and hence the creation of something beyond it (heaven, expounded in almost every religion).
We hold beliefs as a consolation
A way to take us out of ourselves
Meditation or medication
A comfort, or a promised reward
Peart openly said he was an agnostic and this worked well his personal beliefs. c.f. with the following from "Armor and Sword":
By contrast, the Superman doesn't fall under the sway of group identity and seeks his own meaning in this world (ein aus sich rollendes Rad, a wheel turning out of its own center). The superman accepts the vicissitudes of life and knows that others may not understand him and this may engender isolation or loneliness.
2 Superman is also an ironic reference to himself, the idea that some fans had that he was larger than life or superhuman In contrast to nature above supernature refers to the non-natural environment and demanding the superman is subject to (In this case touring and the isolation from his family), and hence the need for comfort.
Spontaneous emotion
And the long enduring kind
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That's my take. I hope it helps.
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The song probably has a universal message of anyone's circumstances to overcome.
In "Marathon" for instance, which is about the triumph of time and a kind of message to myself (because I think life is too short for all the things that I want to do), there's a self- admonition saying that life is long enough. You can do a lot -- just don't burn yourself out too fast trying to do everything at once.
"Marathon" is a song about individual goals and trying to achieve them. And it's also about the old Chinese proverb: 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.'
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The song really wouldn’t be about ‘resistance’ right? It’d be about temptation. But that doesn’t get revisited in the song! It’s just a line just thrown in there. In The Pass the Oscar word play fits perfectly. It doesn’t work in Resist though.
1 My take is that the line does fit. It was meant to be taken ironically, as was the entire song and the album. (See #3 below). Compare this to “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” (Winston S. Churchill).
2 Starting with p/g, Peart began writing songs about how screwed up the world is and this is more one. What does he say he is not able to bear? Temptation, desires, frustration and finally injustice. This then is a statement of he can't tolerate any of these things and how we should not either ("You can fight / Without ever winning // But never ever win / Without a fight")
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3 [source mentioned above]
[“It’s about the numbing process that happens when we are exposed to great tragedies and then we’re exposed to moments of hilarity,” said singer-bassist Geddy Lee, whose band returns Tuesday to Target Center in Minneapolis. “I feel that that’s the condition of contemporary man now – when we read the paper or when we watch TV, we’re not sure if we’re supposed to laugh.”
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I will suggest that Rush's kid-like sense of humor in concerts ("Three Stooges" intro, , Count Floyd/GUP, inflatable rabbits/Presto Tour, R40/ Signals dog & the Starman backside, Time Machine/Gerson's Haus of Sausage,etc. ) will appeal more to men.
Guys are comfortable being meatheads their whole lives.
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1:Marathon
2:Marathon
3:Marathon
What part inspires you? Maybe I've been seeing this the wrong way but
"From first to last /The peak is never passed
Something always fires the light / That gets into your eyes
One moment's high / And glory rolls on by"
uninspiring.
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You know you're a Rush fan when you buy CD's because you wore out the vinyl albums
(and then buy MP3's because you wore out the CD's)
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Anagram (for Mongo)
The lyrics kill me. A better title would have been "Doggerel (for Mongo)"
Take heart from the Earth and weather
Yikes!
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It's par for the course for T4E.
Awesome music and arrangement - like great. Pushing the boundaries of what the band had ever done before.
Alex is totally inspired on T4E. Virtuality is AWESOME. Musically speaking. The bridge is actually danceable. But the song SUCKS because the lyrics are horrible.
And Geddy is gradually, but increasingly, shoe-horning vocal passages too.
Unfortunately, NP seems to be struggling lyrically on the entire album. The little witticisms on Dog Years are wince-inducing.
What exactly do you dislike about T4E? Lyrically it is brilliant commentary on society and its penchant to turn crime and violence into a commercial product and entertainment.
It's the lyrics. So preachy and on the nose. Snakes and Arrows had the same problem. There is no word economy - just blathering on and on to drive a point home - whatever that point is.
Like with Resist.
The song is rendered meaningless by the constant contradictions. What is he trying to say here. Very similar to Faithless with so much mumbo jumbo and confused prose.
1 The "contradiction"
“I can resist anything except temptation.” is a quote from Oscar Wilde's play, Lady Windermere's Fan. (Wilde meant this ironically to mean that he could not resist the things that tempted him. c.f. with another famous quote "There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that's not being talked about.")
2. We've met Oscar before
This is not the first time we have encountered Wilde. From The Pass "All of us do time in the gutter / Dreamers learn to look at the stars" also comes from Lady Windermere's Fan (""We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars")
3. Unexpected ally in your view
I like enough songs on the album, but check out what NEP said himself:
Test for Echo was a strange record in a sense. It doesn’t really have a defined direction. I kind of felt like we were a bit burnt creatively. It was a creative low time for us.
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It's par for the course for T4E.
Awesome music and arrangement - like great. Pushing the boundaries of what the band had ever done before.
Alex is totally inspired on T4E. Virtuality is AWESOME. Musically speaking. The bridge is actually danceable. But the song SUCKS because the lyrics are horrible.
And Geddy is gradually, but increasingly, shoe-horning vocal passages too.
Unfortunately, NP seems to be struggling lyrically on the entire album. The little witticisms on Dog Years are wince-inducing.
What exactly do you dislike about T4E? Lyrically it is brilliant commentary on society and its penchant to turn crime and violence into a commercial product and entertainment.
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I can't wrap my head around this. The critics accept that Peart
+ Was a gifted composer and arranger, a rarity among drummers
+ Was superhuman in precision, power and career longevity
+ Inspired many people to pick up the sticks and gained the respect of countless peers
BUT the detractors say
- he didn't groove or improvise
- there were faster drummers
THEREFORE he doesn't count.
So if all that is true, I'll ask some questions:
1 Since classical musicians almost never improvise, does that mean they are hacks compared to their jazz counterparts? Some jazz musicians can't read music. Does that make them hacks compared to classical musician?
2 Do jazzy types foray into rock music or is it beneath their dignity (like Prince Charles at a pig roast)? If they do, how do they fare? If these guys are so good, presumably some top names should have trickled into rock for extra cash.
3 If speed is such an issue, then does Eric Clapton ("Slowhand") deserve no respect?
Judging musicians with little checkboxes is not the best way.
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I think Neil was trying to have an honest conversation with one listener. I certainly felt that he was talking to me when I was a kid.
Eloquent and beautiful. Thank you.
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And at odds with what seems to be the general consensus in this thread, I think he always sounded really good, ranging from there to great. I mean, you do what he did for 40-45 years, and see what your voice sounds like.
“He sounded awful on this, he sounded awful on that”...seriously?
No! It’s incredible that he continued singing as he did, at such a tremendously high level of quality, for their entire career.
I'm reminded of what comedian Marty Feldman (of "Young Franktenstein" fame) said about the logic of a comedy skit: When two people are dressed like carrots and a third one is dressed normally, you have to explain why the third person is dressed normally, not why the first two are dressed like carrots.
Geddy's voice is being criticized because of the baseline established by precedents ("carrots"): Carrot 1 is the younger sounding Geddy. Carrot 2 is recorded album Geddy.
In "The Image" Daniel Boorstin mentions that an album is a perfect, fictionalized entity. When a group performs something live, by comparison, there are always imperfections. La Villa Strangiato is an example of this. Rush tried many times to record it in one take. Due to the difficulty in playing, the final recording was splice of many separate sessions. As mentioned above, Geddy sang better at some shows than others. Listen to "Xanadu" is in AFTK compared to ESL, both Geddy's vocals and the little synthesizer bit (do de do do do , etc.) and notice how different that is. Seems that some frequencies (like his higher register voice) are reproduced better than others in concert.
The upshot of the precedents is that you expect Geddy should have sung differently than he did. As long as you have the precedents in mind, you'll think he should have sung better. If not, you might have enjoyed concert experience and the uniqueness of the live show.
(Quck aside: Years ago I was in an airplane and a flight attendant recognized Time Machine hoodie and struck up a conversation. He had seen a lot of concerts over the years and said of all the bands he had seen, Rush live sounded the most like their albums. It was nice to hear that coming from someone who was a music fan, not Rush specifically. )
Is Geddy hard-up for cash? $950? Yikes!
in Rush
Posted
In 2013 during Sting's Back to Bass Tour. VIP seats went for for $1000 each.
His net worth back then was $233 million.
That same year, locally, Elton John's tour VIP tickets were running for $1200 each . His net worth? $300 million.