GeddyRulz

Hey, all! First post on TRF in quite a long time. "Where'd GR go?" Well, Rush just doesn't have as much IMPORTANCE in my life as they once did.

 

Anyhoo. Thinking of reading some King again, and wanted a recommendation. Should I read:

 

Under the Dome

11/22/63

The Stand (re-read, first time since '88)

I got word from guitarist Juan Mantilla, via YouTube, that they just completed a new album and are excited to have everyone hear it. This should be great, if it's anything like the first... which I quickly concluded was a work of Prog genius.

 

Favorites on the first album moved from "There is No Spoon" and "Atlantis" to a double-punch during The Rain Cycle - "Candlenight" (with AWESOME guitar) and "Twilight Harbor" (where Ruben's vocal style becomes a strength).

Hey guys, thanks! Just found this now, which goes to show how little I come here now.

 

 

I doubt they'll get more mention on the show then that.

Well in episode 2 of season 3 that aired this week a minor character had 3 speaking scenes and wore a different Rush shirt in each. Clearly Adam Goldberg or one of the writers is a fan.

 

Yeah, I saw that on the last episode. They usually focus on pop culture stuff from the 80s. That's why I didn't think Rush would get mentioned on it too much. Well, they weren't actually mentioned in the episode. If you weren't paying attention to the shirts the kid was wearing then you would have never noticed that something Rush related was in the show.

 

Still was pretty cool to see though.

 

I'm a regular fan of the show. The kid with the Rush t-shirts has reappeared in a few episodes, and continues to always wear a Rush shirt. The band name WAS mentioned in an earlier episode: Tim Meadows (ex-SNL) plays a guidance counselor who has a Rush poster on his office wall. ("It's like my posters say: 'reach for the stars,' 'hang in there,' and that's the band Rush, because I'm the cool guidance counselor who shows up at the high school basketball games in a casual polo.")

 

And stop the presses! There's an episode coming later this season with "Rush" as the episode title! With several Rush references on the show already, I can only guess that this episode will feature Rush in an even BIGGER way.

Six times in theaters between 1977 and 1979. First few times I'll never forget: we were living in San Jose that year and i saw it at the Century theaters (giant domes), next to the Winchester Mystery House. Christmas of '77, i got a boatload of SW stuff.

 

it was such a game-changer... still my fave of all the SW movies.

As I do every few years, it's time to become re-obsessed by Chris's awesome solo album from '75, "Fish Out of Water." A big talent, a big loss.

One of my biggest heroes; I truly won't be sadder about a musician's passing until I get news about a Rush member. Squire was the reason I'm such a big Yes fan, and his 1975 solo album is one of my very favorite albums. I'm very sad, but thanks for all the music and inspiration, Chris. Glad I got to see Yes in concert several times.

 

You know Geddy will say something about Squire at the next Rush show, as he did about Entwistle.

Short list...

 

Joan Armatrading, 3-4 times

Renaissance (Annie Haslam), twice

Indigo Girls

 

:o You saw my Annie? I regret greatly that I never went to see Renaissance in the seventies. They used to play Carnegie Hall a lot. No female singer can hold a candle to that woman. I am talking about back then as I do not know what she sounds like today.

Yeah, I saw her twice within a year of each other. Not in the 70s; this is relatively recent. Renaissance had a short tour to celebrate their anniversary several years back, and the response was so good, they've been touring somewhat regularly since.

I agree her voice was untouchable then - such range! It was all that operatic training she had. She still sounds very good, but the years have taken some mileage off her fastball.

Short list...

 

Joan Armatrading, 3-4 times

Renaissance (Annie Haslam), twice

Indigo Girls

Facebook today is Kanye this and Beyonce that. Crap-tacular. I haven’t seen the Grammys since 1991, and haven’t cared who won since 1983.

Co-Worker: Hey, Mark, you’re a big music fan. Did you watch the Grammys last night?

Me: No.

Co-Worker: How come?

Me: Because I’m a big music fan.

It’s like the Super Bowl halftime show. It may be entertainment, but it’s not music! The artists I listen to have too much integrity and real musical talent to do that shit [enter atop a giant, shiny, mechanical lion, or prance around with smiling beach balls, palm trees, and sharks].

Thanks for the input, everyone. I’ve played a bunch of Live songs on YouTube, but haven’t found the song I heard on Friday afternoon after work. “Simple Creed” sounded close – and not because of the rapping – but that’s not it. I’ve tried three or four times to call the radio station and ask them what Live song they played on Friday at about 4:30, but I keep getting a busy signal. More investigation is needed.

 

Yes, Ed looks like Geddy in that video. I thought the same thing when I saw it. (I’ve heard he normally has a shaved head, though.)

I love the Smiths! I don’t really know much solo Morrisey, but with Morrisey/the Smiths I easily enjoy songs I’ve never heard before. The songs just sound so great going by, with that voice. And you know you’re listening to art.

 

Years ago, when I was a mailman, I’d often stop at Starbucks after delivering my route, to cool off with a Frappachino. One day I walked in and heard that unmistakable voice… but I didn’t know the song. I asked the hipster baristas: “Is this the Smiths or Morrisey?” They couldn’t believe that I, this bearded and balding mailman, knew the Smiths. “You know the Smiths??” I probably looked older than I was, but these kids should know that the Smiths are more MY generation than theirs!

 

 

Faves include the whole 2^nd side of the first album, How Soon is Now, You Just Haven’t Earned it Yet Baby (speaking of covers: Kirsty MacColl does a great version of this), and Bigmouth Strikes Again. Now you’ve got me wanting to hear more! As I said, it’s all good, even the stuff I don’t already know.

Hey all!

 

So... I hopped into my car on Friday evening to head home from work, and from the radio came this music. It took me back to hearing new Rush for the first time on the radio, specifically from Power Windows or Hold Your Fire. The chance that I was really hearing new Rush, I told myself, was none. (I'm too connected, via the Internet, to what's new in Rush World. I'd have heard something was forthcoming.) So what was this song? I liked it. It struck me that if Rush had continued in the same vein as Power Windows for awhile longer, with only minor tweaks to their sound, they might've sounded like the music I was hearing. Then the announcer backsold it as... Live.

 

I was only familiar with their song "I Alone." This was something different, something Rush-like. Help me out. Do Live sometimes, kinda-sorta, sound like PoW-era Rush? Even just for a single song? What's the title of this song?? I want to hear more of this Rush-like Live.

 

 

(BTW, Googling "Live" or even "Live band" doesn't work all that well. It's the name, which could signify you're looking for concert information about an entirely different band!)

I honestly do think that CA is the best they have done since the early eighties - probably since Signals. I wish they hadn't used that record producer though.

 

Maybe hiring a young Rush fan wasn't the best idea. It's cool that he's a Rush fan, but his experience might be a bit too clouded by the "modern rock sound." I don't mind the production of the album all that much, but one can't help wondering (wistfully) what a reunion with TB might have produced.

 

I’d argue it wouldn’t have become the album we all love without the input of Nick the Rush fan. He pushed them along, encouraging them to be more Rush-like, to do all the things the critics have hated about Rush but which the diehard fans love.

I voted turd. I play bass and there’s some good bass in the song, but the stupidity of the lyrics makes the song unlistenable to me. Eighth-graders can write better lyrics than these.

Natural Science has always struck me as the “deepest” song in a catalog full of deep songs. There’s just so much in there, including stuff that even diehard fans miss. References to the ego versus mass consciousness, for instance. And an allusion to the heady concept that our whole known universe could be a microscopic pebble in relation to something much larger which it may be a part of. Those references are just in the first part of the song. In the later parts, Neil goes into two of his favorite, often reoccurring themes: technology run amuck, and the importance of living with personal and artistic integrity.

 

Freewill is another deep song, but simpler and more streamlined. How many times have my friends, family, or I quoted “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”? A lot of times.

I prefer Clockwork Angels by far, and not just because it’s the more recent album; I think I’m being objective here.

 

Snakes and Arrows… meh. I like about three songs. Clockwork Angels, I could go on and on about. An awesome return to form, a return to the “concept album,” genius how the songs work together to tell the “epic” story and yet each song works well on its own. The vocal melodies are some of their best EVER, and the music is pretty damned good, too. Here’s Rush unapologetically doing all the typical “Rush” things the critics used to take them to task for, but which their fanbase loves. It's Rush being Rush, with the encouragement of Nick R.

I swear these polls are complete jokes, right? I mean, it's not even close. Like a T-bone steak versus kibble.

 

 

Geddy Lee says of the album: "It’s big, it’s bold, and I think it’s some of the best work we’ve done in years."

 

I'm guessing he said that at the time the album was released. The guys always tout their latest album as one of their best, and overstate how great it is.

 

Let's see what they say after time, when they're more objective.

Again… not even close, in either case. Moving Pictures and Signals.

No contest.

Hemispheres - 8

Circumstances - 8

The Trees - 9

La Villa Strangiato - 15

 

Probably how I'd rate the songs, too. I might knock Circumstances and The Trees down one notch each, but otherwise I can't disagree with your ratings at all.

 

A very good album, no doubt, but I think it gets praised a little TOO highly, judging from the attention it got on the BTLS documentary and the comments here on the board. Some people cite it as Rush’s very best. That’s their valid opinion, but I disagree. In terms of creating a side-long Prog Rock epic, “Hemispheres” (the track) falls a tad short for at least one simple reason: it’s only 18 minutes long, and much of that is ambient sound effects and repeated themes (e.g., “Apollo” and “Dionysus” are musically the exact same song). There’s actually only about 12 minutes of original music on the side; compare that to “The Fountain of Lamneth” and “2112,” both with more than twenty. I like the track and the album a lot; I’m just saying.

 

“La Villa Strangiato” is absolutely amazing. “The Trees” and “Circumstances” are pretty good, too. So maybe it gets praised because there isn’t an obvious “weak” track?

 

Wow, dick on a stick! Somebody please submit the picture to George Takei's Facebook page, for a guaranteed "Oh myyyyy!" reaction.

 

I don't know what's more disturbing: the "veins" in the corn dog or the boyish girl with the 'fro. She looks like Johnny Whittaker and the pre-Thirtysomething Melanie Mayron had a kid. (Too obscure?)

 

http://www.dvdizzy.com/images/s/sigmundandtheseamonsters1-08.jpghttp://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsM/11406-8094.jpg

Generally speaking, it just sucks. What more is there to say? ;)

 

It's easily the worst song on Counterparts, and maybe one of the Bottom Five Songs in Rush's 90s output. ("Color of Right," from the next album, is another.) The best I can say about it is "it's tolerable" (not glowing praise, that), but fortunately I don't have to tolerate it: they never play it in concert, and I didn't put it on my iPod. I never hear it anymore.

This album still holds up for me as one of their very best. If I can be a heretic for a second, I like it even better than 2112. The early praise myself and others gave it wasn't just because it was new to us and therefore exciting; it really is an excellent album, and from a band that's been making music for 40 years!

 

I'm surprised to see all the low marks for "Wish Them Well" (particularly in the early-going of the thread), which is one of my five favorite songs on the album, along with "The Anarchist," "The Wreckers," "Headlong Flight," and "The Garden." "The Garden" made me cry the first couple times I heard it... that's NEVER happened to me with a Rush song.