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32 GoodAbout mattroland76
- Birthday 06/03/1976
Member Information
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Location
Maryland, USA
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Interests
music, astrology, politics, history
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Gender
Male
Music Fandom
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Number of Rush Concerts Attended
2
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Last Rush Concert Attended
Time Machine Tour
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Best Rush Experience
Listening to the band play "Between the Wheels" on the Snakes & Arrows tour.
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Other Favorite Bands
Too many to list!
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Musical Instruments You Play
guitar, keyboards
Recent Profile Visitors
181 profile views
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Current top five studio albums now that Neil is gone
mattroland76 replied to Red3angel's topic in Rush
1) Moving Pictures (while I don't listen to it much, I simply cannot justify giving it anything less than 1st place) 2) Signals 3) Grace Under Pressure 4) Power Windows 5) Permanent Waves -
Alex's guitar solo on the outro to "Mission" :codger:
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I think its also important to define what we mean by "Synth Era," as Rush began using synthesizers as far back as 2112. Consider Hemispheres, Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures-3 albums that rank very highly for most Rush fans, including ones that loath the albums after MP. Every single track on each of those albums incorporates synth-and yet you never hear any complaints about this!!! Signals and Grace Under Pressure do indeed increase the presence of the synthesizer to next level, but both still have a very strong guitar based foundation to most of the songs. These were transitional albums INTO the "synth period." The apex of this new period is represented by Power Windows and Hold Your Fire, albums where for the first time the guitar provides more of a complimentary/textural role (and of course solos) to the rest of the instrumentation. Presto and Role the Bones are transitional albums OUT of the synth period-they represent a return to more of the balance you had on Signals and Grace Under Pressure. Its with Counterparts that a new era begins, where synthesizers are massively reduced (and on Vapor Trails entirely eliminated!) to providing a mostly minimal textural role for the songs, arguably on a level that is even more limited than the albums that preceded Signals. Anyway, I obviously have a bit to say about this lol. My theory is that many (not all) of the fans who bemoan the "synth period" are actually not objecting to the presence of the synths, but the TYPE of synthesizers that are being used (the digital synths of the mid to late 80s, which have a sound that is very different from the older analog synths of the 70s/early 80s).
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It did indeed. I'm totally onboard with Rush continually updating their sound, but synthesizers should always have a place-not too overpowering, but not too minimal either (Grace Under Pressure had a good balance between the guitars and synths).
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Song by Song Trifecta Battle: Rush vs Fly By Night vs Signals
mattroland76 replied to JohnnyBlaze's topic in Rush
1) Subdivisions 2) Analog Kid 3) By Tor and the Snow Dog 4) Digital Man 5) The Weapon 6) New World Man 7) Losing It 8) Countdown Rush: 0 :boo hiss: Fly by Night: 1 :zzz: Signals: 8 :ebert: -
Neurotica-"You just don't get it, baby don't you ask yourself why?" Rush using "BABY" in their lyrics-UGH!!! :boo hiss: :tsk:
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Good call. I think it would have been much better if it was an instrumental section instead-like some kind of funky call-and-response interplay between the guitar, bass and drums.
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1) Moving Pictures (I don't listen to it much, but there's no way I can justify putting it any lower) 2) Signals 3) Grace Under Pressure 4) Power Windows 5) Permanent Waves 6) Hemispheres 7) Hold Your Fire 8) Presto (the most underrated of their entire catalogue! :codger:) 9) A Farewell to Kings 10) Counterparts 11) Roll The Bones 12) Clockwork Angels 13) Fly By Night (IMHO, this is their de facto debut) 14) 2112 (yeah, sorry but....its very overrated :finbar: ) 15) Test for Echo 16) Snakes and Arrows 17) Vapor Trails (a handful of good songs ruined by audio compression and lame production decisions, such as no keyboards and no guitar solos (!)) 18) Caress of Steel 19) Rush
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Animate Chain Lightning The Pass War Paint Scars Alien Shore The Speed of Love Anagram Leave That Thing Alone Hand Over First Available Light Presto, 7-4 :codger:
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Xanadu The Trees Spirit of Radio Natural Science Limelight YYZ Subdivisions Afterimage Between the Wheels Marathon Manhattan Project Emotion Detector Force Ten Time Stand Still Mission Turn the Page The Pass The Analog Kid The Weapon The Enemy Within
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"Mission" is the first one that comes to mind for me.
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Song By Song Battle: Grace Under Pressure vs. Power Windows
mattroland76 replied to diatribein's topic in Rush
The Big Money Afterimage Manhattan Project Marathon The Body Electric Kid Gloves Emotion Detector Between the Wheels 4/4 tie! Not surprising, considering these two albums are easily in my top 5. VERY difficult choosing between The Big Money and Distant Early Warning! :codger: -
Signals is really the apex of his synth work, especially on "Subdivisions" and "Countdown."
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I'm not sure what qualifies as "synth-based," but 2112 was the first album to feature a synthesizer (the intro to the title track is played on an ARP Odyssey). Also, starting with A Farewell to Kings (and lasting for most of the remainder of their career) the Moog Taurus bass pedals were used extensively, both in studio and live. This pedal-based synthesizer was used not only for its native sounds but most significantly as an interface to play the key-based synths (like the Minimoog and Oberheim).
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It ended with Counterparts, where the synths were severely minimized compared to previous releases. Power Windows and Hold Your Fire were the apex of the synth period, while Presto and Roll The Bones were transitional albums.