The Mighty Dudad

QUOTE (CygnusGal @ Aug 3 2012, 12:48 PM) ...snip...and I've heard it on the radio as "the new Rush song". What is this "radio" thing of which you speak that plays Rush ? Seriously, there has been ZERO songs from CA played on any Chicago radio station.

This deal is done...back up to the regular $11.99 for the full album MP3 download.

QUOTE (SchemingDemon @ Jul 25 2012, 06:23 PM) QUOTE (The Mighty Dudad @ Jul 25 2012, 01:06 PM) Got mine for Chicago (9/15)...which I may now need to sell as there is a 75% chance that I will no longer be able to attend... Where's your seat and how much? Towards the top of Sec 109 (don't have exact row/seats with me right now). If I need to sell, I will repost here. Should know within the next week or two.

QUOTE (greyfriar @ Jul 27 2012, 02:23 PM)...snip... - Geddy doesn't sing at all and the effect is triggered from wherever. It will be disappointing if this is the route they choose to go. There are pretty significant chunks of lyric sung with the megaphone effect...having Geddy (or Neil or Alex) hit a key/pad/pedal to trigger an extended sample would not be cool. Also, if the timing isn't perfect, the song would be totally f'd up.

If the first day is any indication, this will be a worthwhile "follow". Lots of activity, a few pics (including a nice one of Neil all dressed up at dinner), Michael is quick to retweet, etc.

Got mine for Chicago (9/15)...which I may now need to sell as there is a 75% chance that I will no longer be able to attend...

Back in May, I made the following prediction in some other thread regarding CA and the Billboard Top 100: Week 1: #3 Week 2: #24 Week 3: #68 Week 4: #97 Week 5: out of the top 100 forever Actual Results? Week 1: #2 Week 2: #9 Week 3: #22 Week 4: #47 Week 5: TBD Shows what I know, eh? For what it's worth, I now think it will drop out of the top 100 no later than week 7. And, yes, I know, none of this really matters...

Yup...missprint on the initial batch sold in Canada. Not sure if it's been fixed yet in subsequent printings.

A Screwdriver walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Hey, we have a drink named after you!" The Screwdriver responds, "You have a drink named Murray?" Look, dude, buy it, don't buy it. Download it, don't downlaod it. Borrow it, don't borrow it. Do I wish that you liked what you've heard so far? Sure I do, but I wish the everyone liked Rush. Seems to me, however, that your mind was made up loooonnngggg before CA was released, but you do love to stir the pot...which admittedly can be fun to watch.

I don't have Sirius/XM, but I've heard from people that do that HF has been getting some decent airplay. Beyond that, I don't know...but do know that it has been getting ZERO regular radio airplay, at least in the Chicago area. One (of two) stations that plays any Rush at all simply refuses to play it. The DJ will say "Great new album out from Rush, coming to town in September,..." and then proceed to play Tom Sawyer or Limelight or maybe Subdivisions if they're feeling wild.

They only have 8-10 musicians joining them (if what's been reported is accurate), so it's not like they need to find room for a whole orchestra. Actually, wouldn't it be cool if they were randomly scattered throughout the arena, all mic'd up and ready to go, and when the appropriate songs start they whip out there violin, cello, etc. and have at it. Who know, the violin player may be sitting right next to you! Yeah, that would be cool...

I had this impression initially, most obviously with The Garden. Then I actually went back and listened to MFH the other day, and the connection between the two definitely faded for me. A few reasons that I can think of: 1. CA isn't "brand new" anymore. When something like this is all sparkly and new, I think we naturally try to catalog it by using known entities as our points of reference. MFH is all Geddy...very strong melodies. CA also has some very strong melodies, hence the natural initial connection for me. As I became more familiar with CA after numerous listens, it began to take on its own color and personality. 2. Sonically, MFH comes across as down-right wimpy compared to CA. Even the most melodic, emotive song on CA (The Garden) comes across a sonically more rich and "meaty" than pretty much everything on MFH. 3. While Geddy is the melodic soul of Rush, Alex is their musical heart and power...and that element is lacking in MFH. The balance of melody and power has always been one of Rush's key draws for me. Anyway, just my opinion...your mileage will vary.

QUOTE (Cyclonus X-1 @ Jun 27 2012, 05:15 AM) Well, the tunes are starting to settle into their "roles" for me. Now I have a pretty good idea of which ones are going to be favorites of mine for the long haul, which ones have fantastic parts that I'll always be excited to hear, which ones I'll be perfectly fine with listening to whenever the album is on, and which ones I won't really care about hearing from this point forward. At first, everything was new and exciting or at least seemed worthy of being given a chance, but now I have a clearer view of how the track list truly breaks down for me. I still love the record and still believe it compares very favorably with many of Rush's previous efforts, so in those respects, I haven't cooled on it at all. Could not have said it better myself. I'm also not listening to over and over and over again, which would be a sure-fire way to burn out on it.

Likes: - Every song but BU2B2 (which isn't really a song IMO, but an interesting little filler/transition piece). - That they absolutely brought their A game to this album, and made something both thoroughly modern and fresh and instantly recognizable and reminiscent. - The new airy/spacy intro to BU2B. - The guitar solo in The Garden...one of the most "purposeful" and emotive solos Alex has done in years and years. - Hundreds of other little things. Dislikes: - I'm glad they at least re-mixed Caravan and BU2B, but I would have loved it if they re-recorded these two songs fresh for the album, especially given the "lessons learned" from playing them on the Time Machine tour. - Some judicial trimming of 30-45 seconds off of some of the longer pieces (title track in particular) wouldn't have hurt. - Other than that, there really isn't anything I'm seriously "disliking" about CA at this point.

QUOTE (eshine @ Jun 27 2012, 02:50 AM)Ged knows his vocal limitaions but is "going for it" [...snip...] Geddy Lee in 2012 sounds pretty f***ing cool. Geddy is using 58 year old vocal cords to sing some pretty complicated lyrics over some truly great and often complex music. As long as he doesn't start turning into Jamie LeBrie (especially live) in the enunciation department, it's all good with me. Someone mentioned hearing problems...I've never heard that he had any, but it's certainly possible and would be a contributing factor. Maybe the muscles in and around his mouth and neck aren't as tight anymore (I'm ten years younger than him and I know what mine are like), which could also be a contributing factor. Heck...maybe it's even his aging teeth. All this crap changes as we get older. Like eshine says, I think Geddy still sounds pretty f'ing cool.

QUOTE (Tombstone Mountain @ Jun 26 2012, 12:48 PM)... funny, Jay Cutler said that a lot last year because he was on his back so much! Well, I've got to agree with you there!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-THwiQknEKqE/ThA-dhOU_iI/AAAAAAAAADI/VUQHvVCseT4/s1600/stop-it.png

QUOTE (OzzMosiz @ Jun 26 2012, 06:03 AM) It hit 76 in the UK charts. Poor performance for an amazing album. Wonder if the classic rock edition had anything to do with that? Isn't the official release date in the UK not until July 9? If so, then how did it even hit 76, if the Fan Pack isn't supposed to count towards the sales figures (at least they don't in the US)? My guess is you'll see that number move much closer to the top of the charts upon official release.

Nice, well-written review. I'm also glad to see the reviewer pick "Wish Them Well" as one of the essential tracks. I'm really digging that song right now.

Yup, it's been discussed here in other threads. While they wrote on each other's instruments, they recorded the whole song using their own. It would be interesting to hear a demo cut of the early version with Ged playing guitar and Alex playing bass...I'd be willing to bet a considerable sum that what we hear on the final album is quite different from that early demo.

I don't have satellite radio, so I'm just curious if anyone heard it and if he had anything new to say. In looking at the web site for Alice Cooper's radio show, http://nightswithalicecooper.com/, the set list from last night's show only shows one Rush song (Headlong Flight), so it couldn't have been a long interview. Anyway, just curious...

...you're disappointed that your drive to work is only 50 minutes long so you can't listen to the whole thing on the ride. ...you know you need to get gas but would rather drive past the cheap gas station and go to the next one because you don't want to stop mid-song. ...while rocking out to [pick a song] you find yourself smiling because you know that [pick another song] is coming up soon.

QUOTE (Jomboni @ Jun 21 2012, 10:40 AM) Good interview but I don't believe this part about the setlist: Our target is about three hours and ten minutes of music. Agreed. It may well be 3 hours and 10 minutes from "house lights down" to the final "house lights up", but included in that will be set 1 and set 2 intro videos, outro video, some banter, and a 20 minute intermission. I'm not complaining...even if it works out to 2 1/2 hours of music, that's leaves plenty of room for all of CA plus lots of other nuggets.

Here is what I posted back in mid-May about this very topic: ----------------------------- Week 1: #3 Week 2: #24 Week 3: #68 Week 4: #97 Week 5: out of the top 100 forever Neither VT nor SnA have gone Gold yet in the US...not expecting this one to either. Just the way it is (...he states with complete confidence but no real proof and will glady accept being proved wrong...) ----------------------------------------- CA has already outperformed my Week 1 prediction, but I still think it's going to follow the well-established arc for previous Rush albums. Rush fans buy quickly.