Room 34

I've seen Yes live 5 times since 1997 and they're always great. You're in for a real treat! (Sadly, on the "Ladder" tour Jon Anderson had the flu when they came to Minneapolis, and they had to cut a few numbers, including "Awaken" which I REALLY wanted to hear...) My next show is going to be Rush in May, and a former coworker got tickets for us to see Return to Forever in June, which should be good too. Those are my definite concerts coming up in the near future.

I used to have a video tape of the video for Duran Duran's "The Reflex" taped seven times in a row, back-to-back. I spent the entire summer of 1984 either playing Atari or watching MTV nonstop for hours on end, with the VCR on record and paused, waiting for that video to come on, so I could record it yet another time on the tape. Yeah, I suppose I was a bit OCD. A year later, I watched "Midnight Madness" (taped off HBO) every day when I got home from school, through my entire year of 6th grade.

I did not like the acoustic set on the R30 DVD. I think "unplugged" is a worn-out gimmick, and Rush is wise to stay away from it now!

QUOTE (Lerxst2112 @ Sep 17 2007, 04:51 PM) LISTEN! I think that goes along with the shriek in "Cygnus X-1". Random high-pitched screeches are not really singing. Whereas, the vocal line in "Freewill" really IS singing and it's sustained for several measures. Then again, there's plenty of early stuff that's really high throughout, like "Anthem."

I don't think that manic wail at the end of "Cygnus X-1" should really count.

The section in "Freewill" right after the guitar solo/instrumental section is definitely the highest part in any song that he'll still dare to sing in the original key (and he NAILED IT at the St. Paul show last week!) but I'd guess that there's stuff from the earlier albums that must have been higher -- at least, higher overall. I notice that when they play "2112" these days they do it in a different key. I also noticed they are playing "Circumstances" in a lower key on this tour -- I could tell the moment I heard it, of course, but I also noticed that Geddy was playing his red bass and Alex was playing his black guitar... telltale signs that they're playing in a lowered key. But again, I think the impetus for playing in a lower key is that OVERALL the song's key is too high for him to sing in at a sustained level. It's one thing to belt out 4 measures really high (as in "Freewill") but if he had to sing an entire song in that range, or even slightly lower, it would be too much for him.

QUOTE (owlswing @ Sep 6 2007, 07:22 PM) I'd have to go with the missing - Better Off Dead. " I want my two dollars" Right off!

On the list I'd say The Breakfast Club, but since you offered "Other"... well, I have two big favorites that are missing: Sixteen Candles and Better Off Dead!

I love Fletch... I even named my kid Fletcher! (No kidding.) Not a big fan of Fletch Lives, although it did have its moments.

Huh... my wife and I just got back from seeing The Simpsons Movie, and they had shown the preview for this. We both agreed the preview sucked and we had very little interest in seeing the movie. Maybe we need to give it a chance...

That was out of left field. I hadn't even heard him mentioned as a consideration. I was rooting for what's-his-face... the J. Peterman guy.

Neil is not at the concert venue to "chill" backstage or to be anyone's buddy. He's there to do his job, which is play a kick-ass show. When he's done, he gets out, because he's back on his own time, and he'll do what he needs to do to make sure that time isn't compromised. More power to him. It's a shame things are such that he needs to do that, though. I used to think it would be cool to meet one of my rock heroes, but I read some stuff Robert Fripp wrote, and I realized, it really wouldn't. I have nothing useful to say to them, and they have no godlike wisdom to bestow upon me, either. Our relationship begins and ends at the music. So I leave it at that.

It's been a while since I've listened to VT. I voted for (or, I suppose, AGAINST) "Nocturne," only because it's the only one in the list that I do not remember at all. I'm not a big fan of "One Little Victory," though.

QUOTE (ReRushed @ Jun 10 2007, 08:51 AM) Batman Begins is a total reboot of the Batman franchise. It has nothing to do with the previous Batman movies. Agreed. It's also the BEST Batman movie (in my opinion) by a mile. Seems they kind of did the same thing to Bond with Casino Royale. The only problem was, the first half of the movie was great, but the second half was crap!

I think Reservoir Dogs is probably better as a fully realized work of art, but Pulp Fiction hit me at just the right time. (I was 20, a junior in college.) It transformed my entire understanding of the medium. I suddenly understood film as art, instead of just movies as entertainment. (Granted, it's still mostly entertainment... but it's a lot more artistic than what normally passes as entertainment.) Sadly I haven't really gotten into Tarantino's direction since then. Jackie Brown was OK; I hated Kill Bill Volume One. I haven't seen KBv2 or Grindhouse (although I do want to see Grindhouse).

We're redoing our kitchen this weekend (with help from some friends). Last night after a long day of labor, my wife and I ordered our favorite jumbo (16-inch) pizza from the neighborhood pizzeria with Italian sausage, green peppers and mushrooms. Way too much pizza for 2 people to reasonably eat, but hey, we'd worked up quite an appetite!

Flea is one of the best bass players around (on par with Geddy), and for that reason I've always had an appreciation for the RHCP. However, two big criticisms in the past: 1. Anthony Kiedis can't sing for shit. 2. The guitar parts always seemed conspicuously "thin" like something was seriously missing in the mix. Blood Sugar Sex Magik came out during my senior year of high school, and I was really into it, until MTV played the hell out of "Under the Bridge." (I got sick of R.E.M. due to massive overplaying of "Losing My Religion" right around the same time.) Then I went for a long time without paying any attention to these guys until a friend forced me to listen to By the Way, and it was really good! I never actually bought it though, but I did get Stadium Arcadium and I think this album is a tour de force. Chad's drumming is still a little sloppy for my tastes, but the guitar and vocals are up to where I think they should be now, and Flea is fantastic as always. So, I voted for Stadium Arcadium. But I do really like By the Way, and I still have a soft spot for Blood Sugar Sex Magik. I've listened to some clips of early tracks, before their first drummer OD'd, and that was some really crazy stuff. I think they had a lot of potential that disappeared when he did. That said... these guys manage to be commercially successful while still maintaining some musical integrity, and they keep pushing themselves and doing interesting things, so I put them up there in a pretty limited crowd of "contemporary" bands (c'mon, they're getting to be old farts themselves by now!) doing great music, along with Foo Fighters.

Happy Feet.

In the Court of the Crimson King was revolutionary, but the aimless wankery of the improv section of "Moonchild" keeps it from perfection. (The improvs the '73-'74 lineup was capable of show just how weak the improv in '69 was.) I was a big fan of the '73-'74 lineup for a long time. I think they did the best work overall, and all 3 of their studio albums are among the band's top 5. But for me personally, Discipline is the single best KC album. Every song is just great, and I love the interplay between Belew and Fripp. They're so completely different, in so many ways, and it's just amazing how their different personalities and radically different playing styles contrast and complement each other, and yet at the same time, the can launch into intricate lockstep parts that sound like the knot on the cover looks. Amazing.

I'm somewhat surprised at all of the p/g hate around here. Granted, I had written that album off almost from the beginning, for some reason, but I really got into it after R30 came out and I was digging on "Between the Wheels." No matter... one album here is so far inferior to the others that it clearly MUST go! I voted for (or rather, against) HYF.

For me, of the ones listed here 2112, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire are the weakest, by a considerable margin. Among those 3, I had to go with Hold Your Fire. Probably the one and only Rush album I've never really liked, even for a little while... even though I think it's better than everything that followed it, except Counterparts (one of my favorites now, actually) and Vapor Trails (great songs, horrible production).

I came into this expecting to vote for (or really, I suppose, AGAINST) punk, but since it's not on the list, and something I hate even more (but had forgotten about) was there, I went with opera. I was a music major in college; I have a good appreciation for what is loosely referred to as "classical" music, even though I don't listen to it much. But I absolutely HATE opera. The operatic singing style developed around one objective: projecting the human voice to the back row of a large hall in the days before amplification technology existed. To me there's nothing either artistic or enjoyable about it. Strident tone, heavy vibrato, dynamic range from extra-loud to extra-extra-loud. Yuck. Besides punk and opera, the kind of music I dislike most is the schmaltzy overwrought vocal pop of people like Celine Dion. I think of it as music for people who don't REALLY like music.

I'm abstaining from this round, as it's been so long since I've heard the whole album that I don't even remember most of these songs! I remember back when I got the album (right after it came out... it was my first "new" Rush album after I got into the band) the only song I really liked (before I decided to sell the CD) was "Show Don't Tell." So I'm going to root for that one to win.

I am stunned that "Open Secrets" is still on the list. Disappointed that my personal favorite ("Force Ten") is gone. Once again, I vote for (or, I suppose, against) "Open Secrets."