ghostworks

^ [sorry, that's a little off topic... probably needs it's own thread]

QUOTE (danielmclark @ Oct 18 2010, 11:42 AM) QUOTE (nobodys hero @ Oct 18 2010, 06:40 AM) My daughter's boyfriend and his Mom wore these things when they went on an 8 mile hike up in Rocky Mountain National Park. Apparently they are super comfortable. I do agree with Mara though fugly they are! No offence DC None taken ...and you thought Ugg's were bad? I've seen two other people wearing these ridiculous things in the past month, and already: I've had enough. Both of these people, by the way, were in a completely urban (city) environment. They weren't hiking or running or on a walking tour or exercising or "experiencing the physical and visceral sensation of going barefoot and conquering the world as you did when you were a child" (paraphrasing from the Vibram site... ) No. They were wearing them as a 'fashion' statement. I almost punched them in the mouth on principle alone. People. Stop before you start.

Squackett (and no, I'm not kidding)

a few 'difficulties' I have with accepting Benoit David as a bona fide member of Yes: he was drafted into Yes as a 'temp' so that they could keep their tour commitments while Jon recovered from his illness - that's it he didn't 'audition' - Yes weren't looking to replace a singer (Jon never 'quit') in fact, Yes only became aware of David via his work as a Jon Anderson mimic in a Yes tribute band, not for his vocal talents in their own right for a little contrast, back in the 'pre-Drama' days, Jon (and Rick) had officially left the band and Trevor Horn wasn't singing in a Yes tribute band when he 'got the call' from Squire Trevor and Geoff (Downes) were writing, performing and producing their own music (Buggles) for these reasons alone, I have no 'problem' accepting Drama/the Drama tour as an 'official' version of Yes conversely, any album/tour that involves a Yes w/Benoit David is offensive

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Oct 14 2010, 03:48 AM) QUOTE (The Owl @ Oct 14 2010, 05:50 AM) If wikipedia is correct, Yes should be in the studio as we speak They are. Trevor Horn producing, apparently. hopefully, Benoit will come down with some terrible voice-afflicting illness (from which he'll fully recover from eventually, of course) and Chris will kick him out of the band and Trevor will have to step in I'd be happy with 'D2: Rise Of The Machine Messiah'

throw off those chains of reason and your prison disappears...

http://www.rollingstone.com/files/content/mounts/sambamount/images/VIDEO/Music/2010_04/RUSH_Beyond_sq.jpg "This bass is a little heavier than I thought..."

North Atlantic Oscillation - Grappling Hooks UNKLE - Where Did The Night Fall (2xCD) Blonde Redhead - Penny Sparkle Underworld - Barking Sun Kil Moon - Admiral Fell Promises

3OAPP all day long the only Crim I really have a taste for is the Belew/Bruford/Fripp/Levin Trilogy (Disc/Beat/3) the rest is largely uninspiring

QUOTE (rushfr:CP @ Sep 15 2010, 02:32 PM) I'm going but would like to get inside, does anybody have two extra tickets to sell?? there were tons (metric) available at the box office hope you made it (it didn't suck!)

QUOTE (Deckiller @ Sep 10 2010, 11:55 AM) Nope. I've only done 4 write-ups in the last few days because of real-life issues and uploading Youtube videos! your priorities are profoundly out of whack, Jack

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Sep 10 2010, 08:47 AM) QUOTE (ghostworks @ Sep 9 2010, 09:35 PM) QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 9 2010, 01:40 PM) QUOTE (Mystic Slipperman @ Sep 9 2010, 09:05 AM) Genesis - A Trick of the Tail hmmm, that one might belong on my list too - i'll have to give it another once over to decide... I bet it won't make the cut. 'Ripples' is reason number one. Even compared to the rest of TOTT, it's very weak. That said, it's not a 'bad' song - but it's far from 'acceptable' when talking about perfect albums IMO. A little too much 'the-quiet-side-of-Genesis-by-the-numbers' - really, against all of their acoustic moments, 'Ripples' fairs extremely poorly. And if 'Ripples' doesn't disqualify TOTT, the title track surely must. "...they got no horns and they got no tail"? Good lord. I thought the lyrics were insipid when I was 12 (nevermind as an adult) and the twee music fares no better. It's like some kind of soundtrack to a way (way) off-Broadway Cockney musical. One of the most embarrassing songs Genesis ever committed to vinyl. Hear you on both counts m'lud. For the defence, Hackett's solo in Ripples is so fluid and dreamlike, it propels the song, an average ballad granted, up a few notches for me. The title track's piddly lyrics notwithstanding, it's so melodic it's catchier than herpes. And as corny as they are they fit the overall olde worlde feel of the album. Kinda fairytaley..... What would preclude ATOTT from my list would be Robbery, Assault and Battery. It's too bloody olde worlde(!) and Phil's faux-cockney accent is awfully irritating. Bloody great album though. Squonk, Dance, Los Endos, Entangled, oh yes. Agreed, there's LOTS to like here... ...but it's just not a PERFECT album (if we abide by the OP's parameters.) That's what's making this thread so aggravating (and interesting!) to me.

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 9 2010, 07:52 PM) come join, show's not even half over yet! too late

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 9 2010, 01:40 PM) QUOTE (Mystic Slipperman @ Sep 9 2010, 09:05 AM) Genesis - A Trick of the Tail hmmm, that one might belong on my list too - i'll have to give it another once over to decide... I bet it won't make the cut. 'Ripples' is reason number one. Even compared to the rest of TOTT, it's very weak. That said, it's not a 'bad' song - but it's far from 'acceptable' when talking about perfect albums IMO. A little too much 'the-quiet-side-of-Genesis-by-the-numbers' - really, against all of their acoustic moments, 'Ripples' fairs extremely poorly. And if 'Ripples' doesn't disqualify TOTT, the title track surely must. "...they got no horns and they got no tail"? Good lord. I thought the lyrics were insipid when I was 12 (nevermind as an adult) and the twee music fares no better. It's like some kind of soundtrack to a way (way) off-Broadway Cockney musical. One of the most embarrassing songs Genesis ever committed to vinyl.

[and for those of you keeping score at home] > 10 of the 28 perfect albums from my list are entirely instrumental > Bill Bruford (drums) appears on four of the albums and Bill Laswell (bass, producer) appears on three > Yes are the most represented group (three albums) > only two 'top billed' female musicians (Jane and Lisa) made the list > my top perfect album decade (with ten albums) is the 90's > 18 of my 28 perfect albums are from non-American artists (and two of the remaining ten are collaborations with foreign artists) ^ bear in mind, all of this surprised me...

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Jazz At Oberlin (1953) Miles Davis - In A Silent Way (1969) Yes - The Yes Album (1971) Yes - Close to the Edge (1972) Led Zeppelin - IV (1971) Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974) Yes - Relayer (1974) Steely Dan - Royal Scam (1976) Rush - Permanent Waves (1980) The Fixx - Reach The Beach (1983) Nik Kershaw - The Riddle (1984) Marillion - Misplaced Childhood (1985) Prefab Sprout - Two Wheels Good (1985) Kazumi Watanabe - The Spice Of Life Too (1988) The The - Mind Bomb (1989) Sting - The Soul Cages (1991) Automaton - Automaton Jihad: Points Of Order (1994) Material - Hallucination Engine (1994) Bill Laswell & Pete Namlook - Psychonavigation (1994) Robert Rich/Lisa Moskow - Yearning (1995) Scott Walker - Tilt (1995) Jane Siberry - Maria (1995) Robert Rich - Fissures (1997) Massive Attack - Mezzanine (1998) David Sylvian - Dead Bees On A Cake (1999) Bill Bruford - The Sound Of Surprise (2001) Underworld - A Hundred Days Off (2002) Sleepy Town Manufacture - Inspired By You (2006) So. As RG said, this list is about perfect 'albums'. To honestly consider records in this way is no simple task (nor should it be.) Many times I had to divorce myself from the instinct to include a favorite album (like Marillion's 'Clutching at Straws' for instance) instead of the 'perfect' one ('Misplaced Childhood'.) In that example, 'Clutching' is the album I listen to far more often, and is certainly the one Marillion record I couldn't live without. But there are not one but two mis-steps on 'Clutching' that simply aren't there on 'Misplaced'. Despite loving many individual songs on 'Clutching' more than any individual song on 'Misplaced', 'Clutching' does not work flawlessly as an album for me. 'Misplaced' does. That kind of clinical thinking isn't the easiest thing to manage, but by doing so I've surprised myself with my own list. Of course, a list of my 'nearly perfect' albums would be ridiculously long - it was heartbreaking in a way to have to leave out albums like 'Songs In The Key Of Life' (Stevie Wonder) and 'Skylarking' (XTC) - both of which I would recommend to every human being, by the way, despite one or two 'clunkers' (Seal's debut album, Sarah McLachlan's 'Fumbling Towards Ecstacy' and a handful of Rush and Yes albums nearly squeaked into my list as well.) I've got to offer kudos to RG for imposing such strict parameters. It's made the whole exercise quite a trip!

...and I think Bravest Face is too low here, while Animate would've been fine rated in the high 90's and HTW? 150 would be kind

QUOTE (wrekinboy @ Sep 3 2010, 08:18 AM)You have rated 'Cinderella Man' below 'Neurotica'. Take a step back from this great endeavour for a moment and consider what you have done. I really can't find the words to fully explain how wrong that is.Agree tenfold. At this point, I feel Deck has revealed himself as merely an instigator (or a man of extremely poor taste) or both. QUOTE (wrekinboy @ Sep 3 2010, 08:18 AM)But as others have said, keep going, it's....interesting.Yeah. Well. I'm not so sure about that anymore.

QUOTE (thelocator @ Sep 3 2010, 04:16 PM)...I don't think any reasonable man or woman would dispute the fact that RUSH have jumped on a few bandwagons when those stagecoaches came rambling by...I'm (fairly) reasonable. And I'll gladly dispute it. Give me just one bandwagon Rush ever even... I don't know, loosely followed... like, even from a considerable distance, Clint Eastwood-style...! QUOTE (thelocator @ Sep 3 2010, 04:16 PM)...what 'ghostworks' said above about the 'Signals' material can't be ignored..It has to be the most patently false thing I've ever read about the band, ever...Come now. What about the 'everything that Rush does is awesome!' posts? QUOTE (thelocator @ Sep 3 2010, 04:16 PM)That is IF he's actually serious...Which I seriously doubt in this case..."Definitely serious. I've a wicked sarcastic side but I'd fully admit if I was taking the piss here. I'm not at all. QUOTE (thelocator @ Sep 3 2010, 04:16 PM)There isn't a single 'Best Of 80's' CD that contains 'Subdivisons' or 'New World Man' (or anything else from 'Signals') on it?"...That did make me laugh...But, I don't understand the need for a joke though...Feel free to post one for me - I'll offer the appropriate retraction. QUOTE (thelocator @ Sep 3 2010, 04:16 PM) ...the songs from SIGNALS were SO POPULAR and ALL OVER THE RADIO when that album was released (based on the prior success of the Moving Pictures material, just like Metallica's surge in popularity was based on the success of 'Black') and these 'Signals' songs show up on EVERY SINGLE Greatest Hits package that the band has ever put together...^ oh please - come on, pal! You know I'm not talking about Rush comps (silly! ) - I'm talking about 80's comps in general. You know, full of the bands that 'sold out' to popular trends at the time? Yeah. No 'Subdivisions' or 'NWM' to be found, mate. QUOTE (thelocator @ Sep 3 2010, 04:16 PM) ...YOU CERTAINLY KNOW just how badly this band wanted to ride that wave of popular, mainstream success during the 80's...a moment of time which had their songs on the radio every fifteen minutes, and their videos in constant rotation on MTV...I guess I grew up with a different MTV. Every Rush video that ever debuted was bracketed with endless hours of Culture Club and Wham and Eurythmics videos. Don't forget, Loc - I lived this - I distinctly remember MTV giving 'Distant Early Warning' (and 'Mystic Rhythms' and 'Time Stand Still' for that matter) the World Premiere video treatment, complete with a set time for the video to be played for the first time. WORLDWIDE! And so! That day and time came, the video was broadcast and then... yeah. That was pretty much the last time those videos were shown. QUOTE (thelocator @ Sep 3 2010, 04:16 PM)...the only GROUPS that were as popular as RUSH during the FIRST HALF of the 1980's were Genesis, Judas Priest, The Police and U2...RUSH were as big as you were gonna git.Pffthfhtft. You're just being ridiculous now. I don't know what planet you lived on during the 80's, but it wasn't the one everyone else inhabited. The first half of the 80's were dominated by Michael Jackson, Men At Work, Lionel Richie, Hall and Oates, Foreigner and Cyndi Lauper. No one would dispute this.

QUOTE (thelocator @ Sep 3 2010, 11:22 AM)QUOTE (tick @ Sep 3 2010, 06:48 AM)Selling out would imply Rush actually changed direction for the purpose of making money. That they said, hey if we sound like this we may sell more records. Yes. I am implying this. Imply away, my friend. But there's no evidence to back that statement up, I'm afraid. You mentioned 'Signals' as evidence that Rush had perhaps willfully leaned towards the cash till and away from creative integrity. There isn't a single 'Best Of 80's' CD that contains 'Subdivisons' or 'New World Man' (or anything else from 'Signals') on it. Poll 1,000 people on the street (35 to 55 y.o.) with the question "who sang the song 'Subdivisions' or 'New World Man' in the 80's" (and to hum a few bars) and you'd get 997 blank stares or wrong guesses. This band was never 'popular'. Ever. Rush were very much a 'cult' band in the '80's. Many of us who were fans during that era practically had to hold secret meetings under the bleachers to listen to albums and talk about them. Forget about wearing your Rush t-shirt to school and not taking a shithill's worth of abuse. And if there was any doubt left, 'Grace Under Pressure' was the definitive statement that Rush had changed their musical direction. Because they wanted to. They did not cave to pressure from their record company to record a 'hit', they did not chuck their creative interests in favor of a chance at massive radio airplay, nor were they fooled into thinking if they did so that dumptrucks full of cash would magically appear in their driveways. It's easy to confuse what Rush liked and were influenced by and what they collectively pulled into their creative kitchen at the time with 'selling out'. Even the abhorrent 'Roll The Bones' is incontrovertible evidence that Rush never gave a thought to 'let's sell out and record songs that will make us rich and popular'. A rapping skeleton? There was nothing 'uncooler' than that in 1991. Rush knew that - unequivocally - and they did it anyway. There can be no accusations of 'sell out' when a set of brass onions that massive has just been displayed. Rush became steadily more successful because they continued writing and recording songs they liked. That integrity was (and remains) rare and infectious. The more they keep it up, the more fans respect them for it (even during those 'questionable' experiments.) Their fanbase expands not because Rush sell out to popular music trends, but precisely because they do not. And people who recognize that kind of integrity in music talk about it. Rush has forever been the band that friends 'let each other in on'.

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Sep 1 2010, 08:06 PM) This thread is getting weird. ^ you're not helping.

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Aug 30 2010, 09:53 AM) ...the more you go on, the more you're making me want to compile such a list, but I just don't think I can. funny, isn't it? By giving the subject some serious word count, Deck (to his credit) is giving each Rush song a near-exhausting assessment. But when he's 'wrong' ( ) it evokes an almost instant 'need' to throw all carpal tunnel risks to the wind and craft your very own exacting dissertation on precisely why 'Here Again' and 'Chain Lightning' deserve to be in every Rush fans' top 40. [which - of course - they do ]