spitball

Nice pictures...I would have liked to hear Jacob's Ladder live myself, since my first Rush show was in '81, just missing its original performances. Regarding the vintage guitars...the ES-355 and the ES-335 appear to me to be his originals. I know the white ES-355 has been re-issued, but you can see the very narrow neck on the guitar in the photo, which would be a clue that it is the original 1976 guitar...they did not choose to copy that particular spec on the reissue. The sunburst ES-335 looks a whole lot like the original '68/'69 to me, and I doubt he'd bother making such an exact replica as a one-off for this tour, especially when only the hard-core Lifeson geeks like myself might notice.

Off the top of my head... Two of my favorites are one-track albums: > Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick > Brian Eno: Thursday Afternoon My favortie double-albums include these (allowing for one or two weaker tracks): > Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road > Led Zeppelin: Physical Grafitti Some "standard" albums to which I give 5 stars are: > Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here > Rush: Moving Pictures (the variation of style pushes MP to the top) > AC/DC: Highway to Hell My favorite live album is: > Graham Parker Live in SF 1979 (released recently)

QUOTE (KillerInstinct @ Mar 21 2010, 03:47 PM) Zappa newbie here what album should i listen to to get started? someone reccommended Hot Rats to me, but i haven't bothered to listen to it yet Zappa's work is hard to classify, but there are some general eras you can reference, and after years of listening to Frank, I feel the best to recommend to a newbie is the early/mid 70's funky rock era; albums like Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe, Roxy and Elsewhere, and One Size Fits All. I am also very fond of his big band stuff of the years just preceeding that, and I also like most of the more harsh listening served up by the original Mothers lineup of the late 60's (We're Only in it for the Money is a virtual time warp into the unknown world of the LA Freak scene of the late 60's....it is an anthropological sensation). Frank had a lot of good material after the mid 70's, but it got more and more diluted by what I consider to be filler, so I would steer clear of his 80's stuff for a bit until you really get hungry for more. The late 70's had some good stuff. Sheik Yerbouti is a mixed bag of good and bad for me, I feel that Joe's Garage is better. Then there's the huge Lather album which was recorded 75-77 or so....a really amazing mix of bands and even orchestra. It has some filler for sure, but is pretty essential actually. And oh yes, I almost forgot,.....there are several official releases of live material from the 1988 tour (which I attended twice, hallelujah!). It was one of his better bands, and some amazing gems are to be found in those releases.

QUOTE (cheech44 @ Aug 10 2010, 10:45 AM) pretty much everything post-Signals. I gave up after that album, came back due to my boy's (age 6) interest in the old stuff motivated me to take him to a show this tour. listened to everything since and probably now enjoy the newer stuff more than the old (recognizing that the old is nonetheless classic stuff). vapor trails stands out for me - love the tune ceiling unlimited - it's like a heavy u2 song with way better playing & energy. I still can't get into much after Moving Pictures. Only a few songs here and there stand out to me, like Digital Man, Kid Gloves, Time Stand Still, maybe a couple off of Counterparts, not not a whole lot else. My music taste is 10,000% wider than it was in the early 80's when I pretty much only listened to progressive rock. Somehow, even with my wider perspective, later eras of Rush still don't sound very interesting to me overall. Their synth period at least featured some kind of song structure, but the last several albums...wow, I just don't get the appeal.

red lenses This resembled disco too closely for my ears in 1984. Later on, I admitted to myself that I really enjoyed the song. Very freeing! I'm not a big fan pf post-Moving Pictures Rush...but this is a gem.

QUOTE (Cygnus-1001001 @ Jun 30 2010, 12:35 PM) I think its one of the worst Rush songs! Really no redeeming qualities and it looks like you all agree! What a weird choice! Happy with Time Stand Still, Presto and Marathon though So any one like this song?? I agree, it's a low point.

I Think I'm Going Bald would be appropriately funny and a great surprise. It is NOT the klunker of a song people here seem to rate it as, IMHO. I would like anythng from CoS, but this gets my vote....or certain parts of the Necromancer.

I've always loved TCE, but this is one song I prefer abridged a bit live. The Signals tour version is very good...except it was played a little too fast.

QUOTE (Don Quixote @ Apr 26 2010, 08:57 AM) QUOTE (graptemys @ Apr 14 2010, 03:10 PM) I wish they would just release all the songs from the live videos that they edited out (Exit Stage Left, Grace Under Pressure, A Show of Hands). We missed some awesome stuff. For example, Jacob's Ladder, Beneath Between Behind, Red lenses, Kid gloves, The Body Electric, Afterimage, Lock & Key, Time Stand Still, etc. I still feel ripped off. Why not show the whole concert? I'd really like to see the full video from the MP tour - wouldn't have A Passage to Bangkok or Jacob's Ladder on it though, those were done on the Permanent Waves tour which I don't think was filmed. Well, there are films from other tours out there. That Youtube teaser video from Buffalo 1980 is something that I wonder about...Is the whole concert in a can in a vault somewhere? Also, I recall seeing pics of a 1979 show in the Capitol Theater in NJ, with film cameras in view...someone was filming.

QUOTE (EmotionDetector @ Apr 26 2010, 10:23 AM) QUOTE (Show Don't Tell @ Apr 25 2010, 02:39 PM) QUOTE (PuppetKing2112 @ Apr 25 2010, 02:33 PM) They didn't ever play Witch Hunt until 1984. Correct. The setlist for the Moving Pictures tour was: -------------------------------------------------- 2112 (Overture/Temples of Syrinx) Freewill Limelight Hemispheres (Prelude) Beneath, Between and Behind The Camera Eye YYZ Drum Solo YYZ Broon's Bane The Trees Xanadu The Spirit of Radio Red Barchetta Closer To The Heart Tom Sawyer Vital Signs Natural Science Working Man (reggae intro) Hemispheres (Armageddon) By-Tor and the Snow Dog (abbreviated)-> In the End In The Mood 2112 (Grand Finale) Encore: La Villa Strangiato (classical guitar intro) -------------------------------------------------- So, close, but no cigar. Mighty fine setlist, if I do say so myself. I agree. The bookending of the set with the opening and closing parts of 2112 worked beautifully. This tour is kinda ruined for my because of the lousy sound mix. Alex's guitars are buried. I remember thinking ESL sounded horrible (except for side 3, from thr PeW tour). I saw Rush on the ESL tour in Dec '81 and it sounded the same; you had to strain to hear Alex. Not sure if newer releases of ESL were mixed any better....

QUOTE (shaun3701 @ Apr 22 2010, 04:03 PM) I though that song became Natural Science? Oh yeah, maybe it did....I just wanted to throw that up there as a silly discussion idea anyway.

That would be unexpected, eh? As in, I was just watching the PeW Le Studio interview, where they mentioned Sir Gawain, a song idea that they had dropped. PS - Tongue firmly in cheek on this...

QUOTE (Rick4001 @ Apr 13 2010, 10:46 AM) QUOTE (spitball @ Apr 13 2010, 08:10 AM) QUOTE (Rick4001 @ Apr 13 2010, 08:03 AM) QUOTE (spitball @ Apr 13 2010, 06:11 AM) QUOTE (snowdog2112 @ Apr 12 2010, 10:01 PM) QUOTE I think Ged's memory of the specifics could be off. He used the Rick on Tom Sawyer, as this is even recorded on film. What do you mean it's recorded on film, are you talking about the video? Do you seriously believe that the video for Tom Sawyer (and the others from MP) is them actually recording those tracks on film? Absolutely. I know a lip synch when I see one, and the Le Studio videos aren't. Do you seriously believe those are lip synched? Of course the videos, Tom Sawyer and Limelight, are lip synched, but why would he use the Rick in them if he did not record those songs with the Rick? Hmm, I guess we have to agree to disagree here. I don't buy that they are lip synched... ...Those are the actual album recordings being filmed at Le Studio. How anyone thinks they are lip synched is beyond me. I suppose the term 'lip sync' is being used here to express 'not live'. Perhaps the video was taped in part during the recording of those songs, but the songs could not have been recorded in one take. I'm sure the video was spliced together for a seamless finished product and "synced" with the audio. Yes, I think so. You can see the vocals being recorded later (darkness had settled outside, Geddy alone at the mic) and the guitar solo is in a separate studio using the black ES-345, while the main track is on the white ES-355. Everyting about the video says to me that we're seeing the actual recording of the song on film. The one thing is Geddy's interview quote where he makes the point that he used a Fender on that song. But I still trust my eyes and ears on this one more than Ged's memory on that particular point. I'll admit that is such a frivolous point, it's barely worth even an online forum discussion.

QUOTE (Presto-digitation @ Apr 13 2010, 11:02 AM) Honestly I'm more prone to suggest that Neil bring back his acoustic bells (literally) and whistles, etc....as I don't think the electronic pads sound very convincing recreating those sounds. +1.5 I'm sure the electronics are so much easier to lug around, but all these years later, and they still don't sounds as good as the real thing. Neil made dang good use of them too...especially listening to live stuff from '77-'80. And it's not only with Neil. I remember seeing Frank Zappa back in 1988 and Ed Mann had a combination of real and electronic percussion. The electronic stuff sounded horrible to me.

QUOTE (Rick4001 @ Apr 13 2010, 08:03 AM) QUOTE (spitball @ Apr 13 2010, 06:11 AM) QUOTE (snowdog2112 @ Apr 12 2010, 10:01 PM) QUOTE I think Ged's memory of the specifics could be off. He used the Rick on Tom Sawyer, as this is even recorded on film. What do you mean it's recorded on film, are you talking about the video? Do you seriously believe that the video for Tom Sawyer (and the others from MP) is them actually recording those tracks on film? Absolutely. I know a lip synch when I see one, and the Le Studio videos aren't. Do you seriously believe those are lip synched? Of course the videos, Tom Sawyer and Limelight, are lip synched, but why would he use the Rick in them if he did not record those songs with the Rick? Hmm, I guess we have to agree to disagree here. I don't buy that they are lip synched. Even their choices of guitars live on the MP tour seem to go along with the studio. Alex used a semi hollow Gibson (Howard Roberts) live on Tom Sawyer and The Camera Eye, and Strats for the rest. I believe he used semi hollows (some combo of 345, 355 and Howard Roberts) in the studio for those same songs, and Strats on everything else. Geddy used the Jazz live on YYZ and Vital Signs only. I think the same went a Le Studio; Jazz only on YYZ and Vital Signs. Those are the actual album recordings being filmed at Le Studio. How anyone thinks they are lip synched is beyond me. Time Stand Still is lip synched. Tom Sawyer at Le Studio is not. Not that any of this is important in the grand scheme of things...

QUOTE (snowdog2112 @ Apr 12 2010, 10:01 PM) QUOTE I think Ged's memory of the specifics could be off. He used the Rick on Tom Sawyer, as this is even recorded on film. What do you mean it's recorded on film, are you talking about the video? Do you seriously believe that the video for Tom Sawyer (and the others from MP) is them actually recording those tracks on film? Absolutely. I know a lip synch when I see one, and the Le Studio videos aren't. Do you seriously believe those are lip synched?

I think Ged's memory of the specifics could be off. He used the Rick on Tom Sawyer, as this is even recorded on film. I believe he probably used the Fender Jazz live on the MP tour for the same songs he used it for in the studio: On the MP tour: Rick: Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, Limelight, Camera Eye Jazz: YYZ, Vital Signs

QUOTE (snowdog2112 @ Apr 10 2010, 01:43 PM) QUOTE Grand Finale was abridged? No, but I think people hear it that way because the soloing is missing. It's not any shorter though, Alex simply played the power chords under where the soloing would have been. And in fact the whole 2112 piece is significantly longer because of the added Alex stuff in Discovery. I'll go listen again to be absolutely sure but I'm pretty sure that's right. You may be right, I don't know if The Grand Finale was actually shortened or not. But the missing solo is puzzling. It sure sounds better with the solo.

I had the pleasure of seeing TCE performed in 81 and again in 82 (abridged). It is one of my favorite Rush songs because of the "ambient" feel of it, for lack of a better word. It has a kind of atmosphere. That said, it was never one of their stronger tracks live. Yes, they performed it well, but it always kinda brought the crowd down to a simmer. I think that's why they dropped it. Maybe this time around will be different.. I tend to be a purist, and I enjoy songs performed in their entirety (I still think the '97 version of 2112 was incomplete due to the abridged Grand Finale). But TCE is an exception where I think the abridged version works best live. Oh well, whatever, a lot of people are going to love it.

I'm pretty sure I remember that contest in '87. Was it in the magazine issue that came with the vinyl recording of "Pieces of Eight"? Anyone still have that?

Don't know much Blondie, but I am VERY fond of the punk/new wave era...Psychedelic Furs, Split Enz, Iggy Pop, The Tubes, etc. I should probably check them out, finally, 30 years later.

Hold Your Fire and Power Windows are my least favorite Rush albums. I am really into the Terry Brown material for the most part. Even the newer Rush albums don't move me anything like the older ones do. So, with all that said, I do have to say that Time Stand Still is an awesome song, one of Rush's best.

In the New York area, Rush remained a relative unknown until Permanent Waves. Damn NYC radio!!! When I was in the 5th grade, a girl in our class came in with a Hemispheres tour shirt after the Capitol Theater show in Passaic, NJ. We all said, "Rush? What the hell is that??" A year later, my brother bought Permanent Waves, and I was hooked...but I didn;t see them live until the Exit Stage Left tour. Great setlist, but the sound was horrible (muddied with too much bass)! The previewed version of Subdivisions sounded boring, I recall. I also remember wondering what Hemispheres actually sounded like and they played parts of it (with a parting brain graphic shown on the screen, just like my classmate's shirt from 5th grade). I next saw them on the Signals tour from the side of the stage...a LOT of fun seeing Alex & Geddy play the Taurus foot pedals and watching Neil through his concert toms. I also caught them at Radio City Music Hall in 1983. I almost lost my ticket in the wind on 6th Avenue!! It was a great show...we liked the Grace Under Pressure previews.