psionic11

I love the synth era... great bass lines, great vocal melodies, some really memorable guitar parts. Oh yeah, and the synths. They add a texture and expand the Rush vocabulary to where we can really see the abundant talent and musicality of this legendary trio.

Signals tour: Snuck in binoculars and watched the concert from stage left. I could see the individual notes while Geddy was playing Subdivisions. Neil was Mr. Serious, all focus. Great concert.

When I was in the Air Force Band in New Hampshire, the rock band detachment played Lock and Key. The drummer was the band leader, so of course he got to choose what songs to play...

Great song, esp the solo. Seems like Alex captured the feel of an argument in that jangly solo. He's great at catching the sentiment of the song in his solos, like he did similarly with his Ghost of a Chance solo.

I'm surprised Hope is near the end of everyone's list. I think it's a brilliant little ditty. Then again, except for Limbo, every other instrumental deserves to be placed ahead of Hope...

When you take the concepts out of The Trees, you can use them for many things. Let's strip out the concepts and see what we're left with two opposing sides inequality abundance on one side oppression or lack on the other side tension joining of forces ("formed a union") (violent) resolution Now as you can see, you can apply those concepts to many common themes and situations and make it fit, as you can see by the examples posted. I think what's also interesting is the end result. The trees are forcefully all made equal, but that's a ridiculous thing. Equality is not necessarily the "right" thing to do. So depending on which side you're rooting for, you can use the story to support your reasoning, with the final result (chopped down trees) defending one position, but the unnatural resolution (chopped down trees) defending the opposite position...

Yeppers. Bass line and the tone are awesome. Guitar solo full of emotion, as well as Geddy's vocal delivery. Drums are intricate, tasteful, and yet driving. Open Secrets is one of their better kept secrets.

I really dig Rush's synth era, even Tai Shan. In fact, I like every single song on HYF. Everything on Signals, esp Losing It... Everything on PW, with ED the least favorite. Everything on GuP, including Red Lenses, with Afterimage my least favorite. Everything on Presto, even Superconductor, with War Paint the least. Everything on RTB, even Neurotica, with The Big Wheel and the 2nd half of Heresy the least ("yes, I guess we do"... blech)... Wow, I feel better getting all that off my chest. Like going to confession, lol

I was 14. And other than hearing a little Kiss when I was around 11 from two brothers who were our backdoor neighbors, I literally had NO IDEA about rock and roll and albums and such. I grew up in a military family with a father who hated rock and roll and a Filipina mother who was supposed to be a nun before she fell in love with my GI dad. So I spent 1st through 5th grades in a rock and roll vacuum in the DOD schools in the Philippines. We moved every two years or so after that. In 8th grade, my dad stopped giving me and my brother buzzcuts, and let us grow our hair out. At Satellite Beach, at PAtrick Air Force Base where my dad retired, I met a couple guitarists who were into Rush big time, as well as Zeppelin and Dungeons and Dragons. It was when Moving Pictures was released. I remember thinking Alex Lifeson was a genius musician. A couple years later, I bought my first stereo system, a used "quadrophonic" record player. My first ever albums: Rush -- Hemispheres Rush -- Exit Stage Left The Police -- Synchronicity Def Leppard -- Pyromania Hall and Oates -- some album with a diner on it (don't know why I bought this) I absolutely loved Pyromania, and rocked out to it every day. But the Rush albums held a spell on me that remains unbroken to this day.

RUSH will always be tops for me, but there are times when I'm not in a Rush mood... more often lately than not... The following bands, in no particular order, are my top favorites other than Rush Red Hot Chili Peppers 311 Nine Inch Nails Frontline Assembly Lynyrd Skynyrd Aerosmith Van Halen Led Zeppelin Styx Pink Floyd

Rush has most definitely influenced me as a musician. I played trombone in junior high school, and a guitarist friend introduced me to Rush, Led Zeppelin, and Dungeons and Dragons back in 1980. This was more extraordinary than most, I'd guess, because I had never really grown up listening to music (other than singing at Mass and playing in the marching and jazz bands at school). My friend thought Alex was a guitar god, and I was hypnotized by those magical riffs, spacey sounds, and piercing harmonics (love me some harmonics, Alex-style). For my 17th birthday, my dad bought me an acoustic guitar, and I bought a black Rush bible from 1983 titled "Rush Complete". It had the sheet music for every song up to and including Signals. I cut my guitar teeth on that book, which I still own and refer to to this day. My first originals were heavily stylized in the Lerxst tradition -- richly voiced chord progressions where the arpeggios were almost the melody. A few years later in 1988, when I was in the military, I bought my first bass with the sole intention of grokking Geddy. I was a mediocre guitarist and a mediocre synth player (Roland Juno 106 and Korg DW8000), and knew a good handful of Rush songs, but those awesome busy bass lines drew me like a magnet. Out of all the instruments I can play, I would say that I've mastered the bass the most, thanks to a good ear, tape rewind, and the Rush bible. So yeah, Rush has definitely influenced me both as a musician and an active listener to music. I understand and anticipate what the bass and guitar is doing in any given song. I understand the drums musically, with tension and release and supporting energy levels, thanks to Neil's musical drumming. Rush is still on my mind every week of my life, and now everyday because I named my golden lab pup "Rush"!! Good topic! Any mention of Rush often gets a lukewarm response when mentioned to most people, but a definite nod of respect when mentioned around other rock musicians. They're musicians' musicians.

Happy 61st, Geddy! Many more to come! You've been a lifelong inspiration to me, and my bass playing all started because I wanted to emulate you. Geddy Lee Weinrib (born Gary Lee Weinrib, July 29, 1953), known professionally as Geddy Lee, is a Canadian musician and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined what would become Rush in September 1968, at the request of his childhood friend Alex Lifeson, replacing original bassist and frontman Jeff Jones. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geddy_Lee

Tits n' Ass!!! Golden Earring (I kid, I kid)

The whole skit was funny, but this line made me laugh out loud.

Wow, I just looked back at the post's earlier replies... did not realize this song involved Neil's daughter. A sad irony that a song that still makes me happy is about such a tragedy now. I will listen to it from now on with a deeper, jaded-by-a-lifetime-of-hard-earned-appreciation kind of happiness, a la The Garden. At what point do you shut out all the atrocity on this planet, and just dwell in a simple, ignorance-is-bliss kind of state?

This is a great catchy song. As a musician, I really appreciate it from several levels, but as a fan, I can forget all the theory and just relate to the song's vibe, yes? The solo is great... it's a "backward masked" song. Again, it takes a musician's perspective to appreciate the creativity and actual planning to pull this off. Of course, the average listener isn't going to realize the tongue-in-cheek genius, but come on, at some point Alex had to do a backwards-recorded solo, like so many of his colleagues have already done.... This is a song that a three piece could pull off easily, besides the solo, because it just stands on its own as a gem. Laughter is infectious, right?

Glad to hear someone chime in with being uninspired by CA's guitar riffs. There are some great moments, for sure, but it's as if Alex channeled classic rock riffs with this album. To many, that's probably exactly why they love this album... Roots rock, white man's blues, or hard rock and roll, what have you... I appreciate the old stuff, but I find his other adventures eternally fresh -- the clangs of GUP, the super-catchy emo-melodic riffs of HYF, the dense but clear and colorful Hemispheres, and the big, broad songwriter's chords and rhythms of AFTK, PeW and MP. Power Window's pinched harmonics and bright big lines, Counterparts grooves and styles, and Presto's black and white art deco angles and patterns. Adventurous guitar everywhere. Even VT has some really interesting sonic textures and inventions. Too bad it was just so harsh and muddy. I'm snapping up that remix as soon as it's available...

Whoa, 15, get outta here... I'm mostly a Geddy (bass + keyboards) who plays a little guitar, but when I heard these guitar riffs, I thought it was an older 70's/80's guitarist hashing out riffs from the past... esp with Working Man, Fly By Night, Xanadu, La Villa Strangiato, and YYZ.... Good stuff, MusicalAbby2112... may I suggest a few other songs to learn that you will enjoy for a long Rush time? -- The Oracle, The Trees, Broon's Bane, Different Strings, Red Barchetta, Manhattan Project, Time Stand Still, Show Don't Tell, or Resist....

"I will choose free pills"... Classic! Ayn Rand's dystopian near-future where mega-Pharms saturate your Bluetooth earbuds with 24-7 ads for panacea placebo pills to cure your psychobabble ills... Hard bonding Rush fans barely begins to describe it, eh? ;)

Call me crazy, or just pissed ;) These grok the Irish spirit in song to me the most: Rivendell Bacchus' Plateau (The Fountain of Lamneth) Different Strings Losing It Time Stand Still Bravado Resist The Larger Bowl Hope Halo Effect The Garden

Been awhile since I last visited, but Rush never seems to go away, right? I'm sure we all have different listening styles nowadays. Some might play an album or three start to finish, some mix just the 80's synth stuff, some mix the Rush randomly with all the rest of their musicses.... I like playlists. Different songs for different moods. Here's a few of mine, but I have many more. The title of the playlist is important, of course, so you can dial into the RUSH that is needed for the moment: Heartstrings.m3u 1. Different Strings 2. Closer to the Heart 3. Time Stand Still 4. Cold Fire 5. Bravado 6. Resist 7. Nobody's Hero 8. Hope Indulgences.m3u 1. Hope 2. MalNar 3. Turn the Page 4. Where's my thing? 5. Marathon 6. Territories 7. Grand Designs 8. YYZ 9. Jacob'sLadder 10. Broon's Bane 11. The Trees 12. Alien Shore 13. La Villa Strangiato 14. Xanadu 15. Leave that thing alone 16. Losing It 17. The Main Monkey Business 18. Something for Nothing 19. MalNar 20. Hope Soapbox.m3u 1. Dreamline 2. Grand Designs 3. Mission 4. Manhattan Project 5. Hope 6. Cut to the Chase 7. Territories 8. Alien Shore 9. MalNar 10. The Larger Bowl 11. Turn th ePage 12. The Big Money 13. Cold Fire 14. Open Secrets 15. Ghost of a Chance 16. Time Stand Still 17. Marathon 18. Where's my thing? 19. The Main Monkey Business Top Old.m3u 1. Fly By Night 2. Making Memories 3. Beneath, Between, Behind 4. By-Tor and the Snow Dog 5. In the End 6. The Fountain of Lamneth 7. The Necromancer 8. Something for Nothing 9. A Passage to Bangkok 10. The Twilight Zone 11. Lessons 12. Tears 13. A Farewell to Kings 14. Cinderella Man 15. Madrigal Epics.m3u 1. The Necromancer 2. By-Tor and the Snow Dog 3. 2112 4. Cygnus X-1 5. Hemispheres 6. La Villa Strangiato 7. Natural Science 8. Broon's Bane 9. The Trees 10. Xanadu 11. YYZ 12. Freewill 13. Red Barchetta 14. Subdivisions 15. The Weapon 16. Losing It 17. Territories 18. The Big Money 19. Marathon 20. Mission 21. Time Stand Still 22. Turn the Page 23. Show Don't Tell 24. The Pass 25. The Pass 26. Chain Lightning 27. Dreamline 28. Ghost of a Chance 29. Alien Shore 30. Stick It Out 31. Leave that thing alone 32. Test for Echo 33. Resist 34. Limbo 35. Heart Full of Soul 36. Hope 37. Armor and Sword 38. Far Cry 39. The Main Monkey Business 40. Malignant Narcissism Whew.... good thing I'm a fast typer, it only took 3 songs to type up those lists (granted, one of the 3 songs was 2112 in its entirety). All the variety just goes to show how much ground Rush songs can cover... Do you have any you'd like to share?

Holy Watchmaker, Batman! Let us know how it flowed as soon as you're ready! Ideally I'd hope the boys all had an advance copy of the manuscript, and that the album is a fair rendition of certain highlights of the novel. #What say you?

I just wanna bump this thread for a few reasons: -- I relate lyrically to Totem and all of its lyrical kin (Hemispheres, Freewill, Ghost of a Chance, BU2B, Prime Mover, et al) -- I catch your and others' drift when you say that CA throws you back to some back catalog stuff... I hear it positively here and there, but I also cringe or turn off when I hear it elsewhere as well (mostly old school, simplistic rock riffs that sound half-hearted... come on Lerxst, hanging up the alterna-inspiration already?)... Um, I think that's it for now. PS. I'm envious of you new Rush fans who have yet to hear the whole catalog. I was pure inspiration and anticipation since first hearing MP and Hemispheres as a teen. Only with T4E and VT did I feel let down, even though I struggle to give them a fair shake.