psionic11

Don't forget that Geddy, Neil, and Alex all most likely have quite a bit of hearing loss. I really like the idea of "Open Source" RUSH. Releasing individual tracks and letting fans re-mix and re-produce them. Genius. There are many electronic acts that have their original music remixed by other DJ's... NIN is a great example... why not Rush?

Old classics I want to hear with the live string section: Losing It Manhattan Project Marathon Of course, The Garden has to be the main force justifying the strings.

QUOTE (trenken @ Jun 18 2012, 09:11 PM) QUOTE (D3strukt @ Jun 18 2012, 06:50 PM) AFTK, HEMI, PEW. Oh yeah, PeW is a lot like those other 2 albums. >_> AFTK > Hemispheres > PeW > MP Disclaimer: remove the epic Hemispheres song itself. These 4 albums are stylistically and sonically very similar: 1) mono synth lines 2) guitar riffs 3) strong 4/4 with strong odd meters 4) song-oriented structures with some complexity 5) no wall-of sound or cluster chord Alex (some exceptions) 6) and more... And no way do *any* of the synth-era albums sound similar to any previous or following synth albums.

First of all, autotune wasn't even invented yet when Grace Under Pressure was recorded. Secondly, the version of The Spirit of Radio from Different Stages that I have has Geddy missing the pitch all over the place. It has his character without the autotune robot "fixes"... And yes, that youtube clip has obvious autotuning correction. I didn't dig deep enough into the youtube comments, so I apologize if somewhere the youtube author admits somewhere that autotune was added after the fact. TBH, there are plenty of places where autotune could have helped him, but Geddy in a live mix is more than good enough without autotune. /2c

***goose bumps*** (first listen, play-by-play) holding back the knowing tears allusions to so many Ru$h themes... time please stand still! What?! Piano drops? Geddy so emotionally delivering Neil's emotional and pregnant lyrics. Oh no... here's Alex. Can the emotion go any deeper? dragging a bit here... but suspended in the allness of Rush lyrics... "the measure of a life"... love... cello, so sincere *hits replay*

Disclaimer: haven't listened to the whole album yet. Besides Caravan, BU2B, and Headlong Flight, all which I like the most off this album so far.... "Wreckers" is the next best for me... Excuse me while I once again rock out to HF....

Great OP, some great story and inspiration in it. And I agree that even though the lyrics are sometimes dark, they are mostly inspiring. Life is not all positive or all negative; it's more realistic to reflect on the mix of the two and draw your inspiration from your life lessons. But I would disagree with the whole "guilt" aspect you derived from the lyrics. I don't see guilt at all. There may be some regrets or remorse, but it's more sprinkled with hope and nostalgia than guilt. Conscience is the moral compass to right your wrongs, while guilt is more a despair when you're off course. Neil uses conscience much more than guilt as a motivator. But Trenken does have a point -- Neil's lyrics lately are more direct. But while he relies less on wordplay, I believe you still will find plenty of double-meanings: BU2B is rife with simple phrases that are actually deep (if cynical) explanations of a doubting deist's take on pop religion. The phrases hold resonance not only within pop culture but also within the Rush universe -- "the universe has a plan ("God has a plan", Freewill, Ghost of a Chance), -- "heaven's justice will prevail" (indignant righteousness of the fervent few, Armor and Sword, Freewill, Totem) -- "blind men in the marketplace, buying what we're sold" (Jesus destroying the marketplace where the pharisees were, Heresy's counter-revolution and Superconductor's scathing rant against pop culture markets). Caravan is likewise deceptively simple, mostly because Neil is writing from a very personal first point of view. How many songs does Neil use the very pop-friendly words "I" and "you" in? Most of his classic songs are not in simple first person. But this album so far is chock full of it. Still, "I can't stop thinking big" is rich in double and triple meanings, especially related to his whole repertoire of "big" -- big wheels, big money, god and government, grand designs so grand and complex, perspective where the "stars look down"... Neil has so many songs where he uses the word "world" in one form another, that I can't stop thinking big is a nice succinct way of bringing the whole lot together in an easy-to-relate phrase. Marathon and Mission and Freewill and 2112 are all about thinking big. Like the whole genre that CA aspires to, Headlong Flight is a throwback or tribute to a whole past that could have been. "I wish that I could live it all again" calls up Time Stand Still, Cut to the Chase, Between the Wheels, Available Light, and in a limited way, even A Farewell to Kings. Some days were dark, some were bright. Neil references "I feel" a lot on this album. Since Hemispheres, he's consciously flip-flopped lyrics on albums between a cerebral dissertation and a more personal catalog of feelings. On Counterparts, "passion was afire" and "you know how complex women are", while on T4E we have "Half the World" and "Totem". Snake and Arrows has plenty of "I feel" on it, but so far, CA has a strong mix of "feel". This may be Rush's swan song. It's been a great adventure, and the world's a far cry from what Cinderalla Man would have wielded his shield of rusty wire against, but it is, after all, a battle between heart and mind, isn't it? The Universe divided As the Heart and Mind collided

Thunder Seven, hellz yeah!... 18 yrs old, Lakeland Arena, dry ice smoke and the spinning holograph of the Thunder Seven Man... memories. Probably the loudest show I've ever been to, esp since I was front row and my jeans were pulsing to the bass notes from the speakers. Lakeland shows you always came out with cotton in your ears for two days or so. Midsummer's Daydream, Stranger in a Strange Land, Spellbound, Lay it on the Line, Little Boy Blues, so many more... Rik is a great singer/guitarist, but Rush happens to have much more mojo and rocket juice. But thanks for bringing back good memories.

Good catch, I noticed that right away as well. I think there are several reasons why they're favoring E minor lately: -- easy access to the root -- lots of open strings -- Geddy can hit notes that are high but not too hard to reach for him -- it's easier to make killer riffs in your "home" key -- homage to rock's home key For example, by singing in E minor, he can spend most of the time singing around the 7th, root, 2nd, and 3rd, where a lot of good melody lives. And yet he can belt out that high 5th that most of us struggle to hit but is easy enough for tenors. In HF, Alex is playing the Jimi Hendrix chord often, and with the open ringing E's, both high and low. Those fast riffs are interspersed with the heavy root note too.

Counterparts is clear and heavy. Great-sounding album. But Alex just didn't have *heavy* guitar sounds. CA so far is heavy on guitars. Bas it definitely there, but not as clear as CP. More bottom-end on CA, but yeah, drums are clearer on CP but heavier on CA. CA is heavier than CP, but CP is heavy and clear.

Bullshit~! 7digital whatever gave me Caravan and BU2B instead of HF!!! SAME exact sound quality as the original mp3z of those songs I downloaded 2 years ago from Amazon. I shit you not. I've got a new sub-folder in my Caravan album folder with 2 extra copies of Caravan and BU2B. No HF. grrrrr..... I'll keep refreshing the Amazon Prime download option until it says "available". Not worth me fighting for a $1.49 refund... Buyer beware.

QUOTE (Workaholic Man @ Apr 21 2012, 03:46 PM) The concept seems clear to me. The protagonist is questioning his life and the world in which he lives. Is he truly "free" to determine his own life and destiny, or has the Watchmaker (God) planned his life in advance? Is Life truly there for the taking, or is it a sentient power, which pulls the strings in everything that we experience? Is he merely a player in a grand epic (written by someone else), or is HE the author of his own fate? Great way to look at it. Will the protagonist know he walks to the beat of a different drummer?

Blind men in the market place, indeed. Writers are often coached, "write from what you know." Philosophers are most often cynical, yes? From the lofty musings of The Trees and Fountain of Lamneth, to the thought experiments of Hemispheres and Natural Science, to the outright rebellion of 2112, Freewill, Ghost of A Chance, Totem, Faithless, and Bu2B... Neil has alway been at least outside the mainstream, if not as ridiculously hostile as a lot of metal is. It's a tricky balance between a universally appealing anti-mainstream stance and that immediately palpable energy ("angst") that successful pioneers have often displayed. Let's hope that CA is all that. Steampunk is an interesting conscious choice to voice those views, in this day and age, yes?

Did not even know about it. But yes, I'm in. I will be up anyway, and what's a buck when I've already spent a dozen on beer and wings on this chilly Florida night, eh? I have Amazon Prime, so come Tuesday at lunch time on June 12, I'll be looking for that special package at the front door! Damn, Headlong Flight energizes me to the point of wanting to form a Rush tribute band again... BU2B and Caravan are getting lotsa love lately too...

Could be, probably is. But while most may have the best memories during their teenage years, for me it was different. Don't if it was being a musician all those years, but I really relate to the grunge years. Yeah, some of the 80's music holds some memories, but the 90's do more for me. The 2000's are mostly blah, with a very few standout songs. Electronic music is more prevalent now (and for those who like it, hiphop also). For some unexplainable reason, Rush seems to transcend these decades (70's, 80's, 90's, '00's). Sure, some of it is stale or immediately tired upon release, but the best simply has a life all its own and will accompany us to the grave, yes? I think maybe 1% of the world population alive in 2112 will appreciate the significance, but hey, it's the 1% that really counts, right?

QUOTE (hem @ Mar 23 2012, 09:49 AM) I first heard Rush back in the early 80s as a teen (old, yep) and was immediately a fan. I dug back from Signals to the beginning and then bought the next few albums from GUP as they were released. I loved the music, but it was the timing that was important in retrospect. I was 15, enjoying life, new to playing the guitar, probably had a nice girlfriend etc. Rush was part of the soundtrack of those years to me. I lost interest in Rush after Roll the Bones for quite a few years. I had changed. So had the band. I think a lot of us older ones can say, if we are being honest, that most music goes far beyond just the music itself. It is a complete package of everything in our lives at a particular time. Those first few albums I bought (basically Permanent Waves to Grace under Pressure) mean more to me than all the others put together. Are they better? They are for me. But I won't pretend that I am being objective and basing my opinions solely on the music. My feelings are based on a time of which those albums were a part. I'm looking forward to Clockwork Angels because I really do like Caravan. But I don't expect Rush to ever make me feel like I did when I was 15, because I'm not 15 anymore. Except for when I play the albums that I had when I was 15. Your post has a lot of weight with me, but I want to highlight these lines: "I think a lot of us older ones can say, if we are being honest, that most music goes far beyond just the music itself. It is a complete package of everything in our lives at a particular time." That applies to any of us at any age at any particular time. The music, the songs, the style, speaks to us that relate to it ACROSS our whole lifetime. Imagine you're 18 again. Today. What a foreign world it would be, compared to when we were 18 and loving RUSH... Yet if you're actually 18, what a strange juxtaposition it's gotta be... amidst cheesy Muzak, tired rock radio, FOTM dubstep/IDM/electronica, countless *alternative* sub-genres or faked rebellious screamcores... here we are in 2012 anticipating another RUSH album, rooted in musical 70's sensibilities, from which everything else vaguely musical in a power trio context suggests.... BOTTOMLINE: Enjoy the m0ment, and if it connects to something historically significant, then relish your artistic wisdom....

QUOTE (Unattractive Truth @ Mar 19 2012, 10:27 AM) Man, just looking at that list...wow. Dreamline. Animate. TSOR. Tom Sawyer. The Big Money. All great songs, IMHO. My vote goes to Subdivisions. My favortie Rush song, and probably my favorite song, period. Agree, great, great openers for the most part. I went with Big Money, although Hemispheres was in the running. BM is just so exciting and over-the-top, with awesome synths, singing + lyrics, bass guitar, drums (electronic, woo!), and a great Lerxst solo to boot... Prime time Rush... I even like the video. BTW, judging from your logo, let me ask you this: if someone were to make, say, a 5-7 minute montage of various Firefly scenes, don't you think a most fitting soundtrack or song in the background would be --- Hope?!!

Glad you posted your point of view. For many of us, Rush is the soundtrack of our lives, and it looks like it will be a part of yours as well. Way back when (Gen X here), I used to love the anticipation of the next great Rush album... will they have a different synth sound? will the guitars be super heavy or more chorused and clangy? is the single going to be epic? what new style/styles will they explore next? Being a bass player, I couldn't wait for more awesome bass lines. And the anticipation of yet another batch of catchy songs with great musicianship... Rush has more good songs than any other single band I can think of (subjective, of course). This happened again and again every 2-3 years, where you were still enjoying the last album and Rush comes out and releases another great one. So I feel your pain when you've waited all your teen years just to get *one* more next album. Things happen so fast nowadays, so much stuff in between, with technology and social networking and world events and the churning of TV crap. So yeah, ignore the naysayers and the haters. Instead, relish the anticipation. Meanwhile, make some awesome Rush playlists of your favorite songs, maybe with a theme for each playlist (epics, mellow, big synth, preachy, personal, etc), and just enjoy what we have for now.

Before Signals, synth lines were monophonic -- no chords. Afterwards, we have big lush walls of synth chords and colors everywhere.

At this point in time, the poll shows 53% like VT. In other words, half of us don't like VT. In other, other words, saying "very few don't" like VT is an incorrect conclusion. Anonymous or not. Just sayin'.... PS: I want to like VT, I really do. But the shrill vocals, dense textures, and grating sound quality just make it to unbearable most of the time. Shrill vocals most of us tend to like, since we like Rush. But Rush albums have almost always very good, if not great, sound quality. T4E is boring, with average sound quality. VT just hurts.

Losing it. 5/8, 6/8, 4/4 Turn the Page: 6/4, 4/4 Different Strings: some 7/4 Jacobs Ladder: 6/8,7/8, 6/4 5/4 La Villa Strangiato: all over the place

Different songs need different strings.

I can just imagine Alex having a ball cracking on this one... ... tears of joy, literally rolling on the floor laughing...

Funnny! Great facial expressions. Not the most commanding of voices, but his logic was sound.... "err, move back, or people will get crushed...err.. do you speak English?"... lol Dying to see more.