psionic11

QUOTE (InvisibleAirwaves13 @ Jun 12 2011, 08:41 AM) Love HYF! For the era it was produced in it was ground breaking. Very good balance of synths and tradtional guitar, bass and drums. I love every song. +1 Compositionally, their best. Lyrically as well. Never gets old for me. Amazed at how many times I blast Turn the Page.

I like this album. Don't like TBW, Heresy is solid except for the chorus. I like RTB, Neurotica. Face Up's ok. Bet your life is clever and likeable, Bravado has its moments but can get old. Dreamline never gets old. Ghost of a Chance is a wiser, mellower Freewill, lyrically. Great melody, great main riff, great Lerxst solo. Think I'll put this album on now.

Glad the boys are still doing their thing, hope they will continue for the rest of the decade. But bad is bad. Not saying I heard anything terribad yet... Please, Geddy, stop the yodeling. Sounds like you're hitting puberty again with all the voice cracks and sudden flips to falsetto in the middle of a word. Sounds like an intentional choice to me, not a sign of age. A little here and there is fine, esp as it was on the studio versions of songs off of S&A and the 2 CA songs, but every other line of every other song...?

QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Jun 6 2011, 10:46 PM) Isn't it ironic that the smartest creatures on earth don't use logic or reasoning? They go by instinct and intuition and common sense. It takes all kinds, on all sides of the fence. And I would be leary of that phrase "common sense". It no longer interests me so much to get drawn into the anti-evolution debates. I realized one day that they're shouting and quoting and just making noise at the starting gate of the horse race. It seems they didn't notice the race has already run several decades worth of laps while they're denying evolution: -- genetically-enhanced crops thanks to selective breeding generations of types of dogs (who all share a common ancestor with the wolf) biomedical breakthroughs DNA and forensics stem cell research cladistics (the genetic tree of life) The list goes on. There's much more to the picture than "missing link" fossils. /digress

At one point, the Deism mentioned in Rush lyrics were positive -- anything can happen from Prime Mover. There is the sense of hope and open wonder, and a can-do attitude. This is also reflected in Mission, Marathon. Freewill and Ghost of a Chance also reject divinity, but stress that individual will can be your positive guide. Neil believes in love. BU2B and Faithless, however, show a more brooding rejection of divinity. BU2B is brimming with deist sarcasm. Atheism isn't necessarily negative or pessimistic. I find it liberatingly defiant, and reassuring via its skepticism and trust in the weight of facts versus the fancy of faith. While it wouldn't be surprising if the boys were atheists, that is a strong position, and can't be fully supported in the lyrics alone. Agnostic, not Deist. BU2B, Totem and Show Don't Tell seem to support this best. "I wasn't walking on water. I was standing on a reef."

QUOTE (drbirdsong @ Jun 6 2011, 04:20 PM)http://www.errantskeptics.org/Quotes_by_Presidents.htm Looks kids, I can do a google search and find quotes by the founding fathers too. These quotes are religious in nature and are by some of the same fellows listed above. Read them if you want to. I always fail to understand why folks attempt to make the founders of The United States some sort of agnostic, but go ahead if you want to. As for Rush, I think Neil Peart and Geddy Lee probably fall under the modern title, Secular Humanist. I don't recall Alex Lifeson speaking on the subject in any interview I've see or heard. It's true that anyone can make a website, and that one must always be skeptical. I'm especially skeptical of the website you linked. They're claiming the earth is flat , and that evolution is faith not fact, among other things. The quotes that I linked also come from a website an individual made, and so one can rightly be skeptical of it. But I also refer to academic textbooks, which have much more veracity and credibility than websites. These are quotes from my American Government textbook from last semester (emphasis added is mine): The Founders were products of the Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason.... In this era, learned men rejected traditional religious, political, and social notions in favor of rational thought and scientific observation. Deism reflected the spirit of the age. They [Deists] believed that Jesus Christ was a great philosopher but not a divine figure. They rejected most Christian doctrine, including biblical revelations and the existence of Hell, and criticized the Christian church and clergy. After Jefferson, James Madison was the most vocal proponent of separation of church and state. He warned against proclaiming Christianity our national religion, believing that religion was a divisive rather than unifying force. As he got older, Madison apparently became agnostic. Of the six most prominent Founders, only John Adams and Alexander Hamilton could be considered Christian. ... the Constitution is a secular document. It doesn't mention "God", "Creator", "Providence", or "divine". Although these prominent Founders were aware of the people's expectations that as leaders seeking or holding office they display the Christian faith in their church affiliation and public statements -- you have probably read quotations illustrating this -- their private beliefs differed significantly.

Just started watching the video interview. Love the wordplay as Neil did on winning that motorcycle trophy: "What do you get when you get old, do you get a trophy? (atrophy)?"

Much love for CP The guitars are front and center, and the overall production clean and in your face. Cut to the Chase has a great guitar intro, solid vocals, and a rocking but too short solo. Love every single sixteenth note in it. CP has a good variety of songs. Alien Shore is different from Cold Fire is different from Animate is different from Between Sun and Moon. All great songs in and of themselves. Rush really *grooves* on this album. "Passion is afire" racing the oblivious cars spinning off to every extreme I'm old enough not to care what you think about me

QUOTE (Cosy Toes @ Jun 3 2011, 04:50 AM)QUOTE (psionic11 @ Jun 3 2011, 06:05 AM) Neil's views are obvious before the tragedy (Freewill, Cold Fire, Ghost of a Chance, Prime Mover, Bet Your Life, Circumstances) . They are views I share and which shaped my life as an enlightened individual, and views which I believe not only our Founding Fathers but many more pragmatic philosphers would espouse. But that's neither here nor there. WTF has anything Neil ever wrote got to do with the "Founding Fathers"? Sure as Eggs is Eggs they'd have claooed him in irons and had him working on their plantations. Kids, if you want to run your lives based on the musings of a Canadian lyricist then listen to Canadia's finest - LIPS!!!!!!!!! Note I mentioned not only the Founding Fathers but other philosophers in that sentence. I don't suppose that by "WTF" you are sincere in asking for an answer to your question... Hmm, let's see, what's the common thread between the OP, Neil, Founding Fathers, and several espoused philosophers? Some hints: Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Ayn Rand, Bertrand Russell, Chomsky, Hume, Karl Popper, Volatire, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Stuart Mill Thomas Jefferson took a razor blade to the Bible and sliced out every reference to miracles. James Madison: "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise." John Adams: "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it." George Washington: Historian Barry Schwartz writes: "George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian... He repeatedly declined the church's sacraments. Never did he take communion, and when his wife, Martha, did, he waited for her outside the sanctuary... Even on his deathbed, Washington asked for no ritual, uttered no prayer to Christ, and expressed no wish to be attended by His representative." Benjamin Franklin: ". . . Some books against Deism fell into my hands. . . It happened that they wrought an effect on my quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist." Abraham Lincoln: "The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession." http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

QUOTE (Ancient Ways @ May 25 2011, 05:09 PM) QUOTE (Rushchick10 @ May 24 2011, 06:53 PM) QUOTE (Good @ bad,andrush,May 24 2011, 05:20 PM) What? Lyrics are hardly whiny...do you not see the hidden optimism? Part of that optimism has to do with the structure. This song is lyrical genius, Must be very hidden, because I have tried six ways from Sunday to find something to like about them. Just goes on an on about how life's not fair. Damn straight life's not fair! Get off yer ass and do something about it! I think what I rubs me the wrong way is this is coming from the man who once wrote: "Begging hands and bleeding hearts will only cry out for more." I know, I know...people change over time....blah, blah. I'm a big believer in creating your own future, and this song seems to imply that people don't have control over their lives at all. Just not buying it...sorry. Like I said before, I am a HUGE fan of Neil's lyrics, so this was rather disappointing for me. I would love to be able to transport people who believe things like this to a typical third world country with the commensurate change to a lack of education, rights, and freedoms that allow us to achieve what we are able to achieve and that they lack. The average person who lives hand to mouth in these places works much harder than us for much less. The whole "work harder if you want more" attitude is foolish and ignorant. +1 for truth

QUOTE (1 of the 7 @ May 24 2011, 07:57 PM) I like them both, and in the case of The Larger Bowl, I think it's because I've often wondered about the same things. Now I agree that people like us can do a lot to change our circumstances, but I think he has individuals in mind like people in the middle of a war zone who can't run fast enough to not get shot, or innocent prisoners of corrupt regimes who may never get out, or kids born in such malnutrition/disease that there really is no way they can ever become healthy. In other words, situations that even the worst-off of us can barely relate to, and when we try, don't leave us with much of an answer why, or even what to do about it (though I agree that we should try whatever we DO come up with). That angst is great fuel for a song IMO, and I like what they've done with it musically, as well as the emotional nature of the lyrics. +1 Emo whiny: well off Westerners complaining about their life RTB, TLB -- observations of Fate dealing bad hands to 3rd world victims In other words, there are those who do not have the luxury of even having a fighting chance in their lifetime to better their situation. I highly doubt Neil is bemoaning medicated Westerners whining about boredom and depression...

QUOTE (1 of the 7 @ Jun 4 2011, 09:05 PM) Entre Nous (but I sing it differently), Witch Hunt (the power can be a lil' tricky though), The Body Electric, Chain Lightning, Face Up, maybe Half The World, Resist would be okay if I could learn all the parts better, Carve Away The Stone, maaaybe Far Cry, The Larger Bowl, and I'm working on Spindrift and Between The Wheels, because I LOVE singing them. Good mentions here also, esp Resist, Between the Wheels, and The Larger Bowl. Body Electric is definitely fun and do-able, and Witch Hunt if you can hit the high notes without making the room squirm.

@OP Assuming you're a baritone (mid high to mid low) like most guys, here are some of the more easy, "gentle" songs, similar to the 2 you mentioned already. Cygnus: The Bringer of Balance (super easy) The Sphere (high F#, but manageable sung softly) The Trees Different Strings Jacob's Ladder Subdivisions (high F# can be hard, like in "be cast out") New World Man (easiest on Signals, catchy rhythms) Losing It (high F and Eb, make sure you warm up, as always) Ghost of a Chance (practice and sing with confidence, else it flops) (also needs a top notch guitarist, who can squeeze some soul out of those strings) Cold Fire (good song for backup singers too, including females ) BU2B -- if you're warmed up good, the high G's are manageable honorable mentions: Tai Shan -- not easy, unless you have a flexible, solid and sweet high range Chain Lightning (fun song, catchy melodies and lyrics, if you can hit those high G's consistently) The Pass (again, high F makes this tricky) Bravado (stays high most of the song) Between Sun and Moon

QUOTE (In A Tidewater Surge @ Jun 1 2011, 08:15 AM) QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Jun 1 2011, 06:13 AM) QUOTE (HowItIs @ Jun 1 2011, 07:44 AM) QUOTE (tick @ Jun 1 2011, 05:31 AM) My honest opinion. I think if Neal had not had such tragedy in his life, losing his wife and daughter, he would not be such a cynical person today, and his lyrics would be different then then currently are. I may be wrong but that is honestly what I think. For some things you experience in life, time does not heal, and sufficient answers never come. Sometimes we are left living with the question, "why?"are whole lives, never having total peace. I agree. Those events definitely changed his life. How can we expect him to write songs as if nothing had ever happened? That's just not possible. I'm sure those events "changed him," but you guys are both ignoring an obvious fact: he was highly critical of religion well before the tragic deaths of his daughter and wife. And, if anything, he's lightened up some since then, and is more open. Rush is more than just great music; it's a lyrical philosphy as well. Freewill and 2112 and Hemispheres and Big Money are more than just music; the lyrics are BIG. I'm not one to readily dismiss their (Neil's + Geddy's) *chosen* poetic statements, for the words are as much a statement as the music, if not more so. There are likely many more statements they collectively chose NOT to sing; what they did choose therefore is a conscious and BIGGER statement. Neil's views are obvious before the tragedy (Freewill, Cold Fire, Ghost of a Chance, Prime Mover, Bet Your Life, Circumstances) . They are views I share and which shaped my life as an enlightened individual, and views which I believe not only our Founding Fathers but many more pragmatic philosphers would espouse. But that's neither here nor there. Life experience opens up or ages one's experience. Events are seen through filters (Prime Mover), and are used to confirm one's views. The fine lines between agnostic/deist/atheist are enough against the grain to at least acknowledge the general gist of where RUSH stands. Reconciling your own personal views which disagree with these views presents your own personal set of "cognitive dissonance reconciliation", but for those of us who live by a more pragmatic set of values and cultural understanding, the RUSH truths are self-evident. Bottomline? Rush are not Muslims, nor Hindis, nor Buddhists, nor Christians, nor Scientologists, nor worshippers of Thor, nor Zeus, nor Rah, nor Krishna, nor... what are the rest of those mythologies mentioned in "Totem".... I forget...

Great song, great album. Production, songs, vocal melodies, lyrical themes, instrumental work, you name it. Of course, if you don't dig the style, you're not going to budge. But if you've got an open appreciation for RUSH diversity, you realize this is top notch. But yeah, even so, some of the vocal harmonies and chord changes are a bit odd. But the best moments outweigh the rest. Intro Solo But I'm man enough to not care what you think of me theme: one person doesn't matter, bottomline

Great work, dude! Wish I could do that, but it would take another lifetime to learn the drums like that. What's next? =)

Admit it, greatness often verges on the insane or abnormal. I dare anyone to come up with one Rush song that doesn't have at least some element of cheesiness in it.

QUOTE (Running Rebel @ Mar 9 2011, 05:40 PM) It seems to me as we make our own few circles 'round the block, that we've lost our senses for the higher-level static of talk. Astounding statement.

To me, Tai Shan lyrics are mature and poetic. They are not cheesy. These, however, are: everybody got to reverse polarity from the power train, to the glory game, thy kingdoms will be done making arrows out of pointed words, giant-killers at the call the hypocrites are slandering the sacred hall of Truth love is born with solar flares from two magnetic poles driven to the margin of error / driven to the margin of terror the most endangered species, the honest man, will still survive annihilation Let's face it, most Rush songs will contain some kind of lyric considered "cheesy" by your average, non-Rush troglodyte. <== Yes, the same people who think Lil Wayne or Avenged Sevenfold are not cheesy. One person's cheese is another's whine. YMMV

I don't have much Rush swag, but I do have the Starman on an acid tie-dyed shirt. I've worn it twice in the last few months, and gotten two different responses: At work for "dress crazy day" just before Halloween, no one said anything. At all. I work in a tech center, where there are more than a few nerds, and I expected at least some kind of comment. Perhaps I'm mistaken, and it's more of the cool, aloof and independent artist-type that still listens to Rush? Like me, like you all? However, at the last house party I went to, where I was supposed to play keys but never got to due to the garage band organizers screwing things up, I did get positive compliments from the remaining cool kids* who stayed late. Turns out they were in a legit cover band, doing mostly Pink Floyd covers, but the singer and the bass player recognized and respected Rush. The shirt and the acoustic guitar being passed around was my ticket to the cool little circle and some smoke rings that filled the air. *30-somethings

QUOTE (usb_connector @ Mar 1 2011, 03:32 PM) QUOTE (realomind @ Mar 1 2011, 03:13 PM) QUOTE (usb_connector @ Mar 1 2011, 06:07 PM) The comment I got was from one of the professors concerning the starman emblem. He said something like "I don't think expressing a belief in Satan is appropriate for a university student." Yeah that gets really old doesn't it, i've had people make similar comments online whenever I use the starman as a profile pic somewhere. "All it means is the abstract man against the masses. The red star symbolises any collectivist activity" Infact i'm thinking about having a bunch of leaflets printed with this to hand out to people whenever they say that. That would be the day. It would be great if peple didn't yell SATAN every time they saw a red star. It didn't help that right next to the starman was the MP painting where you have a dude burning while holding a cross though... On a much more entertaining note, I wound up doing a very extensive paper on 2112 for one of his colleagues' humanities courses. That's funny. I think a good retort would've been something like this -- "I don't think it's appropriate for a college professor to make a snide judgment on something he's misinterpreted. Of all people on this campus, I'd figure the ones least likely to jump to false conclusions and summary judgements would be the faculty and staff. Now an uninformed college student, I could forgive, and maybe educate, but you, professor? Of course, we all think of our best comebacks AFTERWARDS, when it's already too late to, err, come back....

That's the one, kbomb. Rush mixtape, ftw!

QUOTE (kbomb106 @ Oct 18 2010, 08:10 AM)Just the other day, my friend posted on my FB wall that he thought the lyrics to Tom Sawyer were "and the Space Invader gets by on you," and was surprised when he looked up the lyrics and found out he was wrong. I was watching an old episode of Futurama, one where they take turns talking to the "what-if" machine. Fry asked what if life were more like a videogame. And so we're presented with a scenario where several mostly classic 80's videogames make cameo appearances: Asteroids Donkey Kong Mario Brothers PacMan Qbert Space Invaders Near the end, Earth is being invaded by Space Invaders, and it's up to Fry to save the planet. He used to rule at Space Invaders, so he puts his lucky helmet on, cranks up some music, and proceeds to kick butt. The song thats getting airplay while he's shooting 'em up? -- Tom Sawyer "...and the space he invades, he gets by on you..." Get it? Space invaders, space he invades. It happens quickly, but when I caught it, it sure made me smile inside. Then it made me mad for a sec: "Wait a minute, are you saying that nerdy videogamers listened to Rush while dominating?" Then I laughed again, cuz I realized, "why yes, yes indeed, that IS how it went down back then." At least in my case. Ah, videogames, Dungeon and Dragons, and Rush in the 80's. Brings back memories of how me and my 7th to 9th grade circle of friends killed time together.

Great post!! Every other Rush song has a great, great catchy intro. Think about it... how few songs do they have that DON'T have a great intro? They're in the minority, aren't they? Great intros, great choruses. Great verses, great solos. Great bridges, great extended instrumental sections. And many a great outro. Superb songsmiths, they are. Anywho, here's a few more unmentioned great intros: Fly By Night Cygnus X1 La Villa Strangiato Red Barchetta YYZ New World Man Distant Early Warning Body Electric Manhattan Project Big Money Grand Designs Territories Turn the Page Open Secrets Time Stand Still Tai Shan Show Don't Tell Dreamline Cold Fire Alien Shore Caravan

No One at the Bridge is a high song, it's highest being F# (desperation). Most of the parts vary from B to E tho. Cygnus' highest note is a shredded Bb (torn apart). There are also other sections where he's hitting high G's and A's, above that Bridge F#. It also dwells mostly higher than Bridge, varying from C to F. That half step makes a big difference when you're already in legendary Banshee land. Not to mention he's playing the bass hard as well. At least with Bridge he could concentrate on just singing. There must be some decent vocal processor, some FX, Geddy could use nowadays. Like, sing an octave lower but the processor only ltes the audience hear his voice an octave higher. Sounding like a Banshee, and not a chipmunk...