jnoble

You keep drink coasters in your cd rack? Wouldn't it be better to have 'em on, say, a coffee table, where they can serve out their designated purpose? Ok, that was a bit facetious! And cool that you have your own opinion of CA, and are not jumping on any bandwagon or anything. I agree that the sound isn't the best it could be - it could be clearer - but these ears don't mind the slight muddiness, if we can describe it as such. That was a weird comment about this album sounding like a tribute band... I would never have thought of it this way! I hate to ride this theme but the more one listens to CA the less muddy it sounds. Maybe it's just because I play it a lot, but the sound mixing doesn't bother me now the way it did in the early stages of listening to it. A Rush tribute band could only dream of putting an album together like this. I was thinking a bit more about this last night, as I'd read the tribute band comparison thing right before going to bed. I don't like it. I think it's derogatory to Rush, even if it's just someone's opinion. It just seems that some people want to make a fancy-sounding label for things, to sound all witty and hip and knowledgeable yet a bit irreverant. For the record (heh!), I'm not concerned with any sound issues, but I can see (hear?) that some people might be. I think the songs are catchy, and have some really great riffage. The opening of 'The Anarchist' still gives me shivers! What whoever it was that made that remark meant was that Rush sounds like they're trying too hard to sound like their old hard-rock selves on CA. There's more to writing a good song then just coming up with some heavy riffs and parts, gluing them together and spraying the lyrics on top like icing on a cake. That's unfortunatly what I feel Rush has been doing more and more starting with Test For Echo. And I really wasn't too keen on the deliberate Bastille Day homage in the beginning of Headlong Flight. It doesn't sound bad, it's just something an old band shouldn't do, referencing themselves. Makes them sound like they're out of ideas. Metallica had a song on Death Magnetic, can't remember which one, that just sounded like they recycled every old riff they already did 25 years ago and shoehorned them all into a "new" song.

Even if it was remixed/remastered etc I still would only listen to a handful of songs on VT. Not their best work in terms of arrangments/composition/vocal melodies, etc. Many songs go on longer than they should and it's just too chaotic sounding. Alex went overboard with the guitar layers. Geddy went overboard with the muddy sounding bass and vocal overdubs. As for the songs, Out Of The Cradle for example is noisy trash. Freeze is pretty lame too. The only songs on it that I really like are One Little Victory, How It Is, Vapor Trail, And The Stars Look Down and the live RIR version of Secret Touch. The rest, forget it. Still, I do like the passion and energy on VT. It's definatly the most different sounding album they ever made up to that point.

Thank you Alex Lifeson aka jnoble. Ladies and gentlemen, Alex Lifeson has spoken. It's not gonna happen. be a smartass about it if you want, but it's been 11 years and both Geddy and Alex have pretty much admitted in recent interviews that the ship for remastering and releasing VT has sailed at this point.

It's not gonna happen at this point. The remixes on the Retro 3 cd are as close as we will get.

I'll always love the band and all the changes over he decades, but Geddys '70s voice was just awesome...range, power, expression. Sadly he can't come close to sounding anywhere near that good anymore.

How come they always skipped the second verse in the live Anthems later in the 70s and Geddy never sang it like he did on the record? His emphasis and cadence weren't the same as on FBN. That always bothered me. The FBN version kicks so much ass, I never get tired of hearing it.

Why are you guys listing songs that he hasn't sung in decades anyway? This thread makes more sense if you keep the songs relegated to just the ones they've been doing the last few tours My picks are The Trees, Spirit of Radio (yeah, I know, but he's sounded pretty bad on this for years now), Tom Sawyer (ditto), Working Man I don't think Time Stand Still or Presto sounded THAT bad on the last tour btw. Maybe my affection for those tunes override my judgement on his singing of them.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it sucks but I'm not that impressed with it. The storyline is interesting but the music itself....lyrics, structure, guitar riffs, vocals, mix......just don't do much for me or stick in my head after listening. It's better than the depressing boring Snakes but I don't consider it The Greatest Album Ever like many other Rush fans do. A reviewer on Amazon put it best....CA sounds like a Rush tribute band that decided to write their own original material. If Geddy still had good pipes and the album wasn't produced in the modern way, that is a ton of cut and paste overdubs with a dense muddy sound (not as bad as VT but still very loud). I'd like it more. As of now it's another drink coaster taking up space in my CD rack.

oh, and Fly By Night too

Geddy's '70s voice was freakin awesome! Dont care if it was shrill. Unfortunatly I don't care much for his voice now...he's lost so much range and power and expression from what he once had it's distracting. He cracks and strains like crazy on almost everything. My fav Geddy "singing" albums, the ones where I think he sounded the best, are Farewell To Kings, Moving Pictures, Presto, and most of Counterparts.

I was watching songs on the Rio DVD and by comparison, that one sounds so much livelier and punchy even if it is a bit loud and Geddy's vocals are too low in parts.

Anyone else notice how annoyingly flat, muffled, and lacking any punch or dynamics the mix is on this? I have only a 2 channel stereo set up, but I doubt the 5.1 sounds that much better.

I've always thought Between Sun And Moon deserved more love both on radio and in concert. To me, it's one of the last studio songs (Feedback doesn't count) where it sounds like they're really letting loose and having fun. It should've stayed in the setlist.

YES!! I heard that today too. I'm a huge longtime O&A fan. I was wondering if anyone on TRF was going to bring this up. BTW, if you're a regular of the Wackbag.com O&A fan website, I made a photoshop for the PS section of the forum of Uncle Paul in the car. They were pretty lukewarm on Headlong Flight. Rush comes up once in awhile on the show. A few years back they had Stalker Patty try to sing Limelight because she sort of looks like Geddy Lee And no, Opie and Anthony are nothing like Howard Stern. For one thing, they actually still care about radio and show up to do a good show unlike "Always on vacation and cashing a check that bankrupted the company" Howie.

Being a fan since 1991, I have noticed that almost every interview with Rush regarding the latest album always seem to include similar talking points: "We recorded this album in a different way, one that felt fresh!" "We stripped back the keyboards for a more organic sound!" "We had more fun recording this record than any other!" "This record is going to sound heavy with upfront guitar!" "I feel like this is some of the best material we've ever done!" (Neil said this about TFE which is laughable now in hindsight)

QUOTE (USB Connector @ Oct 10 2012, 12:08 PM) Poor Geddy. His vocal chords would explode in the first 30 seconds of Hemispheres... forget the '70s, his voice has been pretty weak on pretty much everything pre-1982 as of late.

I like the concept of the album and the meaning behind most of the songs lyrically...it's a little like 2112 mixed with Fountain Of Lamneth theme-wise .... it's just that the songs themselves...muscially, production, length, melody, Ged's singing, etc etc just don't stick with or move me much. In fact, I find a lot of them really annoying (the chorus for Wreckers comes to mind) I wish they did so I could join in with the love-fest for the album but I gave it multiple tries and still find myself skipping to the next song after a minute of the previous one.

QUOTE (devoidzer0 @ Sep 8 2012, 03:17 PM) Realism for the win. I'd rather hear songs in a comfortable vocal range for him than all the straining and lack of enunciation he struggled with on the '70s stuff on the Time Machine tour. It just so happens that I find the '80s gems they are pulling out to be brilliantly creative and impassioned songs that have been severely neglected live for years. It's a breath of fresh air. For those of you who hate the synth era, sorry for your loss. I'm stoked that they finally resurrected Where's My Thing? I loved that song back when I was first getting into Rush circa 1992 and with the current heavier live sound it should sound awesome. I never understood the dislike for this gem that a lot on TRF have for it and why the band dropped it after only one tour.

Why are most of you forgetting just how much Geddy's vocal range has degraded over the last decade? Do you really think they're a chance in hell at this point that he can sing ANYTHING from the '70s without sounding like total shit? That's probably why they went with the mid-range '80s stuff because Geddy knows he's strains and cracks and struggles on a lot of old songs now. They should play A Farewell to Kings? Really?? Do you know how terrible that would sound now? Closer To The Heart has been pretty awkward and thankfully got shelved and The Trees and Red Barchetta sounded pretty bad last time around vocally. He's almost 60 guys and gals....he can't hit those notes anymore.

Snakes and Arrows for me. It's an ugly mess of color. It looks like someone puked up their Chef-Boy-R-Dee dinner and they made it into an album cover.

QUOTE (J2112YYZ @ Aug 15 2012, 10:40 AM) Hold Your Fire. I don't get the cover at all. Just about every other cover fits in with the album title but that cover doesn't fit with anything or make sense. The picture inside the album booklet of the guy juggling the fireballs would've have been much better. Goffier, yes, but much better. That was the original plan actually....the inside picture with the guy juggling the flaming balls in the little mini city was supposed to be the cover, but things got changed for whatever reason and it got moved to the inside of the album jacket.

Presto by a mile. Yes it sounds thin and dated by comparison but at least it's listenable. The songs are memorable and have proper intro-verse-verse-chorus arrangments. Oh, and MELODYS. Geddys singing on Presto is some of the best he ever recorded. This was years before Neil forgot how to compose lyrics that could be put into a good song and Geddy lost his range and had to resort to yodeling and awkwardly shoehorning in the words. And the whole "wall of distorted overlayered guitars and bass" sound that started and has been getting worse since TFE.

Used to be Power Windows a long time ago because of the robotic overproduction and lack of a real "rock" feel. Now it's Snakes and Arrows by a mile. Take out Far Cry and a weak rewrite of YYZ and the rest is very un-Rush like plodding boring preachy hookless horseshit.

Given the story line on this that needed each song to carry it forward, an instrumental would've sounded out of place.

QUOTE (Jaminbenb @ Jul 20 2012, 04:32 PM) I can honestly do without Tom Sawyer....Never was a HUGE fan of it... My only favorite version of TS is the Exit Stage Left one (video and CD). The studio one is also good but I've heard it so many times it's lost all meaning.