jnoble

QUOTE (Gilbertk @ Apr 20 2012, 09:42 AM) I'd love it if he brought out the Wal. I don't know why he ever left it. Because while it's a high quality instrument, you can't get the aggressive tone out of a Wal that you can out of a Fender Jazz or a Rickenbacker that Geddy wanted when they recorded Counterparts. Geddy himself said in an interview that the Wal "isn't a good "rock" bass" meaning that you can't get it to sound in your face and punchy which is the new sound they wanted post 1993

QUOTE (trenken @ Apr 19 2012, 09:51 AM) Another guy from FB. "Love the music... for some reason the way Geddy has sung over the last few albums kinds of runs together... don't know if it is the way the lyrics are put together or his lack of range. I like it, but seems to be missing something." I know I'm not the only one hearing this. If it doesn't bother someone else, that's totally fine, but I just take real notice to vocal melodies and know right away when they dont sound good to me. If they dont they never grow on me. If they're good, I never get sick of them. I really started noticing this I guess around T4E that they were just not quite as good as they once were, and became very noticeable once VT came out. THIS

Listened to it three times now......not liking it much. It's three minutes too long, very disjointed and lacks anything resembling a melody. The riffs and guitars and drums sound good, but as a whole it's an overlong wankfest to my ears. Remember when Rush used to compose songs that had clear cut intros, verses, bridges and memorable choruses? Seems like a long time ago now. Ever since Test For Echo when the band got serious about sounding "heavy" again, their ability to compose coherant song structures and vocal melodies has been getting worse and worse. I can only think that it was far easier to come up with singable melodies when Ged was composing with a keyboard (circa PoW-RTB) then writing one around a metal riff.

'Cold Fire' and 'Between Sun...' sound like folk music to you? I get the other ones but not those two. Especially BSAM. That song totally rocks.

I got Visions way back in the early '90s when I was first getting into Rush and it was THE book to have for the inside info and rare photos of the band. But even back then I noticed that the book was poorly written and the author kept bringing the subject back to himself too often. Also, he'd go off on random asides that had nothing to do with anything. It's not bad for the average fan to read but obviously by this point in time horribly outdated. There were rumors for awhile that he was going to come out with an updated version.

QUOTE (Priest of Syrinx @ Apr 14 2012, 09:00 PM) It's decent, 6/10. Too much filler. this holds the distinction of the first Rush album I almost tossed out of my car window at 50 mph out of sheer frustration of how uninteresting and lame most of the songs were despite the people on here insisting that I'm supposed to give it a chance and listen over and over again so I finally "get it". Well I guess I never "got it". I found Velvet Revolver's 'Libertad' and Jet's 'Shine On' much much more enjoyable CDs for that time period.

Don't like it. The riff is generic and too heavy too noisy sounding and, again, contains more of Neil's predictable "religion is bad/people are bad" lyrics that are crammed into the music. Caravan is much more enjoyable.

QUOTE (canadianice @ Apr 14 2012, 08:57 PM) I will repeat myself, VT is a freaking great album, listening to it now, through my Sennheiser phones!!!! funny, I just bought some of those myself last week at Best Buy

there are a couple songs that should've been included on Retro 3. Where's My Thing, Test For Echo and Show Don't Tell should have also made the final cut. 'Workin' them...' should have been left off. That song is lame.

VT gets credit for it's passion and energy but it's just too long, too chaotic, too intense, too noisy and too dense for me to fully embrace. I do really like 'How it is' and 'The Stars Look Down' and the RIR version of Secret Touch f*ckin' rocks, but I can't fully embrace VT as a whole and never will. It's got some good moments but the negatives almost outweigh the positives.

to me S&A (or as I like to call it "Snooze and Snores") is one or two good songs and a bunch of uninspired boring preachy crap. Ok Neil, the world is a scary place and religion is bad. We get it already.

QUOTE (ReflectedLight @ Apr 13 2012, 02:45 PM) QUOTE (CrossedSignals @ Apr 8 2012, 06:13 PM) Hmmmm..... I give it a 5. It's a lovely-sounding album... Alex's guitar tone has never been fuller, Neil's drums are very lifelike and expressive, and I like the experimentation with new types of percussion, and Geddy's bass playing is groovy as ever. But the songwriting doesn't click for me. Most of the songs are exciting for 30 seconds or so and then get boring. I do love The Main Monkey Business though, and I hope they bring it out for the upcoming tour... i really hope they don't bring back the main monkey business. a total waste of 5 or 6 minutes. I normally love Rush's instrumentals, but TMMB just sounds like total filler to me. It's basically the same riff repeated over and over again for 5 minutes and unlike La Villa or YYZ or WMT or LTTA, the song just doesn't go anywhere nor even fit in with the rest of the album.

Producers get too much credit and too much blame. For example, Rupert Hine gets slammed as being responsible for the "light" sound of Presto and RTB, but he wasn't the one who chose to record with Wal basses and PRS guitars with tons of processed effects and echo, neither of which will result in a meaty aggressive sound. Neither did he write the lyrics or songs or perform them.

I thought it might look like what the Necromancer was standing on top of on the album cover. More of a waterfall than a proper fountain per-se.

QUOTE (Pound of Obscure @ Jun 17 2010, 09:40 PM) QUOTE (trenken @ Jun 16 2010, 07:07 PM) Like the chorus, the verses are terrible musically, lyrically and vocally. The song is embarrassing. I've listened to this song all the way through maybe twice, same with Good News First and a couple others. S&A is pretty much a drink coaster album outside of a couple songs. I don't know what the hell Geddy was thinking with his weird vocal inflections on some of those songs. It just doesn't work.

QUOTE (TheAccountant @ Mar 24 2012, 10:38 AM) Glad you like S & A live. Very glad you liked it more than R30. I feel that it is far better the R30 in almost every way. With regards to Rush in Rio, I agree that the recording quality of S & A live is better but I will take Rush in Rio any day. Geddy's voice is better (IMO) on the Rio show and the crowed is just so awesome. The S & A live crowed was really good, but the Rio crowed - wow. They just make the show. I like but S & A and Rio more than Time Machine. But I like Time Machine more than R30. the performance and energy on RIR is great, but the audio isn't. Geddy's vocals are way too low, in some spots (like The Big Money for instance) it almost sounds like they forgot to turn his mic on. On the other hand, The Time Machine Tour sort of has the opposite problem to my ears. The drums and vocals are upfront and clear, but the guitar and bass are a little low and don't cut through in parts. Especially the guitar for some reason. It just sounds a little bland in the mix.

It certainly starts stronger than it finishes, but I don't understand those who think it's "terrible". Its much more listenable than most of VT and S&As for a couple different reasons. My biggest problem with RTB is the oft-mentioned Rupert Hine wimpy-sounding production. Some songs on the last half of the album have little power to them at all, Alex's guitar is just tinny background noise. If RTB had more of a Counterparts beefier sound, it would get more respect.

QUOTE (SlyJeff @ Feb 25 2012, 02:16 PM) It's all good. I've never felt that everyone should hate VT or those that like it are deluded. I've never seen the point in arguing about it. I do get frustrated when people say my reasons for not liking it are invalid (and this happens all the time with VT). People will say I'm being too critical or whatever. I WANT to like the album. I TRIED to like the album. I tried a lot more than I have with other albums I'm supposed to like and don't. But at the end of the day, if it gives me a headache I'm just not going to put it on, and that's my choice. There's no reason for anyone to tell me I SHOULD think otherwise. And I think RtB is a great album- I don't see why people don't like it, and I don't know why the rap section botheres them. But who am I to tell them differently? If they don't like it, they don't like it. I get to spin it as many times as I want while VT metaphorically collects dust on my iPhone. RTB would be regarded better if the second half of the album was as strong as the beginning, production aside. 'Dreamline', 'Bravado', 'Roll The Bones', 'Where's My Thing?', and 'Ghost Of A Chance' are some of the best songs they wrote in the 90s imo.

QUOTE (Powderfinger @ Feb 21 2012, 11:22 AM) I just finished the section in Chemistry in which Jon Collins discusses how Rupert Hine, as a stipulation for taking on Presto, insisted that Geddy reconsider his vocal approach. "Half jokingly, Rupert suggested singing the songs a whole octave down. 'You wouldn't even have to change the key!' Both Rupert and Geddy were well aware of the potential dangers of changing style. 'It was a dangerous thing to discuss,' says Rupert. 'I knew they might lose legions of fans, who only bought the records because Geddy was up there in the Robert Plant range and that's what they loved. It wouldn't sound like Geddy Lee anymore.' Geddy, again very bravely, said, 'Well, why don't we experiement, it'll be something new.'" By the way, since this is my first post, I must add this: Rush Rules!!! While this is interesting, I didn't think Geddy's pre-Presto albums (GUP, Power Windows, HYF) had him singing any higher than he did on any of Presto. He lost/stopped using his upper registers after 1980 on the studio albums for the most part. And on Presto, 'Show Don't Tell' and 'Available Light' have him singing pretty high.

The songs that sound the worst to me with Geddy's fading voice are most of the Moving Pictures material. Especially Red Barchetta, Tom Sawyer and Limelight. Time Stand Still wasn't THAT bad to my ears, nor was Presto. The Camera Eye live again for the first time in a million years was cool enough that I didn't mind the strain too much.

I assume he meant Circumstances

my short concise summary of VT: Pros: Energetic, passionate, nice attempt at a comeback from the bands tragedy of the late '90s. Cons: Too loud, too long, too convoluted. I literally can't sit through more than 3 songs in a row without getting exhausted. If VT was completely remixed and remastered and three or four of the weaker songs were dropped, it would earn much more time in my weekly CD rotation instead of collecting dust in the drawer.

NO! and the biggest reason is Geddy's fading voice.

I've said it before, I'll say it again...the biggest deal breaker for a Rush tribute band is the singer. And most of them just sound like a guy doing a passable to horrid imitation of Geddy instead of singing in a more natural tone.