High Water

Sounds like your allergic to Rush. Your only hope is to sell your tickets and stay as far away from Rush as possible. lol, Seriously, If I had a headache for 3 days that I never had before, i would be getting my butt to see a Doctor. HW

I'll be air Pearting. If anyone comes within 3 feet of me I will turn and run the other way. So...basically running in a circle all night with wide eyes and suspicious mind... HW

Wow, that's just amazing! I guess its good to know certain people...lol Where is the wrist bands? Do you have to give them back or something? HW

QUOTE (New World Kid @ Jul 5 2010, 12:55 PM) Gruber, I don't imagine, has much to do with Neil's drum solo. Gruber taught him a lot about motion in regards to the kit... how to play more musically and efficiently... not what exactly to play. Neil's been tinkering with the big band idea since the 80's, you can hear it on A Show of Hands. Between the traditional grip snare section and the electronically produced horn sound at the end. This is the direction Neil's always wanted to go. Gruber taught some technique, not what to play. Your 100% correct. Gruber's influence is not in what Neils plays stylistically, but I think he IS somewhat influential in how Neil plays it. Instead of in your face, you get nuances and light touches. You get a more varied and sculpted approach instead of smash that cymbal or pound that tom "here". Taste in Drum technique is highly subjective. If your a Jazzy kind of drummer you may love Neils approach. If your more hit em hard, often and technical, you may not like it. For me, I like the hit em hard and technical approach. (Mind you I'm talking specifically about his solos..not the bands music) I find Neil plays as good as ever full band wise. For me, if Neil varied his ESL solo on this tour, it would be exactly what the Dr ordered. Not sure he can play it like that anymore though........ My biggest complaint above all is the mixing process. I find Neils kit is not longer in your face. Hasn't been for a while. However that has nothing to do with his Kit or playing style. The new recording equipment just plain sucks ass for a band like RUSH. I would love to hear them record the rest of this album, using the older Moving Pictures equipment and studio. Dynamics and tonal range are whats missing. Some "space" in songs would help too. HW

Yup, Freddy Gruber and Big band needs to go bye bye. I much preferred Neil before he met that man. Not to say its good or bad he did, but I just prefer Neils playing pre-Gruber. I also prefer Neils older recorded Kit sound better as well. Digital has killed Neils drum kit sound. Way to much compression going on. Neils drum tone and depth dynamics have suffered for far to long because of over compression. I wish the days of having a punch in the face drum roll would come back. HW

I remember when a glitch, forgotten word, mistake, out of tune instrument or train wreck were the BEST PART of the show. "Did you see Neil drop his wood?" AWESOME!! (Whoops that's a quote from the rushchicks forum) Did Ged forget the words??? Even BETTER!! Thats why ODD created his site. We all loved the mistakes, errors and mishaps because they were so rare. Now that they have become more common (or perceived to be) the tone seems to have changed. Me? I don't care about mistakes or glitches. But I DO agree that Neils set does need some working on. Concert toms need a comeback. As does his Solo. HW

I am 100% certain its not the songs nor the songwriting that's confounding many. Its the SOUND of it. The Mix/Equipment/tonality/compression........... If we could run those 2 new songs through a "Hemispheres filter" people would immediately recognize and fall in love with these songs. Lets face it, its not only the songs we love about those older albums. Its the CLEAN sound of the mixes. AND the old equipment used to record it. That stuff is gone forever and we will never hear Rush that way again.....very sad. I for one am sick and tired of the "Wall of Sound" over compressed crap. Don't get me wrong here, I really like these songs, especially Caravan, but its missing the clean "old equipment" sound that I fell in love with. That has nothing to do with the songs themselves or there playing. I just wish for fun they said TO HELL with new mixing boards, mikes, amps and recorded "New Songs" using old equipment. I would bet my life people would finally say, WOW now thats what we wanted all along. HW

What I want to know is why no Seconds hand? HW

Absolutely the number one killer of live "Indoor" shows is stray high frequency noise. These very loud stray frequencies can render an entire guitar solo to nonsense while ruining your ears for the rest of concert. Acclimation is important. Just like a backyard astronomer has to "acclimate" his eyes to the dark before looking through a telescope, he/she is carefull not to allow any stray light to enter his eyes because it will ruin what he/she can see through the scope. At a concert with no ear protection, after the first few songs, your ears can start ringing and ruin the sound quality of the entire concert not to mention permanently ruining your hearing. Having a dedicated pair of concert ear plugs is essential. Sure you can pull them out during low volume songs, but put them back in for higher volume tunes. When I play or record drums I always have to use plugs or headphones to eliminate the high feq of the cymbals. A few good 20" crash hits can really mess up my hearing for the rest of the gig or recording. It really does ruin the Sound quality. Please wear decent plugs meants for concerts. (Not the ones construction workers wear) Those block too many freq. HW

There are 3 faces in the image....................or are there? http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/1166/bg800.jpg