mmclarney

I always thought AFTK was Geddy at his absolute peak, vocally. If you listen to Disc 3 of Different Stages, there is a quality to his voice I haven't heard on any other recording. Everything he sings in that show sounds so effortless. His range is unbelievable, he's got that vibrato thing going on...simply amazing. Don't get me wrong - not bashing him at all, and I still love all his vocal work from PE and MP onwards. This was a natural progression after he burned out his voice on the Hemispheres tour. The 80's and 90's he chose to sing in a lower register and for the most part it worked. The last few tours have been rough on Geddy. You could really hear him pushing and straining to hit most of the high stuff. Comes with age, I guess. But boy that AFTK era was a magical time for him.

Geddy's celebrating by taking in the Blue Jays-Orioles game tonite at Rogers Centre. In his usual seat right behind home plate. :)

Not new, actually. If you look at my profile, I've been here quite a long time. Since 2004 in fact. I just do more reading than posting. But thanks! Glad I could help settle the debate.

Ok...quick follow up on this. I found a recording from one of the early dates of the Exit...Stage Left Tour, and the Hey's are clearly audible here. - October 31, 1981 - Deeside, Wales So I guess it was the ESL tour when the Hey's started. -Mark

It sounds to me like it started on the Signals Tour. The Hey's are missing from the following bootleg recordings: - Hemispheres - Nov 20, 1978 - Tucson - - Hemispheres - May 28, 1979 - Frankfurt - - Permanent Waves - Feb 14, 1980 - St. Louis - - Moving Pictures - Jun 16, 1981 - Anaheim - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_VMkzqlkQ However, the Hey's are clearly audible here: - Signals - May 25, 1983 - Edinburgh, UK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EkyiKoBw60 So I suspect it was Signals tour when the Hey's started. -Mark

Stadium Prog Synth Return Current Early

To me, the best version of TSOR is from the live "St. Louis" bootleg from the Permanent Waves Tour. Matter of fact, every song on that recording is a real standout. The boys were really at the height of their powers during that era, IMO.

You're right, TS is not on the ASOH CD, but it's on the DVD version.

For me as a drummer, the patterns Neil is playing in TS are not terribly difficult per se, it's the tempo at which he's playing them. The song as originally recorded is just so bloody *fast*, particularly those 16th-note hi-hat notes. For me, that's the toughest part - just keeping up. Even Neil himself - I suspect - can't keep up anymore. You'll notice that RUSH have really slowed the tempo of TS down in recent years. Compare the original recording with the versions on the last two live DVD's. I suspect Neil simply can't - or maybe just doesn't want to bother - trying to play the song at that breakneck speed anymore.

Listen to the live version of Battlescar from Kim Mitchell's live CD, "I Am A Wild Party (Live)". No RUSH, obviously, but fantastic version of a great song. Peter Fredette does an amazing job singing Geddy's vocal parts.

In this interview, Neil pronounces it "Zed" not "Zee".

Nice rendition. Great job boys.

Not 100% sure, but I believe there are very strict union laws for their crew, and possibly venue employees, whereby if the show goes into overtime, they are pretty stiff fines that the band must pay. So even if they are 1 minute 40 seconds over, the band is out of pocket. i could be wrong, but that's my understanding.

Don't forget, the Rio show was apparently recorded using a "primitive Brazilian recording truck", so the master recording itself was probably not all that great. They fixed it up as best they could, but once you start with a bad master tape, there's only so much you can do with it. I agree though, I find most of Rush In Rio to be completely un-listenable.