mmclarney

QUOTE (Powderfinger @ Sep 19 2012, 09:36 PM) And Alex is all over this record. He absolutely shreds! Yes more room was made for keyboards. But many of my favorite Lifeson solos appear on Signals. I've always wondered if some fans think they are defending Alex by criticising Signals. If that's the case it isn't necessary. First, it's my understanding that the whole band was supportive of the direction in which they headed. Second, referring back to my initial point, Alex kills on Signals! Yes, the decision to put the guitars back in the mix on Signals was reportedly a group decision, even if Alex did come to regret this later on. In fact, he has often said he began trying to compensate for this on GUP. But you really can't deny that on Signals, tasty as his guitar work was, he was definitely playing second fiddle to the keyboards on this record. He's essentially playing rhythm guitar on this record and not much else, save for the occasional solo. The exception might be Analog Kid where he's front and center for the verses. Don't get me wrong, I love Alex's playing on Signals and I love the record as a whole, but it's simply not a guitar record, something the band has widely acknowledged.

QUOTE (Powderfinger @ Sep 19 2012, 05:32 PM) I completely reject the notion that Signals was a major departure for Rush. That narrative is in serious need of revision. I'm convinced that too many fans have allowed that assertion to cloud their judgment of the record. It is a beautifully written, performed, and produced album. I'd elaborate if I had time. True, Signals was a continuation of the type of experimentation done on the previous two records in terms of shorter song structures and the incorporation of different musical styles (ska, reggae, new wave, etc). In that sense it really was a natural progression for the band. The major departure, in my opinion, was how dominant the keyboards were on this record. True, you did see keyboards and sequencers present on Moving Pictures, but Alex's guitar really was the lead instrument on most of those songs - and on most of the albums that preceded MP. Not so on Signals. The band has stated that this was a conscious decision, but one that Alex in particular later regretted.

QUOTE (Powderfinger @ Sep 19 2012, 02:47 PM) My favorite Rush album. I will never understand how some fans don't like this record. It's brilliant! Some don't like it because it represented the beginning of the "synth" era for for Rush - a deliberate shift away from the band's guitar-heavy sound that culminated with Moving Pictures. Others dislike it for its production quality, often described as "dense" and "muddy", and which also led to the dismissal of Terry Brown. Me personally, I love the record for all that it was - and is. I don't think there is a single song on that album that I tend to skip over. Great musicianship and songwriting all around.

QUOTE (Alchemical @ Sep 8 2012, 09:27 AM) QUOTE (rocketom @ Sep 8 2012, 08:34 AM) Casual Newbies Do Not pay $100 to see a concert, unless theyre hoping to get laid. Who gets laid at a concert? Interesting question. You gotta think, over 1,000 shows played over a 38-year period, it has to have happened somewhere along the way. Anyone got a story to share?...

QUOTE (CygnusGal @ Sep 16 2012, 05:01 AM) QUOTE (rushgoober @ Sep 16 2012, 05:52 AM)Is that screen in front of Geddy the LYRICS? He had two of them in Manchester - one he could see from the keyboards and one from his mic stand. Alex has one as well. They're called teleprompters - very popular among singers these days, especially for those with as many lyrics to remember as Geddy has.

QUOTE (FenderJazz42 @ Sep 16 2012, 08:40 AM) QUOTE (mmclarney @ Sep 15 2012, 06:00 PM) QUOTE (FenderJazz42 @ Sep 15 2012, 09:35 AM) If they do tour again they have a lot of damage control to fix. There are so many people that are so disappointed that we bought expensive tickets to hear 9 or so songs off of Clockwork Angels. Two points here: (1) You 'disappointed' fans are in the minority. (2) Rush don't owe you (or anyone else) a damn thing. Rush fans have purchased 40 million of their records, less than 200k have bought Clockwork. That's a minority. I would hope that any band knows they owe their fans everything. Unless I'm mistaken, your comment re: record sales seems to imply that the only people who want to hear CA songs live are the 200k or so who've bought the album, and that - presumably - this group is mutually exclusive from other "real" Rush fans who have bought and paid for the older stuff, and - presumably - wish to hear *only* older material when the band plays live. Is this what you're saying? 'Cause if it is, it's horsesh*t. In terms of what the band "owes" us, the fans, they really only owe us their gratitude and nothing else. Nobody forces us to buy their music. We do so because we get something out of it - it's a mutually beneficial relationship. The success they have attained as a result of us buying their music and seeing them perform simply allows them to keep doing what they do. What they *don't* owe us - you in particular - is a custom designed setlist built to our specificiations.

QUOTE (FenderJazz42 @ Sep 15 2012, 09:35 AM) If they do tour again they have a lot of damage control to fix. There are so many people that are so disappointed that we bought expensive tickets to hear 9 or so songs off of Clockwork Angels. Two points here: (1) You 'disappointed' fans are in the minority. (2) Rush don't owe you (or anyone else) a damn thing.

QUOTE (bscsmkr @ Sep 14 2012, 02:08 PM) QUOTE (Grover @ Sep 14 2012, 12:11 PM) From about 1985 on they have been saying that each tour or album may be their last. In an old interview they said that after they made Power Windows they decided that they were an album by album proposition. Lately they are speaking more positively, but perhaps because they don't want to slide into that 'time to end it' mentality. I recall a fan who spoke with Ray Daniels and suggesting a 40th anniversary tour and Ray asked "have you been reading my notes". I suspect there will be something for the 40th, but then again they considered a 20th anniversary tour and then decided against it. I suspect they will do some form of 40th anniversary tour and then one more album and tour, which won't be billed as the last, but it will be. But I really have no idea. I don't think that there will be an R40 tour, I do however truly believe that there will be some sort of celebration like Metallica did with their 30th. Rush will pick a smaller venue possibly Massey Hall and play some shows over the course of the 3 or 4 days with minimal staging and effects - a lot like the Molson Club show they played back in 1996. I believe that is the plan. Anybody here actually catch that Molson Blind Date show a few years ago? A good friend of mine won tickets and opted to take his wife (a casual Rush fan at best) instead of yours truly, something I still give him grief about to this day. What a show that must have been though. And talk about the Holy Grail of Rush bootlegs.

Tough call! Much as I like Working Man (even with reggae intro), just about any of these choices would be preferable. Came down to Xanadu and Jacob's Ladder for me. Went with Jacob only because I've never heard it live, and I'm sure it would be EPIC. Camera Eye a very close third.

Nice pics. Actually, the first thing that jumped out at me was how much work Alex has done on his hair since the TMT tour. Major improvements in that area since then, no?

QUOTE (Thunder Bay Rush @ Sep 13 2012, 06:07 PM) Don't be surprised at all if there is another album and tour in 2015. They obviously like what they do as I'm sure they don't need the money. Could be. I just found Neil's comment interesting, as I have heard the boys state many times over the years that each album and subsequent tour is a year-by-year proposition, meaning they never know if their latest outing will be their last. In contrast, Neil's statement above actually seems to indicate (to me, anyway) that they are looking forward and possibly have something planned beyond the current album and tour. It's all speculation, of course, and nobody really knows except for Geddy, Alex and Neil. But if I had to guess, I'd say they won't just quit cold turkey unless something forces them out of the game. I would think they would treat the fans to some sort of farewell tour and go out with a bang.

QUOTE (ThinkingBig @ Sep 12 2012, 09:00 PM) QUOTE (LedRush @ Sep 12 2012, 08:53 PM) Aren't we supposed to not put song titles in the thread title? Spoilers (or false ones) and all. My bad, if I broke a rule, I apologize. I know this has been re-hashed to death in the past, but I still don't get how anyone can get upset about accidentally seeing setlist info in a forum meant specifically for people to discuss the current tour. Isn't it kinda like going to the beach, sitting right at the water's edge and expecting not to get splashed? Just askin'.

So, at what point do the admins step in and nuke this entire, ridiculous thread? Just curious.

QUOTE (SUBDIVISIONS @ Aug 16 2012, 01:53 PM) B.S. Geddy is awesome He still amazing His great Voice performance is one of the most shocking vivid things I have from the Time machine tour. Just listen to any Rush cover band and You Will recognize how beauty and pure still Geddys voice. No one can closely imitate it. You didnt like it? No Problem Just F. Off this site It was intended for fans OFFSIDE

QUOTE (sdhonda @ Aug 5 2012, 08:13 PM) Out of all the songs from G\P, this is probably the least likely to be played (and frankly, it's not very good). It isn't??? Geez, what were the rest of us thinking?

QUOTE (DBJetsman @ Aug 13 2012, 10:40 AM) When I listened to the song, A Farewell to Kings, for the first time ever, I got the s*** scared out of me when the electric guitar came in unexpectedly after the medieval acoustic gutar. The synthesized voice at the start of Cygnus X-1 always gave me the creeps when I was younger. I heard it the other day for the first time in a long while and actually felt a shiver. Brought back a lot of feelings from my younger days.

QUOTE (GeminiRising79 @ Jul 4 2012, 09:48 AM) For me I would be ecstatic. There are so many guitarist who have never left their signature sound in the past. I really wish Al would come back "home" before its too late. Living in the past, you say? Maybe, but in a Rush song there is nothing as uplifting to me than the soaring chorus is. As Edna Mode once said: "I never look back, darling, it distracts from the now."

QUOTE (default236 @ Jun 21 2012, 06:37 AM) Let's not forget Counterparts. Gotta disagree here. Peart himself has stated that he felt his drumming had become stale on Counterparts, and that's when he opted to re-invent his style by studying with Freddie Gruber. Personally, I really like Counterparts as a whole, including Neil's playing, but from a technical perspective his drumming was pretty straight-ahead on that record. To me, as many others have stated in this thread, Hemispheres was probably when he hit his peak. The title track alone is a great example - the complex patterns he's playing here are unbelievable, even by today's drumming standards.

Tempted to say the Red Tamas too, but I was listening to Different Stages Disc 3 the other days, and DAMN do the Slingerlands ever sound nice.

QUOTE (Lerxster @ May 2 2012, 06:05 AM) It's close, but I'd have to say Neil gets the nod. He is insane on this song. I suggest he has never played harder, ever, on a record. I disagree. It's a fine performance by Neil, to be sure, but it's nowhere near his best. To me, you would have to start with Hemispheres as an example of Neil at his finest.

QUOTE (reani14 @ Feb 21 2012, 05:09 PM) think it was that same day. so news was all over by the time rush went on stage . Not necessarily. If they found Bonham in the afternoon UK time, that's still morning on this side of the pond, leaving plenty of time for the news to travel here before Rush went onstage that night. That doesn't necessarily mean Rush would have found out in time, but it's certainly possible.

QUOTE (RUSHFREAK101 @ Jan 24 2012, 03:18 PM) Hi guys I was at a friends place last saturday and he had the CMT channel on, I believe thats the Country Music Television and the host of the Top 20 country videos had a Rush tshirt on i thought that was so cool I didn't see it, but I'm guessing it was Paul McGuire. He's good buds with my brother in law, who tells me Paul is a rock fan first and foremost, and even has his own band, but kind of fell into the country music TV hosting thing by accident and just stuck with it. Apparently he enjoys interviewing country artists way more than rock stars because they are way more polite, on the whole (which I totally get). Kind of surprised CMT would let him wear a Rush shirt on air. Apparently they won't let him wear short sleeves on camera as he has a few tats. Again, just guessing that it was Paul you saw. I can totally see him being into a band like Rush.

QUOTE (Gnoom @ Jan 13 2012, 12:36 PM) I recently discovered "Echos on the Stages", which is a soundboard recording of their T4E tour rehearsal. I dunno it it's considered their best boot (my experience with Rush boots is very limited anyway), but it comes highly regarded and the sound quality is at times very good. I like the unique qualities of it (no crowd noise whatsoever; some occasional goofing around by the band members due to the relaxed setting; Geddy sometimes choosing not to sing the lyrics, which made sort-of-instrumentals out of Spirit of Radio among others). I just listened to it thru YouTube, as I don't do the torrent thing and have nothing to trade for it, but I'd sure love to get my hands on a copy. It sure would be cool if the band would make these sort of things available for download through their official site (I'd have no problem paying a reasonable price for it). I have the Echoes boot and yes, it is quite good. Excellent quality sound, although as you say, due to the more 'relaxed' rehearsal setting, some of the songs lack some of the urgency and spark that naturally come when there is an audience present. However, it's a very unique recording indeed. What boots do you have Gnoom? I'd be willing to make a copy of Echoes in exchange for something of yours that I don't have.

QUOTE (ChiliFan @ Dec 12 2011, 03:29 PM) La Villa on ESL. The first solo is even better than the studio version! At about 5:10 into the song there's a particular bend in the solo which sounds completely unlike every other time they've played that song and it just adds so much. Totally agree on La Villa. In fact, 5:10 to 5:34 = pure bliss.