Silas Lang

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Aug 30 2012, 12:37 AM)QUOTE (rushgoober @ Aug 30 2012, 02:13 PM) QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Aug 29 2012, 09:51 PM)QUOTE (Workaholic Man @ Aug 30 2012, 10:24 AM) QUOTE (Mr. IsNot @ Aug 29 2012, 08:07 PM)QUOTE (Workaholic Man @ Aug 29 2012, 06:03 PM) QUOTE (rushgoober @ Aug 29 2012, 07:00 PM) QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Aug 29 2012, 09:51 PM)I don't see why these crop circles HAVE TO be alien-made. Why can't they just be some natural occurrence of this planet that we don't know about? (And hoaxes DO fit into this category). I don't know... I believe aliens are alive and well but I don't think they're chopping crops in redneck hamlets across the planet. I don't know about the whole "natural occurrence" thing. I mean, what would that look like theoretically? It would be reasonable to assume it was something intelligent to create such complex patterns with such mathematical precision. I'm not saying it has to be aliens, but certainly something intelligent. Butterfly wings, diamonds, and probably a whole bunch of other stuff I'm not thinking of at the moment seem to be crafted with "mathematical precision" at times. I wouldn't say those things are necessarily created by an intelligence...unless you call Mother Nature that intelligence. There may be something to that theory in that our collective human consciousness as electromagnetic beings could somehow possibly be in communication with the planet's natural earth/water energy (the majority of crop formations appearing near water). Some may refer to it as the "God energy". There was an earlier comment dismissing Colin Andrews but the fact is he's been researching this phenomenon longer and has amassed more information (including directly from Britain's military of defense and police) about it than anybody. He's also appears to be more trustworthy and openminded than most, following the information where it leads while allowing for the posssibility to change his mind and admit he was wrong. He gives some rather startling personal accounts of himself and close colleagues meditating or verbally requesting particular designs in specific locations only to have them appear there afterward in less than a days time. He also has related the story of Graham Pritchard and his brother who planned to make their own formation but had to abandon their plans once his brother fell ill yet the exact design appeared the next day in the same field in which they were going to do it. Even the human circlemakers or "hoaxers" have described their own experiences of strange occurrences (balls of light/energy, etc.) and the feeling of being in contact with some form of intelligence. In terms of scientific data (some of which has already been referred to), once you really get into and learn what's been discovered, much of it actually does seem to support something other than people being solely responsible for a significant percentage of these formations (some of which have appeared in snow, thin ice, even trees). Actually, the more I read, hear and see on this subject the more it fascinates me.

QUOTE (USB Connector @ Aug 22 2012, 03:28 PM) One of the best communities on the internet. I really this site. May it live long and prosper. \\// and great job Keep on Rushin'!

QUOTE (Akron162 @ Aug 22 2012, 09:26 AM)QUOTE (Silas Lang @ Aug 22 2012, 03:29 AM) It's good and I enjoy it but I'd take any Beatles record over it. It's amusing that one would complain about short songs on a pop album...it kinda goes with the territory. Especially on an album from 1966 when rock/pop had only just begun to break free from that tradition and instrumental virtuosity in rock was almost nonexistant - again it's all about context and an understanding of the history and development of rock & roll. Anyway, there's much to be valued in songs that get straight to it and make their point in 3 minutes or less without a lot of waffling around. I'd recommend the first Cars album or Zenyatta Mondatta by The Police. Procol Harum was making epics as soon as 68. I wasn't really talking about 'epics' - just stuff that was breaking that rule of 2-3 minute rock/pop song. There were lots of changes beginning in late '65 and several bands doing it. By 1968 it was quite commonplace actually.

QUOTE (Sheldon Cooper @ Aug 22 2012, 05:45 PM)Nothing says they have to wait another five years, just because it's been their average. Right anything can happen. Plus there's plenty of rockers around who've continued to make music in their mid 60s - if they can then certainly Rush can.

QUOTE (Animate @ Aug 22 2012, 08:26 AM)Perhaps best of all, a quote from Neil saying that he does not write "my period is late" tunes soooo... which groups exactly were writing about their periods? The Runaways, maybe?

QUOTE (GeddysMullet @ Aug 22 2012, 01:33 PM)QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Aug 22 2012, 10:10 AM) Not sure what to think. My interest in Rush overall is waning regardless of what the Runaways think of the band. Your interest in Rush has been waning for years, and yet you're still here! And going to the shows and buying the albums...I don't buy it.

wild

It's good and I enjoy it but I'd take any Beatles record over it. It's amusing that one would complain about short songs on a pop album...it kinda goes with the territory. Especially on an album from 1966 when rock/pop had only just begun to break free from that tradition and instrumental virtuosity in rock was almost nonexistant - again it's all about context and an understanding of the history and development of rock & roll. Anyway, there's much to be valued in songs that get straight to it and make their point in 3 minutes or less without a lot of waffling around. I'd recommend the first Cars album or Zenyatta Mondatta by The Police.

This is the earliest article I have on the band, from Creem magazine (March 1976 issue). RUSH: Pebbles & Bam-Bam In Alphaville by Rick Johnson The first thing you notice about Rush, according to one observer, is that they're not as gross looking as Bachman Turner Overdrive and they have a somewhat lower thud weight than most other Canadian bands. True enough - Canuck rockers do seem to have some sort of uglier-than-thou competition going among themselves along with a tendency to pounce on unsuspecting ears like a carnivorous dumptruck. But Rush isn't exactly a bunch of Joni Mitchell cupcakes either, as anyone who's caught one of their numerous appearances with Kiss or increasing number of headlining gigs can attest to. Mistaken assumptions and bent comparisons have confounded the band from the very beginning. "We've been compared to everybody from the New York Dolls to Led Zeppelin and Humble Pie, but all those comparisons are just superficial," asserts vocalist Geddy Lee who, along with guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart make up one of the few remaining classic power trios. "Like, Robert Plant and I both have high voices so they expect us to play 'Whole Lotta Love'." "It's not like we're suffering from The Dreaded Led Zeppelin Stigma," explains Neil in his best imitation of a foot odor commercial. "We're essentially pursuing the same idea as them - playing rock & roll but saying something too." Two mints in one. It would indeed appear that Rush, who are the number two group in Canada after the late BTO and very big as well in the northern half of this country, aren't just after terrorist audiences playing frisbee with plastic explosives and taking hostages at random. "We get frustrated when they're just out for a good time and we're not getting through," Neil complains. "Our favorite audiences are the ones that sit and listen to the song and go wild afterwards." Seeing the band's main thrust as rezoning the elusive progressive artisms of bands like Yes and Genesis for a three-piece formula, he doesn't think that heavy metal as a strict jungle doctrine will be staying around much longer. "It was great for awhile, but no type of music can stay in that embryonic stage for long. I mean, why just do teenage my-period-is-late tunes when you can put some meaning behind it? We like to tell stories and hide things in our songs for people to figure out." Their latest project is an epic science fiction slab called 2112, which will take up an entire side of their next album, due this month. Set in the city of Megadon on another planet (Earth having been snuffed in 2062) in the cartoon light of the future, it concerns a society where everything is controlled by quasi-religious priests who take all their orders from gigantic banks of computers called Temples. All individuality and creativity have been stamped out and everyone treadmills out their lives in a cathode palsy of day to day nullness. "The Temples totally control everything - work, education, even entertainment," says Neil, who came up with the entire conceptual whoopee cushion and wrote all the lyrics. "All their music has been taken to the final limits of the average. It's total commercialism that's put out strictly for people to like." Luckily enough for the Megadunces, a curious young punk accidentally stumbles upon the ruins of a great university one day. He starts digging around in the rubble and comes across a room of perfectly preserved artifacts he's never seen before. Books, magazines, WIN buttons, hula hoops, records, the home version of Match Game '84 - all kinds of things that don't exist in 2112. He keeps it a secret and goes back every night to sort through the cheese of the past. The one night he makes the fateful discovery - an electric guitar - and eventually sets out to change the world. What finally happens is a "double surprise ending" according to Neil, who declined to fill in the details but assured me it's "a real Hitchcock killer". Does he see the city of Megadon as a parallel of the tedious fear fridge of 1976? "Well, things aren't all that bad now, but it's a logical progression from some of the things that are going on. All of the best science fiction is a warning. We want to let people know what's going on so they at least have a chance to change it." But does he really think they can change anyone? After all, the "Eve of Destruction" school of pop propoganda sounded ok on the radio but didn't exactly alter the course of Western civilization. "Well, it's not going to change anybody's life or anything, but if you just put the germ of an idea in someone's head then you've done your job." Grim-globed hippies of the future or not, Rush's music is still very loudly in the present. Unlike some concept pieces that get bogged down in their own stray dogma, 2112 is still going to come under the Rush stage hammer on their next tour. "Believe me, we'd never short-change the music for the lyrics," promised Geddy. "It still rocks." And Pebbles and Bam-Bam too, no doubt.

2112

2112

QUOTE (Cyclonus X-1 @ Aug 19 2012, 01:30 AM)Side One 2112 Side Two A Farewell to Kings Circumstances The Necromancer I like this one. I would add 'Closer to the Heart'.

QUOTE (presto123 @ Aug 18 2012, 08:31 PM)QUOTE (Mr. IsNot @ Aug 18 2012, 05:46 PM) Open your eyes. Stop ranking tragedy and making excuses for Neil's behavior. What behavior? What did he do that was so bad? I was wondering the same thing. I don't get how Neil comes across as any more grumpy than Geddy or Alex. People who judge without a measure of mercy, indeed...

QUOTE (treeduck @ Aug 15 2012, 12:58 PM)Why are so many people voting for Caress of Steel? It's a good cover. No it's not... It's a great cover

The early (pre-AFTK) stuff because of its energy, rock & roll spirit and fantasy elements which were perfect for me at that age (10 to 11). It was like a journey into another world.

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Aug 18 2012, 01:00 AM)Just kidding, it still rocks! It rocks It rolls It soars It inspires It's unfortunate that after only a little over two months though the naysayers have their minds made up and seemingly have already given up on such a deep and diverse piece of work. It appears the band put more time and effort into this album than the few detractors here are willing to give it as listeners.

QUOTE (LedRush @ Aug 16 2012, 01:31 PM)On the Time Machine Tour, I was disappointed with Geddy's vocals. I understand that he's older and can't hit many notes anymore, and that doesn't bother me. My issue is that he seems to sing in a false, mid scream for many of the songs. That makes sense when he can't hit the notes and/or the song calls for a scream that he can't do anymore. But in the last tour, even on songs like Presto, Camera Eye and Time Stand Still, he resorted to that fake scream. I wish he'd trust his voice more and give a more nuance, and softer delivery. I was very excited to hear those songs live, but I can't really listen to the CD as he's hurt the vocals so badly. I know that he had an off-night, and his voice was better during the tour, but I think the songs would be better, and his voice would last longer, if he trusted his voice more and gave teh songs the delivery they deserve. I understand what you're saying. It does seem to me like he could possibly sing those songs you mentioned in a more relaxed manner - the studio versions aren't exactly sung in a high pitched style at all. Then again he has been singing professionally for 40 years so I assume he knows what he's doing. Anyway, he still sounds fantastic on Clockwork Angels.

Snakes & Arrows - definitely the ugliest cover

Another vote for 2112: undisputedly METAL!!

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Aug 14 2012, 01:37 AM)QUOTE (Silas Lang @ Aug 13 2012, 09:29 PM) QUOTE (rushgoober @ Aug 13 2012, 10:54 AM)QUOTE (Queslington @ Aug 11 2012, 11:45 AM) QUOTE (ColdFireYYZ @ Aug 11 2012, 12:39 PM) QUOTE (Nate2112 @ Aug 11 2012, 10:50 AM) I've never bothered to check out ELP Most people here would tell you not to bother, but check out Tarkus and the self-titled debut. A lot of people here seem to dislike them, but I really like them. They are about as prog as it gets. Listen to Karn Evil 9 and Tarkus. ELP are great, but often with them, like Dylan, a little can go a long way. Their music can be a bit strident after awhile. That said, they do have a lot of GREAT songs, but suffered from mostly inconsistent albums. It's too bad King Crimson never achieved their level of popularity as they deserved it more. I'm not clear on why you say Crimson deserved it more - the bottom line is ELP gave the people at the time what they wanted to hear and KC had a different singer/lineup on just about every album which probably didn't help them. What you call strident I would describe as intensity, which is one of my favorite aspects of ELP. On each of their classic albums, however, there would always be lighter moments - whether it was softer acoustic guitar ballads or piano interludes as well as their little humorous tracks (KC could've used a bit of humor now and again). If we're talking consistency, I've yet to hear one King Crimson album that even comes close to ELP's first five. Plus ELP's lyrics were a lot better. Crimson deserved it more because they were simply a better more interesting band. And if you're talking consistency, every KC album from ITCOTCK to Red, which was 7 albums, were all pretty great with the exception of Islands. So that's 6 albums that were really consistent, even though some were better than others. ELP had far fewer great albums, and the consistency really suffered on many of them. What you call ballads or piano interludes or humorous tracks I would call bad, or at best boring. The stridency, or intensity, was cool, but for me it can wear after awhile. I'm not saying ELP were bad. I actually like the band. They had a slew of truly great songs. It's just of this list of bands, they're easily the weakest. And no, King Crimson didn't have a sense of humor. They were deadly serious. And they were one of the most important bands ever. Their music was groundbreaking and stunningly original. Whether they were better or more interesting is clearly debatable. I've only heard 5 of those you're referring to. The 3 I like are Court, Poseidon and Red - all of which I feel lack this undeniable consistency you insist is there. On Court, the obvious offender is that looong experiment after 'Moonchild' - a waste of space if I've ever heard one. 'I Talk to the Wind' is a bit limp and twee as well. The rest of it's great as is Poseidon....until the Devil's Triangle bit that just pointlessly goes on and on without really going anywhere. Then there's Red - mostly great but again includes another tedious, aimless technical exercise known as 'Providence' (at least they kept it to less than 10 minutes this time). You may find it great and interesting, but I feel no great sense of emotion or passion from it. The other 2, Lizard and Islands, are pretty much duds to me - with Lizard being marginally better. I happen to think ELP's first 5 are all great, start to finish. Are you calling songs like Lucky Man, From The Beginning, Take A Pebble and The Endless Enigma bad/boring? If King Crimson gets the recognition for being innovative and original, then I don't understand why ELP shouldn't get the same sort of respect, especially considering the fact that Greg Lake was a founding member of both and Crimson, in my view, floundered for awhile after his departure.

Freewill

QUOTE (ReRushed @ Aug 13 2012, 11:54 PM)I don't understand a lot of the ELP hate I read on this site and others, but I gotta tell ya, I think all the versions of King Crimson kick ELP's butt. And the song "Cat Food" always makes me chuckle. Well that's the exception. The only other example that really comes to mind is maybe 'Elephant Talk'. My point was simply that they didn't exactly seem to exude the sense of a fully developed sense of humor on any sort of regular basis whereas with ELP there was always that element of camp just below the surface. And for me, ELP wipes the floor with Crimson...we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one.

nuisance