GrandDesigner

Somewhere along the line, my least favorite songs on this album became my favorites. Those songs are Countdown and Chemistry. Both sound pretty unique to me and have some real interesting ideas. Chemistry just seems to have it all: awesome verse, cool drum rhythm during prechorus, epic chorus, and Alex's cyclical guitar part.

 

It's just so nerdy and uniquely 80's Rush.

 

That guitar part always sounds like it would be difficult to play to me. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

I think you're right, if you're talking about the high-pitched looping thing he does.

 

It kind of sounds like the same hammer-on pull-off type thing that Alex does in The Spirit of Radio intro. I'm sure an experienced guitarist could do that part quite easily. But it sounds awesome.

I know Geddy finds Lakeside Park to be repulsive so that one's out.

Somewhere along the line, my least favorite songs on this album became my favorites. Those songs are Countdown and Chemistry. Both sound pretty unique to me and have some real interesting ideas. Chemistry just seems to have it all: awesome verse, cool drum rhythm during prechorus, epic chorus, and Alex's cyclical guitar part.

 

It's just so nerdy and uniquely 80's Rush.

Love Marillion! I think their best work is either Brave or Afraid of Sunlight, but I enjoy virtually everything they've done besides a few songs that grate on my ears. I would like to hear them change up their formula a bit on the next album, as Sounds That Can't Be Made was very similar to the album that preceded it.

 

I can't stand the Fish vs. Hogarth debate either. Both eras are fantastic, why compare them?

Incredible show guys! I'm glad you guys pulled out some unusual songs to go along with the more obvious choices. Cut To The Chase was a highlight, and Half The World was an oddball, but I was pleasantly surprised by both.

1. The Weapon

2. Countdown

3. Chemistry

4. Digital Man

5. The Analog Kid

6. Subdivisions

7. New World Man

8. Losing It

1. The Enemy Within

2. Between The Wheels

3. Red Lenses

4. Kid Gloves

5. Distant Early Warning

6. Afterimage

7. The Body Electric

8. Red Sector A

1. Red Barchetta

2. Vital Signs

3. Limelight

4. Witch Hunt

5. Tom Sawyer

6. The Camera Eye

7. YYZ

Grand Designs

Emotion Detector

Marathon

The Big Money

Middletown Dreams

Mystic Rhythms

Manhattan Project

Territories

1. Natural Science

2. Jacob's Ladder

3. The Spirit of Radio

4. Entre Nous

5. Freewill

6. Different Strings

 

I always imagine how this album would be if they had just one more song. Imagine if 1979-Rush had just composed one extra for PeW. As it is, I feel like it's just too short to ever be a favorite of mine.

Circumstances (that bassline makes the song)

La Villa Strangiato

The Trees

Hemispheres

1. Prime Mover

2. Turn The Page

3. Time Stand Still

4. Mission

5. Open Secrets

6. Lock And Key

7. Force Ten

8. Second Nature

9. High Water

10. Tai Shan

 

This is the one Rush album where the top 5 or so can change at any given moment. This album is a very strong collection of songs combined with some oddballs.

I will be there! Any chance you guys have Grand Designs on the setlist?

 

Awesome! We don't for this show. I'm still working out all of the sequencing for that one. Hopefully for our January 3rd, World Cafe Live show.

 

Funny, whenever there is a song like that requiring sequencing my guitar player always says, "Just sequence it" like there's a magic button I press and the right music comes out. Behind the scenes it's a real PIA.

 

No worries. Grand Designs is pretty synth heavy and must be no easy feat to get all the background synths locked in. I love how you guys give so much attention to the 80's era. Any Presto or HYF songs in the works?

I will be there! Any chance you guys have Grand Designs on the setlist?

I saw them in Philadelphia. I am a recent fan of the band, though I've had most of their albums for many years now, it's only been very recently that they've "clicked". Once I saw they were playing in Philly and that this opportunity might not occur again, I had to get tickets.

 

The setlist was very 70's heavy, which is a good thing IMO. I wish they would've done anything from SaBB, but seeing Starless and Pictures of a City live was something I never imagined I'd get to see.

I think the collection of bands I listen to today is better than ever, and most of them were formed in the 2000's. But like others have said, they are a lot less popular than before and required digging.

The bridge is pretty cool, but as far as live songs go, this one is probably near the bottom of their list to dig out for a live performance. I think they like playing obscure songs that are at least relatively popular amongst the fanbase (like Presto or Circumstances) or songs that were once live staples (Marathon, Territories, TIme Stand Still).

 

We've gotten all of those recently (and Territories was abysmal on the last tour...you could see the audience disengaging almost immediately as they realized they were getting yet another song they didn't know or didn't like).

 

I know. That's what I was saying, they like pulling out those types of songs which is why they did those on the past few tours. I can't imagine them pulling out Hand Over Fist or The Speed of Love type songs because NOBODY ever mentions them and they were never popular live songs (probably because they were never played live, but I digress...). They seem to like pulling out obscure songs that were once popular or at least are universally liked/appreciated. Territories was never a favorite but still a welcome change from the usual. I'm pretty sure that every song before HYF, barring maybe stuff from their first 3 albums, could potentially be played by the band at this point.

The bridge is pretty cool, but as far as live songs go, this one is probably near the bottom of their list to dig out for a live performance. I think they like playing obscure songs that are at least relatively popular amongst the fanbase (like Presto or Circumstances) or songs that were once live staples (Marathon, Territories, TIme Stand Still).

I think they could do the last section of this song instrumentally as an outro to some other song. I don't think the band thinks very highly of this song anymore and probably has no interest in really playing it, but I could see them doing an instrumental teaser as a way to appease those who've been wanting to hear a full CoS song since the early 80's.

I'd love to see Prime Mover and Turn The Page back in the set. The latter probably won't ever happen though considering how much rehearsing Geddy would probably have to do to get it at 100%, though the vocal line seems like something he'd have no trouble singing. Open Secrets is due for a live debut as well.

My biggest issue with Neil's lyrics is the constant need to rhyme. Sometimes the lyrics come out really cheesy because he's trying too hard to make them rhyme. If he just loosened up and didn't worry about rhyming so much then he'd really be at the top. I think a lot of his individual lines are brilliant.

I think there is a clear distinction between "epic" and "suite". Suite would be a collection of individual songs stuck together to create a story, while an epic utilizes transitions more and has reoccurring themes throughout.

I'll do Dream Theater

 

Overrated

The Count of Tuscany

Illumination Theory

The Glass Prison

Panic Attack

The Best of Times

 

Underrated

Anna Lee

Light Fuse And Get Away

Speak To Me

Disappear

Wither

They only have 10 episodes because it's 50+ minutes long. Most 22 episode seasons are for shows that are only 23 minutes in length.

 

And this season was AWESOME

It's not a difficult song by any means on drums, but it's very precise which can prove difficult to "make sound right". The hi-hat part is a little more than just straight 16th notes, he opens and closes the hi-hat slightly throughout the verse and it creates a pretty cool effect that is very subtle.