GrandDesigner

Yep. This one and Countdown have really grown on me, and might just be my two favorite on Signals. But I think it's just too early-80's sounding for them to pull out. Though they pulled out The Body Electric so anything's possible.

What the hell, I'll take it. Not in my top 75 favorite Rush songs, but it'd be a rarity and I'm all for as many rarities as I can get!

I could really see them doing the last part of The Necromancer as a sort of jammy/solo spot. It'd be an easy way to represent CoS, wouldn't strain Geddy's voice, and would be a huge rarity.

They recorded the music, in too high a key, before Geddy recorded his vocals. It was too late to re-record the music in a lower key, so Geddy had to sing the entire album at the very top of his singing range.

 

how does this happen? Clearly there must have sessions where they wrote and rehearsed the songs before they recorded them. Geddy didn't realize before the recording process that the key they wrote the songs in was really high?

 

I love the vocals in Hemispheres but they would have to drop the tuning if there was ever a chance of performing any of it live.

 

According to Geddy, Hemispheres (the whole album) was basically written in the studio. They had nothing going in (though it might be fair to assume they probably had some instrumental bits and pieces roughly worked out from sound check jams and such.)

 

So yeah, they work out this awesome 20-minute piece, record it, studio time's ticking away and they've gotta get back out on the road soon and Geddy's now ready to do the vocals and... uh oh!

 

The experience of recording Hemispheres was a turning point for the band in a few different ways. Not only did they decide to chuck the epic-length songs, but they also decided from that point on to slow things down a bit and do more pre-production work before going into the studio proper. ;)

 

I just wonder why they didn't rewrite the melodies in order to be more easy to sing. It just seems bizarre that he was "forced" to sing certain melodies.

Hell yes! But it's never gonna happen. The band dislikes it I believe

Absolutely to all 4, but mainly Prime Mover. Not the biggest fan of Afterimage, and I doubt Geddy wants to put in the work of trying to coordinate TTP again after all these years. Alien Shore seems less likely of a choice considering they seem to love Animate and LTTA from CP. Give me Cut To The Chase instead.

Before the CA tour I'd have said no, considering just how "80's" and outdated it sounds, but since they pulled out The Body Electric, anything from that era seems possible. Hell yes!

Never been done with Freeze, but the other 3 were played in order on the GuP tour. Count me in for this one, The Enemy Within is probably my top Rush song!

What's it about that it'd be so heartbreaking for him to play? His daughter (Selena) I'm guessing?

 

I'd love to hear it. A favorite from Presto, along with Available Light.

Low Man's Lyric is great! I loved the vibe of the moodier, longer songs from that period. Where The Wild Things Are, Fixxxer, Outlaw Torn, Bleeding Me, The House That Jack Built, and Low Man's Lyric were all pretty different from their other shit, but still up there with their best material IMO

I don't know how much rarer they can get than the CA tour. Who the hell ever expected to hear Grand Designs, Middletown Dreams, The Body Electric, or Manhattan Project again?

 

I'm guessing if they actual do do some rarer stuff, they'll put out some of the lesser talked about tracks from HYF, Presto, RTB, CP, and TFE, plus easier 70's stuff like Cinderella Man, In The End, Necromancer medley, Twilight Zone, and possibly the Fear Trilogy.

This song has grown on me considerably. The lyrics are clunky as hell, which is where I agree with Neil's assessment that they got the "formula" right on Manhattan Project. But I think the music is some of the best on Signals and I would love to see it represented again in a live set. But I think this song is just too 80's for them to ever consider playing again. Though I thought the same thing about The Body Electric and they wound up playing that!

I was always curious about this myself. If my band released our first 20 minute song, and we were really proud of it, then I'd imagine we would do whatever it takes to play it live, or at least part of it. I'm also constantly perplexed at how they managed to play the full 2112 sans The Oracle for so long. It's only 2 minutes longer!

 

Rush is infuriating when it comes to setlists.

Yeah, Big Big Train is absolutely outstanding. They definitely have a refreshing take on the genre, and incorporate lots of cool instrumentation. These guys definitely have the spirit of prog in their veins, but do it in a way that doesn't sound so rehashed. Fantastic vocals as well.

 

Moon Safari have been blowing me away lately. Their newest album (Himlabacken Vol. 1) is a prog rock masterpiece. Their older albums sound quite a bit like early Flower Kings, but their most recent albums have been a bit more unique and stylistically different. Amazing vocal harmonies as well!

 

Power Windows or Hold Your Fire without a doubt. He really upped his game with those two with incorporating electronics. I feel like they're Geddy's best bass albums too.

I always thought Hand Over Fist was an underrated song of theirs in general. Its buried deep in the back of one of their more obscure albums, and is overshadowed by the heavy hitters like SDT, The Pass, and title track. I definitely think it's one of the best on the album and a pretty unique song where the chorus is clean/low-key instead of the verse.

I'd like to see something soon, but only if inspiration strikes. I'd hate to see them do something as mindblowing as CA only to give us another S&A to end their career with. Their next album really has to be unique and definitive for lack of a better word. I think they should just do an EP with a really long song (like 30 minutes) and let that be it.

I could pick about 20 songs from The Smashing Pumpkins. Their b-sides albums are rated almost as highly as their standard releases (Pisces Iscariot and The Aeroplane Flies High, Judas 0), and they usually have a few b-sides per album that never make these compilations.

Love shoegaze. My favourite band of the genre is Slowdive. It's not even close. Not to say there aren't other great bands out there, but Slowdive, for me, just defines the sound that I love most about the genre. Cocteau Twins are great, along with Ride, Lush, Chapterhouse, Curve, Cranes, Air Formation, and of course MBV.

 

You guys should check out The Daysleepers, a band out of Buffalo, NY. Absolutely love their sound. I generally don't like so-called "new-gaze" as it tends to be overly electronic (e.g. M83) and just not what I know as shoegaze. Anyway, Daysleepers are cool.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Oqe_NgsDU

 

Love both of those bands. Slowdive especially, they really nailed the melancholy sound that I associate with shoegaze. This is really why The Smashing Pumpkins were such an amazing band for me, they were able to seamlessly blend elements of shoegaze into their 90's alt-rock sound and it worked SO well. What a beautiful genre

I'm hopefully going to make it to JB's tomorrow. I'm coming from south Jersey, but it's not a long drive. Any chance you guys are doing Vital Signs? I'm currently crushing hard on that song, whereas I always sort of just "liked" it before. It's become one of my favs. Anyways, looking forward to it!

 

Actually we are. Hope we do it well for you!

 

Come up and say hi!

 

Hey man! Show was incredible. I'm pissed I had to leave after Xanadu, but from what I saw, I was blown away. Natural Science was spot-on. Anyone in the DE area, SEE THIS BAND!

I'm hopefully going to make it to JB's tomorrow. I'm coming from south Jersey, but it's not a long drive. Any chance you guys are doing Vital Signs? I'm currently crushing hard on that song, whereas I always sort of just "liked" it before. It's become one of my favs. Anyways, looking forward to it!

Space Dye Vest was never played because the band thought it was Kevin Moore's "baby", and thought it had too many personal issues addressed in the song lyrics as well. But when Portnoy left the band, James and Jordan did a show where they played it - can't remember where or when.

 

That makes sense but that never stopped them from playing 6:00 after Moore left. Didn't he write that song about his decision to leave Dream Theater? That's what I remember hearing about the song. I don't think Space Dye Vest would be hard song to pull off live. The song isn't hard to sing and it can give James voice a bit of a rest since it doesn't involve him having to hit any higher notes.

 

SDV was entirely written by Kevin Moore. All the music and lyrics. 6:00 was probably a full band composition that he wrote lyrics for. Big difference. The band probably never felt like SDV was one of their songs

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember Petrucci saying they will bring out "some songs" that were never played live. To me this means more than one, right?

 

I'd be REALLY happy if they played more obscure stuff from Awake.

 

I could see them doing Lifting Shadows, Scarred, and SDV from Awake but everything else off that album has been done pretty recently, so i'd hope they don't waste too much time. I'm not big on these random anniversaries for every single album. I'm also hoping they do some of the lesser played songs from the FII era like You Not/Or Me, Take Away My Pain, Anna Lee, Speak To Me, Where Are You Now, and The Way It Used To Be. I'm just hoping they avoid the two from Black Clouds as they are just too MP influenced (and not very good).

I have a feeling we'll see Space-Dye Vest on this tour, as the band mentioned some "never-played" songs making an appearance. The only ones the band has never done live are SDV, Don't Look Past Me, You Or Me, The Shattered Fortress, and The Best of Times (neither of which I see being played).

Red Barchetta:

 

"Well-weathered leather, hot men and oil, the scented country air..."