Jump to content

GrandDesigner

Members
  • Posts

    1101
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by GrandDesigner

  1. I liked this album a lot initially, as I thought their previous album sucked, and then it just kind of fell out of favor with me quickly. There's something about her voice that annoys me on this album. Mainly the quiet parts like the verse of Daydreaming, Last Hope, and maybe a couple others. Ain't It Fun is a great song though
  2. It might be one of my least favorite Rush albums. The good songs are REALLY good, especially Bravado and the title track. Oddly enough, I really like Heresy. But I just cannot shake the feeling of "filler" on this album in the form of YBYL, Neurotica, FU (sounds about right), and TBW. No other Rush album had songs that are just so...unimportant, as these ones are. Not to mention I find Ghost of a Chance and Dreamline to be just average songs whereas everyone glorifies them. Where's My Thing? is pretty cool, but a standard post-YYZ instrumental that feels more like a jam than a composed song. It's just an average album. Pleasant, but nothing mindblowing. I can listen to the whole thing and enjoy it, but once the title track is over, it's just 7 so-so songs to get through before the end.They really came back strong with CP and TFE (which I think is a GREAT album!)
  3. Power Windows and Grand Designs, though lately I've been wanting to hear Emotion Detector more and more.
  4. I'm not a huge fan of the album, but Fading Lights off of We Can't Dance has to be the ultimate ending-song for an album/band ever. It's like they knew Phil would leave and made a final song with him.
  5. Sunn O))) - dark, drone, ambient "music" Tegan & Sara - simple, acousticy pop music I literally have something of every single genre that I can enjoy and appreciate. Even rap and country, though they might be my smallest selection as I can't stand 99.9% of either genre
  6. I always give bands shit when they play the same setlists over and over. Seeing Rush in the 80's must've been a nightmare with the amount of same songs they played from tour to tour back then. And I was disappointed with the R30 and VT sets as well, since they contained so many of the usuals. But I have to hand it to them, they really did a great job with the TM and CA tours in mixing it up and playing both well-known songs and really obscure stuff, not to mention their entire new album, which is unheard of from a band of their era. I know they're never going to get rid of Tom Sawyer, Spirit of Radio, and Limelight, but I'd like to see these lesser known hits disappear: Red Sector A, Distant Early Warning, Force Ten, Subdivisions, The Big Money, The Trees, YYZ, and Closer to the Heart (thankfully, this one has disappeared).
  7. Big Big Train has been my favorite find (along with Haken) of 2013. It's exactly the kind of prog rock I've been wanting to hear. The EE albums are spectacular but I think my favorite might be The Underfall Yard.
  8. The Mountain is a potential album of the year for me, tied with Dimensionaut by Sound of Contact and English Electric 2 by Big Big Train. When did I start liking prog again??
  9. I'm sure it has a Dsus2 in it somewhere. That whole album is one big D chord, with that chord being used in EVERY GODDAMN SONG
  10. I bought that video off ebay like way back in 2000. Charlie really was out of place - I think he was in his late 30's when that video was made and they were still in their late teens. Another Won is from the Majesty demo. It's actually pretty good, but the singer is wildly off key on many occasions...A Vision is a killer song though and has one of JP's best solos IMO.
  11. I actually think the new album is way better than 13. The title track is really the only misstep IMO. Built For War, Dance In The Rain, and The Blackest Crow are really good. I've only listened to it a couple times but it seems consistently better than 13 and UA.
  12. That's like saying a drummer plays on the hi-hat too much. Extreme double bass has its place in metal, and the music and aggressive nature of the songs highly benefit from it.
  13. I always wonder if it's the "gushing, crazy" Rush fans he avoids or just Rush fans in general. I mean, I have no interest in motorcycling so I'd hate to fake that just to talk to him, but I would sincerely like to talk to him about lyrics he's written, or setlist decisions, or what state of mind he was in recording certain tracks, etc. Not in a total fanboy way, but more in a curious way about the history of a band that until recently, was very closed off.
  14. I admire the hell out of any "classic rock" band who has the balls to play the entirety of their newest album. Most of those bands just release new shit and play the same old classics from the 70's. I'm glad Rush believes in their new material so much (and the album is brilliant, possibly their best IMO) that they NEED to play it.
  15. Just saw these guys in Philly on Wednesday and they absolutely KILLED IT! They are going to blow up soon, especially now that Migrant is adding a whole new "indie" type sound to their already expansive catalog. I still think my favorite is Act II, it just hits it perfectly on every single level. I hope they don't completely abandon their vaudevillian-prog type sound, but I'm excited to see where they go in the future.
  16. I'd say Tales From Topographic Oceans. It's probably my favorite Yes album, tied with Relayer, but the first 10 minutes of The Ancient are absolutely ridiculous. It sounds like mayhem (and not in a good way). The Leaves of Green is SO good too, but you have to sit through so much nonsense to get to it.
  17. After seeing Grand Designs come back, nothing seems out of reach for them to pull out. Twilight Zone is probably one of the least likely choices, but it could happen if they're looking to do something else from 2112 other than Overture/Temples/Finale and Bangkok. I'd love to see them bust out Cinderella Man
  18. I'll always have a lot of love for Test For Echo. Back when I was first getting into Rush (and progressive music in general), my uncle got me Neil's Work In Progress VHS tape and that was the first time I'd heard any TFE songs. I grew to love watching Neil play them (I'd seriously watch this video every Saturday morning for a year), and more importantly talk about them in between playing! I also really like Counterparts, as I think the writing is really strong. RTB is a sack of shit however, and I don't know how they thought Neurotica, YBYL, The Big Wheel and Face Up were good songs. Dreamline is also severely overrated IMO. I actually think the title track is pretty strong, rap section included. I may be the only Rush fan who LOVES Dog Years and Virtuality. The music is superb enough for me to overlook the lyrics (which I don't find that bad either).
  19. Really? You don't think the whole of Hemispheres, Snakes and Arrows, Test for Echo, and Permenant Waves are "too hard"? You have to dig deeper into his playing. Take a look at his "Taking Center Stage" DVD. You will notice things he does you would not even believe are possible. Leave that Thing Alone and Main Monkey Business come to mind. His techniques are pretty hard to master, especially keeping a rhythm. I know a lot of drummers who think they're hotshots but can't even keep a simple Beatles song the same tempo by the end. Now, don't take this the wrong way as saying you don't have enough experience to replicate his playing but it's pretty much a job to keep up with his current playing level. I haven't seen one person keep their left foot going on the highhat and using it as a metronome like he does. The man is a machine. All four of his limbs are constantly doing stuff now it just makes you want to throw up that he's actually a human being. I'm surprised he doesn't even use his head as a limb to play. Even my dad is a drummer (38 years of experience and Neil has been his idol since he first started drumming) and he is still floored by Neil's playing. I would say all-together...Cygnus X-II, La Villa, Test for Echo, Gangster of Boats Series, Headlong Flight and Natural Science are the craziest and complicated RUSH songs. But it's not a job to keep up with his playing. Natural Science has NOTHING difficult in it. Hemispheres the song is basic patterns and disco beats on the hi-hat. La Villa is legitimitely challenging, but that's mainly due to the abrupt switches in feels/parts that need to be smoothly transitioned. Keeping a hi-hat going through a beat is really easy for anyone who's gained any sort of limb independence from playing drums for a few years, I'm not knocking Neil at all. His parts are GREAT. But they are nowhere near difficult or as difficult as people make them out to be.
  20. I'm a drummer and I've never found any of Neil's parts to be "too hard" to play. He's obviously skilled, but there's nothing he's done on a drumset that cannot easily be replicated with a bit of rehearsing. Natural Science is simple, there's absolutely nothing of difficulty in that song drum-wise. I'd say his most challenging would be La Villa Strangiato as there are a lot of shifting feels that need to be smoothly executed, or something off of PoW or HYF where he is utilizing percussion within beats. The chorus of Mystic Rhythms can be hard to replicate without proper foot-triggers, but even that's easily done with a bit of practice. La Villa is the hardest, no doubt.
  21. I absolutely love AToTT and W&W, probably more than anything from the PG era. Those two albums have a dark, romanticism about them that I just adore. One For The Vine and Ripples are also two of my favorite Genesis songs, along with Fading Lights. I never hated the progression from prog to pop, in fact, it was always interesting to go through the albums chronologically and hear them gradually strip away just a tiny bit more with each successive album. I've even grown to love IT. The only real PC era thing I'm not a fan of is the overall adult-contemporary vibe they had on WCD, it'd be better if it was more ambient/progressive as opposed to sappy.
  22. They also covered It's Electric on garage Inc. and covered Sucking My Love way back in the early 80's. I prefer the Metallica versions by FAR, though that may be because I heard them first. I'd love to see them cover the title track (Lightning...), as that is my favorite DH song.
  23. Yeah, Descension is shaping up to be even better than Ascension. Number City is a pretty unique song, and catchy as hell! Dark Side of Me is probably the one that's blown me away the most so far, both the remix and studio versions.
  24. The Rush/Geddy Lee connection was much more obvious on Coheed's first 2 albums (SSTB and IKS), where his voice was very reminiscent of a cross between early 80's Geddy Lee and Michael Jackson, but by their 3rd album he developed his voice into its current sound. I agree completely that he no longer sounds a thing like Geddy Lee, and the whole connection to Rush is pretty farfetched. The main reason they are so heavily compared is that C&C have a song called 21:13, but even that sounds NOTHING like Rush. This band is incredible. The Afterman albums might just be my favorite thing this band has done, even topping IKS which I never thought would happen.
  25. 10. Hessian Peel 9. The Night And The Silent Water 8. Ghost Of Perdition 7. By The Pain I See In Others 6. The Baying Of The Hounds 5. The Twilight Is My Robe 4. Godhead's Lament 3. White Cluster 2. Advent 1. The Moor
×
×
  • Create New...