ZachenFoot

One time he was just being as Geddy as it gets, and after YYZ on the last tour in Chicago, he said, "It's time to say a farewell to strings." He's the only one who could get away with such a bad joke in such a charming way.

S&A and I don't even think it's close. I hated the TM Tour. S&A had a really nice variety in the setlist save for the consecutive S&A songs to start the second set. When you throw "Digital Man," "Entre Nous," "Natural Science," and "Witch Hunt" in the same show, you're winning big time.

Grace Under Pressure Roll The Bones Vapor Trails (Remix)

Best album since Pop, I'll concur. Big U2 fan here. Haven't liked any 21st century U2 stuff yet, but I've listened to this album at least three times today and it has gotten better each time. Great PR just giving the album away. I'm thrilled with the disc.

My music taste ebbs and flows on a cyclical basis. I go through a lot of moods. I may be big on '90s grunge for awhile, then move on to new indie stuff, then to some prog, and all of those usually last between two weeks to a month. And there's always a band that I focus on in those moods. Soundgarden, Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, and Genesis are a few examples from this past summer. Whenever I don't quite know what mood I'm in, Rush is my go-to. They're my fallback because I'll usually go a decent period of time where I don't listen to much of them, and the stuff becomes "fresh" again. I don't force this system on myself; my subconscious decided it works, I guess. And I'm pretty happy with it. Rush may be the band I've listened to longer than anyone and never burned out on.

I never even wanted to meet Neil in a rock 'n' roll setting. Would I like to sit down, have coffee with him, and talk books? Politics? The world? That to me sounds like a perfect encounter with the guy. But he doesn't owe me or anyone that, or any sort of meet-and-greet.

I never understood why fans believe Neil doesn't like them or that it even seems that way. Dude writes books about his life. We know more about him than we do Geddy or Alex. He's never been the public figure. He's made it clear before and makes it clear now. He's an introvert and likes to do his job and live his own way. I'd say he's earned it. I totally respect that.

I don't really believe much in guilty pleasures. I usually own everything I like with no hesitation. Not my problem if people don't like it. That said, there are some Rush songs I like a lot more than I probably should: Countdown Red Lenses Scars Hand Over Fist Everyday Glory Carve Away the Stone BU2B

That part is gorgeous. I really love how Alex waits to resolve that riff until the end of the song. He just knows that everyone's waiting for him to do it, and he knows just when to execute it Gorgeous is the perfect word for it. And I love how he plays the song out with it. Just a shame that's it's surrounded by so much fluff.

I dislike Tai Shan as much as everyone else here, but there's one part of it I actually love. When Geddy sings, "If you raise your hands to heaven/You will live a hundred years." I love the riff Alex plays there. I wish it wasn't wasted on this song in particular.

I've said it earlier in the thread, but listening today, I'm stunned the band has never played Open Secrets live. Now that's a great song. Probably top of my list, to be honest.

Red Barchetta or I Can't Drive 55.

I think Driven's a great song but what annoys me most is that people bash on Test For Echo solely because of lyrics. I think people are putting too much emphasis on some words in a song and not putting ENOUGH emphasis on the actual music. To me lyrics ultimately don't matter. I agree with this. And it isn't Driven's lyrics that bother me. I actually think they're alright. The music is uninteresting to me. Not entirely sure why that is.

I voted for Driven. I've made it clear how much I (inexplicably) love Test For Echo, and it's always been funny to me that whenever I read someone comment on it, I've seen them say, "Aside from Driven there isn't much good on there" more times than I could count. It has to be one of my least favorite songs on the album. I don't get it.

Don't forget your bulletproof vest And be sure to wear your "I Rahm" button in a prominent place so it can be plainly seen. That would imply that I actually like Rahm Emanuel. I was thinking of your protection, not whether you actually liked him or not. If you wear the button, they will think you a true party comrade. :) You have me feeling safer already!

Don't forget your bulletproof vest And be sure to wear your "I Rahm" button in a prominent place so it can be plainly seen. That would imply that I actually like Rahm Emanuel.

Toronto, Red Rocks, or Gorge. You can't beat the ambiance of those places for their own particular reasons, not to mention it seems like this forum goes nuts whenever they visit the latter two. They seem like rational choices.

Can't vote in this one. Both albums go hand-in-hand to me. I rarely listen to one without the other.

This is the biggest issue I had with their recent album A Different Kind of Truth. Van Halen has an abundance of old demos leaked online. I really don't mind if bands go back to old stuff like that for inspiration, including VH. They did just that, and 80% of the album came from those sessions in the seventies. The problem was, the songs regressed. They were nowhere close to their greatness from before. And I don't think it's an age thing; everyone delivers a good performance. It was one of those "ain't broke, don't fix it" situations. I greatly prefer the old demos. How disheartened I was when "Big River" changed everything great about "Big Trouble," and the song "Outta Space" completely butchers "Let's Get Rockin'." It was a disappointing album.

As for VH with Roth and Hagar, to me it's all the same and I love both eras. If you stuck a gun to my head and made me choose, I'd say Hagar era, but that's because all of my Van Halen experience has been in hindsight and I'm 100x the Hagar fan than I am Roth. Eddie's playing was more reckless with Roth, but Hagar pushed every member's ability as a musician. It helped that Hagar himself was a damn good guitar player and his voice was far better than Roth's (DLR didn't need the voice, his swagger carried things just fine). VH "grew up" with Sammy, and I like that a lot. Both eras were great. Aftershock is stellar. I love the Balance album. It just suffers the fate of songs like Can't Stop Loving You and Not Enough, along with the weird and uniniteresting instrumental tracks (save Baluchitherium, which is one of Ed's best pieces).

I knew about this guy auditioning, and also, believe it or not, Canadian singer Sass Jordan was considered to be the singer back then, which would have been even worse than Cherone. You know, I actually don't blame Cherone for 3 stinking as bad as it does. With the exception of a couple of tunes, the songs are the problem. That has to fall on Eddie. His playing is so uninspired on that album. Cherone did a pretty good job with Mean Street live, too. Nobody should blame Gary, I'm glad you feel that way. Christ, he doesn't even sound like himself on 3. Gary is one of the most underrated and underappreciated rock voices ever, IMO. Dude had wicked range and could belt any song, and he proved that on the 3 Tour. It didn't help that he sang for (an also underappreciated) Extreme and a failed iteration of Van Halen. "Three" was Eddie's failure.

I'm saving. Always wanted to go to Toronto so I'm trying to talk my buddy into going there and centering the trip around Rush. Feel like that'd be an awful lot of fun. Chicago is also a given.

Vapor Trails Remixed. I actually hated the original VT. Bad production can ruin an album for me. The remix was superbly done. Some songs lost a little character (the new "Freeze" was a notable letdown) and I still think "Out of the Cradle" is their worst song to date, but the difference in sound is night and day, and the new production takes the songs out of demo mode and make them sound finish. I feel like we have the final vision of what VT was supposed to be, and it's a triumphant record. S&A doesn't even come close.

Signals is my favorite but I don't think Rush has ever been better than they were on Moving Pictures. There's a unique ferocity to it, moreso than on the others. It seemed like they were revved up by the reception Permanent Waves garnered and they carried that momentum onto the next record. It has no flaws. Side A is one of the Top 5 record sides in rock history. I cannot give that album enough praise. It's perfection.

Truth. This is how I felt about Permanent Waves. I always acknowledged it was a great album but I had a friend of mine hype it as one of his top three, which I didn't understand. I thought it was a little too poppy, sans "Jacob's Ladder" and "Natural Science." Plus I didn't "get" "Jacob's Ladder." Now I'd say it's top five, and if not, it's awfully close. I've grown to like "Freewill" and "Different Strings" more than I once did, and appreciate the album's overall excellence.