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1524 StellarAbout Todem
- Birthday 02/03/1970
Contact Methods
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Website URL
http://
Member Information
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Location
Parkland, Florida
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Interests
Playing guitar, writing,recording and performing music, coaching and playing baseball, golf, tennis, stocks, playing video games, spending as much time as I can with my wife and son.
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Gender
Male
Music Fandom
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Number of Rush Concerts Attended
20
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Last Rush Concert Attended
R40 Tour 7/2015 Las Vegas
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Favorite Rush Song
La Villa Strangiato, Red Barchetta, Subdivisions, Mission and Jacobs Ladder
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Favorite Rush Album
Permanent Waves
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Best Rush Experience
Front Row on the Test for Echo Tour and meeting Geddy & Alex on the TM tour with my wife and son.
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Other Favorite Bands
Porcupine Tree, Muse, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queensryche, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, The Black Crowes
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Musical Instruments You Play
Guitar, Drums, Bass, Vox.
Recent Profile Visitors
1182 profile views
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The show Saturday night was incredible. They played 3 hours and 15 minutes with a 15 minute intermission. Just incredible. This was the 7th time I have seen DT and the third time with Portnoy. It was easily the best show I ever saw with Portnoy behind the kit and overall. The next best show was The Distance to Here when they also did an evening with format and played all of SFAM Pt2. The setlist was epic Saturday night. So happy Mike is back in the fold. They had more energy than I had ever seen live from them. I got into DT late in my life (2004 with Octavarium) and went backwards from there and then kept up with them ever since. I enjoyed everything from the Mangini era save for the Astonishing which was a flop overall. Some great moments but way too many misses. I just got my 180 gram vinyl, CD and Atmos Blueray of Parsomnia today and look forward to hearing it properly on my headphones while going thru the artbook. The band has had a rebirth with this album IMO.
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Super Deluxe ordered. Headphones ready for lift off. Dissappointed he ignored Floirda yet again. Porcupine Tree needs to tour again and be a lot more extensive. He has legions of fans in the South. Loved The Harmony Codex and it was a return to form after his last solo electronic album fell real flat with me.
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His work with Whitesnake is timeless and so incredibly tasteful. RIP to a fantastic guitarist. Way too young.
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Portnoys fingerprint is undeniable. He hit his skins far harder than Mike Mangini (who is a brilliant player in his own right) but Portnoys sonic approach as well stands out. This is the best sounding DT album in decades. Mikes drumming is simply bombastic and he is playing with a vengence. The dark tones of the album and the growling of guitars and bass…..and James sounds fantastic as well. Bend The Clock is simply incredible…..and Mike P’s solo leaves me wanting more on the fade out. Sitting 3rd row center tonight in Raleigh and can’t wait to see this show. The setlist is amazing. Not a weak track on the album and I can’t wait to get my vinyl/CD version with the art book and slide my headphones on to take in this album evem more.
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They have always incorporated other sounds of the times into their music. Signals and Grace Under Pressure (top 6 for me personally) had heavy influences from The Police all over the songs and especially Alex’s tone and playing. Power Windows had a lot of mid 80’s Midi sequencing and horn blast keys and guitars that were highly heard in 80’s mainstream pop. So speaking on Hold Your Fire: Force 10 Open Secrets Prime Mover Lock and Key Mission Turn The Page Time Stand Still Are to my ears classic Rush songs that contain plenty of incredible playing, phrasing, lyrics and their continued reach for making more compact songs was very evident. Now I get how some Rush fans jumped ship after HYF as it is a very slick, softer sonic approach and they themselves even admitted they probably went too far after Power Windows (which is a glorious album full of power no pun intended) down that keys heavy sound. It was well documented that Alex was threatening to leave the band!!! But for me HYF is a moment that was captured and for me a place in their discography I love revisiting. Because it was a very progressive album. I worked at Camelot Music in 1987 (as a Senior in high school lol) and people could not believe that was Rush. And that’s exactly what the band was actually striving for regardless of the outcome. That’s what they did on Caress of Steel and it almost ended them…..that’s what they did on Signals following the huge success of Moving Pictures. And that’s what they did on Hold Your Fire and they kept pushing harder to reach higher and push their limits. That is the very definition of “Progressive Rock”. To progress and move forward in search of new sonic heights, sounds and compositions. Sometimes it goes well (2112, Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures) and sometimes it does not. But in retrospect a lot of Rush fans who dissed Hold Your Fire found a new appreciation for it. And some simply despise it lol. I think Counterparts was the true return to the form a lot of fans up to Signals had been thirsting for. For me I loved all their albums and the ride I was taken on starting in 1981 (that’s when I hopped on the train at 11 years young with Moving Pictures). I was able to go backwards from there and learn their roots and discover Rush thru Waves and was blown away. For me 2112 thru Hold Your Fire is the absolute peak of their evolution. Presto thru Test For Echo was them getting back to their power trio roots. And then the bonus we got of VT thru CA was a gift after Neils tragedy. Pure icing on the cake. I still love Hold Your Fire…..I think there is a ton of brilliant playing and songwriting on it. And sonically it fits exactly what was going on at that time. Rush had the uncanny ability to embrace the newest trends to remain “relevant” You don’t last 40 years making Moving Pictures for 25 years. They dared to progress for better or for worse and it’s why they are the best rock band to ever grace my ears to this day.
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Rush ended 10 years ago. I will continue to enjoy their 40 years worth of music.
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Then it wouldn’t sound like the era it was made in. That’s the point of going back and listening to different eras of great bands like Rush. They were very cognizant of what was going on around them and incorporated that into “their” sound. a dry version of HYF would sound like a piece of tin…..you can get a taste of that in Presto. That was a drier, tinny record. Also that kind of production would not serve the songs well. But you can also listen to Mission and Force 10 on the SnA and R30 live records to get a beefier and live sounding vision of HYF tracks. Personally HYF is easily a Top 10 Rush album for me. I listen to it often. Tremendous songwriting, lyrics and some of Neils very best drumming……ever.
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Permanent Waves Moving Pictures Hemispheres Signals Power Windows Grace Under Pressure 2112 A Farewell To Kings Hold Your Fire Roll The Bones Counterparts Clockwork Angels Snakes And Arrows Fly By Night Test For Echo Presto Caress of Steel Vapor Trails Rush
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Love the new tune. Got my tickets 4th row in Raleigh NC!!!!
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I love Dio!!!! Top 6 for me: Holy Diver Last In Line Dream Evil Sacred Heart Kill The Dragon Lock Up The Wolves
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How and why did U2 become so hated band?
Todem replied to Texas King's topic in Music Of The Spheres
I really enjoy everything thru Achtung Baby (which is my #1 U2 album). I do not enjoy Zooropa. And I only like a few tracks off Pop. I enjoyed All That You Can’t Leave Behind and really enjoyed How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. No Line On The Horizon gets a lot of shit for it’s production and rightfully so but there is a lot of really good material there. And that was it for me. I don’t give a shit about their political beliefs…..I just care about the music. I got to see them live on the: Unforgettable Fire Tour Joshua Tree Tour Achtung Baby Tour How To Dismantle Tour Phenomenal concerts filled with energy and amazing vibes. No complaints here. It’s about the music for me with any band. -
The effects are still there on CP. delays, chorus. It’s just not extremely wet. He wanted Alex to record everything dry. Alex’s tone is fantastic on CP. And it’s not drowned in effects. And I fully disagree with another poster who did not like his sound 1982-1991. Signals and Grace Under Pressure his tone, style and approach was very much relevant to the times. Moving Pictures you could hear that transformation already starting. Now on Power Windows and HYF it got a lot thinner and highly processed. But man he had some of his very best stuff on those two albums as well. Very textured and serving the songs really well. Presto save for a small handful of tracks IMO was his weakest tone. RTB I loved his sound. Personally speaking Hemispheres thru Grace Under Pressure is my favorite run of tones, playing etc from Alex. Just incredible progression from one album to the next.
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Glad they did this box set. I have Presto on Vinyl but never had RTB, CP or T4E. I now have every Rush album on Vinyl.
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YYNOT re-recording the vocals (and drums?) on their albums
Todem replied to sun dog's topic in Music Of The Spheres
I own all three of YYNOT’s cd’s. Rocky will always be on those recordings. I don’t see anything wrong with Billy and Tim doing whatever they want with their music. I do think Billy literally writes everything. It’s his to do with it as he pleases. He has total creative control. Rocky’s split from YYNOT was not a smooth split…..but it also did not have much drama. I also think it was a financial issue if I had to take a stab at it. Not a musical thing. She is doing nothing on her own and doing tons of shows with Mood Lifters who are very good in their own right. I saw YYNOT with Adi and loved them as much as I did with Rocky. My hope is new material does emerge in the future with Adi on the Vox. She is really powerful. Love her voice. Very different from Rocky’s. We will always have Rockys run with YYNOT as well as the other two drummers on the CD’s we have. -
My guess is it will be a year late like Signals was. And as far as remasters or getting a better sounding LP or CD of GUP........I don’t think it will happen. The guy who remastered all the sector boxes made it pretty clear the master tape for Grace was not in great condition and he could not do a whole lot with it. The key is a complete live show and some really nice swag goodies. I have every Deluxe 40th Anniversary box set (yeah I know it’s a sickness) and hope we see one for the Mercury years all the way thru Hold Your Fire......after that......whatever. I love everything after HYF don’t get me wrong.....but it’s not necessary for the Atlantic stuff. If they did it....of course my sucker ass will bite and hey there is probably a lot more potential for complete live shows from Presto and RTB as well as CP. Of course we all want a complete T4E tour live Blueray........god that tour was amazing and they played so damn great on it.