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Snyder80

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Everything posted by Snyder80

  1. I'm fortunate enough to enjoy, in some part, material from each of their albums. T4E and Presto are the albums that I choose the least amount of songs off of but then again, the music I do listen to off of those records, I love. I enjoy their exploratory nature and will always welcome new material with the acceptance that they will never make an album again that sounds like Moving Pictures or Permanent Waves or Signals.
  2. Well, if you're referring to '74 through '81, as I imagine you must be, that period produced eight studio albums, or 42% of their studio output (8 of 19). Seen that way, it doesn't seem unreasonable to define them by a period that comprises nearly half of their studio LPs if you happen to think those are superior to what followed. Just because they released them in a relatively short amount of time seems beside the point; it doesn't make the recent music more significant just because five years pass between releases. Also, most of the classic Rush curmudgeons allow Signals into the pantheon, making "classic" 9 of 19. Allowing GUP pushes the good ol' stuff into the majority. I'm happily trapped in that half of their catalog (though I do often listen to VT, the only post GUP album I don't cherry pick). I won't deny, even to myself, that I can listen to every album from AFTK through GUP without skipping a song more than two or three times but I don't think their later material necessarily lowers to a level that would be on par with humping whales or jumping sharks or just going through the motions. I never have believed and will never believe that Rush and it's collection of world class musicians are collectively capable of just getting together and saying "Ah, the hell with it." and churning out a bunch of crap. Will their materail appeal to all fans, some of whom discovered them for the first time as teenagers? Of course not. But there is a lot of material between Power Windows and CA that is top shelf, can't live without it stuff. Just my .02. And in response to your comment about "defining them"; Rush isn't a band that can be defined. They are much too versatile and have covered too many different sounds to be a band that you can point at say "There, that there is what they sound like." I had that same argument with a friend of mind one night when he attempted to point out to me that all bands have a signature sound and that after long enough it all is so easily identifiable as that band. I then proceeded to play the first minute of Circumstances followed by the first minute of Middletown Dreams. The argument ended right there.
  3. No, they didn't. Unfortunately many of their fans are trapped in an era that only comprised eight years of a forty year career.
  4. Can't say I really know. Live shows are always a real adrenaline rush so I have a hard time picking out the stuff to bitch about. Not only that I feel like a lot of their material is very difficult so the occasional mistake is to be expected.
  5. When they're the only band in your collection whose albums you can listen to front to back repeatedly and not get tired of it.
  6. Tom Sawyer. Again I go back to the memory of my first Rush show during the Vapor Trails tour. The place was pitch black, and they didn't open so much as erupt in a single explosive moment. I've said it before, it was incredibly emotional for me. It was like watching the greatest magic trick in history, one moment it's dark, there's nothing, the next... :rush:
  7. Yesterday I was having a pretty stressful day. I'm in the middle of a career change and the thought of moving along to something different and new after 7.5 years had me about as on edge as I can possibly get. Long story short I got to work (at my still current job) and threw the speaker cord in the phone and hit shuffle on iTunes and within three seconds was greeted by that soft, melodic harmonic intro of Red Barchetta. I felt instant relief and joy. That song is beautiful.
  8. I used to skip Camera Eye and T4E all the time, in fact, I thought T4E was ridiculous but I really enjoy it now. Grand Designs also. Love that song now.
  9. Snyder80

    Chemistry

    That guitar part always sounds like it would be difficult to play to me. Maybe I'm wrong.
  10. Snyder80

    Chemistry

    It's a good song that falls victim to being surrounded by mostly great songs.
  11. I'll never understand why people complain about the rawness of a live recording. It's not perfect but it's not supposed to be. Rio is hands down their best live moment. You can't even begin to replicate that kind of energy.
  12. I'll believe that the first time they play Afterimage.
  13. Neil-librarian or a teacher Geddy-in music some way or another. i don't think he's capable of being away from it at all. Alex-real estate agent. great personality with people (or so it seems).
  14. Maybe you are over thinking that? Geddy has said Tom Sawyer is the "quintessential" Rush song. That doesn't mean he is discounting all the other songs. I think Neil's comment was probably more in that vein. On the other hand, Neil has said that he wishes that Rush hadn't had to release any of the records they made before Moving Pictures. So maybe Empty Mindless Spectre is simply assuming that Neil is being consistent with himself. I say this in all sincerity and not at all to poke (as I am genuinely curious) ... where did you read or see him say that? I have heard some similar references in a variety of contexts, but I have yet to actually see something to verify it. The closest I have found is some commentary in which he laments the notion that he is a staunch right Libertarian because of Anthem, 2112, etc. Basically, some stuff in which he generally says he was young and had a different mindset. I could see how those comments could be construed as disliking the early stuff, but it's not quite the same. But I have not actually found a quote in which he says he wishes nothing prior to MP had been released. I would interested to see it. I asked the same question in another thread, and someone posted something to the effect of that he thought the early years were learning years and that Rush didn't really start until Moving Pictures. I doubt very seriously that Neil really wishes those albums didn't exist. My guess it's more that he feels his lyrics were not as well crafted or something. I've often kind of wondered if they look back on the old albums differently than we do. They were pretty young when they started out. If Neil Peart doesn't feel the lyrics on Hemispheres or PeW are well crafted than I belive he should seek professional help. Most bands never write material that thought provoking and he was doing it in his twenties.
  15. This is me, right here. I get that he doesn't sound like he once did but I wasn't fortunate enough to be born or be old enough depending on what decade you're looking at, to see them in the earlier years. Vapor Trails and forward is all I'll ever have, so I take it and enjoy it as much as possible.
  16. Clockwork Angels Time Machine S&A CA was hands down the best because of the material from the new album. Plus I feel like they stopped trying to please the radio Rush fans. Playing songs like "The Body Electric" and "Middletown Dreams" and "Grand Designs" along with the CA really sealed it as my favorite tour out of the three. TM was a great blast from the past and it was amazing to hear MP in it's entirety. The loss on this show was the audience that was just there for MP. I hate the catatonic stares during music that was made anytime after 1981. S&A was third but only because it was outdoors, hot as hell that day and the crowd just wasn't into it at all. It was so f***ing hot and humid that day that Lifeson changed shirts in between songs in midset because the first one he had on was drenched. Highlights included them playing A Passage to Bangkok and Mission.
  17. 2015 is gonna be tough for me. Honestly don't know that I'll be able to swing it. Which is difficult to consider because I'm almost certain this will be the last time they ever tour.
  18. I've seen the whole show during all six shows I've seen. I've been as close as the seventh row and as far back as the fifty-third. No matter how close or how far away I've been I have always felt two things: pure joy at seeing the band I adore once again and a light hint of envy at those lucky souls sitting front and center close enough to tie someone's shoelaces together.
  19. I enjoyed BTLS but haven't viewed it twice. I look back on that time and it seems as though that documentary was simply a capstone of their at the time rising popularity. It seems surreal looking back at how popular they became there for a year or so. I even had people I work with mentioning Rush to me because they heard it coming from my speakers or commenting on a tour shirt I was wearing, etc. I still don't understand where that sudden spark of interest came from. I remember their material even showing up in some commercials around the same time.
  20. I was raised around Rush so the idea of being ashamed or embarassed by the way Geddy Lee sings was never an issue. In my house you were weird if you didn't like Rush.
  21. This is the first comment that makes sense. If I try to introduce someone to Rush they listen to PeW or MP first and foremost. Exit...Stage Left is the first live album they hear, followed by Rush in Rio because that show is f***ing awesome. I think that was the best he ever sounded past the 80s. What I get tired of is the irate criticism and being put off that the man can't still sing like he did when he was twenty-five. It's life man, get passed it.
  22. You're tired of the negativity? So f***ing what? I love how barrel chested everyone is on the internet whilst sitting comfortably behind the protection of a keyboard. Makes me laugh.
  23. Never been ashamed. Listen to him sing and play that ridiculous bass line during Circumstances. If that level of natural talent is something to be ashamed of then I am completely at a loss for words.
  24. Wholly agree with the "divine providence" comment. I often remark that it is ridiculously cosmic how the three of them have stayed together and been successful for so long without falling apart due to one thing or another.
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