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Happy 26th Birthday - Test for Echo


Maverick
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5 hours ago, NoahLutz said:

For me, TFE is better lyrically and musically than Counterparts, which could completely disappear for me and not really change my opinion of the band, though I do love the production and sound of the album.  I would terribly miss TFE, Driven, Half the World, The Color of Right, Dog Years (yes, I love it and it is funny and playful), Virtuality, and Resist (especially the live, acoustic version) if they were to disappear.  I think I would only truly miss Animate and Nobody's Hero from Counterparts.  RTB has Dreamline, which other than Far Cry is probably the last emblematic song from Rush, plus Ghost of a Chance, Bravado, and RTB.  

This is the amazing thing about a band that was around as long as Rush...there's so much material that people can have such different opinions over.  I respect yours, even though I disagree with it.  After reading what you had written, I opened up my itunes to give T4E a spin, to at least listen to the songs you listed...only to find that I must have deleted it from my hard drive to make space for something else.  I guess that says something about my feelings for it, haha.  (I seem to have removed T4E, RTB and S&A.  The rest of the records are there...)

 

Maybe in another thread we could have a discussion about the difference between good songs and essential songs, if there even is one.  I'm interested in the semantic difference that may exist.  Like, I think for better or for worse, Roll The Bones is an essential Rush song when it comes to their trajectory...even though the middle section is kind of embarrassing to me, so might not go into my "good" category.   I could kind of see that Resist might, might go in the essential column because it landed in a more melodic, acoustic place that they visited after that...but I don't know.  :)

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18 hours ago, Timbale said:

This is the amazing thing about a band that was around as long as Rush...there's so much material that people can have such different opinions over.  I respect yours, even though I disagree with it.  After reading what you had written, I opened up my itunes to give T4E a spin, to at least listen to the songs you listed...only to find that I must have deleted it from my hard drive to make space for something else.  I guess that says something about my feelings for it, haha.  (I seem to have removed T4E, RTB and S&A.  The rest of the records are there...)

 

I can't even imagine that.  I have at least three copies of every single Rush album: vinyl, CD, and a set of files on my hard drive/NAS.  In most cases I have many, many more.  I have five copies of PeW on vinyl, for example.

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On 9/10/2022 at 10:37 PM, jnoble said:

What is also the beginning of trends in Rush's music that I didn't like all the way up to the end of the band... the dense over distorted layers of guitar and bass making the songs sound muddy, the quality of Neil's lyrics just weren't as compelling as they used to be, decidedly mediocre "meh" songwriting (Color Of Right, Totem, Carve Away The Stone) , Geddy's bass tone wasn't good and I didn't care for Alex's choice in guitar tones either. Something that would continue on Vapor Trails 5 years later.

I very rarely listen to it. 

For such a great band, they had real trouble mixing. 

I can't think of any other band who had so many albums screwed up by bad mixes.

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On 9/15/2022 at 10:41 AM, goose said:

Pretty much how I feel.  The tour was phenomenal for me, as I got to experience them at the Gorge on a perfect night.  As for the album itself, I agree it hasn't aged well.  I still like the title track, love Time and Motion, and have a soft spot for the tongue in cheek Dog Years.  I think the album is best experienced these days through Neil's A Work In Progress video.  Alex and Geddy admit to kind of phoning in T4E, and that lack of creative effort on their part really makes Neil's re-tooling of his drumming  the most interesting aspect of the album.

I saw them at the Gorge also. I really enjoyed the show. Pretty good album, I still pull it out from time to time. I think I'll take it to work with me tomorrow. 

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The tour was absolutely essential. This marked the beginning of "The Evening With” format. This was an incredible tour and setlist. And I fell like the playing on this tour was some of the very best I had ever heard to this day. Also being I had front row right smack in front of Geddy....made it special.

 

As far as the album. I really liked it when it first hit. To this day:

 

Test For Echo

Driven

Color of Right

Totem

Time And Motion

Dog Years

 

Rock.

 

Those are my favorite tracks by far. 

 

The production was ok. I far preferred Counterparts production and I don’t think they ever sounded as good as that on record again. Too much layering from this point on and I much preferred Neils drumming style and approach before he worked with Freddy Gruber. They lost that true separation and creamy sound as trio after CP.  And Neil forced himself to be a more “in the pocket” drummer. That to me was not what defined Neil Peart. His phrasing was what made him so unique.....and he ventured away from that starting with this album. And I get it. He felt he went as far as he could with his style and approach before deciding to re-learn how to play and approach his craft with Freddy Gruber. I commend him for that. But it does not mean it was as good or better. It’s just preference. I liked Neils form, approach and preciseness before Freddy Grubers influence on him. 

 

Alex sounded ok on the album. But nothing ever stood out for me on it. Same for Geddy. The playing was simply.....just paint by the numbers for them on T4E. Again....not bad.....just not ultra inspiring. I don’t ever say to myself I want to learn and jam any of these songs on my own guitar. It never did or does that for me when I revisit it.

 

Not in my top 15 either......but still a solid record. Nothing they did ever sucked.......period. 

Edited by Todem
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I'll agree on the tour being good.  I never owned TFE and had been out of Rush for awhile but went to a TFE show last minute and had a lot of fun.  Full 2112 and songs I had never heard.  The Different Stages album was the next Rush album I bought and it is what got the foundation laid for my resurgence into Rush.

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It's an album by a band that sounds like they needed a break. Other than Driven and Test For Echo I couldn't hum any of the other songs on it. It's a pretty vacant album. The 90s era Rush albums have 2 maybe 3 bona-fide classics per album. The rest of the tunes are largely forgettable. Combine all the classic 90s albums into one album and it would be up there with their best.

 

Now the break that they took I wouldn't wish that on anyone but it definitely helped them reignite the fire. I just wish they had skipped this album and took a nice leisurely break without all the tragedy. 

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