Grace Under Pressure 40th boxed set?

[Nova Carmina]

7 hours ago, hgwy407 said:

Does anyone think HS would intentionally leave out the word "Under" from the title? Maybe my age is showing and I have forgotten something about the title for that omission to make sense.

 

It's not Hugh Syme, though; it's some rando making fan art of what it "could" be. 

[ytserush]

On 5/12/2024 at 10:56 AM, Holdyourfireal said:

This is what Robby Adams said about the image yesterday that an Admin posted on the Different Stages of Rush FB group. Today, when the trickery was exposed, he berated me in PMs and blocked me from the group.

 

 

Thanks for the reminder of why I avoid social media.

[ytserush]

On 5/15/2024 at 3:44 PM, thombytor said:

Anything apart from a high resolution release + complete live GUP tour show is not worth buying.. imoho

 

I'll be happy for a single CD if it can be bought that way.

[Clockwork Dodgers]

Still never saw anything about a 40th anniversary release for Grace Under Pressure.  Nothing new since the 2015 200 gram release.

[taurus]

I attended both shows back in September of '84. Floor seats for both (Row 21 and Row 33 iirc) and I'll just say that cameras were there moving about for both nights. Since they were using video tape not film, I can't imagine they would be paying crew to be there and not be rolling tape. I can't remember where I read this but I have a memory of the format was "M" video tape - I hope I'm wrong because if no one transferred all the recordings to other formats over the years and then eventually digitizing the material, the odds of surviving M machines are going to be long. 

[snowdog2112]

7 hours ago, taurus said:

I attended both shows back in September of '84. Floor seats for both (Row 21 and Row 33 iirc) and I'll just say that cameras were there moving about for both nights. Since they were using video tape not film, I can't imagine they would be paying crew to be there and not be rolling tape. I can't remember where I read this but I have a memory of the format was "M" video tape - I hope I'm wrong because if no one transferred all the recordings to other formats over the years and then eventually digitizing the material, the odds of surviving M machines are going to be long. 

That's really cool that you were there, I obsessed over that video in the 80s more than any other. I had to buy replacements more than once. But I don't think anyone doubts that it was all filmed, it's not like they edit these things in real time. But the question is whether any remaining footage (for any of those 80s shows) that was edited out is still in usable condition (as you said) or can even be found. As I've said before, the fact that the overwhelmingly vast majority of VHS era concert videos from all kinds of bands that have been re-issued on DVD and Blu-ray are the exact same content that was originally released tells me that something about the process back then has led to this situation.

 

Clearly no one was planning for 40th anniversary box sets at the time, it was just something done in the moment and in all likelihood the record companies were far more involved back then than later on. My first guess is that for most of these old shows whatever wasn't used was simply trashed. Second most likely thing is that whatever wasn't trashed was left to degrade to the point it can't be re-integrated (at least within reasonable cost), and thirdly that the footage (and/or companion audio) simply gets lost. 

 

I have no doubt that with Rush's modern concert videos with their direct involvement and in-house resources and Geddy's own brother directly involved they could lay their hands on all the raw footage from all filmed shows the last 20-25 years, but I'll bet (and I'm just guessing) that in the 80s the record company hired a production company, and all raw footage was handed over to them to do the work and once it was completed and approved anything left over was forgotten about for decades. The people doing it were not "Rush people", they were just neutral professionals racing to complete projects to get to the next one. And the band would not have been thinking about it, they would have been completing Power Windows and planning the tour just like every other album and tour cycle. 

 

I would kill for more of any of those 80s shows, but I'll remain very pessimistic until there's solid news otherwise. The fact that there was not even a hint of more ESL footage during the MP40 release is telling. But hey, I would LOVE to be proven wrong. 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2024 by snowdog2112

[Holdyourfireal]

7 hours ago, taurus said:

I attended both shows back in September of '84. Floor seats for both (Row 21 and Row 33 iirc) and I'll just say that cameras were there moving about for both nights. Since they were using video tape not film, I can't imagine they would be paying crew to be there and not be rolling tape. I can't remember where I read this but I have a memory of the format was "M" video tape - I hope I'm wrong because if no one transferred all the recordings to other formats over the years and then eventually digitizing the material, the odds of surviving M machines are going to be long. 

 

https://bravewords.com/news/rush-producer-director-talks-about-upcoming-dvds

[ytserush]

1 hour ago, Holdyourfireal said:

 

https://bravewords.com/news/rush-producer-director-talks-about-upcoming-dvds

There is also NO supporting evidence in nearly 20 years that has come out about this claim from ANYONE. The video posted recently that the Rush stuff that has been cataloged does not even mention anything about any live material.

[ytserush]

9 hours ago, taurus said:

I attended both shows back in September of '84. Floor seats for both (Row 21 and Row 33 iirc) and I'll just say that cameras were there moving about for both nights. Since they were using video tape not film, I can't imagine they would be paying crew to be there and not be rolling tape. I can't remember where I read this but I have a memory of the format was "M" video tape - I hope I'm wrong because if no one transferred all the recordings to other formats over the years and then eventually digitizing the material, the odds of surviving M machines are going to be long. 

Perhaps if we're lucky, we'll get the alternate audio.

[snowdog2112]

Yeah, I think we're all pretty aware of that interview so there's no point in me repeating too much about my concerns. It's entirely possible that's genuine and I sure hope it is. That was almost 20 years ago and no one else in the camp has ever made reference to it. Apart from my concerns about Maher himself (because it's been so long ago I can't remember details but there were other articles by him that seemed utterly made up, and I don't think All Headline News was really an entity, it was just his creation, right?), there's just other stuff in there that doesn't smell right. I'll see if I can find some of the old articles I saved because most of them are not on the internet any longer and I don't want to casually accuse anyone without something to back it up. 

 

But stuff like this from that article... : 

 

"We have the entire Rush catalog in our hands. Not just the studio material they have released on albums, but every single demo or song that has not been released as well."

 

Either everyone in the band has consistently blatantly lied for decades or else I can't imagine them being very happy with the guy they put in charge of their catalog for saying that publicly. And again, no one has ever picked up on that. 

 

And just the very idea that they say they were waiting for Blu-ray technology to release the extra footage makes no sense to me. Does it to anyone else? The length of the GUP shows that tour was about an hour and forty minutes, and it was shot on videotape. What would be the point or benefit?

 

"But down the road when Blue-Ray technology becomes more popular and we are able to extend things out to levels beyond where we are at currently...we can then go back and release the found footage that was not on the original release."

 

Admittedly, using actual quotes from a named source sure makes it seem genuine, and I can't know that it's not, I hope it is. But my skepticism remains high until/unless we see something. It's also entirely possible that it could be true but also not ultimately result in anything because when they went through it they either couldn't find the audio or else it was all in bad condition as we've discussed. If there was something really there I just find it hard to believe it's never come up again in 20 years. I just don't want to get my hopes up for some fantasy. 

[snowdog2112]

20 minutes ago, ytserush said:

There is also NO supporting evidence in nearly 20 years that has come out about this claim from ANYONE. The video posted recently that the Rush stuff that has been cataloged does not even mention anything about any live material.

 

I'm not sure which video you're referring to but in fairness the old Fogolabs website did clearly state early on that they had catalogued the complete recordings of Rush including studio and live stuff. It was on their front page for a long time 20 years ago. I'm not convinced they don't have the GUP stuff, but I'm also not convinced they do or that it's usable either. 

Edited May 19, 2024 by snowdog2112

[snowdog2112]

Here was a typical "All Headline News" article with Maher from that era. There were tons like this: 

 

 

 

According to All Headline News, RUSH have set a November 15 release date for their "R:30 - Rush Live In Frankfurt" DVD. The disc will feature a full performance of the German show during the band's 30th Anniversary Tour in 2004. It will also include a full-length documentary on the history of RUSH that has a running time of just over one hour and exclusive lost live footage of the band from the early 1980s.

 

RUSH: 'R:30' DVD To Surface In November - BLABBERMOUTH.NET

 

I'd have to look for it but his early advance preview of the Rio DVD listed all sorts of stuff that would be on it that was totally unrelated to what ended up there. He's just not reliable at all. 

[snowdog2112]

32 minutes ago, ytserush said:

Perhaps if we're lucky, we'll get the alternate audio.

Yeah, assuming it comes out at all I do think getting a full show on audio is realistic this time, unlike with Signals. 

[snowdog2112]

I decided to look around some but the problem is that so many of the platforms that used to host Maher discussions 20-25 years ago are just simply gone, like the Alt.Rush fan group used in the 90s and the more recent Counterparts messageboard (at least I couldn't find it). But unfortunately for him, I did find my old posts where I copied and pasted a ton of stuff from those sites many years ago about Maher and... yeah, I wouldn't believe a word he's said. And there's much worse than this I could add.

 

Here's a couple samples from the Counterparts board that I copied where they discussed and bitched about him:

 

- "Doug also sent me an interview he supposedly did with Alex during the R30 tour, exclusively for CP. The interview turned out to be a complete fake. Doug works as a freelance journalist, and made up the entire thing.

 

- "My own experience of Doug is minor but goes back to the R30 tour...show 2 in Charlotte. We were both "apparently"...at least I WAS...listening to soundcheck and he called in to have someone post bullshit here about them soundchecking a song I know they didn't. He then later at the end of the show....(he was in the front row..I was in the third)....claimed to talk to Howard and get all these "facts" to post to us which were bullshit because when the show ended he was directly in front of me walking STRAIGHT out of the venue at the point of no return gates...you know the ones that say "no readmittance".

 

 

And a sample from the Alt Rush forum from the 90s:

 

Yeah, what the hell ever happened to that guy? Kinda disappeared after all the bullshit that he let flow.

Oh well"

 

- "Judging from the laughably inept writing and the trite "Neil owes me" fanboi-ism, I'd guess this is the work of Doug Maher.

 

Same irrelevant asshole who "invented" stories about the band and that once called Neils wife a "cash whore"

Edited May 19, 2024 by snowdog2112

[taurus]

5 hours ago, ytserush said:

There is also NO supporting evidence in nearly 20 years that has come out about this claim from ANYONE. The video posted recently that the Rush stuff that has been cataloged does not even mention anything about any live material.

 

That article was from 2005 - IF he relayed accurate information, they have taken their sweet ass time revealing this material. Same like the Fogo Labs stuff. We ain't getting any younger folks

[taurus]

 

 

 

.

Edited May 19, 2024 by taurus

[bytor11]

Doing a quick search this looks like Pierre's Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/mylowbottome/  I don't use insta, but if someone here does, they should DM him asking about the footage.

Edited May 23, 2024 by bytor11

[Holdyourfireal]

On 5/23/2024 at 5:50 PM, bytor11 said:

Doing a quick search this looks like Pierre's Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/mylowbottome/  I don't use insta, but if someone here does, they should DM him asking about the footage.

 

A year ago, I contacted him. He never replied.

[hgwy407]

Exactly my point brother Fire. Pranksters have found full time work on the interwebs. Silly kids.

[grep]

This lack of news is starting to suck.

[ytserush]

On 5/19/2024 at 12:19 PM, snowdog2112 said:

 

I'm not sure which video you're referring to but in fairness the old Fogolabs website did clearly state early on that they had catalogued the complete recordings of Rush including studio and live stuff. It was on their front page for a long time 20 years ago. I'm not convinced they don't have the GUP stuff, but I'm also not convinced they do or that it's usable either. 

 

 

I remember a claim that they cataloged live recordings in that video posted around here somewhere but they did not elaborate with any detail at all. Hard to even guess what that means at this point.

[ytserush]

On 5/29/2024 at 8:39 PM, grep said:

This lack of news is starting to suck.

You know how corporate conveyor belts can be.

[snowdog2112]

14 hours ago, ytserush said:

 

 

I remember a claim that they cataloged live recordings in that video posted around here somewhere but they did not elaborate with any detail at all. Hard to even guess what that means at this point.

 Interesting, I'm pretty OCD about this stuff but I guess I just missed that video.

 

Fogolabs' website did bluntly state in the early 2000s that they had archived the complete recordings of Rush, audio and video, (and I thought I remembered it specified studio and live as well but that could be wrong). It was right on the front page and it even said something like "over 1000 tapes covering their whole history" or something similar. But their site has been revamped many times since and the Wayback Machine only had a few pages archived that didn't help when I looked just now. I'll see what else I can find, there has to be some reference to that somewhere.

 

The problem is there's no telling what a "tape" means. If a tape means stuff like the Cygnus or 2112 excerpt fragments from the first two box sets and other few-second bits and pieces from the studio then that might not amount to much. But if it's more than that then it seems like that would have to include live stuff.

 

Either way, after going back and reminding myself of those Maher references (among others) I'm totally convinced he made that whole 2005 article up. They may have all that GUP stuff, but if they do I don't think for a second that Maher really knew that or even conducted that interview. If I say my favorite team is going to win this weekend, and they do, that doesn't mean that I actually knew that, I just got lucky.

 

Ok, here's a reference from 2008:

 

FogoLabs has a number of exceptional projects under its belt, including ones featuring The Who, Harry Connick Jr., Zappa Plays Zappa, Damien Marley, Aimee Mann, Brian Setzer, Branford Marsalis, the Warped Tour and many more. Additionally, the company has archived all 1,200 tapes in the Canadian band Rush’s live and studio catalog.

Cowboy Junkies Go Back to Church (mixonline.com)

 

 

And here's another from the Rush Blog in 2007:

 

This bit of news bodes well for the future. Fogolabs is the Montreal production house reponsible for putting together the R30 DVD. FogoLabs is presently archiving the complete recordings of Rush; over 1200 audio tapes spanning some 30 years of recordings and video archives. Wow. I wonder what will become of these recordings. Thanks to Sean for the news.

 

Rush is a Band Blog: Updates and other random Rush stuff

 

 

That's the line from their website that I remember.

Edited June 2, 2024 by snowdog2112

[Rush Didact]

I called Doug Maher out on Facebook about making this stuff up and got several paragraphs of extremely defensive ranting in reply.  He doesn't come across as a terribly reliable individual.

[snowdog2112]

2 hours ago, Rush Didact said:

I called Doug Maher out on Facebook about making this stuff up and got several paragraphs of extremely defensive ranting in reply.  He doesn't come across as a terribly reliable individual.

Yeah, I’ve never interacted with him to my knowledge and have nothing personal against him but that’s why I chose a random selection of quotes by others. He was someone that was a frequent topic of conversation 20-30 years ago on all the Rush forums and virtually all of it was negative, usually extremely so. Many many different people would say that not only was he usually obnoxious but that he routinely knowingly absolutely invented things out of thin air, including interviews, including the specific examples from the quotes above.
 

That doesn’t mean that 100% of his articles were wrong because often they were just announcing what other outlets published anyway. But his “in the know” stuff was almost always accused of being fabricated. Again, that’s not my claim, that was the consistent claim of many others year after year. 

Edited June 3, 2024 by snowdog2112