steelcaressed Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 QUOTE (barchetta90480 @ Mar 5 2006, 01:12 PM) Before reading Chemistry, I read a Deep Purple biography that beats Chemistry by far! "Deep Purple -Die Geschichte einer Band", Hannibal Verlag, for those of you who speak German (it's only published in my native tongue). Nice comparison: Geddy appears as the bad guy in Chemistry??? Read about Mr Ritchie Blackmore in that biography, especially when he's commenting on Ian Gillan or Jon Lord's attempts to bring in the keyboards a little more! That's what I call bossy!!! Sorry for going slightly off-topic, but I couldn't resist this. The simple difference here is that Lord is a consummate keyboardist, while I don't think that Blackmore can even come close to carrying a band by his lonesome. Geddy himself admits that he is not a great keyboard player. He brought them in to try to broaden what he terms "textures" in their music. The keyboards for Rush were originally intended as fills to cover the gaps caused by a lack of a rhythm guitarist. It was later broadened to give Rush a more pop sound than they ever achieved previously (definitely Geddy's influence.) Blackmore never approached the level of an Alex Lifeson, who is an amazing innovator. Some of Lifeson's techniques predate some of those later incorporated by E. Van Halen in his signature style. Lifeson gets little recognition for his achievements because his rhythm section is so phenomenal that he gets passed over (wonder why he's a little testy?) Blackmore is famous for writing a song so easy that every new guitarist learned it in their first week (Smoke on the Water.) At least this was true for about 20 years. It may be dated now. I like the analogy though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barchetta90480 Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 To stay "off topic" for a second: Sure Blackmore should have been lucky to be in a band with the most impressive (musically and in appearance, I'd like to remark) keyboard player in rock. Shows that his "bossiness" (no such word???) far exceeds his abilities as a band leader. Geddy's not really bossy - though he humbly may call himself so at times - but a perfectionist. His definition of perfection may have changed on the way from "Subdivisions" to, say, "Test for Echo". To slightly defend Mr Blackmore: "Smoke on the Water" is not the best thing or riff he wrote (listen to In Rock or his Rainbow track "Stargazer" instead), and he surely doesn't parallel Alex Lifeson in technique and innovation (whereas Steve Morse does, but I'm drifting away ...). He used to be a darn good and spontaneous guitar player, though, until he decided to play pseudo-medieval crap with Blackmore's Night. Now we can be really sure that none of Rush would ever embrace the idea of doing anything half as embarrassing as that! Which is shown in "Chemistry" pretty well, BTW: They might not be as stiff as the music press sometimes sees them, but they are dead serious about their music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushgoober Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Feb 12 2006, 02:55 PM)Alex is revealed to be overly sensitive to criticism, and too intimidated by the others to speak up for himself. (e.g. - It took him four or five albums to finally say what he felt about keyboards.) Geddy is shown to be a bit bossy in the studio (and by his own admission, he is). Plus, Geddy is portrayed as a little bit of a bad guy from repeatedly bringing those naughty keyboards into the studio every record. I'm assuming this means Alex is responsible for the keyboards drifting away? There goes any hope of the wonderful keyboards returning... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelcaressed Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 QUOTE (barchetta90480 @ Mar 7 2006, 11:55 AM) To stay "off topic" for a second: Sure Blackmore should have been lucky to be in a band with the most impressive (musically and in appearance, I'd like to remark) keyboard player in rock. Shows that his "bossiness" (no such word???) far exceeds his abilities as a band leader. Geddy's not really bossy - though he humbly may call himself so at times - but a perfectionist. His definition of perfection may have changed on the way from "Subdivisions" to, say, "Test for Echo". To slightly defend Mr Blackmore: "Smoke on the Water" is not the best thing or riff he wrote (listen to In Rock or his Rainbow track "Stargazer" instead), and he surely doesn't parallel Alex Lifeson in technique and innovation (whereas Steve Morse does, but I'm drifting away ...). He used to be a darn good and spontaneous guitar player, though, until he decided to play pseudo-medieval crap with Blackmore's Night. Now we can be really sure that none of Rush would ever embrace the idea of doing anything half as embarrassing as that! Which is shown in "Chemistry" pretty well, BTW: They might not be as stiff as the music press sometimes sees them, but they are dead serious about their music. Thanks for staying "off topic" w/ me. I'm familiar w/ his work w/ Rainbow, and while there are a few bright spots, I would hate to have "Long live rock n' roll" on my resume (Not to mention collaboration w/ the chronically over-singing Dio.). His old work w/ Purple was much better, in my opinion, though not very complex there either. Lord was not the only magnificent musician in Deep Purple: Ian Paice outshines him so bad on the "Made in Japan" version of the mule, that I'm surprised Blackmore doesn't throw himself on his guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barchetta90480 Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 Bringing in some real relation between Rush and Purple: There's a semi-official live recording called "DP live at the Rotterdam Ahoy". Or is it official? Purple Records are flooding their fanbase with live releases, so I can't really tell anymore what's official and what's an "official bootleg" (the term alone is a howler ...). Cashing in? Noooo way. I mean, if Anthem released a live album of every Rush tour, would most on TRF happily buy it? Most Iron Maiden fans can't wait to be presented the 115th live version of "Run To the Hills", so I can do with 20 different "Highway Stars", and would be pleased to hear some more Spirits of Radio ... Anyway, on this album released around 2000 (Lord's last tour), DP play Smoke On the Water (Really? Amazing! Who'd have thought ...), with a nice intro whose first two minutes are ... Spirit of Radio, pretty well done by Steve Morse and Ian Paice (agreed ... a ridiculously underrated drummer, cf. Alex Lifeson on guitar). I'd have loved to hear Ian Gillan coughing out Geddy's lyrics, but he spares us that. Still - the best SOTW version up to now - because of these two minutes, that is. Wouldn't mind Rush starting Bastille Day with the Speed King intro next tour, to pay them back ... Hope we don't get kicked into "Music of the Spheres" when continuing ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softfilter Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Finally got around to finishing Chemistry and agree with TRF members comments .On how Alex is painted as being insecure and lacking in confidence under Geddys dictatorial powers. While Neil detaches himself from both to come up with song ideas. I'm being slightly sarcastic with this and not saying theres some truth behind the sources. But no matter how reliable they are I wonder if a good portion of this is just perceived observations and not solid facts. Collins did open up a window in suggesting theres been friction with in the band not known before by the average fan.(me included) Not that it's suprising by such a long history together it's perfectly normal that this would be the case. Just that some of this has not been exposed to the general public. Over all it's probably the best we will get until does one themselves. Couple things I didn't care for those little side paragraphs titled Cheap shots, yes I know theres idiots from the press that don't like RUSH we've all read them. I don't think this gave the book balance if that's what he was going for felt they were totally unnecessary. And how about at the end with the appendix,personology don't you think he was stretching it a bit with some of the people associated with RUSH. Kinda like the Kevin Bacon game hell I've been more involved with RUSH then some of them and everyone here on TRF also! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margana Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I am half way through Chemistry and am enjoying it. Who knows exactly what is true about the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals. As others have said, we won't know the truth until the group (and I mean all of them) write the definitive history. Also straying off track as others have done, the drummer with Deep Purple, Ian Paice is seriously underrated! Try and listen to the track Burn from the album of the same name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelcaressed Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 QUOTE (Margana @ Mar 10 2006, 04:58 PM) I am half way through Chemistry and am enjoying it. Who knows exactly what is true about the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals. As others have said, we won't know the truth until the group (and I mean all of them) write the definitive history. Also straying off track as others have done, the drummer with Deep Purple, Ian Paice is seriously underrated! Try and listen to the track Burn from the album of the same name. I know this is going to get kicked into spheres if I keep going, but I can't stop myself. I'm a junkie. Of note: Ian Gillan is the only man to be the lead singer of Black Sabbath and star as Jesus Christ in "Jesus Christ Superstar." Also of note...the Bass player in the old days I believe was Roger Glover. The mere fact that I can recall his name indicates to me that he was a player of some repute. Seems to me the only mediocre musician in the band was Blackmore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barchetta90480 Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 ... seems we're going to get kicked out of this thread together ... Mediocre Purple musicians? Don't forget Coverdale and Hughes - or do you only count Mark II. If not, there's Joe LynnTurner as well - if he's not even worse than mediocre. Was there any mediocre Rush musician ever? Rutsey??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelcaressed Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 I couldn't find any fault w/ Rutsey's playing. He wasn't a "professor," that's for sure. He wasn't much of a songwriter either. Now, if we're talking about producers, I bet we could find a few bad ones. I'm personally not crazy about Hines work w/ the band (or at least I should say it's some of my least favorite.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeddyRulz Posted March 12, 2006 Author Share Posted March 12, 2006 QUOTE Was there any mediocre Rush musician ever? Rutsey??? I think Mitch Bossi was less than spectacular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowdog Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 Chemistry isn't a bad book, and contains info that fans may or may not have read before. But it is always nice to read about the behind the scenes stuff that we rarely get a glimpse into. I enjoyed it. Now, if Mr. Peart would write the "definitive, authorized" biography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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