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Biggest jump in Rush's sound


GeddyRulz

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You guys must be joking... wtf.gif

The thread starter NEVER asked for a change IN STYLE!

 

Until Gup the band has a constant evolution in sound you can easily hear it : Signals to GUP is a natural progression.

 

But...

GUP to PW is like change from deep black to light pink. Is a total different approach to the sound the band was projecting, HYF is the same as PW, A show of hands is the same thing.

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Rush has almost consistently had changes from album, though their metamorphosis hasn't always been as noticeable until you compare albums a couple releases apart (for instance, I hear a natural progression from CoS to 2112 and 2112 to AFTK, but AFTK and CoS sound very different to me).

 

There have been many interesting comments in this thread. In particular that GUP > PoW and PoW > HYF changes were minimal. I disagree... I think that all their post MP 1980s albums saw huge changes from release to release as they were trying to reinvent their sound. Starting with in the mid 1980s, Geddy wanted to take the band more in a fusion direction, and both he and Neil wanted to pull away from the "Thinking Man's Heavy Metal" label that the band had in the 1970s.

  • On Signals, they experimented with using synths as a lead instrument much more than they had before (unfortunately burying the guitars in some places), but the songs retained that overall "Rush" edge.
  • On GUP, they brought the guitar way up in the mix and had more lead guitar (Geddy later said they were overreacting to their overuse of synths on Signals). It had a more popish feel than on Signals; this is the first album that I thought was a big departure from the previously typical "Rush" sound. Going back to interviews, the band was struggling during this period.
  • On PoW, they for the first time recorded without worrying about reproducing the songs live. The songs had many more layers and textures than ever before (and there was a lot more lead bass on PoW than GUP). Their live shows would never be the same as they started playing along to more pre-sequenced tracks (that they triggered).
  • HYF had a very similar overall production feel to PoW, with a similar balance between the instruments. However, with HYF they tried to write "more mature" songs without nearly as much edge (Geddy said in an interview that 60% of PoW was from sound-check jamming while only 5% of HYF was). Much less mathrock than before.
  • Presto saw them for the first time take a step backwards when they returned to writing everything acoustically (for the first time since PeW). They went for a looser feel with less lead-synths. Also, Rupert Hine encouraged the use of more vocal choruses, something they hadn't done much before (and ruining many would-be great songs, IMO). They also decided to have more fun live (as the previous couple tours had been grueling, especially for Geddy as most of the triggered stuff fell on him). They considered adding a 4th person to the band for touring, but instead decided to use even more sampled tracks (on a side note, they also started reintroducing previously retired songs more-so with this tour than with previous ones).
  • By comparison to the previous album-to-album differences, RTB was overall similar to Presto... these two album are their most "popish" and "chick-friendly" albums (if you'll pardon the stereotyping comment).
  • With CP, they went back to their edgier sound, accepting who they are as a hard rock band (while still incorporating a lot of the elements they'd experimented with over the previous 10 years). In a way, they went full circle with this release.
There have been some minor changes since CP, but much more gradual than with their upheaval in the 1980s.

 

I'll go with HYF > Presto as their biggest change (despite both of them being their first two "less mathrock" albums). For the biggest two-album-change, I'll go with PoW > Presto.

 

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This thread I find so funny in that I expressed for myself what I thought were so obviously and far and away the albums that showed the biggest jump. Some agreed with me, and others started listing jumps that I just couldn't see at all. It just goes to show how subjective everything is, and even though there are trends, no one here is going to agree on everything. I should start a thread about this (wait, I already did tongue.gif).
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QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Jun 23 2006, 04:31 PM)
Rush constantly changes their sound; we all know that. But sometimes the change in their sound can be very dramatic between two consecutive studio albums... for example, Roll the Bones was different from Presto, but Signals was VERY different from Moving Pictures. It's almost as if there should be another album in between; something to bridge the gap between the two different sounds.

The question put to you:
Which two consecutive Rush albums have the most dramatic change in direction? Pick as many as three examples.

My choices (in order) are:
1. T4E to VT
2. MP to Signals

Defintely 2. I remember that time, and you can still hear it now. As someone once said, VS was a hint of things to come, but it was a dramatic departure, with synths playing a much larger role, as they would really until CP.

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QUOTE (ElPatron @ Jun 24 2006, 06:20 AM)
You guys must be joking... wtf.gif
The thread starter NEVER asked for a change IN STYLE!

The sentence that jumped out at me was the bold one that asked "Which two consecutive Rush albums have the most dramatic change in direction?"

 

Change in direction vs change in style? You could argue that those terms are interchangable.

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QUOTE (ElPatron @ Jun 24 2006, 08:20 AM)
You guys must be joking... wtf.gif
The thread starter NEVER asked for a change IN STYLE!

Until Gup the band has a constant evolution in sound you can easily hear it : Signals to GUP is a natural progression.

But...
GUP to PW is like change from deep black to light pink. Is a total different approach to the sound the band was projecting, HYF is the same as PW, A show of hands is the same thing.

I understand what you are saying and I agree in that respect.

 

GUP, though in the same vein, sounds nothing like PoW.

 

GUP= Dark, brooding, ominous, cloudy

 

PoW= Bright. The sounds of the synths, the instrument tones, the sonic color--bright and glossy.

 

I know it sounds goofy, but I equate it with Neil's drum artwork. After years of the Starman, then one tour with the drab P/G logo... we got the bright, colorful 3-D bass drum art. Rush's recorded sound evolved the exact same way.

 

Now, if we are talking stylistically:

 

2112---A Farewell To Kings

Hemispheres---Permanent Waves

Signals---GUP

HYF-Presto

RTB--Counterparts

 

I would say Moving Pictures to Signals, but I still hear many elements of 'vintage Rush' in Signals... I mean, The Analog Kid could have worked on MP. Witch Hunt has as many synths as Subdivisions. Digital Man, New World Man or Chemistry could have taken the place of Vital Signs as the token New Wave track. I think Broon's involvement kept the vintage sound there.

 

I don't hear too many stylistic differences between Counterparts, T4E or VT. Some of us may like the songwriting better on one than the others, but to me, they are all rooted in that post-Grunge, heavily layered, "Modern Rock" sound.

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QUOTE (New World Kid @ Jun 24 2006, 01:45 AM)
Hold Your Fire to Presto....Huge change there

Yes. In fact, this is probably the first thing that came to mind when i first heard Presto - what a change. It sounded totally stripped down, much like VT sounds compared to CP or T4E.

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