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Neil's Books


deadwing2112
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I thought The Masked Rider was a very good read. I think Neil is a very good story teller and the way he injects his own philosophical views about the things he sees and the people he encounters, makes for interesting reading IMHO.

 

I also liked Ghost Rider and Traveling Music but have not had a chance to read Road show.

 

It's all a matter of preference but I think if you liked TM and GR you will probably like MR.

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I enjoyed the first half of Ghost Rider, as I have been to many of the places he describes. the recovery process also makes for a great story. The second half, with the letters, got pretty redundant.
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QUOTE (lerxt1990 @ Oct 3 2006, 05:33 PM)
When he talked of AFrica in TM I got interested in Masked Rider but havent bought it yet.  Today, while on Amazon to order some stuff for a class Im teaching, I bought Roadshow.

Never knew you were a teacher, what do you teach if I may ask?

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QUOTE (Drumnut @ Oct 3 2006, 09:10 PM)
QUOTE (lerxt1990 @ Oct 3 2006, 05:33 PM)
When he talked of AFrica in TM I got interested in Masked Rider but havent bought it yet.  Today, while on Amazon to order some stuff for a class Im teaching, I bought Roadshow.

Never knew you were a teacher, what do you teach if I may ask?

I teach as well - secondary Spanish, History & Psychology. A couple of other RUSH fans on staff at my site, which is fun.

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I thought Masked Rider was the best, so far.

Have yet to get Roadshow.

To be quite honest, the only reason I read his books is becuse of the Rush connection.

If Neil was not the drummer and lyricist in Rush there is no way I'd read his books, they can tend to be quite tedious to get through.

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Ok, I couldn't put Roadshow down. I'm half way trough it and I think this and The Masked Rider are his best.

If you don't have Roadshow GED it.

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roadshow was very repetative for me, same shit different day. it got a little bit dedundant. im not sorry i read it but it was not my favorite neil book.
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QUOTE (tick @ Dec 15 2006, 10:20 AM)
roadshow was very repetative for me, same shit different day. it got a little bit dedundant. im not sorry i read it but it was not my favorite neil book.

So... you can read after all! You faker! tongue.gif

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QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Dec 15 2006, 03:24 PM)
QUOTE (tick @ Dec 15 2006, 10:20 AM)
roadshow was very repetative for me, same shit different day. it got a little bit dedundant. im not sorry i read it but it was not my favorite neil book.

So... you can read after all! You faker! tongue.gif

He read Neil's MIND, that's why it seemed like the same shit every day, cause it was...

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I read them all except Roadshow ( I haven't gotten very far yet) and I liked everything I've read so far. I do read his books because his connection to Rush. I like it when he gives us a little insight such as how he likes to play shows outdoors when it's still light out so he can look at all of the fans. It's nice to know that they we fans are appreciated.
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I have in my collection all of Neil's works and have read each at least twice (with the exception of Roadshow, which I just started two short days ago). Call me biased, but I am completely immersed in this latest offering from the DrumGod/Author Extrordinaire. To me, his words lift right off the page to form vivid, colorful imagery - almost as if I were riding on the back of his R1200GS. Mind you, I have pretty active imagination.

I find all of Neil's literary work a joy to read, regardless of the story being told. Each book is extremely well crafted, rich in detail, intrigue and sprinkled with clever wit. I sincerely hope that even long after our boys have finally hung up the guitars, stacked away the drums, and have unplugged the amps for good, The Ghostwriter's saga will continue onward.

 

Thanks Neil.

Please keep churning out the good work.

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QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Dec 15 2006, 04:24 PM)
QUOTE (tick @ Dec 15 2006, 10:20 AM)
roadshow was very repetative for me, same shit different day. it got a little bit dedundant. im not sorry i read it but it was not my favorite neil book.

So... you can read after all! You faker! tongue.gif

well, i, umm, ya see the thing is, unsure.gif

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I've read Ghost Rider and Travelling Music. Ghost Rider was about a very dark period in Neil's life, and I must admit it was hard to read some of it. He had a lot of great insights in that book, and it was great to see him rally from the abyss as he did. Travelling Music was much easier to get through. It was very interesting to hear his insights on music. He wrote a great passage about prog rock, one that I typed out and have shared with friends and posted on here a number of times. Here it is again:

 

QUOTE
...As much as the notion of "progressive" music has been mocked, used to denigrate a particular style of experimental, ambitious arranging and musicianship, it was really the only possible kind of honest music.

Not to say that the simple passage of time meant that one's work necessarily got *better*; it didn't have to be *qualitative* progress, but it was certainly a chronological progress.  LIfe cannot be seen any other way than as a progression -- forward, if not necessarily upward -- and thus it followed that one's  work had to be looked at that way too.  For me, each milestone, each benchmark was necessarily progressive, reflecting what I had learned musically, as a drummer, and what I had learned existentially, as a lyricist.  As my friend Mendelson Joe said, "Art doesn't lie," and that was especially true in cases where it *tried* to lie -- pretending to be something it wasn't to attract an audience it didn't deserve.  That's what it *really* meant to be "pretentious." 

In an unfortunate contradiction, progressive music was described by ignorant, biased critics as "pretentious," but what a confused value system that terminology represented.  Seldom was there a more *honest* style of music, based on solid principles of musicianship, exploration, and fascination.  It did not "pretend" youth, or adolescent passion, like so much pop music written by aging men and women with cynical formulas, and it did not "pretend" rebellion, like so much pop music written by leering mercenaries in motorcycle jackets and careful hairdos.  (From "The Sound of Muzak," by Porcupine Tree, a modern-day "progressive" band: "The music of rebellion makes you wanna rage/ But it's made by millionaires who are nearly twice your age").

At its worst, progressive rock may have become bloated and top0heavy, but inevitably it had to collapse on itself anyway, in the cycle of self-correcting mechanisms common in popular music:  the previously-described "garage band " principle.  As soon as popular music outgrew the ability of beginners to emulate it, a revolution would follow.  How few of the '50s pioneers survived commercially into the early 60s, and how few of the early 60s bands survived into the late 60s, and so on.  It is unfortunate, in a way, that many good artists become undeservedly marginalized by an imagined line drawn in the sand, between old and uncool, and new and hip, and there's nothing they can do about it. 

When punk and new wave styles exploded in the late 70s, some established artists were nimble enough to respond to the changes around them.  Some grumbled, "What am I supposed to do, forget how to play?", and continued to ride their dinosaurs into extinction....
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QUOTE (deadwing2112 @ Dec 16 2006, 02:42 PM)
I'm almost done with TM. Less then 100 pages left.

Thanks for updating us, we were wondering.

 

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QUOTE (goose @ Sep 27 2006, 04:31 AM)
I enjoyed the first half of Ghost Rider, as I have been to many of the places he describes. the recovery process also makes for a great story. The second half, with the letters, got pretty redundant.

I agree absolutely. I really enjoyed the first half of Ghost Rider but by about 3/4 of the way through I was reduced to skimming. It kind of felt like he got tired of writing the book and just did what he could to crank it out.

 

That said, Neil is a great storyteller. The first half of the book was a great read, and not just because I'm a Rush fan (although I'm sure that didn't hurt).

 

I'm interested in checking out Traveling Music. Not so sure about The Masked Rider. Unfortunately, around the Twin Cities The Masked Rider is the only one of his books that is readily available at bookstores.

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QUOTE (Room 34 @ Dec 16 2006, 03:01 PM)
QUOTE (goose @ Sep 27 2006, 04:31 AM)
I enjoyed the first half of Ghost Rider, as I have been to many of the places he describes. the recovery process also makes for a great story. The second half, with the letters, got pretty redundant.

I agree absolutely. I really enjoyed the first half of Ghost Rider but by about 3/4 of the way through I was reduced to skimming. It kind of felt like he got tired of writing the book and just did what he could to crank it out.

 

That said, Neil is a great storyteller. The first half of the book was a great read, and not just because I'm a Rush fan (although I'm sure that didn't hurt).

 

I'm interested in checking out Traveling Music. Not so sure about The Masked Rider. Unfortunately, around the Twin Cities The Masked Rider is the only one of his books that is readily available at bookstores.

I've read all of his books and I think that TMR is his best one. You might want to go ahead and get it.

 

 

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