Review and Retiring

[PassTheAmmunition]

QUOTE (rushman14 @ May 1 2007, 01:58 PM)

QUOTE (andrew28 @ May 1 2007, 11:51 AM) QUOTE (lerkst @ May 1 2007, 01:12 PM) QUOTE (rushman14 @ May 1 2007, 12:49 PM) QUOTE (lerkst @ May 1 2007, 06:51 AM) My beef with Snakes is that it's as boring as hell. First off, Neil's lyrics are getting out of hand...have him step asided and let Geddy and Alex try writing ONE album. Just for fun. they already let Geddy write a Rush album and it was titled "My Favorite Headache". I don't know Lerkst, I have to disagree with most of your review. I'll elaborate after about 10 more spins. While you do that, I'll be listening to Green Vinyl Dream....and making a pass at your sister. I was going to compliment you, Lerkst, on your ability to criticize the album and defend your arguments without getting personal or attacking others' opinions.   But now you're just being a baby. he's not attacking my opinion. we're friends so he gets a pass, even if his tastes are suspect. his tastes in music, or in your sister?     edit: throws a 15-yard personal foul flag on himself no offense intended

[pedro2112]

Complaints about the lead singer's voice? Unwieldy Lyrics? Bizarre Choruses? Not enough "hooks"? complex song structures that don't "fit"? disappointment because this album doesn't sound enough like albums in the past?

 

 

Yes folks, its new Rush!!!

 

Been hearing this shit since Signals came out.

 

 

 

[rkarlberg]

Rush is evolving, there is no way they can release an album where all fans will like every song.

 

For VT and T4E I didn't love every song, but if you get 3 or 4 great ones on a CD then I think that is pretty good.

 

I have to agree that the lyrics are weaker this time, overall.

 

And while not exactly boring, it's a bit too depressing at times. Rush are the masters of inspiring songs like Red Barchetta and Spirit of Radio which are so exciting to listen to. There are a million bands with depressing songs, we don't need more of that.

 

I hope the next album is a bit more fun and exciting.

[jazima]

I will listen to for the first time when I get home from work. I am hoping you are wrong, and I like it. It does seem like some people agree with your assessment.

 

I liked TFE, but it is far from my favorite. I played it daily for at least three months straight and only return to it upon occassion.

 

I love VT. It is a great album. Production quality falls short. Ceiling unlimited, Ghost Rider, Secret Touch, Earthshine, Nocturne, Freeze, all ROCK. I still listen to that album all the time.

[GGOAT!!!]

Production notwithstanding, this album is SUCH a step backward from Vapor Trails (not that that was a great album, but it was at least catchy and listenable besides the horrible digital clipping).

 

A few basic problems with this album:

 

1) Not catchy whatsoever...at least Vapor Trails was memorable and rocked besides the clipping noise. Rush's gift always held true the fact that they could write what was seemingly on the surface a 'catchy as hell' memorable simple song that only took one listen to remember...but under the surface was technical as hell (Red Barchetta for a great example of a totally 'accessible by anyone' song that's also amazingly complex and intricate yet it takes NOTHING away from the catchiness and doesn't overwhelm-or underwhelm-the casual listener). Rush have completely lost both the ability to be both catchy and complex on anything above an elementary level.

 

2) Boring musicianship...this is supposed to be RUSH; "holding back" for the last 17 years is NO LONGER a valid excuse. I HATE it when mindless Neilsheep state "It's so cool to hear Neil just sit back, groove, and not overplay" for the MILLIONTH TIME as if he's been playing at "Natural Science/Cygnus X-1/Subdivisions/Losing It/Jacob's Ladder/Marathon/Mission/The Fountain" caliber constantly for the last 30 years! HE'S BEEN "HOLDING BACK" FOR FREAKIN' DECADES! C'MON, BLOW US AWAY FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS IN ONE SONG! Dammit, this is supposed to be Rush. Throw us at least ONE thing that makes us go "WOW!!!!!" again! And all the blind supporters need to STOP reciting what others say about "It's so great they are going subtle"...they've been subtle since 1990! It's time to STOP with the lameness! Stop making excuses!

 

3) Neil's lyrics can't possibly get any worse. STOP USING THE GRADESCHOOL SIMILES AND METAPHORS!!!!! EXAMPLES:

 

"LIKE A CORAL REEF", "LIKE A GHOSTRIDER", "LIKE A MOUNTAIN", "LONELY THINGS LIKE NIGHTS", LIKE SURRENDER", "LIKE MALICE", "LIKE LOVERS AND HEROS", "LIKE EMPIRES", "LIKE THE TIDE", "LIKE PRIDE", "LIKE HURRICANES", "LIKE LOVERS" "LIKE BIRDS OF PREY", "LIKE DANCING GIRLS", "LIKE A MILLION LITTLE DOORWAYS", "LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD", "LIKE THE HEART OF THE EARTH", "LIKE A TIMEBOMB", "LIKE A STRANGER", "LIKE THE CHINESE CALL", "LIKE A RARE AND PRECIOUS METAL", "LIKE A RIGHTEOUS INSPIRATION", "LIKE A TEARDROP IN THE OCEAN", "LIKE A STEELY BLADE", "LIKE AN HOURGLASS", "LIKE A SHIPWRECKED MARINER", "LIKE A PAIR OF VAGABONDS", "LIKE A WOLF IN THE SUN", "LIKE WE'RE BACK IN THE DARK AGES", "LIKE CRUSADERS IN UNHOLY ALLIANCE", "LIKE THE SOLITARY PINE", "LIKE A STONE IN THE RIVER", "LIKE THE WILLOWS IN THE WIND", "LIKE A FOREST BOWS", "LIKE A FLOWER", etc...

 

You get the idea!!! They should change their name from Rush to "LIKE"!!! You can TELL that Neil didn't finish school. I think by about the 11th grade, English classes wouldn't ALLOW you to write such simple mindless idiotic similes or you'd instantly fail the assignment. Lyrics so inane come across as being written in 30 minutes...just in time to skip town to head back out on another Middle America hateride. Neil's lyrics appeared "intelligent" when I was 8. Funny thing is, however...they didn't get gut-wrenchingly bad until around 1990. I think Neil does it now on purpose just to fuel his own disdain for the fans ("Let's see what kind of crap I can write that these imbeciles will think I'm God for writing...they'll fall for anything"). C'mon Neil...the juvenile nature of your lyrics and uneducated writing style is beyond insulting at this point.

 

4) Geddy: please use an amp. Get a real bass sound again. And stop that "chunka chunka chunka" flamenco crap and play some melodic, memorable, catchy, and amazing bass lines again. Stop being so basic. And, did I mention a real amp? Hey Geddy, there's an album with a great bass sound on it. You might like it. It's called "Moving Pictures." It's also called "Signals." Hell, even though it's completely different, "Power Windows" at least has a unique bass AMP sound. Your current bass sound sounds like a ProTools plug-in.

 

5) And to the fanboi's and fangurl's: Learn to think on your own. Just because you read online that one person says, "I hear traces of all eras of Rush in this new album," DO NOT endlessly post this same mindless drool over an over as if you think it yourself. If Geddy said, "Yes I used the same bass tone as I had on Caress of Steel" (while clearly he did not) there would be 100's of fanboi's sprouting, "The bass on the new album sounds just like 'No One At The Bridge!!!!!!!'" just because they read that Geddy said something to that effect. Kinda like how people are saying, "The new album is a return to Rush's roots." Yeah? Where??? I don't hear anything whatsoever similar to anything except 90's era Rush. "This new album represents all of Rush's past." Really? Where's the Power Windows era represented? Funny, I don't hear any synth. Or did you fanboi's forget that the 80's were dominated by very imaginative synth work? LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF. AND, STOP REPEATING WHAT YOU READ ON THE INTERNET AS IF YOU THOUGHT OF IT FOR YOURSELF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN OFFER NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE AS TO WHY YOU ARE SPEWING YOUR UNFOUNDED WORDS. Just like all the fanboi's posting "This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!"..."The best since Moving Pictures!"..."The best since 2112!" all because they READ it from SOMEONE ELSE.

 

It's almost as if...how completely DEVOID can Rush become of RUSH until ANY of the fanboi's realize it? It seems that as they get rid of EVERY ounce of what MADE them "RUSH", the fanboi's EMBRACE it! Geddy's singing lower! Great! Geddy's more monotone! Great! Neil isn't doing much of anything! Great! These lyrics are so deep LIKE a gradeschooler wrote them! Great! The drums still have that 1987-era reverb on them! Great! Geddy plays nothing like his old self! Great! There's NO synthesizers at all! Great! There's NO long songs! Great! There's no catchiness! Great! There's nearly no guitar solos! Great! There's no instrumental virtuosity! Great! They're holding back! Great! They've been holding back since "Presto"! Great! They don't write fantasy epics! Great! They write pseudo philosophical "I'm better than you and here is what is wrong with the world" lyrics! Great! They lyrics don't really fit the music and sound forced! Great! Geddy continues to multi-track cheesy vocal sounds rather than use Taurus pedals! Great! Neil plays at his most elementary just to piss off fans who crave 1/100th of the old Neil! Great! They completely stopped writing strange time signature parts and challenging musical passages! Great! They've written boring, bland, simple, contrite, uninspiring, unimaginative, and basic music! Great! But, they're having FUN! Great!!!

 

 

[andrew28]

QUOTE (GGOAT!!! @ May 1 2007, 02:45 PM)

Production notwithstanding, this album is SUCH a step backward from Vapor Trails (not that that was a great album, but it was at least catchy and listenable besides the horrible digital clipping). A few basic problems with this album: 1) Not catchy whatsoever...at least Vapor Trails was memorable and rocked besides the clipping noise. Rush's gift always held true the fact that they could write what was seemingly on the surface a 'catchy as hell' memorable simple song that only took one listen to remember...but under the surface was technical as hell (Red Barchetta for a great example of a totally 'accessible by anyone' song that's also amazingly complex and intricate yet it takes NOTHING away from the catchiness and doesn't overwhelm-or underwhelm-the casual listener). Rush have completely lost both the ability to be both catchy and complex on anything above an elementary level. 2) Boring musicianship...this is supposed to be RUSH; "holding back" for the last 17 years is NO LONGER a valid excuse. I HATE it when mindless Neilsheep state "It's so cool to hear Neil just sit back, groove, and not overplay" for the MILLIONTH TIME as if he's been playing at "Natural Science/Cygnus X-1/Subdivisions/Losing It/Jacob's Ladder/Marathon/Mission/The Fountain" caliber constantly for the last 30 years! HE'S BEEN "HOLDING BACK" FOR FREAKIN' DECADES! C'MON, BLOW US AWAY FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS IN ONE SONG! Dammit, this is supposed to be Rush. Throw us at least ONE thing that makes us go "WOW!!!!!" again! And all the blind supporters need to STOP reciting what others say about "It's so great they are going subtle"...they've been subtle since 1990! It's time to STOP with the lameness! Stop making excuses! 3) Neil's lyrics can't possibly get any worse. STOP USING THE GRADESCHOOL SIMILES AND METAPHORS!!!!! EXAMPLES: "LIKE A CORAL REEF", "LIKE A GHOSTRIDER", "LIKE A MOUNTAIN", "LONELY THINGS LIKE NIGHTS", LIKE SURRENDER", "LIKE MALICE", "LIKE LOVERS AND HEROS", "LIKE EMPIRES", "LIKE THE TIDE", "LIKE PRIDE", "LIKE HURRICANES", "LIKE LOVERS" "LIKE BIRDS OF PREY", "LIKE DANCING GIRLS", "LIKE A MILLION LITTLE DOORWAYS", "LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD", "LIKE THE HEART OF THE EARTH", "LIKE A TIMEBOMB", "LIKE A STRANGER", "LIKE THE CHINESE CALL", "LIKE A RARE AND PRECIOUS METAL", "LIKE A RIGHTEOUS INSPIRATION", "LIKE A TEARDROP IN THE OCEAN", "LIKE A STEELY BLADE", "LIKE AN HOURGLASS", "LIKE A SHIPWRECKED MARINER", "LIKE A PAIR OF VAGABONDS", "LIKE A WOLF IN THE SUN", "LIKE WE'RE BACK IN THE DARK AGES", "LIKE CRUSADERS IN UNHOLY ALLIANCE", "LIKE THE SOLITARY PINE", "LIKE A STONE IN THE RIVER", "LIKE THE WILLOWS IN THE WIND", "LIKE A FOREST BOWS", "LIKE A FLOWER", etc... You get the idea!!! They should change their name from Rush to "LIKE"!!! You can TELL that Neil didn't finish school. I think by about the 11th grade, English classes wouldn't ALLOW you to write such simple mindless idiotic similes or you'd instantly fail the assignment. Lyrics so inane come across as being written in 30 minutes...just in time to skip town to head back out on another Middle America hateride. Neil's lyrics appeared "intelligent" when I was 8. Funny thing is, however...they didn't get gut-wrenchingly bad until around 1990. I think Neil does it now on purpose just to fuel his own disdain for the fans ("Let's see what kind of crap I can write that these imbeciles will think I'm God for writing...they'll fall for anything"). C'mon Neil...the juvenile nature of your lyrics and uneducated writing style is beyond insulting at this point. 4) Geddy: please use an amp. Get a real bass sound again. And stop that "chunka chunka chunka" flamenco crap and play some melodic, memorable, catchy, and amazing bass lines again. Stop being so basic. And, did I mention a real amp? Hey Geddy, there's an album with a great bass sound on it. You might like it. It's called "Moving Pictures." It's also called "Signals." Hell, even though it's completely different, "Power Windows" at least has a unique bass AMP sound. Your current bass sound sounds like a ProTools plug-in. 5) And to the fanboi's and fangurl's: Learn to think on your own. Just because you read online that one person says, "I hear traces of all eras of Rush in this new album," DO NOT endlessly post this same mindless drool over an over as if you think it yourself. If Geddy said, "Yes I used the same bass tone as I had on Caress of Steel" (while clearly he did not) there would be 100's of fanboi's sprouting, "The bass on the new album sounds just like 'No One At The Bridge!!!!!!!'" just because they read that Geddy said something to that effect. Kinda like how people are saying, "The new album is a return to Rush's roots." Yeah? Where??? I don't hear anything whatsoever similar to anything except 90's era Rush. "This new album represents all of Rush's past." Really? Where's the Power Windows era represented? Funny, I don't hear any synth. Or did you fanboi's forget that the 80's were dominated by very imaginative synth work? LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF. AND, STOP REPEATING WHAT YOU READ ON THE INTERNET AS IF YOU THOUGHT OF IT FOR YOURSELF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN OFFER NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE AS TO WHY YOU ARE SPEWING YOUR UNFOUNDED WORDS. Just like all the fanboi's posting "This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!"..."The best since Moving Pictures!"..."The best since 2112!" all because they READ it from SOMEONE ELSE. It's almost as if...how completely DEVOID can Rush become of RUSH until ANY of the fanboi's realize it? It seems that as they get rid of EVERY ounce of what MADE them "RUSH", the fanboi's EMBRACE it! Geddy's singing lower! Great! Geddy's more monotone! Great! Neil isn't doing much of anything! Great! These lyrics are so deep LIKE a gradeschooler wrote them! Great! The drums still have that 1987-era reverb on them! Great! Geddy plays nothing like his old self! Great! There's NO synthesizers at all! Great! There's NO long songs! Great! There's no catchiness! Great! There's nearly no guitar solos! Great! There's no instrumental virtuosity! Great! They're holding back! Great! They've been holding back since "Presto"! Great! They don't write fantasy epics! Great! They write pseudo philosophical "I'm better than you and here is what is wrong with the world" lyrics! Great! They lyrics don't really fit the music and sound forced! Great! Geddy continues to multi-track cheesy vocal sounds rather than use Taurus pedals! Great! Neil plays at his most elementary just to piss off fans who crave 1/100th of the old Neil! Great! They completely stopped writing strange time signature parts and challenging musical passages! Great! They've written boring, bland, simple, contrite, uninspiring, unimaginative, and basic music! Great! But, they're having FUN! Great!!!

So angry. So very, very angry.

 

Do you even like (or have you ever even liked) Rush?

[-D-RocK-]

QUOTE (GGOAT!!! @ May 1 2007, 01:45 PM)

Production notwithstanding, this album is SUCH a step backward from Vapor Trails (not that that was a great album, but it was at least catchy and listenable besides the horrible digital clipping). A few basic problems with this album: 1) Not catchy whatsoever...at least Vapor Trails was memorable and rocked besides the clipping noise. Rush's gift always held true the fact that they could write what was seemingly on the surface a 'catchy as hell' memorable simple song that only took one listen to remember...but under the surface was technical as hell (Red Barchetta for a great example of a totally 'accessible by anyone' song that's also amazingly complex and intricate yet it takes NOTHING away from the catchiness and doesn't overwhelm-or underwhelm-the casual listener). Rush have completely lost both the ability to be both catchy and complex on anything above an elementary level. 2) Boring musicianship...this is supposed to be RUSH; "holding back" for the last 17 years is NO LONGER a valid excuse. I HATE it when mindless Neilsheep state "It's so cool to hear Neil just sit back, groove, and not overplay" for the MILLIONTH TIME as if he's been playing at "Natural Science/Cygnus X-1/Subdivisions/Losing It/Jacob's Ladder/Marathon/Mission/The Fountain" caliber constantly for the last 30 years! HE'S BEEN "HOLDING BACK" FOR FREAKIN' DECADES! C'MON, BLOW US AWAY FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS IN ONE SONG! Dammit, this is supposed to be Rush. Throw us at least ONE thing that makes us go "WOW!!!!!" again! And all the blind supporters need to STOP reciting what others say about "It's so great they are going subtle"...they've been subtle since 1990! It's time to STOP with the lameness! Stop making excuses! 3) Neil's lyrics can't possibly get any worse. STOP USING THE GRADESCHOOL SIMILES AND METAPHORS!!!!! EXAMPLES: "LIKE A CORAL REEF", "LIKE A GHOSTRIDER", "LIKE A MOUNTAIN", "LONELY THINGS LIKE NIGHTS", LIKE SURRENDER", "LIKE MALICE", "LIKE LOVERS AND HEROS", "LIKE EMPIRES", "LIKE THE TIDE", "LIKE PRIDE", "LIKE HURRICANES", "LIKE LOVERS" "LIKE BIRDS OF PREY", "LIKE DANCING GIRLS", "LIKE A MILLION LITTLE DOORWAYS", "LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD", "LIKE THE HEART OF THE EARTH", "LIKE A TIMEBOMB", "LIKE A STRANGER", "LIKE THE CHINESE CALL", "LIKE A RARE AND PRECIOUS METAL", "LIKE A RIGHTEOUS INSPIRATION", "LIKE A TEARDROP IN THE OCEAN", "LIKE A STEELY BLADE", "LIKE AN HOURGLASS", "LIKE A SHIPWRECKED MARINER", "LIKE A PAIR OF VAGABONDS", "LIKE A WOLF IN THE SUN", "LIKE WE'RE BACK IN THE DARK AGES", "LIKE CRUSADERS IN UNHOLY ALLIANCE", "LIKE THE SOLITARY PINE", "LIKE A STONE IN THE RIVER", "LIKE THE WILLOWS IN THE WIND", "LIKE A FOREST BOWS", "LIKE A FLOWER", etc... You get the idea!!! They should change their name from Rush to "LIKE"!!! You can TELL that Neil didn't finish school. I think by about the 11th grade, English classes wouldn't ALLOW you to write such simple mindless idiotic similes or you'd instantly fail the assignment. Lyrics so inane come across as being written in 30 minutes...just in time to skip town to head back out on another Middle America hateride. Neil's lyrics appeared "intelligent" when I was 8. Funny thing is, however...they didn't get gut-wrenchingly bad until around 1990. I think Neil does it now on purpose just to fuel his own disdain for the fans ("Let's see what kind of crap I can write that these imbeciles will think I'm God for writing...they'll fall for anything"). C'mon Neil...the juvenile nature of your lyrics and uneducated writing style is beyond insulting at this point. 4) Geddy: please use an amp. Get a real bass sound again. And stop that "chunka chunka chunka" flamenco crap and play some melodic, memorable, catchy, and amazing bass lines again. Stop being so basic. And, did I mention a real amp? Hey Geddy, there's an album with a great bass sound on it. You might like it. It's called "Moving Pictures." It's also called "Signals." Hell, even though it's completely different, "Power Windows" at least has a unique bass AMP sound. Your current bass sound sounds like a ProTools plug-in. 5) And to the fanboi's and fangurl's: Learn to think on your own. Just because you read online that one person says, "I hear traces of all eras of Rush in this new album," DO NOT endlessly post this same mindless drool over an over as if you think it yourself. If Geddy said, "Yes I used the same bass tone as I had on Caress of Steel" (while clearly he did not) there would be 100's of fanboi's sprouting, "The bass on the new album sounds just like 'No One At The Bridge!!!!!!!'" just because they read that Geddy said something to that effect. Kinda like how people are saying, "The new album is a return to Rush's roots." Yeah? Where??? I don't hear anything whatsoever similar to anything except 90's era Rush. "This new album represents all of Rush's past." Really? Where's the Power Windows era represented? Funny, I don't hear any synth. Or did you fanboi's forget that the 80's were dominated by very imaginative synth work? LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF. AND, STOP REPEATING WHAT YOU READ ON THE INTERNET AS IF YOU THOUGHT OF IT FOR YOURSELF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN OFFER NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE AS TO WHY YOU ARE SPEWING YOUR UNFOUNDED WORDS. Just like all the fanboi's posting "This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!"..."The best since Moving Pictures!"..."The best since 2112!" all because they READ it from SOMEONE ELSE. It's almost as if...how completely DEVOID can Rush become of RUSH until ANY of the fanboi's realize it? It seems that as they get rid of EVERY ounce of what MADE them "RUSH", the fanboi's EMBRACE it! Geddy's singing lower! Great! Geddy's more monotone! Great! Neil isn't doing much of anything! Great! These lyrics are so deep LIKE a gradeschooler wrote them! Great! The drums still have that 1987-era reverb on them! Great! Geddy plays nothing like his old self! Great! There's NO synthesizers at all! Great! There's NO long songs! Great! There's no catchiness! Great! There's nearly no guitar solos! Great! There's no instrumental virtuosity! Great! They're holding back! Great! They've been holding back since "Presto"! Great! They don't write fantasy epics! Great! They write pseudo philosophical "I'm better than you and here is what is wrong with the world" lyrics! Great! They lyrics don't really fit the music and sound forced! Great! Geddy continues to multi-track cheesy vocal sounds rather than use Taurus pedals! Great! Neil plays at his most elementary just to piss off fans who crave 1/100th of the old Neil! Great! They completely stopped writing strange time signature parts and challenging musical passages! Great! They've written boring, bland, simple, contrite, uninspiring, unimaginative, and basic music! Great! But, they're having FUN! Great!!!

Holy crap!

 

How long did it take you to write all that?....

[GhostGirl]

Pulling out the "like" phrases from the songs is creative, I'll give you that much.

 

"fanbois" and "fangurls," eh? Suddenly I'm so ashamed of myself.

 

For every "simplistic" line you pull from a song to show that Neil is uneducated (yeah, right), I could pull another line that illustrates impeccable phrasing and intelligence.

 

But I'm sure you feel better after putting us simpletons in our place.

[lerkst]

QUOTE (GGOAT!!! @ May 1 2007, 02:45 PM)

Production notwithstanding, this album is SUCH a step backward from Vapor Trails (not that that was a great album, but it was at least catchy and listenable besides the horrible digital clipping). A few basic problems with this album: 1) Not catchy whatsoever...at least Vapor Trails was memorable and rocked besides the clipping noise. Rush's gift always held true the fact that they could write what was seemingly on the surface a 'catchy as hell' memorable simple song that only took one listen to remember...but under the surface was technical as hell (Red Barchetta for a great example of a totally 'accessible by anyone' song that's also amazingly complex and intricate yet it takes NOTHING away from the catchiness and doesn't overwhelm-or underwhelm-the casual listener). Rush have completely lost both the ability to be both catchy and complex on anything above an elementary level. 2) Boring musicianship...this is supposed to be RUSH; "holding back" for the last 17 years is NO LONGER a valid excuse. I HATE it when mindless Neilsheep state "It's so cool to hear Neil just sit back, groove, and not overplay" for the MILLIONTH TIME as if he's been playing at "Natural Science/Cygnus X-1/Subdivisions/Losing It/Jacob's Ladder/Marathon/Mission/The Fountain" caliber constantly for the last 30 years! HE'S BEEN "HOLDING BACK" FOR FREAKIN' DECADES! C'MON, BLOW US AWAY FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS IN ONE SONG! Dammit, this is supposed to be Rush. Throw us at least ONE thing that makes us go "WOW!!!!!" again! And all the blind supporters need to STOP reciting what others say about "It's so great they are going subtle"...they've been subtle since 1990! It's time to STOP with the lameness! Stop making excuses! 3) Neil's lyrics can't possibly get any worse. STOP USING THE GRADESCHOOL SIMILES AND METAPHORS!!!!! EXAMPLES: "LIKE A CORAL REEF", "LIKE A GHOSTRIDER", "LIKE A MOUNTAIN", "LONELY THINGS LIKE NIGHTS", LIKE SURRENDER", "LIKE MALICE", "LIKE LOVERS AND HEROS", "LIKE EMPIRES", "LIKE THE TIDE", "LIKE PRIDE", "LIKE HURRICANES", "LIKE LOVERS" "LIKE BIRDS OF PREY", "LIKE DANCING GIRLS", "LIKE A MILLION LITTLE DOORWAYS", "LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD", "LIKE THE HEART OF THE EARTH", "LIKE A TIMEBOMB", "LIKE A STRANGER", "LIKE THE CHINESE CALL", "LIKE A RARE AND PRECIOUS METAL", "LIKE A RIGHTEOUS INSPIRATION", "LIKE A TEARDROP IN THE OCEAN", "LIKE A STEELY BLADE", "LIKE AN HOURGLASS", "LIKE A SHIPWRECKED MARINER", "LIKE A PAIR OF VAGABONDS", "LIKE A WOLF IN THE SUN", "LIKE WE'RE BACK IN THE DARK AGES", "LIKE CRUSADERS IN UNHOLY ALLIANCE", "LIKE THE SOLITARY PINE", "LIKE A STONE IN THE RIVER", "LIKE THE WILLOWS IN THE WIND", "LIKE A FOREST BOWS", "LIKE A FLOWER", etc... You get the idea!!! They should change their name from Rush to "LIKE"!!! You can TELL that Neil didn't finish school. I think by about the 11th grade, English classes wouldn't ALLOW you to write such simple mindless idiotic similes or you'd instantly fail the assignment. Lyrics so inane come across as being written in 30 minutes...just in time to skip town to head back out on another Middle America hateride. Neil's lyrics appeared "intelligent" when I was 8. Funny thing is, however...they didn't get gut-wrenchingly bad until around 1990. I think Neil does it now on purpose just to fuel his own disdain for the fans ("Let's see what kind of crap I can write that these imbeciles will think I'm God for writing...they'll fall for anything"). C'mon Neil...the juvenile nature of your lyrics and uneducated writing style is beyond insulting at this point. 4) Geddy: please use an amp. Get a real bass sound again. And stop that "chunka chunka chunka" flamenco crap and play some melodic, memorable, catchy, and amazing bass lines again. Stop being so basic. And, did I mention a real amp? Hey Geddy, there's an album with a great bass sound on it. You might like it. It's called "Moving Pictures." It's also called "Signals." Hell, even though it's completely different, "Power Windows" at least has a unique bass AMP sound. Your current bass sound sounds like a ProTools plug-in. 5) And to the fanboi's and fangurl's: Learn to think on your own. Just because you read online that one person says, "I hear traces of all eras of Rush in this new album," DO NOT endlessly post this same mindless drool over an over as if you think it yourself. If Geddy said, "Yes I used the same bass tone as I had on Caress of Steel" (while clearly he did not) there would be 100's of fanboi's sprouting, "The bass on the new album sounds just like 'No One At The Bridge!!!!!!!'" just because they read that Geddy said something to that effect. Kinda like how people are saying, "The new album is a return to Rush's roots." Yeah? Where??? I don't hear anything whatsoever similar to anything except 90's era Rush. "This new album represents all of Rush's past." Really? Where's the Power Windows era represented? Funny, I don't hear any synth. Or did you fanboi's forget that the 80's were dominated by very imaginative synth work? LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF. AND, STOP REPEATING WHAT YOU READ ON THE INTERNET AS IF YOU THOUGHT OF IT FOR YOURSELF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN OFFER NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE AS TO WHY YOU ARE SPEWING YOUR UNFOUNDED WORDS. Just like all the fanboi's posting "This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!"..."The best since Moving Pictures!"..."The best since 2112!" all because they READ it from SOMEONE ELSE. It's almost as if...how completely DEVOID can Rush become of RUSH until ANY of the fanboi's realize it? It seems that as they get rid of EVERY ounce of what MADE them "RUSH", the fanboi's EMBRACE it! Geddy's singing lower! Great! Geddy's more monotone! Great! Neil isn't doing much of anything! Great! These lyrics are so deep LIKE a gradeschooler wrote them! Great! The drums still have that 1987-era reverb on them! Great! Geddy plays nothing like his old self! Great! There's NO synthesizers at all! Great! There's NO long songs! Great! There's no catchiness! Great! There's nearly no guitar solos! Great! There's no instrumental virtuosity! Great! They're holding back! Great! They've been holding back since "Presto"! Great! They don't write fantasy epics! Great! They write pseudo philosophical "I'm better than you and here is what is wrong with the world" lyrics! Great! They lyrics don't really fit the music and sound forced! Great! Geddy continues to multi-track cheesy vocal sounds rather than use Taurus pedals! Great! Neil plays at his most elementary just to piss off fans who crave 1/100th of the old Neil! Great! They completely stopped writing strange time signature parts and challenging musical passages! Great! They've written boring, bland, simple, contrite, uninspiring, unimaginative, and basic music! Great! But, they're having FUN! Great!!!

I think I'm in love.

 

Greatest justification for not liking an album EVER.

 

[lerkst]

QUOTE (rushman14 @ May 1 2007, 01:25 PM)

QUOTE (lerkst @ May 1 2007, 11:12 AM) QUOTE (rushman14 @ May 1 2007, 12:49 PM) QUOTE (lerkst @ May 1 2007, 06:51 AM) My beef with Snakes is that it's as boring as hell. First off, Neil's lyrics are getting out of hand...have him step asided and let Geddy and Alex try writing ONE album. Just for fun. they already let Geddy write a Rush album and it was titled "My Favorite Headache". I don't know Lerkst, I have to disagree with most of your review. I'll elaborate after about 10 more spins. While you do that, I'll be listening to Green Vinyl Dream....and making a pass at your sister. I dont have a sister so you must have the hots for my brother. That explains it. Enjoy the GVD! Brother? Oh...I guess that would explain the moustache, gold chains, '88 Mustang, the 'how yoooo doooin' every 30 seconds.   OUCH!   Bubba's still the best bass player in the business....he just needs to form that Bluegrass band with Sparky and do a country/Roots cover of 2112.

[grahamcracker]

QUOTE (GGOAT!!! @ May 1 2007, 02:45 PM)

Production notwithstanding, this album is SUCH a step backward from Vapor Trails (not that that was a great album, but it was at least catchy and listenable besides the horrible digital clipping). A few basic problems with this album: 1) Not catchy whatsoever...at least Vapor Trails was memorable and rocked besides the clipping noise. Rush's gift always held true the fact that they could write what was seemingly on the surface a 'catchy as hell' memorable simple song that only took one listen to remember...but under the surface was technical as hell (Red Barchetta for a great example of a totally 'accessible by anyone' song that's also amazingly complex and intricate yet it takes NOTHING away from the catchiness and doesn't overwhelm-or underwhelm-the casual listener). Rush have completely lost both the ability to be both catchy and complex on anything above an elementary level. 2) Boring musicianship...this is supposed to be RUSH; "holding back" for the last 17 years is NO LONGER a valid excuse. I HATE it when mindless Neilsheep state "It's so cool to hear Neil just sit back, groove, and not overplay" for the MILLIONTH TIME as if he's been playing at "Natural Science/Cygnus X-1/Subdivisions/Losing It/Jacob's Ladder/Marathon/Mission/The Fountain" caliber constantly for the last 30 years! HE'S BEEN "HOLDING BACK" FOR FREAKIN' DECADES! C'MON, BLOW US AWAY FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS IN ONE SONG! Dammit, this is supposed to be Rush. Throw us at least ONE thing that makes us go "WOW!!!!!" again! And all the blind supporters need to STOP reciting what others say about "It's so great they are going subtle"...they've been subtle since 1990! It's time to STOP with the lameness! Stop making excuses! 3) Neil's lyrics can't possibly get any worse. STOP USING THE GRADESCHOOL SIMILES AND METAPHORS!!!!! EXAMPLES: "LIKE A CORAL REEF", "LIKE A GHOSTRIDER", "LIKE A MOUNTAIN", "LONELY THINGS LIKE NIGHTS", LIKE SURRENDER", "LIKE MALICE", "LIKE LOVERS AND HEROS", "LIKE EMPIRES", "LIKE THE TIDE", "LIKE PRIDE", "LIKE HURRICANES", "LIKE LOVERS" "LIKE BIRDS OF PREY", "LIKE DANCING GIRLS", "LIKE A MILLION LITTLE DOORWAYS", "LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD", "LIKE THE HEART OF THE EARTH", "LIKE A TIMEBOMB", "LIKE A STRANGER", "LIKE THE CHINESE CALL", "LIKE A RARE AND PRECIOUS METAL", "LIKE A RIGHTEOUS INSPIRATION", "LIKE A TEARDROP IN THE OCEAN", "LIKE A STEELY BLADE", "LIKE AN HOURGLASS", "LIKE A SHIPWRECKED MARINER", "LIKE A PAIR OF VAGABONDS", "LIKE A WOLF IN THE SUN", "LIKE WE'RE BACK IN THE DARK AGES", "LIKE CRUSADERS IN UNHOLY ALLIANCE", "LIKE THE SOLITARY PINE", "LIKE A STONE IN THE RIVER", "LIKE THE WILLOWS IN THE WIND", "LIKE A FOREST BOWS", "LIKE A FLOWER", etc... You get the idea!!! They should change their name from Rush to "LIKE"!!! You can TELL that Neil didn't finish school. I think by about the 11th grade, English classes wouldn't ALLOW you to write such simple mindless idiotic similes or you'd instantly fail the assignment. Lyrics so inane come across as being written in 30 minutes...just in time to skip town to head back out on another Middle America hateride. Neil's lyrics appeared "intelligent" when I was 8. Funny thing is, however...they didn't get gut-wrenchingly bad until around 1990. I think Neil does it now on purpose just to fuel his own disdain for the fans ("Let's see what kind of crap I can write that these imbeciles will think I'm God for writing...they'll fall for anything"). C'mon Neil...the juvenile nature of your lyrics and uneducated writing style is beyond insulting at this point. 4) Geddy: please use an amp. Get a real bass sound again. And stop that "chunka chunka chunka" flamenco crap and play some melodic, memorable, catchy, and amazing bass lines again. Stop being so basic. And, did I mention a real amp? Hey Geddy, there's an album with a great bass sound on it. You might like it. It's called "Moving Pictures." It's also called "Signals." Hell, even though it's completely different, "Power Windows" at least has a unique bass AMP sound. Your current bass sound sounds like a ProTools plug-in. 5) And to the fanboi's and fangurl's: Learn to think on your own. Just because you read online that one person says, "I hear traces of all eras of Rush in this new album," DO NOT endlessly post this same mindless drool over an over as if you think it yourself. If Geddy said, "Yes I used the same bass tone as I had on Caress of Steel" (while clearly he did not) there would be 100's of fanboi's sprouting, "The bass on the new album sounds just like 'No One At The Bridge!!!!!!!'" just because they read that Geddy said something to that effect. Kinda like how people are saying, "The new album is a return to Rush's roots." Yeah? Where??? I don't hear anything whatsoever similar to anything except 90's era Rush. "This new album represents all of Rush's past." Really? Where's the Power Windows era represented? Funny, I don't hear any synth. Or did you fanboi's forget that the 80's were dominated by very imaginative synth work? LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF. AND, STOP REPEATING WHAT YOU READ ON THE INTERNET AS IF YOU THOUGHT OF IT FOR YOURSELF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN OFFER NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE AS TO WHY YOU ARE SPEWING YOUR UNFOUNDED WORDS. Just like all the fanboi's posting "This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!"..."The best since Moving Pictures!"..."The best since 2112!" all because they READ it from SOMEONE ELSE. It's almost as if...how completely DEVOID can Rush become of RUSH until ANY of the fanboi's realize it? It seems that as they get rid of EVERY ounce of what MADE them "RUSH", the fanboi's EMBRACE it! Geddy's singing lower! Great! Geddy's more monotone! Great! Neil isn't doing much of anything! Great! These lyrics are so deep LIKE a gradeschooler wrote them! Great! The drums still have that 1987-era reverb on them! Great! Geddy plays nothing like his old self! Great! There's NO synthesizers at all! Great! There's NO long songs! Great! There's no catchiness! Great! There's nearly no guitar solos! Great! There's no instrumental virtuosity! Great! They're holding back! Great! They've been holding back since "Presto"! Great! They don't write fantasy epics! Great! They write pseudo philosophical "I'm better than you and here is what is wrong with the world" lyrics! Great! They lyrics don't really fit the music and sound forced! Great! Geddy continues to multi-track cheesy vocal sounds rather than use Taurus pedals! Great! Neil plays at his most elementary just to piss off fans who crave 1/100th of the old Neil! Great! They completely stopped writing strange time signature parts and challenging musical passages! Great! They've written boring, bland, simple, contrite, uninspiring, unimaginative, and basic music! Great! But, they're having FUN! Great!!!

i have to say point 4 is RIGHT ON.

 

honestly, i have a hatred for Jazz basses, and DI boxes. I long for the Rickenbacker and the homemade 15 cabs with the furman.

[andrew28]

QUOTE (GGOAT!!! @ May 1 2007, 02:45 PM)

Production notwithstanding, this album is SUCH a step backward from Vapor Trails (not that that was a great album, but it was at least catchy and listenable besides the horrible digital clipping).  A few basic problems with this album: 1) Not catchy whatsoever...at least Vapor Trails was memorable and rocked besides the clipping noise.  Rush's gift always held true the fact that they could write what was seemingly on the surface a 'catchy as hell' memorable simple song that only took one listen to remember...but under the surface was technical as hell (Red Barchetta for a great example of a totally 'accessible by anyone' song that's also amazingly complex and intricate yet it takes NOTHING away from the catchiness and doesn't overwhelm-or underwhelm-the casual listener).  Rush have completely lost both the ability to be both catchy and complex on anything above an elementary level.  2) Boring musicianship...this is supposed to be RUSH; "holding back" for the last 17 years is NO LONGER a valid excuse.  I HATE it when mindless Neilsheep state "It's so cool to hear Neil just sit back, groove, and not overplay" for the MILLIONTH TIME as if he's been playing at "Natural Science/Cygnus X-1/Subdivisions/Losing It/Jacob's Ladder/Marathon/Mission/The Fountain" caliber constantly for the last 30 years!  HE'S BEEN "HOLDING BACK" FOR FREAKIN' DECADES!  C'MON, BLOW US AWAY FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS IN ONE SONG!  Dammit, this is supposed to be Rush.  Throw us at least ONE thing that makes us go "WOW!!!!!" again!  And all the blind supporters need to STOP reciting what others say about "It's so great they are going subtle"...they've been subtle since 1990!  It's time to STOP with the lameness!  Stop making excuses! 3) Neil's lyrics can't possibly get any worse.  STOP USING THE GRADESCHOOL SIMILES AND METAPHORS!!!!! EXAMPLES: "LIKE A CORAL REEF", "LIKE A GHOSTRIDER", "LIKE A MOUNTAIN", "LONELY THINGS LIKE NIGHTS", LIKE SURRENDER", "LIKE MALICE", "LIKE LOVERS AND HEROS", "LIKE EMPIRES", "LIKE THE TIDE", "LIKE PRIDE", "LIKE HURRICANES", "LIKE LOVERS" "LIKE BIRDS OF PREY", "LIKE DANCING GIRLS",  "LIKE A MILLION LITTLE DOORWAYS", "LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD", "LIKE THE HEART OF THE EARTH", "LIKE A TIMEBOMB", "LIKE A STRANGER", "LIKE THE CHINESE CALL", "LIKE A RARE AND PRECIOUS METAL", "LIKE A RIGHTEOUS INSPIRATION", "LIKE A TEARDROP IN THE OCEAN", "LIKE A STEELY BLADE", "LIKE AN HOURGLASS", "LIKE A SHIPWRECKED MARINER", "LIKE A PAIR OF VAGABONDS", "LIKE A WOLF IN THE SUN", "LIKE WE'RE BACK IN THE DARK AGES", "LIKE CRUSADERS IN UNHOLY ALLIANCE", "LIKE THE SOLITARY PINE", "LIKE A STONE IN THE RIVER", "LIKE THE WILLOWS IN THE WIND", "LIKE A FOREST BOWS", "LIKE A FLOWER", etc... You get the idea!!!  They should change their name from Rush to "LIKE"!!!  You can TELL that Neil didn't finish school.  I think by about the 11th grade, English classes wouldn't ALLOW you to write such simple mindless idiotic similes or you'd instantly fail the assignment.  Lyrics so inane come across as being written in 30 minutes...just in time to skip town to head back out on another Middle America hateride.  Neil's lyrics appeared "intelligent" when I was 8.  Funny thing is, however...they didn't get gut-wrenchingly bad until around 1990.  I think Neil does it now on purpose just to fuel his own disdain for the fans ("Let's see what kind of crap I can write that these imbeciles will think I'm God for writing...they'll fall for anything").  C'mon Neil...the juvenile nature of your lyrics and uneducated writing style is beyond insulting at this point.  4)  Geddy:  please use an amp.  Get a real bass sound again.  And stop that "chunka chunka chunka" flamenco crap and play some melodic, memorable, catchy, and amazing bass lines again.  Stop being so basic.  And, did I mention a real amp?  Hey Geddy, there's an album with a great bass sound on it.  You might like it.  It's called "Moving Pictures."  It's also called "Signals."  Hell, even though it's completely different, "Power Windows" at least has a unique bass AMP sound.  Your current bass sound sounds like a ProTools plug-in.  5)  And to the fanboi's and fangurl's:  Learn to think on your own.  Just because you read online that one person says, "I hear traces of all eras of Rush in this new album," DO NOT endlessly post this same mindless drool over an over as if you think it yourself.  If Geddy said, "Yes I used the same bass tone as I had on Caress of Steel" (while clearly he did not) there would be 100's of fanboi's sprouting, "The bass on the new album sounds just like 'No One At The Bridge!!!!!!!'" just because they read that Geddy said something to that effect.  Kinda like how people are saying, "The new album is a return to Rush's roots."  Yeah?  Where???  I don't hear anything whatsoever similar to anything except 90's era Rush.  "This new album represents all of Rush's past."  Really?  Where's the Power Windows era represented?  Funny, I don't hear any synth.  Or did you fanboi's forget that the 80's were dominated by very imaginative synth work?  LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF.  AND, STOP REPEATING WHAT YOU READ ON THE INTERNET AS IF YOU THOUGHT OF IT FOR YOURSELF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN OFFER NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE AS TO WHY YOU ARE SPEWING YOUR UNFOUNDED WORDS.  Just like all the fanboi's posting "This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!"..."The best since Moving Pictures!"..."The best since 2112!" all because they READ it from SOMEONE ELSE.  It's almost as if...how completely DEVOID can Rush become of RUSH until ANY of the fanboi's realize it?  It seems that as they get rid of EVERY ounce of what MADE them "RUSH", the fanboi's EMBRACE it!  Geddy's singing lower!  Great!  Geddy's more monotone!  Great!  Neil isn't doing much of anything!  Great!  These lyrics are so deep LIKE a gradeschooler wrote them!  Great!  The drums still have that 1987-era reverb on them!  Great!  Geddy plays nothing like his old self!  Great!  There's NO synthesizers at all!  Great!  There's NO long songs!  Great!  There's no catchiness!  Great!  There's nearly no guitar solos!  Great!  There's no instrumental virtuosity!  Great!  They're holding back!  Great!  They've been holding back since "Presto"!  Great!  They don't write fantasy epics!  Great!  They write pseudo philosophical "I'm better than you and here is what is wrong with the world" lyrics!  Great!  They lyrics don't really fit the music and sound forced!  Great!  Geddy continues to multi-track cheesy vocal sounds rather than use Taurus pedals!  Great!  Neil plays at his most elementary just to piss off fans who crave 1/100th of the old Neil!  Great!  They completely stopped writing strange time signature parts and challenging musical passages!  Great!  They've written boring, bland, simple, contrite, uninspiring, unimaginative, and basic music!  Great!  But, they're having FUN!  Great!!!

So you're saying that people couldn't come up with something as profound as the following on their own:

 

"This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!".

 

"The best since Moving Pictures!"

 

"The best since 2112!"

 

 

What if they honestly feel it's "the best album since Hold Your Fire?"

[grahamcracker]

QUOTE (andrew28 @ May 1 2007, 03:02 PM)

[/quote] So you're saying that people couldn't come up with something as profound as the following on their own: "This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!". "The best since Moving Pictures!" "The best since 2112!" What if they honestly feel it's "the best album since Hold Your Fire?"

hold your fire was their low point IMO. in fact, i'd like to forget many of the songs from 85 - 87. And lets pretend that steinberger episode never happened okay?

[ReRushed]

Invidia?

[Mandalorian Hunter]

QUOTE (GGOAT!!! @ May 1 2007, 07:45 PM)

Production notwithstanding, this album is SUCH a step backward from Vapor Trails (not that that was a great album, but it was at least catchy and listenable besides the horrible digital clipping).  A few basic problems with this album: 1) Not catchy whatsoever...at least Vapor Trails was memorable and rocked besides the clipping noise.  Rush's gift always held true the fact that they could write what was seemingly on the surface a 'catchy as hell' memorable simple song that only took one listen to remember...but under the surface was technical as hell (Red Barchetta for a great example of a totally 'accessible by anyone' song that's also amazingly complex and intricate yet it takes NOTHING away from the catchiness and doesn't overwhelm-or underwhelm-the casual listener).  Rush have completely lost both the ability to be both catchy and complex on anything above an elementary level.  2) Boring musicianship...this is supposed to be RUSH; "holding back" for the last 17 years is NO LONGER a valid excuse.  I HATE it when mindless Neilsheep state "It's so cool to hear Neil just sit back, groove, and not overplay" for the MILLIONTH TIME as if he's been playing at "Natural Science/Cygnus X-1/Subdivisions/Losing It/Jacob's Ladder/Marathon/Mission/The Fountain" caliber constantly for the last 30 years!  HE'S BEEN "HOLDING BACK" FOR FREAKIN' DECADES!  C'MON, BLOW US AWAY FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS IN ONE SONG!  Dammit, this is supposed to be Rush.  Throw us at least ONE thing that makes us go "WOW!!!!!" again!  And all the blind supporters need to STOP reciting what others say about "It's so great they are going subtle"...they've been subtle since 1990!  It's time to STOP with the lameness!  Stop making excuses! 3) Neil's lyrics can't possibly get any worse.  STOP USING THE GRADESCHOOL SIMILES AND METAPHORS!!!!! EXAMPLES: "LIKE A CORAL REEF", "LIKE A GHOSTRIDER", "LIKE A MOUNTAIN", "LONELY THINGS LIKE NIGHTS", LIKE SURRENDER", "LIKE MALICE", "LIKE LOVERS AND HEROS", "LIKE EMPIRES", "LIKE THE TIDE", "LIKE PRIDE", "LIKE HURRICANES", "LIKE LOVERS" "LIKE BIRDS OF PREY", "LIKE DANCING GIRLS",  "LIKE A MILLION LITTLE DOORWAYS", "LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD", "LIKE THE HEART OF THE EARTH", "LIKE A TIMEBOMB", "LIKE A STRANGER", "LIKE THE CHINESE CALL", "LIKE A RARE AND PRECIOUS METAL", "LIKE A RIGHTEOUS INSPIRATION", "LIKE A TEARDROP IN THE OCEAN", "LIKE A STEELY BLADE", "LIKE AN HOURGLASS", "LIKE A SHIPWRECKED MARINER", "LIKE A PAIR OF VAGABONDS", "LIKE A WOLF IN THE SUN", "LIKE WE'RE BACK IN THE DARK AGES", "LIKE CRUSADERS IN UNHOLY ALLIANCE", "LIKE THE SOLITARY PINE", "LIKE A STONE IN THE RIVER", "LIKE THE WILLOWS IN THE WIND", "LIKE A FOREST BOWS", "LIKE A FLOWER", etc... You get the idea!!!  They should change their name from Rush to "LIKE"!!!  You can TELL that Neil didn't finish school.  I think by about the 11th grade, English classes wouldn't ALLOW you to write such simple mindless idiotic similes or you'd instantly fail the assignment.  Lyrics so inane come across as being written in 30 minutes...just in time to skip town to head back out on another Middle America hateride.  Neil's lyrics appeared "intelligent" when I was 8.  Funny thing is, however...they didn't get gut-wrenchingly bad until around 1990.  I think Neil does it now on purpose just to fuel his own disdain for the fans ("Let's see what kind of crap I can write that these imbeciles will think I'm God for writing...they'll fall for anything").  C'mon Neil...the juvenile nature of your lyrics and uneducated writing style is beyond insulting at this point.  4)  Geddy:  please use an amp.  Get a real bass sound again.  And stop that "chunka chunka chunka" flamenco crap and play some melodic, memorable, catchy, and amazing bass lines again.  Stop being so basic.  And, did I mention a real amp?  Hey Geddy, there's an album with a great bass sound on it.  You might like it.  It's called "Moving Pictures."  It's also called "Signals."  Hell, even though it's completely different, "Power Windows" at least has a unique bass AMP sound.  Your current bass sound sounds like a ProTools plug-in.  5)  And to the fanboi's and fangurl's:  Learn to think on your own.  Just because you read online that one person says, "I hear traces of all eras of Rush in this new album," DO NOT endlessly post this same mindless drool over an over as if you think it yourself.  If Geddy said, "Yes I used the same bass tone as I had on Caress of Steel" (while clearly he did not) there would be 100's of fanboi's sprouting, "The bass on the new album sounds just like 'No One At The Bridge!!!!!!!'" just because they read that Geddy said something to that effect.  Kinda like how people are saying, "The new album is a return to Rush's roots."  Yeah?  Where???  I don't hear anything whatsoever similar to anything except 90's era Rush.  "This new album represents all of Rush's past."  Really?  Where's the Power Windows era represented?  Funny, I don't hear any synth.  Or did you fanboi's forget that the 80's were dominated by very imaginative synth work?  LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF.  AND, STOP REPEATING WHAT YOU READ ON THE INTERNET AS IF YOU THOUGHT OF IT FOR YOURSELF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN OFFER NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE AS TO WHY YOU ARE SPEWING YOUR UNFOUNDED WORDS.  Just like all the fanboi's posting "This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!"..."The best since Moving Pictures!"..."The best since 2112!" all because they READ it from SOMEONE ELSE.  It's almost as if...how completely DEVOID can Rush become of RUSH until ANY of the fanboi's realize it?  It seems that as they get rid of EVERY ounce of what MADE them "RUSH", the fanboi's EMBRACE it!  Geddy's singing lower!  Great!  Geddy's more monotone!  Great!  Neil isn't doing much of anything!  Great!  These lyrics are so deep LIKE a gradeschooler wrote them!  Great!  The drums still have that 1987-era reverb on them!  Great!  Geddy plays nothing like his old self!  Great!  There's NO synthesizers at all!  Great!  There's NO long songs!  Great!  There's no catchiness!  Great!  There's nearly no guitar solos!  Great!  There's no instrumental virtuosity!  Great!  They're holding back!  Great!  They've been holding back since "Presto"!  Great!  They don't write fantasy epics!  Great!  They write pseudo philosophical "I'm better than you and here is what is wrong with the world" lyrics!  Great!  They lyrics don't really fit the music and sound forced!  Great!  Geddy continues to multi-track cheesy vocal sounds rather than use Taurus pedals!  Great!  Neil plays at his most elementary just to piss off fans who crave 1/100th of the old Neil!  Great!  They completely stopped writing strange time signature parts and challenging musical passages!  Great!  They've written boring, bland, simple, contrite, uninspiring, unimaginative, and basic music!  Great!  But, they're having FUN!  Great!!!

Hahahaha, oh that was good, very good, infact, extremely good.

 

I applaud you, honestly i do, to try and be so serious but actually turn out to be so humourous, i love it.

 

Oh, and by the way, it's 'fanBOY' not 'fanboi'

 

Learn to spell the categories right first before you start pigeonholing people.

 

I love the way that the majority of S&A haters think people actually like S&A because they'll like anything Rush does. Can't be anything to do with actually liking the music they're playing. Nah, that would just be stupid, wouldn't it!

 

Oh, has anyone else noticed it only seems to be the new members of the forum how are churning out stuff like this?

[-D-RocK-]

I think some of you were expecting to hear just another over-produced, over-polished crappy pop record like Green Day or Coldplay

 

The seasoned Rush veteran knows that a new Rush record only gets sweeter with each listen. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

[andrew28]

QUOTE (lerkst @ May 1 2007, 02:58 PM)

QUOTE (GGOAT!!! @ May 1 2007, 02:45 PM) Production notwithstanding, this album is SUCH a step backward from Vapor Trails (not that that was a great album, but it was at least catchy and listenable besides the horrible digital clipping).  A few basic problems with this album: 1) Not catchy whatsoever...at least Vapor Trails was memorable and rocked besides the clipping noise.  Rush's gift always held true the fact that they could write what was seemingly on the surface a 'catchy as hell' memorable simple song that only took one listen to remember...but under the surface was technical as hell (Red Barchetta for a great example of a totally 'accessible by anyone' song that's also amazingly complex and intricate yet it takes NOTHING away from the catchiness and doesn't overwhelm-or underwhelm-the casual listener).  Rush have completely lost both the ability to be both catchy and complex on anything above an elementary level.  2) Boring musicianship...this is supposed to be RUSH; "holding back" for the last 17 years is NO LONGER a valid excuse.  I HATE it when mindless Neilsheep state "It's so cool to hear Neil just sit back, groove, and not overplay" for the MILLIONTH TIME as if he's been playing at "Natural Science/Cygnus X-1/Subdivisions/Losing It/Jacob's Ladder/Marathon/Mission/The Fountain" caliber constantly for the last 30 years!  HE'S BEEN "HOLDING BACK" FOR FREAKIN' DECADES!  C'MON, BLOW US AWAY FOR AT LEAST 20 SECONDS IN ONE SONG!  Dammit, this is supposed to be Rush.  Throw us at least ONE thing that makes us go "WOW!!!!!" again!  And all the blind supporters need to STOP reciting what others say about "It's so great they are going subtle"...they've been subtle since 1990!  It's time to STOP with the lameness!  Stop making excuses! 3) Neil's lyrics can't possibly get any worse.  STOP USING THE GRADESCHOOL SIMILES AND METAPHORS!!!!! EXAMPLES: "LIKE A CORAL REEF", "LIKE A GHOSTRIDER", "LIKE A MOUNTAIN", "LONELY THINGS LIKE NIGHTS", LIKE SURRENDER", "LIKE MALICE", "LIKE LOVERS AND HEROS", "LIKE EMPIRES", "LIKE THE TIDE", "LIKE PRIDE", "LIKE HURRICANES", "LIKE LOVERS" "LIKE BIRDS OF PREY", "LIKE DANCING GIRLS",  "LIKE A MILLION LITTLE DOORWAYS", "LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD", "LIKE THE HEART OF THE EARTH", "LIKE A TIMEBOMB", "LIKE A STRANGER", "LIKE THE CHINESE CALL", "LIKE A RARE AND PRECIOUS METAL", "LIKE A RIGHTEOUS INSPIRATION", "LIKE A TEARDROP IN THE OCEAN", "LIKE A STEELY BLADE", "LIKE AN HOURGLASS", "LIKE A SHIPWRECKED MARINER", "LIKE A PAIR OF VAGABONDS", "LIKE A WOLF IN THE SUN", "LIKE WE'RE BACK IN THE DARK AGES", "LIKE CRUSADERS IN UNHOLY ALLIANCE", "LIKE THE SOLITARY PINE", "LIKE A STONE IN THE RIVER", "LIKE THE WILLOWS IN THE WIND", "LIKE A FOREST BOWS", "LIKE A FLOWER", etc... You get the idea!!!  They should change their name from Rush to "LIKE"!!!  You can TELL that Neil didn't finish school.  I think by about the 11th grade, English classes wouldn't ALLOW you to write such simple mindless idiotic similes or you'd instantly fail the assignment.  Lyrics so inane come across as being written in 30 minutes...just in time to skip town to head back out on another Middle America hateride.  Neil's lyrics appeared "intelligent" when I was 8.  Funny thing is, however...they didn't get gut-wrenchingly bad until around 1990.  I think Neil does it now on purpose just to fuel his own disdain for the fans ("Let's see what kind of crap I can write that these imbeciles will think I'm God for writing...they'll fall for anything").  C'mon Neil...the juvenile nature of your lyrics and uneducated writing style is beyond insulting at this point.  4)  Geddy:  please use an amp.  Get a real bass sound again.  And stop that "chunka chunka chunka" flamenco crap and play some melodic, memorable, catchy, and amazing bass lines again.  Stop being so basic.  And, did I mention a real amp?  Hey Geddy, there's an album with a great bass sound on it.  You might like it.  It's called "Moving Pictures."  It's also called "Signals."  Hell, even though it's completely different, "Power Windows" at least has a unique bass AMP sound.  Your current bass sound sounds like a ProTools plug-in.  5)  And to the fanboi's and fangurl's:  Learn to think on your own.  Just because you read online that one person says, "I hear traces of all eras of Rush in this new album," DO NOT endlessly post this same mindless drool over an over as if you think it yourself.  If Geddy said, "Yes I used the same bass tone as I had on Caress of Steel" (while clearly he did not) there would be 100's of fanboi's sprouting, "The bass on the new album sounds just like 'No One At The Bridge!!!!!!!'" just because they read that Geddy said something to that effect.  Kinda like how people are saying, "The new album is a return to Rush's roots."  Yeah?  Where???  I don't hear anything whatsoever similar to anything except 90's era Rush.  "This new album represents all of Rush's past."  Really?  Where's the Power Windows era represented?  Funny, I don't hear any synth.  Or did you fanboi's forget that the 80's were dominated by very imaginative synth work?  LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF.  AND, STOP REPEATING WHAT YOU READ ON THE INTERNET AS IF YOU THOUGHT OF IT FOR YOURSELF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN OFFER NO SUPPORTING EVIDENCE AS TO WHY YOU ARE SPEWING YOUR UNFOUNDED WORDS.  Just like all the fanboi's posting "This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!"..."The best since Moving Pictures!"..."The best since 2112!" all because they READ it from SOMEONE ELSE.  It's almost as if...how completely DEVOID can Rush become of RUSH until ANY of the fanboi's realize it?  It seems that as they get rid of EVERY ounce of what MADE them "RUSH", the fanboi's EMBRACE it!  Geddy's singing lower!  Great!  Geddy's more monotone!  Great!  Neil isn't doing much of anything!  Great!  These lyrics are so deep LIKE a gradeschooler wrote them!  Great!  The drums still have that 1987-era reverb on them!  Great!  Geddy plays nothing like his old self!  Great!  There's NO synthesizers at all!  Great!  There's NO long songs!  Great!  There's no catchiness!  Great!  There's nearly no guitar solos!  Great!  There's no instrumental virtuosity!  Great!  They're holding back!  Great!  They've been holding back since "Presto"!  Great!  They don't write fantasy epics!  Great!  They write pseudo philosophical "I'm better than you and here is what is wrong with the world" lyrics!  Great!  They lyrics don't really fit the music and sound forced!  Great!  Geddy continues to multi-track cheesy vocal sounds rather than use Taurus pedals!  Great!  Neil plays at his most elementary just to piss off fans who crave 1/100th of the old Neil!  Great!  They completely stopped writing strange time signature parts and challenging musical passages!  Great!  They've written boring, bland, simple, contrite, uninspiring, unimaginative, and basic music!  Great!  But, they're having FUN!  Great!!! I think I'm in love.   Greatest justification for not liking an album EVER. Actually it sounds like a tirade against EVERYTHING post-Power Windows.

[Mandalorian Hunter]

QUOTE (-D-RocK- @ May 1 2007, 08:07 PM)

I think some of you were expecting to hear just another over-produced, over-polished crappy pop record like Green Day or Coldplay The seasoned Rush veteran knows that a new Rush record only gets sweeter with each listen. Hope you enjoy.

And that it's different from what's gone before.

 

 

They're a progressive band for f*cks sake! They're meant to try new things, not hold on to former glories.

 

[maxdistortion]

intennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnse...

[ReRushed]

Let's say Snakes & Arrows sounded very much like old Rush - would these same people tear it apart for that very reason? Anhedonia?

[andrew28]

QUOTE (grahamcracker @ May 1 2007, 03:04 PM)

So you're saying that people couldn't come up with something as profound as the following on their own:

"This is the best album since Hold Your Fire!".

"The best since Moving Pictures!"

"The best since 2112!"


What if they honestly feel it's "the best album since Hold Your Fire?" [/quote]
hold your fire was their low point IMO. in fact, i'd like to forget many of the songs from 85 - 87. And lets pretend that steinberger episode never happened okay?

That's fine that you don't like those albums, but that wasn't my point.

 

I was questioning GGOAT's assertion that people couldn't have come up with those comments ("Best album since...") on their own.

[grahamcracker]

face one apparent fact people, a LOUSY Rush record is still light years better than the "modern rockrapcountrygrundgepopska" CRAP we have gotten in the past decade.

[jgt46]

For all you fair weather rush fans. start a fire burn all your rush cd's, t shirts and concert tickets and never listen to another rush song. Then take music lessons form a band with 2 other guys call yourselves rush 2 and make the music that pleases only you, Rush never makes an album just for you. I like every rush album and look forward to everyone that comes out. I notice a little throwback here with more acoustic guitar on this album than in many years. I may not love every song. but I like every rush song ever made. Snakes and arrows is an album by three of the greatest musicians ever and if you can match their talent put out your own album!

[WCFIELDS]

Wow.....lots of people finally coming out of the "S&A is the best Rush Album since MP closet".........

[Neil The Great]