"Necromancer" without the narration?

[GeddyRulz]

I've been playing the hell out of Caress of Steel lately, especially "Fountain of Lamneth." It's occurred to me that "The Necromancer" is a fantastic mini-epic in its own right, but that the narration is completely unnecessary and in fact detracts from the flow of the song. I'd love to hear it (and own it) with Neil's narration taken out. Anybody have an MP3 or something with it like that??

 

Seriously, anything Neil says during the narrative parts is basically repeated by Geddy during the vocals. Why have it when it doesn't move the story forward at all and is totally superfluous?

[trenken]

QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Aug 27 2008, 10:30 AM)

I've been playing the hell out of Caress of Steel lately, especially "Fountain of Lamneth." It's occurred to me that "The Necromancer" is a fantastic mini-epic in its own right, but that the narration is completely unnecessary and in fact detracts from the flow of the song. I'd love to hear it (and own it) with Neil's narration taken out. Anybody have an MP3 or something with it like that?? Seriously, anything Neil says during the narrative parts is basically repeated by Geddy during the vocals. Why have it when it doesn't move the story forward at all and is totally superfluous?

Ah, Rush's least favorite album. They said a while back while picking songs for the VT tour how old that album sounded to them. It was also the point past which they almost didn't survive. That album tanked and was damn near the end of the band.

 

Anyway, I'm not crazy about those narration parts either. They're really low and hard to hear. But I know why they did it. They were all into fantasy stuff at that time, at least Neil was anyway. And whenever you read fantasy books or see a fantasy movie like Lord of the Rings, often times there's a narrarator, to help fill out the story.

 

I guess that was their goal to give it more of a story feel. I guess they didnt feel like the lyrics were enough. Those parts also help to fill the song out more, which makes it feel a little more epic. I'm sure when the boys go back and listen to that, which I know they very rarely do, they probably cringe when they hear that because it is pretty corny.

[snowdog2112]

I've never had a problem with them. CoS is so "out there" already that I think they just add to the cool weirdness of that album. It's not all that different than the vocal effects on the end of 2112 or the beginning of Cygnus X-1 and I always liked those. It would be interesting to hear a version without narration just out of curiosity though.

[GeddyRulz]

While listening, I've been trying to piece together in my head how the song would sound without the narration, and I think it'd flow together really well.

 

[metaldad]

i love the tune but i agree, no narration would make the song that much better

[Mara]

I've never been into all of the sci-fi/fantasy stuff, so I'm naturally not real big on the narration. Definitely as close to corny as Rush ever got. I'd rather focus on the music.

[mfratt]

Fountain of Lamneth is one of my all-time favorites.

 

I actually don't mind the narration in the Necromancer. Gives it a kinna other-wordly feel too it and fits in well with the song and the album.

 

Maybe it could have been sung though

[theredtamasrule]

I used iTunes to edit out the narration portions and save the Necromancer into 3 parts. The narration is pretty damn silly.

[rushgoober]

The narration kills the song for me (kind of like the rap section ruins RTB for me). I never even thought of what it would sound like without it. It'd probably be really cool!

[Show Don't Tell]

Hmm... if my memory serves me right, didn't MitA produce version without the narrations?

 

 

EDIT: Sorry, he did do something involving the narrations, but it was the narrations isolated at pitch-corrected. The exact opposite of what we want.

 

Books on Tape- Neil Peart reads from "The Necromancer" - Chapter I

Books on Tape- Neil Peart reads from "The Necromancer" - Chapter II

Edited August 27, 2008 by Show Don't Tell

[Lamneth08]

Im going to be odd man out and say i enjoy that aspect of the piece. It adds to the creepiness of the whole thing.

[PanaceaFish]

Hell, I like it too...However, to hear it without the narrations would be rather interesting...

[Stormtron]

The narration is corny, but it's so brief that it doesn't hurt the song for me. My favorite off of CoS.

[drewb93]

You can download some sort of free audio editing software (I suggest Audacity) and get rid of it yourself. Just import the song, select the narration part, and click "delete." Problem solved! Then, you'll have to export it as an mp3 file again, so you'll need to download something else, a plug-in I believe.

 

Anyway, I agree, the narration is somewhat ... tedious. Not a bad song at all, but I usually just skip the narration while listening.

[Slacker]

I like it and I like the narration part in Cygnus X-1....

[troutman]

QUOTE (Lamneth08 @ Aug 27 2008, 10:32 AM)

Im going to be odd man out and say i enjoy that aspect of the piece. It adds to the creepiness of the whole thing.

I totally agree.

[-D-RocK-]

Maybe you just need to listen to it in a 1975 frame of mind, you know, with some hallucinogens and a groovy lava lamp.

 

I bet your opinion will change.

[Alex]

QUOTE (-D-RocK- @ Aug 27 2008, 03:08 PM)

Maybe you just need to listen to it in a 1975 frame of mind, you know, with some hallucinogens and a groovy lava lamp. I bet your opinion will change.

I listened to it with my lava lamp on and I liked it better

[apetersvt]

QUOTE (Lamneth08 @ Aug 27 2008, 01:32 PM)

Im going to be odd man out and say i enjoy that aspect of the piece. It adds to the creepiness of the whole thing.

Me too

[mfratt]

QUOTE (-D-RocK- @ Aug 27 2008, 03:08 PM)

Maybe you just need to listen to it in a 1975 frame of mind, you know, with some hallucinogens and a groovy lava lamp. I bet your opinion will change.

 

I listened to it one night after an awful lot of

 

I closed my eyes and laid down with my headphones on.

 

My suggestion: Do it. Don't forget to listen to Hemispheres after that.

 

Caress of Steel on 100% on my music list if I ever get around to doing acid.

Edited August 27, 2008 by mfratt

[Tarkus406]

I love the narration on the Necromancer. Its creative and different. Gives the song structure, if you ask me.

[gleamingalloyaircar81]

I think the narrated parts fit the song perfectly! IT really conveys the dark and spooky tone of the song. I absolutely love it!

[Did Lee Squat?]

I don't really dislike the narrated parts (they do kind of add to the spooky atmosphere), but they're definitely superfluous...Ged pretty much repeats all of it singing.

[trenken]

You have to remember to, the boys were only 23 when they wrote that. Still very much children in terms of how long they would end up lasting. So they were still learning and experimenting.

 

A funny thing I should point out, which many here probably already know, but they did an interview very recently and they were talking about that album, and the fact that while they were recording it they went to see the band Yes. When they got out of that show they were so blown away that they didnt even want to finish making CoS.

 

Seems crazy to many of us that love Rush dearly and cherish most everything they put out, but Yes was at their peak at that time and were actually a much better band than Rush was at that point. Funny to hear them actually acknowledge that.

[Del_Duio]

QUOTE (Tarkus406 @ Aug 27 2008, 05:56 PM)

I love the narration on the Necromancer. Its creative and different. Gives the song structure, if you ask me.

It's good but I think it came out WAY too quiet. At least they learned their lesson and made the "ATTENTION ALL PLANETS.." part as loud as hell. That's one of my favorite Rush parts of any of their songs.