In Defence Of Roll The Bones

[Alvy Singer]

[ioc]

Personally, I like Roll the Bones. If I'm just thinking about it in passing, I don't really see it as being all that great; but when I listen to it, I remember how much I really like it. Most of the songs hold up really well and make me feel good. Love playing Bravado, especially the solo.

 

(That was a really good tour, too. I especially loved hearing Analog Kid live - not on RtB, I know.)

[Captain Avatar]

It's no use. I've tried offering up a defense of Roll the Bones in the past, but it didn't go over too well. I like it, but not too many others here do.

[StellarJetman]

"Dreamline" - Awesome song. Great to listen to while driving.

 

"Bravado" - Good, but not quite as good as its fans make it out to be; it gets very repetitive near the end.

 

"Roll the Bones" - Decent chorus; the verses are meh. I know that the rap isn't supposed to be entirely serious; the problem is that it isn't entirely silly, either. It's Peart trying to both imitate a form of music that he found interesting and lampoon it at the same time, and it just comes off as horribly awkward, especially given how misguided the comedy elements are. "The night has a thousand saxophones"? I can't imagine that it's serious, but I also don't know where Peart got the idea to include it - if there's one thing that I don't associate with rap or Rush, it's saxophones. (No, I don't care that "Death of Autotune" has saxophones in it; it came almost 20 years later, and it was a disappointing song anyway.)

 

"Face Up" - Catchy, but in a thoroughly un-Rush-like way. Cheesy lyrics. Not at all my cup of tea, or that of any other true Rush fan.

 

"Where's My Thing?" - Worst Rush instrumental ever. Sounds like a vocal song with the singing removed; you get the feeling that it's supposed to be behind the main tune, and not the actual song. Thoroughly unsatisfying.

 

"The Big Wheel" - I actually kinda like this one. Geddy's style of singing here is different from his usual approach, and the lyrics are moderately interesting (though I could definitely do without that awful "angel to forgive my sins" line). Drags horribly near the end, though.

 

"Heresy" - Similar to "Bravado", but about the end of the Cold War. Reminds me of Star Trek VI, but it should probably remind me of one of the billion other "end of the Cold War" songs and movies that came out that year. I'd like it somewhat, but I just can't take it seriously when it has the line, "All the crap we have to take." Completely deflates the mood. On top of that, it's all rather drearily-written and feels "dull gray" in its own right.

 

"Ghost of a Chance" - Eh. Very eh. Rush would do love songs much better on Counterparts ("Cold Fire", for example). I do like how the opening verse contrasts the one "is" with the myriad "could have beens", but that chorus cancels it out ("I don't believe in the stars, or the planets, or angels watching from above..." ), and the second verse just repeats the first with a few minor alterations.

 

"Neurotica" - Horrid chorus, and the rest of the song isn't much better. I like the ending, though.

 

"You Bet Your Life" - Ahem. "Minimal expressionist post-modern neo-symbolist".

[ioc]

Nearly every album has had it's arguable stinkers. I personally don't really like Countdown or Speed of Love...some folks do. But I still like both Signals and Counterparts as a whole.

 

Can't say that I disagree with many of StellarJetman's 'observations' but most of them don't bother me enough to take away from my enjoyment of the album. Lucky me I guess.

 

(I wholeheartedly agree with the rap thing. Even lampooning, if it was at least a good rap - not lyrically so much, but it's flow/groove - I wouldn't mind. But it was clearly a white guy rap that was comparable to some I've heard on local car dealership commercials...yuck!)

[J2112YYZ]

The ones I can do without are Neurotica and YBYL. I can handle Face Up every now and then, it is a decent rocker, but it's usually a skip when I listen to RTB. Other than that it's a very good album.

[Good,bad,andrush]

My fourth favorite Rush album.

While my review of Rush songs is negative for most of the songs (and that would be my unbiased opinion and overall how the songs compare to other Rush songs) I actually love all the songs on this album. Highlights for me are the first three, the big wheel, heresy, and ghost of a chance. The others are just alright to me, but I really love those I mentioned.

 

 

Bravado is my absolute favorite song of all time

Whoever said it was repetitive...sure...but towards the end? That's when the drumming gets intense!

[Silas Lang]

One of my bottom 3 Rush albums. Not because it's particularly bad (no Rush album is), but because of the quality of everything else they've done through the years. The only reason someone could rate it as one of Rush's top 5 is that it was the one they heard first and made them a fan. It's not as fun to listen to as the first album or as full of adventure as CoS.

 

Half the album is top notch: Dreamline, Bravado, Roll The Bones, Heresy and Ghost of A Chance. Unfortunately 3 of those are of the slower, softer variety.

Then there's Neurotica and You Bet Your Life, two solid if unspectatcular Rush songs.

The bottom 3 on RTB are Where's My Thing (kind of sketchy and not exciting or adventurous enough as an instrumental), Face Up (energetic and upbeat but suffers because of the style of production), and The Big Wheel.

[ColdFireYYZ]

RTB used to be one of my favorite albums, and the title track was one of my favorite songs for a while. Bravado, Dreamline, Ghost of a Chance and RTB are all great tracks.

 

The Big Wheel, YBYL, Neurotica, and Face up all all decent.

 

Where's My Thing? is horrible, and easily the worse instrumental and one of my least favorite Rush songs. Heresy is also one of my least favorites. Nothing memorable about these two songs for me.

[Mystic Slipperman]

I dug RTB in 1991 and I dig it now.

 

 

Repetition can be a good thing. "Bravado" is a perfect example. Hypnotic groove. Yes, I said "groove" on a Rush record. Deal with it.

[GUP1771]

Everything is subjective, of course, but I happen to enjoy Roll the Bones. I still need to explore the album more since I only listen to Bravado, The Big Wheel, and Roll the Bones. All three are great, and even the controversial rap part in Roll the Bones is neat. It's different and shows the band likes to experiment, but have a little fun in the process. They are always serious when it comes to creating music. It was nice to see them have a little moment to let loose for the rap. Bravado gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it. Very powerful song, and for The Big Wheel, I find it incredibly inspiring.

 

I'm hoping to come back to the rest of the album, and see if other songs will grow on me. That is how I started out with Rush. I need to have songs grow on me, and that eventually branches out to other songs that can grow.

[Nim2]

There are good and bad tracks on every album.

 

You can't please everyone.

[Mystic Slipperman]

beacuse we're here.

 

 

 

[1-0-0-1-0-0-1]

QUOTE (Mystic Slipperman @ Apr 21 2011, 01:56 PM)

I dug RTB in 1991 and I dig it now. Repetition can be a good thing. "Bravado" is a perfect example. Hypnotic groove. Yes, I said "groove" on a Rush record. Deal with it.

Neil's drum work during that last chorus is worth the price of admission all by itself. And the live version is even better with the extended jam.

[Unattractive Truth]

I am not a big fan of Roll the Bones.

 

I think it is too middle of the road. Kind of adult pop-rock for the most part.

 

Dreamline is great. Classic song. I also like The Big Wheel and Bravado is okay. Roll the Bones is catchy, if not irritating (why do those two things go together so often??

 

The rest is pretty forgettable. You Bet Your Life, Neurotica, Face Up....all I could skip.

 

Roll the Bones is one of their albums that I own, but never pull out. I can live on Dreamline live versions over the years.

[Mystic Slipperman]

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Apr 21 2011, 11:23 AM)

QUOTE (Mystic Slipperman @ Apr 21 2011, 01:56 PM) I dug RTB in 1991 and I dig it now.  Repetition can be a good thing. "Bravado" is a perfect example.  Hypnotic groove. Yes, I said "groove" on a Rush record. Deal with it. Neil's drum work during that last chorus is worth the price of admission all by itself. And the live version is even better with the extended jam. +1

[Rushman14]

I love all Rush albums but this pretty much ranks at the bottom of my list.

[EmotionDetector]

[Nate2112]

I didnt use to care much for it but It's growing closer to me

[drbirdsong]

I got RTB at a very hard time in my life so I will always have fond memories of it. I like all of it except Heresy and The Big Wheel. They are fine for me in the way that all Rush songs are, but they are a bump in the road when I listen to the cd.

 

I know that Geddy agrees with most fans that the production was too thin on RTB and Presto. I imagine it's why they never worked with Rupert Hine again.

[1 of the 7]

If I were to rank the albums in my top, middle, and bottom third, RTB would be towards the top of the middle third. My friend in high school gave me a cassette of it, and I wanted to go to this tour, but he and his buddies went without me, and I lost track of Rush for 19 years after that. Yes, you can slap me.

 

Some of my favorite parts: Totally identify with only being home when in motion in Dreamline; "I get so angry, but I keep my mouth shut" in Face Up; "The counter-revolution/at the counter of a store/People buy the things they want/and borrow for a little more" is something I see a lot at work; love the harder verses and mellower choruses in Ghost of A Chance; love Neurotica 'cause it's catchy and I need its advice to chill out; and last but definitely not least, Bravado is Fab-u-lous! So emotional, and I feel that if you can say what the song says about your life, you're doing something very right.

[Good,bad,andrush]

QUOTE (1 of the 7 @ Apr 21 2011, 09:17 PM)

If I were to rank the albums in my top, middle, and bottom third, RTB would be towards the top of the middle third. My friend in high school gave me a cassette of it, and I wanted to go to this tour, but he and his buddies went without me, and I lost track of Rush for 19 years after that. Yes, you can slap me. Some of my favorite parts: Totally identify with only being home when in motion in Dreamline; "I get so angry, but I keep my mouth shut" in Face Up; "The counter-revolution/at the counter of a store/People buy the things they want/and borrow for a little more" is something I see a lot at work; love the harder verses and mellower choruses in Ghost of A Chance; love Neurotica 'cause it's catchy and I need its advice to chill out; and last but definitely not least, Bravado is Fab-u-lous! So emotional, and I feel that if you can say what the song says about your life, you're doing something very right.

 

You made me tear up with what you said about Bravado.

 

I guess I am doing something right

[ioc]

QUOTE (drbirdsong @ Apr 21 2011, 04:10 PM)

I imagine it's why they never worked with Rupert Hine again.

I guess that's a possibility. But bear in mind, many thought that about Peter Collins after PoW and HYF; but lo and behold he was back for Counterparts and TFE.

Rush is sort of a never say never kind of band.

 

Still, the albums are a little tinny. Wouldn't it be great if they were remastered, some of the songs made a little meatier. I mean, there is a lot of potential there.

[micgtr71]

Bravado is a great song that translates better live. The production of RTB is a bit weak and this song comes over with more emotion on the stage. Lyrically and musically it is flawless. That being said, it is a pearl nestled in a pile of excrement.

 

If I were to list all of the songs in order of favorite to least favorite, the rest of this album would occupy this list. I don't think that speaking negatively about an album is bashing if the posters assertions are presented.

 

I do not agree that the album would benefit from remastering. I used to think that it would benefit from a re-record, but my mind has been changed. All I can think of is that adage about polishing a turd.

[HowItIs]

RTB is one of my favorite Rush albums. I agree with pretty much everything the OP wrote, too. There are some real gems on this album, Bravado being the prime example. Every song, IMO, is great. Heresy... well, if you're my age, it really hits home hard, especially that last verse "... all the crap we had to take... all our lives at stake..." Wow.

 

Oh and that's NOT rap on RTB... it's beat poetry. Google it.