In Defence Of Roll The Bones

[jebren72]

QUOTE (StellarJetman @ Apr 21 2011, 09:57 AM)

"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.)

The lines "Stop throwing stones, the night has a thousand saxaphones, so get out there and rock and roll the bones-get busy!" is one of my favorite lines in any Rush song. Its definately not meant to be comical or comment on saxaphones in rock or rap songs(?). It simply means stop feeling sad or sorry for yourself and get out there and do something. I think most people simply dismiss it because all they hear is the rap part and instantly say they hate it.

 

Wheres My Thing is a great instrumental. I wish they'd play it again as I havent seen it live since 1992. I dont know why anyone would say its terrible.

 

RTB is a great album. The only song I dont really care for is Face Up. The rest of it I'll listen to anytime. The band must love it too as they put 4 songs from it on the last retrospective.

[rushgoober]

Yet another in a series of let's praise the small handful of sub-par Rush albums threads.

 

[USB Connector]

RTB is alright. Not their best, but it's a solid album. There is no defense for the album being mediocre. It's not one of their best albums, but it's not one of their worst either. If I had to rank the album among the other Rush albums I'd likely put it just below the midway mark between best and worst.

[cygnus_thegodofbalance]

I've always loved Roll the Bones.

[StellarJetman]

QUOTE (jebren72 @ Apr 23 2011, 09:22 AM)

The lines "Stop throwing stones, the night has a thousand saxaphones, so get out there and rock and roll the bones-get busy!" is one of my favorite lines in any Rush song. Its definately not meant to be comical or comment on saxaphones in rock or rap songs(?). It simply means stop feeling sad or sorry for yourself and get out there and do something.

My question is, why saxophones? It's just distracting, and it detracts from what's ostensibly the point of the line.

 

And I could name quite a few other horrible lines in its place. "Gonna kick some gluteus max." "You'd better run, homeboy - a fact's a fact, from Nome to Rome, boy." "Lady Luck is golden; she favors the bold - that's cold." Really, anything involving the incessant repetition of "-old" syllables and apparent disregard for meter in the second half.

[USB Connector]

QUOTE (StellarJetman @ Apr 23 2011, 12:11 PM)

QUOTE (jebren72 @ Apr 23 2011, 09:22 AM) The lines "Stop throwing stones, the night has a thousand saxaphones, so get out there and rock and roll the bones-get busy!" is one of my favorite lines in any Rush song. Its definately not meant to be comical or comment on saxaphones in rock or rap songs(?). It simply means stop feeling sad or sorry for yourself and get out there and do something. My question is, why saxophones? It's just distracting, and it detracts from what's ostensibly the point of the line.   And I could name quite a few other horrible lines in its place. "Gonna kick some gluteus max." "You'd better run, homeboy - a fact's a fact, from Nome to Rome, boy." "Lady Luck is golden; she favors the bold - that's cold." Really, anything involving the incessant repetition of "-old" syllables and apparent disregard for meter in the second half. Is that what he actually says? Wow...I always thought the line was "A fact's a fact whether you know it or not".   The RTB rap just lost a lot of my respect on my part.

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (Nim2 @ Apr 21 2011, 11:19 AM)

There are good and bad tracks on every album.

Not so at all. They have PLENTY of albums without any bad or mediocre tracks. By my count, there are at least 10.

 

QUOTE (Nim2 @ Apr 21 2011, 11:19 AM)

You can't please everyone.

Well that's certainly true. And then there's the fact that no matter HOW bad or mediocre a Rush album is, there will be some faction of hardcore fans that will insist on loving it anyway...

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (usb_connector @ Apr 23 2011, 09:16 AM)

The RTB rap just lost a lot of my respect on my part.

Mine too. After the last two songs on HYF and the exceptionally mediocre Presto, I heard RTB on the radio and just figured Rush had completely jumped the shark. Because of that song, I didn't end up picking up the RTB album for many years, which in part was a shame as I missed out on the truly excellent Dreamline. As it turns out, however, that's pretty much all I was missing out on from that album.

[barney_rebel]

Pretty much the best album Rush has ever released. Nothing will top it, IMO.

[ghostworks]

my favorite test for RTB is the album/album test

 

in other words, I'll take my 'least favorite' Rush albums and see where RTB stacks up

 

 

2112 vs. RTB

> 2112 wins

RTB: GOAC, Dreamline and Bravado are good to great - 2112: Lessons and Something For Nothing are good to great

 

while the rest of 2112 is either lame or tries too hard, the rest of RTB sucks or is cringe-inducing - the contest was closer than I thought, but 2112 stays ahead by a hair

 

T4E vs. RTB

> T4E wins

RTB: GOAC, Dreamline and Bravado are good to great - T4E: Driven, T&M, Totem and T4E are good to great

 

the rest of T4E ranges from uninspired to cringe-inducing, but the rest of RTB goes from 'sucks' to 'cringe-inducing' - T4E by a half-mile

 

an easy test, confirming RTB's proper placement in the 'ranks'

 

 

[D3strukt]

Neuroticaaa.

 

Yeah, numb one song dawgs.

[ucsteve667]

QUOTE (StellarJetman @ Apr 23 2011, 11:11 AM)

QUOTE (jebren72 @ Apr 23 2011, 09:22 AM) The lines "Stop throwing stones, the night has a thousand saxaphones, so get out there and rock and roll the bones-get busy!" is one of my favorite lines in any Rush song. Its definately not meant to be comical or comment on saxaphones in rock or rap songs(?). It simply means stop feeling sad or sorry for yourself and get out there and do something. My question is, why saxophones? It's just distracting, and it detracts from what's ostensibly the point of the line.   And I could name quite a few other horrible lines in its place. "Gonna kick some gluteus max." "You'd better run, homeboy - a fact's a fact, from Nome to Rome, boy." "Lady Luck is golden; she favors the bold - that's cold." Really, anything involving the incessant repetition of "-old" syllables and apparent disregard for meter in the second half. you realize yer pickin apart a musical joke they wrote right? they are indeed very silly men at times

[StellarJetman]

QUOTE (ucsteve667 @ Apr 23 2011, 01:03 PM)

you realize yer pickin apart a musical joke they wrote right? they are indeed very silly men at times

It's not entirely a joke, and the parts that are apparently meant to be humorous aren't funny.

[ucsteve667]

QUOTE (StellarJetman @ Apr 23 2011, 02:24 PM)

QUOTE (ucsteve667 @ Apr 23 2011, 01:03 PM) you realize yer pickin apart a musical joke they wrote right? they are indeed very silly men at times It's not entirely a joke, and the parts that are apparently meant to be humorous aren't funny. i guess thats in the ear of the interpreter

[WCFIELDS]

their worst album to me.....by far

[metaldad]

QUOTE (Silas Lang @ Apr 21 2011, 12:20 PM)

One of my bottom 3 Rush albums.

Same here

[ioc]

QUOTE (WCFIELDS @ Apr 23 2011, 02:27 PM)

their worst album to me.....by far -------------------- QUOTE (Necromancer) QUOTE S&A is the worst album they've ever made. EVER. It sucks big time and if it were not a Rush album, it would never have entered my house and cd players. You say that a lot, don't you?

[Bastille Dave]

I like it alot but it isnt nowhere near my favorite Rush album.

[CMWriter]

I really like RTB. I don't love it like I love PeW, GUP, or even HYF, but I don't see what people hate about it. Personally I think the rap section in the title song is cool, but I don't quite fit into any groups when it comes to liking music. I like most of it. (;

(Yeah, even rap. The good kind.)

It's different but Bravado and Heresy are fantastic! Especially the former is a total classic. Can anyone really put that song down so low? I'd do anything to see it live.

[Todem]

Without a doubt the most "pop" Rush has ever sounded to date.

 

There are some stellar classic Rush songs on this album in Dreamline, Bravado, Roll the Bones and Ghost of a Chance. As a whole I much prefer this album to it's brother Presto. Roll the Bones feels much looser than Presto. I compare it to Presto because the production is identical in almost every way and of course Rupert Hine was the guy behind the console for those.

 

To me Rush gained many new fans from Roll the Bones and it was the last album to go platinum for them (I believe correct me if I am wrong). The tour was a massive success.

 

There are a couple of songs that have not held up well at all in Face Up and You Bet Your Life. But overall a good album. Not in my top 10 but it still gets some play front to back at least once a year.

[ReflectedLight]

rtb and presto belong together..........in the garbage.

[micgtr71]

QUOTE (ucsteve667 @ Apr 23 2011, 02:03 PM)

QUOTE (StellarJetman @ Apr 23 2011, 11:11 AM) QUOTE (jebren72 @ Apr 23 2011, 09:22 AM) The lines "Stop throwing stones, the night has a thousand saxaphones, so get out there and rock and roll the bones-get busy!" is one of my favorite lines in any Rush song. Its definately not meant to be comical or comment on saxaphones in rock or rap songs(?). It simply means stop feeling sad or sorry for yourself and get out there and do something. My question is, why saxophones? It's just distracting, and it detracts from what's ostensibly the point of the line.   And I could name quite a few other horrible lines in its place. "Gonna kick some gluteus max." "You'd better run, homeboy - a fact's a fact, from Nome to Rome, boy." "Lady Luck is golden; she favors the bold - that's cold." Really, anything involving the incessant repetition of "-old" syllables and apparent disregard for meter in the second half. you realize yer pickin apart a musical joke they wrote right? they are indeed very silly men at times I guess that some jokes aren't that funny. Even still, they played that one a lot since it came out only having retired it in 07. That's a punchline that lingers too long.

[ReflectedLight]

i get the strange feeling they're going to pull something out from rtb on the next setlist.

[Good,bad,andrush]

QUOTE (ReflectedLight @ Apr 24 2011, 10:46 AM)

i get the strange feeling they're going to pull something out from rtb on the next setlist.

If they pull out bravado, my life will be complete

[GUP1771]

QUOTE (Good,bad,andrush @ Apr 24 2011, 10:49 AM)

QUOTE (ReflectedLight @ Apr 24 2011, 10:46 AM) i get the strange feeling they're going to pull something out from rtb on the next setlist. If they pull out bravado, my life will be complete I second that. Although, my life will be complete if they pull out The Enemy Within, but I digress.