Presto: so frustrating

[ReflectedLight]

they would have never had these problems if terry brown led the charge.

[metaldad]

Since i think Presto is better than S&A ,HYF and RTB put together , i think it is just fine

[metaldad]

QUOTE (ReflectedLight @ Apr 27 2011, 09:24 AM)

they would have never had these problems if terry brown led the charge.

So very true

[trenken]

Yeah the famous Rupert Hine empty sound. Ill never know why Rush chose him. I know they basically had just withered down to a light/soft rock band at that point. Half the songs on Presto you could hear on some soft rock station right after Elton John.

 

So its obvious they didnt actually want those albums to have balls. They were going for a light sound.

[MCM]

After reading this thread, I pulled this out for my drive to work today to give it a listen. I like the album, I only ever skip Superconductor. I wouldn't exactly call it "thin" sounding, but it is very stark and precise sounding. (if that makes any sense)

 

It's sharp, the drums are very sharp and high sounding, like you're sitting right in front of the kit and he's hitting them with twice the power as usual. I feel that the drum sound is almost distracting and takes your focus off the other parts to the music and vocals. I don't think it's as "sparkly" as Power Windows, but it's close. Funny thing is, while Power Windows is a more "sparkly" album, it's seems to be less distracting to listen to, all the instruments and sounds seem to blend better than on Presto.

 

Presto seems to be disjointed, not in concept or flow, but sonically because all the instruments see to be separate from each other.

 

All that jibberish said, as a whole, still better than RTB or T4E in my book.

[GUP1771]

When I first started going through Rush's catalog, I automatically dismissed Presto along with a few other albums. After time, I downloaded a few songs (Show Don't Tell, Hand Over Fist, and Chain Lightning), I listened to them a few times, and then they fell in the playlist fast. After seeing Rush for the first time at MSG on the Time Machine Tour, and hearing Presto (which I thought was a 'blah' song before) live, I had a spark of interest in the album. I now enjoy Show Don't Tell, The Pass, Presto, and most of all, Available Light. I got goosebumps from listening to Available Light (in full-length) for the first time.

 

With that being said, it is a thin-sounding album, but it was probably appropriate after Hold Your Fire. I wouldn't expect the band to move from HYF to CP. There needed to be a smooth transition, just as what happened from Hemispheres all the way up to Power Windows. I'll digress here a bit, but every album succeeding Hemispheres, the keyboards were added in a little bit more until reaching their peak in PoW and HYF. But, back on topic, I think it was best to have a softer, rock sound coming off from HYF with Presto, then build it up a bit with Roll the Bones to finally get back to a heavier sound, that is, Counterparts.

 

People may disagree with me on that point, and that's fine, but I think it has some validity to it, even if it wasn't intentional by the band in that aspect.

 

Presto has moved up past a few albums. It's not a classic (e.g. Moving Pictures) or a personal favorite (e.g. Grace Under Pressure), but there is a quality to it that surpasses most, if not all mainstream musical work today. It's a decent album.

[abaco]

I hate Presto.

[An Enemy Without]

Rush usually hits what theyre aiming for and they did so with presto. I understand your complaint about the lack of guitar balls but then again they may have done that on purpose.

 

Oh wait, they probably did do that on purpose.

[Phall2112]

QUOTE (Scars @ Apr 25 2011, 02:27 PM)

The guitar doesn't need balls--to give it some for the sake of giving it some is what shitty metal bands are for. The guitar sound on Presto is perfectly suited for the written music. If you're talking simply equalization, then the only thing that could use a boost is the bass, but it's not enough to prevent me from putting Presto in my Top 5.

[ghostworks]

an important point here

 

Rupert Hine deserves some of the credit/blame (depending on how you feel about the production) but doesn't carry all of it

 

not even close

 

there's plenty of proof Rupert knows what he's doing behind the desk

 

'Worlds Apart (Saga)' and 'Human's Lib' (Howard Jones) are both phenomenal sounding productions

 

and 'Reach The Beach' (The Fixx) is his apex IMO - the crystalline EQ and soundfield separation here is awe-inspiring

 

I wish Rush had been more adventurous and 'let' him take them to that kind of plateau, but as many of us know Rush are OCD micro-managers of the highest order (and often that's a GOOD thing) - but they pulled in the reins here and it shows and suffers for it

 

Presto (and to a lesser extent RTB) are both frustrating wastes of opportunity, production-wise

 

still, I'm happy to have SDT / Chain Lightning / Scars / Available Light (even Red Tide and HOF on occasion) to listen to, even produced as they are

Edited April 28, 2011 by ghostworks

[Megadeth]

on itunes setting the album to bass boost eq makes the album sound better

[JohnnyBlaze]

QUOTE (Todem @ Apr 27 2011, 11:12 PM)

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Apr 27 2011, 06:59 AM) Some of you guys have been listening to Kevin the Caveman's interview off BTLS too much. This album didn't have this kind of complaint until now. Your joking right?   I thought is was too thin the day it was released. It was a very wierd sound for Rush.   Yes in the grand scheme of things it is a signature production. Because they had never done anything like it before and they even thickned things up a tad more on RTB (not much but better).   The band themselves acknowledge the album as very soft, and half realized ideas.   Again I like the album. But it is not nearly their best or even very good compared to the entire catalog. No, I'm not joking. I just didn't explain myself very well. As far as I remember, there has never been a post on TRF specifically using the words "thin-sounding" or "no balls" regarding Presto prior to the film. Folks may very well have thought it but nobody has ever stated it as such. Prior to BTLS I think I might've read [on here] comments about Preso such as "weak" or "lacking power" but not specifically Kevin's words. That's all I really meant

[StellarJetman]

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Apr 30 2011, 10:27 PM)

No, I'm not joking. I just didn't explain myself very well. As far as I remember, there has never been a post on TRF specifically using the words "thin-sounding" or "no balls" regarding Presto prior to the film. Folks may very well have thought it but nobody has ever stated it as such. Prior to BTLS I think I might've read [on here] comments about Preso such as "weak" or "lacking power" but not specifically Kevin's words. That's all I really meant

Then it's the exact same kind of complaint. Or does stating something differently mean that you're stating something different?

[Jocky Balboa]

I haven't seen the movie but would wholeheartedly agree with the view that the production is way too thin. Rupert Hines was a good producer in his own right. I wouldn't even say he was a bad choice for Rush per se. He may have done a great job with Signals, GUP, PW or HYF, for instance.

 

However, the Presto and RTB albums were, from a songwriting point of view, intended as "back to basics" organic ROCK albums. They both ended up sounding very poor, from a sonic perspective. Counterparts was the album Presto and RTB should have been, imo.