What Rush Thinks

[HowItIs]

QUOTE (Tommy Sawyer @ Nov 18 2011, 01:35 PM)

They have announced in concert that "The Pass" is one of their faves.

And Bravado.

 

 

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

QUOTE (Tony R @ Nov 18 2011, 04:45 PM)

QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 18 2011, 09:39 PM) QUOTE (Tony R @ Nov 18 2011, 04:37 PM) QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 18 2011, 09:25 PM) QUOTE (danielmclark @ Nov 18 2011, 03:39 PM) It changes - at one time or another, every album was their favorite album, pretty much. Whatever the current one was. This.   I've often heard them say X is one of the albums they're most proud of, where the value of "X" is their latest album.   For older albums, they all still talk pretty positively about Moving Pictures, and it seems Geddy has a thing for Power Windows. I can recall when they were all excited about Presto, right after it came out, but now Geddy admits that the production took the balls out of the songs. (I agree.) Au contraire. The problem with Presto is it's bollocks... I disagree. Like Vapor Trails, the songs themselves are good; it's the production which makes them kind of crappy. Not enough balls but too much bollocks. Would you agree that the song "Presto" took on a new life on the TM tour? Instead of sounding thin and lifeless like on the album, it had some balls to it.   I've yet to hear a song from the Power Windows/RTB era that didn't sound better live on recent tours.

[danielmclark]

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Nov 18 2011, 08:52 PM)

QUOTE (Tony R @ Nov 18 2011, 04:45 PM) QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 18 2011, 09:39 PM) QUOTE (Tony R @ Nov 18 2011, 04:37 PM) QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 18 2011, 09:25 PM) QUOTE (danielmclark @ Nov 18 2011, 03:39 PM) It changes - at one time or another, every album was their favorite album, pretty much. Whatever the current one was. This.   I've often heard them say X is one of the albums they're most proud of, where the value of "X" is their latest album.   For older albums, they all still talk pretty positively about Moving Pictures, and it seems Geddy has a thing for Power Windows. I can recall when they were all excited about Presto, right after it came out, but now Geddy admits that the production took the balls out of the songs. (I agree.) Au contraire. The problem with Presto is it's bollocks... I disagree. Like Vapor Trails, the songs themselves are good; it's the production which makes them kind of crappy. Not enough balls but too much bollocks. Would you agree that the song "Presto" took on a new life on the TM tour? Instead of sounding thin and lifeless like on the album, it had some balls to it.   I've yet to hear a song from the Power Windows/RTB era that didn't sound better live on recent tours. I'd agree with that, despite HATING the change in the opening chord progression. I don't know why Alex thought that was a good idea, I really don't. IMO.

[GeddysMullet]

QUOTE (grand phil-nale @ Nov 18 2011, 08:07 PM)

In BTLS Neil says that Rush began with Moving Pictures. Or something to that affect. So that should tell you what he thinks of everything pre-MP. Geddy has always given high praise to Power Windows and the group as a whole seems more happy with MP than anything they've ever done.

I'll never forgive Neil for characterising all the pre-MP albums as children's drawings that you stick on refrigerator

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

QUOTE (danielmclark @ Nov 18 2011, 09:59 PM)

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Nov 18 2011, 08:52 PM) QUOTE (Tony R @ Nov 18 2011, 04:45 PM) QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 18 2011, 09:39 PM) QUOTE (Tony R @ Nov 18 2011, 04:37 PM) QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 18 2011, 09:25 PM) QUOTE (danielmclark @ Nov 18 2011, 03:39 PM) It changes - at one time or another, every album was their favorite album, pretty much. Whatever the current one was. This.   I've often heard them say X is one of the albums they're most proud of, where the value of "X" is their latest album.   For older albums, they all still talk pretty positively about Moving Pictures, and it seems Geddy has a thing for Power Windows. I can recall when they were all excited about Presto, right after it came out, but now Geddy admits that the production took the balls out of the songs. (I agree.) Au contraire. The problem with Presto is it's bollocks... I disagree. Like Vapor Trails, the songs themselves are good; it's the production which makes them kind of crappy. Not enough balls but too much bollocks. Would you agree that the song "Presto" took on a new life on the TM tour? Instead of sounding thin and lifeless like on the album, it had some balls to it.   I've yet to hear a song from the Power Windows/RTB era that didn't sound better live on recent tours. I'd agree with that, despite HATING the change in the opening chord progression. I don't know why Alex thought that was a good idea, I really don't. IMO. You mean the actual chords or the way he strums them? He did make a slight change in the strumming pattern just before the vocals come in that distracted me a bit.

[Tony R]

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Nov 19 2011, 02:52 AM)

QUOTE (Tony R @ Nov 18 2011, 04:45 PM) QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 18 2011, 09:39 PM) QUOTE (Tony R @ Nov 18 2011, 04:37 PM) QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Nov 18 2011, 09:25 PM) QUOTE (danielmclark @ Nov 18 2011, 03:39 PM) It changes - at one time or another, every album was their favorite album, pretty much. Whatever the current one was. This.   I've often heard them say X is one of the albums they're most proud of, where the value of "X" is their latest album.   For older albums, they all still talk pretty positively about Moving Pictures, and it seems Geddy has a thing for Power Windows. I can recall when they were all excited about Presto, right after it came out, but now Geddy admits that the production took the balls out of the songs. (I agree.) Au contraire. The problem with Presto is it's bollocks... I disagree. Like Vapor Trails, the songs themselves are good; it's the production which makes them kind of crappy. Not enough balls but too much bollocks. Would you agree that the song "Presto" took on a new life on the TM tour? Instead of sounding thin and lifeless like on the album, it had some balls to it.   I've yet to hear a song from the Power Windows/RTB era that didn't sound better live on recent tours. One or two decent tracks on a Rush album is unacceptable, wouldn't you agree?

[JohnnyBlaze]

(If talking about a single song) In a guitar mag interview in the 90s Geddy stated that Distant Early Warning is THE best example of the Rush sound.

[Phantom]

A few years ago, I read an interview with Geddy where he comments that " one of my favorite albums of ours is Permanent Waves "

 

 

[Weakly Criminal]

At one time Al said that Red Barchetta was his favorite RUSH song. Hard to disagree...

 

But really, who freaking cares? They're selling the shit; we're the ones buying it.

[chaotic_ripper]

I care, that's why I asked. I find it very interesting to hear from any artist, what they think is their most definitive work. Also, it's very interesting to know that if Neil looked at it from a fan's perspective, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire would be his favorites. I also always thought it was weird that the band seemed to be very proud of Roll The Bones when a majority of the fans (at least the online fans) don't care much for it. However the voice of the online community can differ from the opinion of the fanbase as a whole. I always see people with Roll The Bones shirts at Rush concerts.

[Weakly Criminal]

QUOTE (chaotic_ripper @ Nov 19 2011, 08:12 AM)

I care, that's why I asked. I find it very interesting to hear from any artist, what they think is their most definitive work. Also, it's very interesting to know that if Neil looked at it from a fan's perspective, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire would be his favorites. I also always thought it was weird that the band seemed to be very proud of Roll The Bones when a majority of the fans (at least the online fans) don't care much for it. However the voice of the online community can differ from the opinion of the fanbase as a whole. I always see people with Roll The Bones shirts at Rush concerts.

You must be young. At one time I was much the same. I don't mean to sound condescending but time changes your perspective on such things. The fact that they're great (and my favorite) musicians doesn't make their opinions any more important than ours. In fact it probably makes them less than objective.

[trenken]

QUOTE (chaotic_ripper @ Nov 19 2011, 09:12 AM)

I care, that's why I asked. I find it very interesting to hear from any artist, what they think is their most definitive work. Also, it's very interesting to know that if Neil looked at it from a fan's perspective, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire would be his favorites. I also always thought it was weird that the band seemed to be very proud of Roll The Bones when a majority of the fans (at least the online fans) don't care much for it. However the voice of the online community can differ from the opinion of the fanbase as a whole. I always see people with Roll The Bones shirts at Rush concerts.

It's kind of a silly thing to wonder about though. We know for a fact that they dont listen to their own music at all outside of picking songs for a tour. They arent fans of Rush the same way we are.

 

They are the ones creating the music, and as soon as it's done it's old news to them and they go tour because thats really what pays their bills, then move on.

 

Look at it this way, how often do you go back and just stare at old pictures of yourself? I don't do it often at all. Geddy used some sort of example similar to that in that pre-VT tour interview I mentioned earlier. I wish I could find that but it was online like 10 years ago now.

 

Basically I remember 3 things from that interview that always stuck with me for a decade now. They dont like Caress of Steel at all, Hemispheres has aged well to them, and they dont listen to their own music, ever (he literally said they never listen to it), unless they have to, like picking songs for a tour.

[rushgoober]

I think the members of the band lack the critical distance necessary to judge their own material. I remember reading a Jerry Garcia interview one time where he was talking about Grateful Dead albums and he said something to the effect that he can't really judge those albums musically or objectively, since for him when he thought of an album, he didn't think of it the way a fan does. He thought of the recording process, and all that was going on in his life and with the band at that time. He couldn't remove himself enough from the process to judge it. It was a clear cut case of not being able to see the forest for the trees.

 

Also, consider the last several albums by Rush. In general, the quality of their material has gone down dramatically (with notable exceptions), and for each album while they were recording them, and shortly afterwards (this is our best album EVER!), they thought it was awesome. Often they were flat out wrong.

 

Regardless of all that, in the end the opinion of one of the band members is no better than the opinion of you or me or any other Rush fan, even if they wrote the songs. It's just an opinion.

[GeddysMullet]

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Nov 19 2011, 11:28 AM)

Regardless of all that, in the end the opinion of one of the band members is no better than the opinion of you or me or any other Rush fan, even if they wrote the songs. It's just an opinion.

I agree with this.

 

I also believe that there is no one right answer to eternal questions of what lyrics of various songs "mean" or what those songs are "about." That's one of the beauties and mysteries of great artistic works -- that they are subjective and open to interpretation.

 

I do find it interesting to know what artists think of their own works, but I don't think it's particularly important, and I find it irritating when fans insist that such-and-such a song MUST be a terrible song because the artist hates it now. I quipped above about not forgiving Neil for his comment about all of Rush's pre-Moving Pictures albums because I think it's ungracious for artists to insult the tastes of the fans that way, but I suppose that I should take that back because no matter how wrong I might think he is about that, he does have a right to his (ill-conceived) opinion!

[rushgoober]

Edited November 19, 2011 by rushgoober

[GeddysMullet]

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Nov 19 2011, 12:40 PM)

I agree. Hey, we agree on something!

 

Originally, my post above started thus: "Stop the presses! Goober and I agree on something Rush-related! http://th116.photobucket.com/albums/o12/mookiemmm/Gifs/th_jawdrop.gif

 

Though actually, I believe that we agree on Hemispheres?

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (GeddysMullet @ Nov 19 2011, 09:43 AM)

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Nov 19 2011, 12:40 PM) I agree.  Hey, we agree on something!   Originally, my post above started thus: "Stop the presses! Goober and I agree on something Rush-related! http://th116.photobucket.com/albums/o12/mookiemmm/Gifs/th_jawdrop.gif   Though actually, I believe that we agree on Hemispheres? I love every album of theirs except 4 of them (and Hemispheres isn't one of the four), so I bet there's plenty we agree on. I just tend not to say Hemispheres is great over and over cause that's boring to me, but it doesn't mean we don't see eye to eye on it.

[GeddysMullet]

[2112rush]

On the TMT DVD Geddy says Faithless is one of his 'faves'

[laughedatbytime]

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Nov 19 2011, 10:40 AM)

I think lyrics are somewhat open to interpretation, but sometimes they're so blatantly about something specific, that the reality of that meaning and the intention behind it can't be denied, even if what that subjectively means to you might be unique.

I don't know...I find myself constantly puzzling over KISS lyrics, wondering what the writer might be getting at.

 

QUOTE

That's one of the beauties and mysteries of great artistic works.

 

Like, for example, Love Gun, Heaven's on Fire, or Christine Sixteen.

[danielmclark]

QUOTE (laughedatbytime @ Nov 19 2011, 02:25 PM)

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Nov 19 2011, 10:40 AM) I think lyrics are somewhat open to interpretation, but sometimes they're so blatantly about something specific, that the reality of that meaning and the intention behind it can't be denied, even if what that subjectively means to you might be unique. I don't know...I find myself constantly puzzling over KISS lyrics, wondering what the writer might be getting at.   QUOTE That's one of the beauties and mysteries of great artistic works.   Like, for example, Love Gun, Heaven's on Fire, or Christine Sixteen. Love Gun is puzzling? It's very clear, I don't know how anyone could misunderstand. It's a gripping lyrical anti-war diatribe written from the perspective of a survivor of a horrific village bombing in the Middle East. It's right there in the lyrics, man.   Christine Sixteen though, that's definitely a head-scratcher. I always had a problem with Lick It Up, too. Never quite got that one.

[laughedatbytime]

QUOTE (danielmclark @ Nov 19 2011, 03:16 PM)

QUOTE (laughedatbytime @ Nov 19 2011, 02:25 PM) QUOTE (rushgoober @ Nov 19 2011, 10:40 AM) I think lyrics are somewhat open to interpretation, but sometimes they're so blatantly about something specific, that the reality of that meaning and the intention behind it can't be denied, even if what that subjectively means to you might be unique. I don't know...I find myself constantly puzzling over KISS lyrics, wondering what the writer might be getting at.   QUOTE That's one of the beauties and mysteries of great artistic works.   Like, for example, Love Gun, Heaven's on Fire, or Christine Sixteen. Love Gun is puzzling? It's very clear, I don't know how anyone could misunderstand. It's a gripping lyrical anti-war diatribe written from the perspective of a survivor of a horrific village bombing in the Middle East. It's right there in the lyrics, man.   Christine Sixteen though, that's definitely a head-scratcher. I always had a problem with Lick It Up, too. Never quite got that one. I believe I heard Paul Stanley describe Lick it Up as a tribute to Victor Frankel's "Man's Search for Meaning" and how it changed his life.   Frankel's message was "It ain't no crime to be good to yourself" and Stanley uses this verbatim in the song, so I think there's credibility to the rumor.

[Cato76]

QUOTE (Tommy Sawyer @ Nov 18 2011, 02:35 PM)

They have announced in concert that "The Pass" is one of their faves.

I've heard the same thing. Geddy was speaking about it in an interview once.

[GrandDesigner]

I always interpret how an artist feels about their work by how much attention they give it live. Albums such as HYF, Presto, and RTB have largely been ignored in concerts, so I'm assuming the band doesn't think too highly of them save for one or two songs.

 

TFE is a toss-up, since they played 7 of the songs from that album live, which is a pretty high percentage for a later Rush album. So they probably loved it at the time, but weren't too happy with it afterwards.

[goose]

QUOTE (GrandDesigner @ Nov 19 2011, 06:23 PM)

I always interpret how an artist feels about their work by how much attention they give it live. Albums such as HYF, Presto, and RTB have largely been ignored in concerts, so I'm assuming the band doesn't think too highly of them save for one or two songs. TFE is a toss-up, since they played 7 of the songs from that album live, which is a pretty high percentage for a later Rush album. So they probably loved it at the time, but weren't too happy with it afterwards.

RUSH tours are mainly vehicles for marketing their music or generating revenue by putting butts in seats. That's why song representation is limited to 4-6 new songs (the ones steadfast fans might add to their collections) and the hits (popular songs that might attract new fans). Throw in an odd vault gem, but I'm willing to bet it has little to do with what they love.