Listen 5 Times before bitching!

[EmotionDetector]

[EmotionDetector]

QUOTE (Todem @ Jun 13 2012, 10:53 PM)

Rush has never...ever let me down.

You've got that right.

[beherit]

QUOTE (launchpad67a @ Jun 13 2012, 03:24 PM)

This a record that will probably take most people at least 5 listens to come to a honest conclusion. While I fully expected a lot of negative posts after the release of this record, I didn't expect the "i just listened to the cd and it sucks, the sound sucks, i can't hear this or that" posts. This record has a lot going on, it takes a few listens to soak in. For the love of RUSH... Just Shut Up and Listen to it !!

yeah I've jammed it like 1000 times

[ak2112]

QUOTE (launchpad67a @ Jun 13 2012, 03:24 PM)

This a record that will probably take most people at least 5 listens to come to a honest conclusion. While I fully expected a lot of negative posts after the release of this record, I didn't expect the "i just listened to the cd and it sucks, the sound sucks, i can't hear this or that" posts. This record has a lot going on, it takes a few listens to soak in. For the love of RUSH... Just Shut Up and Listen to it !!

Absolutely agree with this assessment. I'm on my 4th listen now and this record get a little better with each time. There's so much depth to it that it's going to take at least 4 more listens before I can give my own review of it and feel complete.

[beherit]

Like all Rush albums, repeated listens are key.

[EmotionDetector]

QUOTE (beherit @ Jun 13 2012, 11:04 PM)

Like all Rush albums, repeated listens are key.

Truth.

[losingit2k]

QUOTE (Shredder2 @ Jun 13 2012, 07:09 PM)

First listen: ...I'm not liking "Carnies". Second listen: ....I'm not getting "Carnies"... Third listen: What does "Carnies" mean? Fourth listen: Ohhh... I get "Carnies" now. Fifth listen: "Carnies" is alright. Sixth listen: "Carnies" is a hell of a song.

The Evolution of Clockwork Angels Songs!

 

[losingit2k]

QUOTE (ak2112 @ Jun 13 2012, 10:01 PM)

QUOTE (launchpad67a @ Jun 13 2012, 03:24 PM) This a record that will probably take most people at least 5 listens to come to a honest conclusion. While I fully expected a lot of negative posts after the release of this record, I didn't expect the "i just listened to the cd and it sucks, the sound sucks, i can't hear this or that" posts. This record has a lot going on, it takes a few listens to soak in. For the love of RUSH... Just Shut Up and Listen to it !! Absolutely agree with this assessment. I'm on my 4th listen now and this record get a little better with each time. There's so much depth to it that it's going to take at least 4 more listens before I can give my own review of it and feel complete. And even then you'll still be discovering new things!

[troutman]

This is always the thing with Rush for me. I do tend to like or dislike any given tune right off the bat. But it takes time to soak it all in.

[Garden Dancer]

Yup. I'm only on my first listen, and I know I'm gonna want to give a few more spins to fully feel and appreciate what I'm already enjoying.

I love so much from Rush, but every album took at least 3 times through before I was really ready to decide just what was resonating in me. Just how each song was hitting.

 

Coz first listen, it's just trying to absorb all this "New" and get a feel for which direction they decided to go this time around...

Second time, now there's starting to pay a bit more attention to the lyrics and grasp the story that each song tells (or in the case of concept albums, each chapter of the story that each song tells...)

Third, (for me, anyway) is where I can dive in and really feel the groove and start on the judgement of Like/Don't Like/How Much I do or not...

 

So yeah. at least three for me. Five is even better.

[launchpad67a]

Thanks for the replies everyone. You all get what I'm saying here.

For me....It's been on repeat play at my house all day, and it just keeps getting better. I love this record, it's really something special. Sounds great to my very trained and professional ears too! So there.

Rock On!

[DistantEarlyRushFan]

The soft songs definitely take more time for me to digest, especially Wreckers. It has a unique energy to it that I did not see before. Halo Effect too.

 

 

[fonzbear2000]

For me, it was absolute love at first listen. By the 5th one or so, it was beyond absolute love!

[jnoble]

I shouldnt have to listen to anything, especially when it's over an hour long, five or more times to "get it" or figure it out. I can usually tell by the second or third time at the most if an album grabs me or if it ends up collecting dust next to Feedback and S&A and that Scott Weiland solo album a friend gave me for Christmas a couple years ago. Edited June 15, 2012 by jnoble

[Weakly Criminal]

QUOTE (Presto-digitation @ Jun 13 2012, 07:30 PM)

Waits for the "Why five times? I know in the first 20 seconds of a song whether it's brilliant and a forever-classic or complete crap" comments. Yeah, those people are out there. No offense to anyone who actually thinks this way. Let me be clear before the offended parties rally.

Not everyone is so intellectually superior. Please try to be patient with us plebs.

 

Really dude, do you have any idea what a douche bag you come across ass?

[Xanaseb]

Tell that to my brother. Please.

 

[ThinkingBig]

And then take your bitching to a non-fan board.

 

This is a fan site.

 

Best album since mid-80s, period.

[umoveme]

I bitched 5 times before listening.

 

 

 

[TheAccountant]

QUOTE (launchpad67a @ Jun 13 2012, 03:24 PM)

This a record that will probably take most people at least 5 listens to come to a honest conclusion. While I fully expected a lot of negative posts after the release of this record, I didn't expect the "i just listened to the cd and it sucks, the sound sucks, i can't hear this or that" posts. This record has a lot going on, it takes a few listens to soak in. For the love of RUSH... Just Shut Up and Listen to it !!

 

Just finished listening to CA for the 3rd time since I got it. I will not say much about how I feel about the album or individual songs since it is definitely an evolving process with me. With Rush albums it can take many trips to my CD player before an albums clicks with me - sometimes it takes years. Presto and Counterparts took 15 years or more before they clicked with me. Love them both now.

 

The one thing I will say about the album was that after the 1st times I listened to it my reaction was exactly the same as something you said in the OP. I took the CD out of the player and said "Dam, their is a lot going on here. Going to take a while before this all sinks in"

 

 

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

Having only listened to my fanpack CD several times now (I refused to download any leaked version) I can honestly say I have some issues with the new album. I don't think it's horrible or another HYF (the lowest ranked album for me personally) I do not think it's great either. While supplemental listens have helped there are just some things going on that I feel are just a little off the mark. I have listened on both my studio monitors (which are more revealing and harsh) as well as my car (which is where I listen to mixes for translation as well as music for "enjoyment" purposes) which is more pleasing.

 

Ever since HYF I have resisted getting my hopes up with each release. Partially to not let my hopes get too far up but also to remain as objective as possible upon the first listen. Having lived with Caravan and BU2B for a couple years or whatever did not exactly help. Those songs have their merit and I have felt since hearing them live that they work better in concert than on the initial recording. When I first heard them I kind of felt like they were a bit of a let down from S&A which to me is extremely strong. S&A resonated with me immediately, which is rare for Rush releases since Presto. I love most of Presto. In fact there are only 3 songs that don't do it for me on that one and it took a bit to sink in. RTB also needed to sink in a bit for me. That one has sold well but I prefer Presto and CP. TFE took a while for some songs while others had impact immediately. The material on VT resonated with me despite the production.

 

I am finding CA to be closer to TFE for me personally which for their catalog is somewhere in the middle.

 

Part of my issues are production related and some is definitely material. The mix is a bit too smashed for me again. A step back from S&A. There is a lot of compression that doesn't do much other than to make everything louder. The new mix of BU2B is particularly grating. The guitars are either a washy undefined mass or punchy and clear, mostly the former. I like the bass tones quite a bit. The snare drum sounds mushy during much of the album except when the drums have little music surrounding them. When you just hear the drums they sound really good then everything else comes in the they sound puny.

 

I am also hearing some rehashed ideas in the material. I have not yet committed the song names to memory so forgive me for that. But I am hearing a reworking of Half The World in one song, Virtuality in another and the one that sounds like the Byrds (and some other tunes as well).

 

I think the most passionate playing from Alex is in Headlong Flight (which has elements of Bastille Day) but aside from that I get a "this is me playing guitar" feeling. Not sure how that statement comes off but I guess I am used to hearing him play with so much intention and purpose. Speaking of HF; to me it sounds like Geddy's playing is kind of meandering and "general" rather than playing as disciplined as he has been more recently; ie playing fewer notes with more emphasis and meaning. When I think of some of the playing from Hemispheres or Permanent Waves there are a lot of notes, but there was intentional variety and structure going on there. I think I hear a lack of "Rush Structure" on CA too. Neil being conducted rather than writing out every last stroke is not what I have come to enjoy about his playing. Vocal lines seem esoteric and abstract at times. I really haven't given much time to the "story" elements in the lyrics but the lyrics themselves don't take me through the story the way that 2112 or Hemispheres do. Even The Fountain seems more easy to follow.

 

I get the feeling once the idea of a concept was agreed to that it affected the result. I feel that S&A was strong because they wanted to make each and every one of those songs with a burning desire and one thing inspired the next. This time I feel like they had an idea that they fleshed out. Those are two totally different approaches and I think that's how I hear music. Music made like one's life depends on the making of it will impact me emotionally considerably more even if it doesn't sound great than an intellectual exercise which is how I hear CA. This just dawned on me but this album is one idea where as others are a bunch of ideas.

 

Listening to CA for the second and third times I kind of felt as though this were a film soundtrack without the film. I think visuals will definitely enhance the material as far as conveying the story element. However some of the material doesn't jump out at me but just sort of lays there for the most part. I feel like the playing is solid as we would expect. Perhaps because of their age they just don't have the same desire as even 5 years ago, not that they don't care just that they don't have the same energy.

 

So in conclusion (yes, I know you are glad if you have read thus far) I think it is an ok Rush album. Not bad but not great. I hold Rush (and everybody else) to a high standard. They will always be my favorite band, but that doesn't mean I gotta "drink the Kool-Aid" as it were. They are guys who make excellent music, but not everything they do is perfect because how I feel about them is more realistic than when I was younger. Perhaps it's my age too. Perhaps it's other more sonically pleasing recordings I have been listening to recently. Perhaps I am jaded and can no longer be impressed. Who knows? But I think I am probably only going to hit one show this tour, especially if they play CA in it's entirety.

[condemned2bfree]

QUOTE (Shredder2 @ Jun 14 2012, 01:09 AM)

First listen: ...I'm not liking "Carnies". Second listen: ....I'm not getting "Carnies"... Third listen: What does "Carnies" mean? Fourth listen: Ohhh... I get "Carnies" now. Fifth listen: "Carnies" is alright. Sixth listen: "Carnies" is a hell of a song.

exactly the same for me.

[Rush Cocky]

QUOTE (Shredder2 @ Jun 13 2012, 08:09 PM)

First listen: ...I'm not liking "Carnies". Second listen: ....I'm not getting "Carnies"... Third listen: What does "Carnies" mean? Fourth listen: Ohhh... I get "Carnies" now. Fifth listen: "Carnies" is alright. Sixth listen: "Carnies" is a hell of a song.

 

I could say the exact same thing about the track "Clockwork Angels".

 

It does take time to really appreciate it.

 

And by the way, I can't get the bass line for "The ANarchist" out of my head!

[Xanadoood]

QUOTE (CygnusX-1Bk2 @ Jun 15 2012, 01:44 AM)

Having only listened to my fanpack CD several times now (I refused to download any leaked version) I can honestly say I have some issues with the new album. I don't think it's horrible or another HYF (the lowest ranked album for me personally) I do not think it's great either. While supplemental listens have helped there are just some things going on that I feel are just a little off the mark. I have listened on both my studio monitors (which are more revealing and harsh) as well as my car (which is where I listen to mixes for translation as well as music for "enjoyment" purposes) which is more pleasing. Ever since HYF I have resisted getting my hopes up with each release. Partially to not let my hopes get too far up but also to remain as objective as possible upon the first listen. Having lived with Caravan and BU2B for a couple years or whatever did not exactly help. Those songs have their merit and I have felt since hearing them live that they work better in concert than on the initial recording. When I first heard them I kind of felt like they were a bit of a let down from S&A which to me is extremely strong. S&A resonated with me immediately, which is rare for Rush releases since Presto. I love most of Presto. In fact there are only 3 songs that don't do it for me on that one and it took a bit to sink in. RTB also needed to sink in a bit for me. That one has sold well but I prefer Presto and CP. TFE took a while for some songs while others had impact immediately. The material on VT resonated with me despite the production. I am finding CA to be closer to TFE for me personally which for their catalog is somewhere in the middle. Part of my issues are production related and some is definitely material. The mix is a bit too smashed for me again. A step back from S&A. There is a lot of compression that doesn't do much other than to make everything louder. The new mix of BU2B is particularly grating. The guitars are either a washy undefined mass or punchy and clear, mostly the former. I like the bass tones quite a bit. The snare drum sounds mushy during much of the album except when the drums have little music surrounding them. When you just hear the drums they sound really good then everything else comes in the they sound puny. I am also hearing some rehashed ideas in the material. I have not yet committed the song names to memory so forgive me for that. But I am hearing a reworking of Half The World in one song, Virtuality in another and the one that sounds like the Byrds (and some other tunes as well). I think the most passionate playing from Alex is in Headlong Flight (which has elements of Bastille Day) but aside from that I get a "this is me playing guitar" feeling. Not sure how that statement comes off but I guess I am used to hearing him play with so much intention and purpose. Speaking of HF; to me it sounds like Geddy's playing is kind of meandering and "general" rather than playing as disciplined as he has been more recently; ie playing fewer notes with more emphasis and meaning. When I think of some of the playing from Hemispheres or Permanent Waves there are a lot of notes, but there was intentional variety and structure going on there. I think I hear a lack of "Rush Structure" on CA too. Neil being conducted rather than writing out every last stroke is not what I have come to enjoy about his playing. Vocal lines seem esoteric and abstract at times. I really haven't given much time to the "story" elements in the lyrics but the lyrics themselves don't take me through the story the way that 2112 or Hemispheres do. Even The Fountain seems more easy to follow. I get the feeling once the idea of a concept was agreed to that it affected the result. I feel that S&A was strong because they wanted to make each and every one of those songs with a burning desire and one thing inspired the next. This time I feel like they had an idea that they fleshed out. Those are two totally different approaches and I think that's how I hear music. Music made like one's life depends on the making of it will impact me emotionally considerably more even if it doesn't sound great than an intellectual exercise which is how I hear CA. This just dawned on me but this album is one idea where as others are a bunch of ideas. Listening to CA for the second and third times I kind of felt as though this were a film soundtrack without the film. I think visuals will definitely enhance the material as far as conveying the story element. However some of the material doesn't jump out at me but just sort of lays there for the most part. I feel like the playing is solid as we would expect. Perhaps because of their age they just don't have the same desire as even 5 years ago, not that they don't care just that they don't have the same energy. So in conclusion (yes, I know you are glad if you have read thus far) I think it is an ok Rush album. Not bad but not great. I hold Rush (and everybody else) to a high standard. They will always be my favorite band, but that doesn't mean I gotta "drink the Kool-Aid" as it were. They are guys who make excellent music, but not everything they do is perfect because how I feel about them is more realistic than when I was younger. Perhaps it's my age too. Perhaps it's other more sonically pleasing recordings I have been listening to recently. Perhaps I am jaded and can no longer be impressed. Who knows? But I think I am probably only going to hit one show this tour, especially if they play CA in it's entirety.

 

More or less how I feel.

 

As of now, I'm not really liking Halo Affect, The Wreckers and Wish them Well. Not that they are BAD songs , just very generic and boring by Rush standards. And on the upbeat tunes, it just feels like they are rehashing some material, as you said.

 

Still excited to see them live though.

Edited June 15, 2012 by Xanadoood

[Principled Man]

I've listened to it many times now, and most songs have grown on me. I really dig the jams and the overall music; a lot of it is pure brilliance.

 

However, the vocals are still failing to reach me on several songs. Geddy's going overboard at times; it's just not necessary, IMO. Too loud, too up and down in key.....in my ears, the vocals just don't jive with the song at times. It's literally a distraction from the songs. Sometimes, it's more like YELLING than actual singing.....and it's simply not necessary. Also, the lyrics are just not very poetic at times, and that, combined with Geddy's odd vocals, really holds the song back. There's no flow..... and I really like flow.... ....gotta have my flow.....

[Jaminbenb]

I never judge an album by its first few listens... I usually give it a rest then listen again after a while to really pass judgement. In some cases I liked the album right out of the box, but then ended up hating it! (except for a song here and there, HYF and Roll the Bones come to mind)

 

I wasn't overly impressed with S&A when I first got it, now I love it!

 

I've listened to this one about 5 times the whole way through, and individual songs here and there (and skipping over Caravan, BU2B, and HF since I've had them for a little while longer)

 

I really haven't sat down in my family room, with a glass of wine, and just listened with no distractions yet...but I think I'm going to end up liking this one a lot!