Can you tell me what it was like to listen to Rush in 'their prime'

[xmac]

Hey Everyone!

 

This post may come off as rather odd or weird but I wanted to get this down because I have been thinking about it for quite a while. Please don't argue with me and say the band is still in 'their prime'. I saw the Clockwork Angels tour and it blew my face off - it was amazing. For the purposes of this post I am talking about the earlier years (release of Moving Pictures, etc etc)

 

I am a relatively 'new' fan. I am 31 years old - most of the band's material was released before I really got into them and dove into their entire catalog. That being said, whenever I watch older videos like the Limelight or Tom Sawyer vids from LeStudio I get this overwhelming feeling of sadness mixed with nostalgia that I will never know what it was like to hear those albums when they were released - never see those tours when they happened, etc. I can only experience the band in that era via the catalog of music and watching old videos on YouTube.

 

I know what you might be thinking: "he shouldn't feel sad listening to Rush! They are amazing and the music should be celebrated!". This is true and believe me I feel this. I am just taking a moment to whine and wish I was around when those albums were fresh and totally new at the time.

 

Does anyone want to chime in on this? What it was like to run out and buy those albums when they were released, see those tours, so on and so forth!

[ZivotSon]

Well, I became aware of the band when my next door neighbor got A Farewell to Kings around 1978. It was all about Xanadu and Closer to the Heart back then for me. The band didn't really take off on the radio out here in LA until Moving Pictures came out though. Before that, sometimes you'd hear Closer to the Heart and TSOR on the radio, but that was pretty much it. Once Moving Pictures came out, suddenly you heard Freewill, Entre Nous, The Trees, Fly By Night and Working Man in addition to the MP songs. Even heard Bastille Day once in a while.

 

Tom Sawyer was very futuristic sounding to me. Red Barcetta put all other car songs to shame. But they weren't the biggest band at the time. They were just another one of many rock bands that you'd hear on the radio. Hard rock was much bigger back then and a lot of the "big" bands were still around and in their prime. They were nothing popularity wise compared to Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, Van Halen, etc.

 

But they were a very cool band. Much more interesting than all the bands writing dumb, cock rock songs. I first saw them on the Signals tour. It was all good fun and they were a tight band with great sound. The musicianship was out of this world. Watching them play their instruments and Taurus pedals and all, with Neil playing real chimes, etc., was really cool to see.

[Principled Man]

What it was like to run out and buy those albums when they were released, see those tours, so on and so forth!

 

 

For me, it was like receiving the latest revelation from a "higher power".........I saw them as being on par with mystical beings, whose music and words transcended anything we mortals could ever create. I miss the giddy feeling I had when walking into the record store and concert hall......

 

:notworthy:

[Bluefunk]

What it was like to run out and buy those albums when they were released, see those tours, so on and so forth!

 

 

For me, it was like receiving the latest revelation from a "higher power".........I saw them as being on par with mystical beings, whose music and words transcended anything we mortals could ever create. I miss the giddy feeling I had when walking into the record store and concert hall......

 

:notworthy:

What he said! :goodone:

 

Each album reminds me of my life at the time of release, and my circumstances then. Rush really are the (clichéd, I know!) soundtrack of my life.

 

I was always a little nervous as to whether I would like the new Rush album, but so far I've never disliked one (although I can remember Power Windows being rather a shock, for some reason!).

[Tony R]

I thought they were most exciting around the Hemispheres tour. I'd seen them on previous tours but they seemed such consummate performers on this tour and the light show and sound was incredible. Each new album release, starting with AFTK, was like Xmas Day and the gift of Hemispheres was better than anything "Santa" could deliver on that day!

They were also rapidly gaining in exposure and popularity as Hemispheres hit #14 over here and subsequently Permanent Waves reached #3 both sides of the Atlantic so the buzz around the band was fantastic. The press, whilst mostly writing them off in ever more egregious ways, invariably referred to them as "legendary" and they started to appear relatively more frequently on TV. It was great to feel that you had been in on the "secret" from the start and that now they had proved you right and everyone else wrong. I remember when Hemispheres came out and reached #14 over here a friend from my Sixth Form college remarked that "that" was as big as they would get. How vindicated I felt when "Waves" and "Pictures" each made the top 3 over here and in the US and they had (relatively) hit singles.

From my first hearing of the live versions of ByTor and 2112 in 1976 Rush were my band and, despite my reservations about much of their output since the mid 80s, still are. They deserve the mythical status they enjoy now but naturally from my perspective the buzz isn't quite the same as those heady longago days.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Tony R

[Xanadoood]

I thought they were most exciting around the Hemispheres tour. I'd seen them on previous tours but they seemed such consummate performers on this tour and the light show and sound was incredible. Each new album release, starting with AFTK, was like Xmas Day and the gift of Hemispheres was better than anything "Santa" could deliver on that day!

They were also rapidly gaining in exposure and popularity as Hemispheres hit #14 over here and subsequently Permanent Waves reached #3 both sides of the Atlantic so the buzz around the band was fantastic. The press, whilst mostly writing them off in ever more egregious ways, invariably referred to them as "legendary" and they started to appear relatively more frequently on TV. It was great to feel that you had been in on the "secret" from the start and that now they had proved you right and everyone else wrong. I remember when Hemispheres came out and reached #14 over here a friend from my Sixth Form college remarked that "that" was as big as they would get. How vindicated I felt when "Waves" and "Pictures" each made the top 3 over here and in the US and they had (relatively) hit singles.

From my first hearing of the live versions of ByTor and 2112 in 1976 Rush were my band and, despite my reservations about much of their output since the mid 80s, still are. They deserve the mythical status they enjoy now but naturally from my perspective the buzz isn't quite the same as those heady longago days.

 

Tony, I know the British press in particular cast them as some sort of fascists .. But how about the music community in general? Were they balked at as being another over the top Prog band, or did they garner some sort of respect?

[Xanadoood]

I got into a Rush around the 85,86.. Power Windows was the first album I heard.. In high school, they had the respect of dudes who were players.. You had people mocking geddys voice, but overall, Rush were considered a top flight band

[Tony R]

I thought they were most exciting around the Hemispheres tour. I'd seen them on previous tours but they seemed such consummate performers on this tour and the light show and sound was incredible. Each new album release, starting with AFTK, was like Xmas Day and the gift of Hemispheres was better than anything "Santa" could deliver on that day!

They were also rapidly gaining in exposure and popularity as Hemispheres hit #14 over here and subsequently Permanent Waves reached #3 both sides of the Atlantic so the buzz around the band was fantastic. The press, whilst mostly writing them off in ever more egregious ways, invariably referred to them as "legendary" and they started to appear relatively more frequently on TV. It was great to feel that you had been in on the "secret" from the start and that now they had proved you right and everyone else wrong. I remember when Hemispheres came out and reached #14 over here a friend from my Sixth Form college remarked that "that" was as big as they would get. How vindicated I felt when "Waves" and "Pictures" each made the top 3 over here and in the US and they had (relatively) hit singles.

From my first hearing of the live versions of ByTor and 2112 in 1976 Rush were my band and, despite my reservations about much of their output since the mid 80s, still are. They deserve the mythical status they enjoy now but naturally from my perspective the buzz isn't quite the same as those heady longago days.

 

Tony, I know the British press in particular cast them as some sort of fascists .. But how about the music community in general? Were they balked at as being another over the top Prog band, or did they garner some sort of respect?

 

You'd never know. By 79 the music press had fragmented and concentrated on the music that their editorial teams liked. The NME covered mainly Punk and New Wave or trendy stuff like Bowie, Talking Heads and if your band wasn't part of that clique they existed merely as the target of savage reviews or put downs. I remember Charles Shaar Murray of the NME once responding to a reader's letter in the paper with "don't worry, think of all the people who can't tell the difference between Rush and shit". Sounds magazine had been a promoter for Rush but their main writer Geoff Barton decided he didn't like Hemispheres and jumped ship. Rush did very well in the musician polls in Sounds and Melody Maker though the latter didn't really feature the band by this time. Prog was a dirty word and bands like Rush fought desperately against the tag but in the Prog Community they were seen very much as the last flag-bearers for the genre as Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes and ELP were in various stages of implosion.

Rush succeeded despite almost universal antipathy or lack of visibility in the music media from 79 onwards. They were a fans band and people tended to either love them or loathe them. The American musicians magazines were real promoters with many articles on Peart, Lee and Lifeson and I believe this appeal to musicians played a large part in maintaining their career. Typically the British Musicians magazines were less supportive and I remember the editor of Rhythm magazine actually threatening to stop asking musicians to cite their influences because Neil Peart's name cropped up too much! That's how ridiculous it had got back then.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Tony R

[Bangster of Goats]

I first started liking Rush around '82 when I was 12 years old or so (but didn't get heavily into them until a couple years later) and the impression I had of them back then was this sort of futuristic "technologically advanced" band comprised of three mature, extremely serious "wise elder" musicians. Fueled by the mountains of synthesizers I saw surrounding Geddy and Neil with his short hair (which made me think "that guy is SERIOUS.. and look at all that stuff in his drum kit!"), in the ESL clips MTV would occasionally show. It looked to me like three engineers hard at work manning a huge machine and I thought it was way cool. ;)

 

And yeah, they were getting a little more popular back then, but they were still way underground compared to the likes of Van Halen, Journey, etc.

[Narps]

My history with the band doesn't quite go back to the very beginning but at this point it sure feels like it. I was 16 in 1976 and a friend recommended I purchase All The Worlds A Stage as my first album purchase. I did as he asked and look what has happened. I wore that album out first, and then backtracked and got the 4 studio releases as money allowed over the next few months. A Farewell To Kings was my first new release purchase. The anticipation of that release and the waiting is still the single most exciting music related event in my memory. It was released at the start of my senior year in high school. Back then there was very little if any information about these things so I went by the record store every day for over a week asking if it had come in yet. Finally, the day it arrived, I bought it and raced home to drop the needle. Like Principled Man so eloquently stated, this was as close to a religious experience as it gets. Pure joy and love. You and your band. I bought every release thereafter the day they came out, up to Power Windows. No live show or anything else will ever replace the emotions I felt when I had A Farewell To Kings in my hands for the first time........ :)

[x1yyz]

I started listening to them in 1980 and they immediately became my favourite band. The biggest differences between then and now, stylistic changes aside, were the ease of finding other Rush fans, and the information that is available about the band.

 

Back then I think the only other person I knew who was into Rush was my boyfriend at the time. Now I know many other people who like them. That's partially because I know more people in general, but also because with the Internet it is much easier to get to know/stay in touch with/learn about friends. And music is much better if you can share it.

 

The Internet is also the reason why it's so easy to get information about the band, their plans, and their tours. In the early 80s the only information I ever saw was in the few magazines I bought, and the only tour info was in the Sunday paper when tickets went on sale. Now we've got band websites, Wikipedia, online interviews, fan pages, online ticket sales and show schedules, etc. etc. It's incredibly easy to become immersed in the band, and younger people may not realize it wasn't always this way.

[JARG]

I thought they were most exciting around the Hemispheres tour. I'd seen them on previous tours but they seemed such consummate performers on this tour and the light show and sound was incredible.

 

^^^^^

 

This. They had really hit their stride as performers by Hemispheres. Supremely confident and capable, and Neil was much more of a performer back then -- you could tell he hadn't yet burned out on touring. With a very few exceptions, every sound you heard coming off the stage was played in real time by the guys you saw on stage. And the live sound back then was so much better than it is now. A big part of that, I think, is that the venues they played in back then were mostly theaters, which, of course, are designed with audio fidelity in mind. When they switched to arenas, their live sound went to shit and has been that way since.

 

I think it's great that you recognize that the Rush you see these days is a diminished version of Rush from their heyday. There are so many fans who never got to see them back then and so suffer from a bad case of sour grapes, as in "oh how could they really be that much better than they are now?" Those of us who have seen Rush then and now know exactly how much better they used to be.

[Tombstone Mountain]

I'm of the opinion that they're still in their prime musically. Haven't lost a thing. Geddy's voice has changed with age of course but that can't be stopped.

 

However, put those guys behind their instruments—better than ever!

[umoveme]

I got into them after Permanent Waves listening to my big brother's album on his stereo with headphones. Those were great times chillin in a bean bag and getting lost in Rush.

 

[Bluefunk]

How vindicated I felt when "Waves" and "Pictures" each made the top 3 over here and in the US and they had (relatively) hit singles.

I remember seeing Pan's People (or maybe Legs and Co?) dancing to 'Spirit Of radio' on 'Top of the Pops'. They were carrying transistor radios, and it gave me a good laugh!

[GeminiRising79]

It was tremendously exciting to follow Rush during the powerband era of their career. Nothing like tearing the shrinkwrap off of that brand new album (or 8-track) and reading the covers while listening. I remember that wonderful warm and fuzzy feeling you'd get. Meeting them with a few friends behind the Watergate hotel (during the mp tour) was surreal, after only seeing them on album covers. It was a glorious time to be a Rush fan.

[Tony R]

How vindicated I felt when "Waves" and "Pictures" each made the top 3 over here and in the US and they had (relatively) hit singles.

 

 

I remember seeing Pan's People (or maybe Legs and Co?) dancing to 'Spirit Of radio' on 'Top of the Pops'. They were carrying transistor radios, and it gave me a good laugh!

 

Yes, it was surreal. I remember squirming in my seat watching it.

 

 

[Bluefunk]

How vindicated I felt when "Waves" and "Pictures" each made the top 3 over here and in the US and they had (relatively) hit singles.

 

 

I remember seeing Pan's People (or maybe Legs and Co?) dancing to 'Spirit Of radio' on 'Top of the Pops'. They were carrying transistor radios, and it gave me a good laugh!

 

Yes, it was surreal. I remember squirming in my seat watching it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOrXi3IQtcA

Squirm some more! It was 'Legs & Co' apparently.

[Tony R]

How vindicated I felt when "Waves" and "Pictures" each made the top 3 over here and in the US and they had (relatively) hit singles.

 

 

I remember seeing Pan's People (or maybe Legs and Co?) dancing to 'Spirit Of radio' on 'Top of the Pops'. They were carrying transistor radios, and it gave me a good laugh!

 

Yes, it was surreal. I remember squirming in my seat watching it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOrXi3IQtcA

Squirm some more! It was 'Legs & Co' apparently.

 

Great find! First time I've seen it since and it still makes me squirm. Presumably that was from TOTP2?

 

[Bluefunk]

Yes, that's TOTP2. :)

[greyfriar]

The first new release for me was Exit...Stage Left. I drove 15 miles with my motorbike (moped) to the record shop to get the LP. On the way home the damn bike broke down and I pushed it through pouring rain for hours. I arrived at home with the well covered vinyl and the exertions were soon forgotten as The Spirit Of Radio blew out of the speakers.

Buying a new release was an adventure back then.

[Ancient Ways]

I had heard rush on the radio previously but was basically unaware of them. I started high school in fall of 1981 and met a couple of strange characters (both seniors, I was a sophomore) that drove around listening to moving pictures (released earlier that year), drank beer, and enjoyed other items.... I hung out with them for a while and grew to love rush while driving around doing nothing. For many people MP was their peak. It had a similar effect on me that people earlier experienced seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I immediately got their back catalog, started learning guitar, and became very interested in all music where I was not a big fan before this. In a lot of ways getting into rush at that point changed me forever.

[GeddysMullet]

What it was like to run out and buy those albums when they were released, see those tours, so on and so forth!

 

 

For me, it was like receiving the latest revelation from a "higher power".........I saw them as being on par with mystical beings, whose music and words transcended anything we mortals could ever create. I miss the giddy feeling I had when walking into the record store and concert hall......

 

:notworthy:

 

I feel very fortunate to feel this way about Rush now!

[x1yyz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOrXi3IQtcA

Squirm some more! It was 'Legs & Co' apparently.

 

That dancing has nothing at all to do with the music.

[Bluefunk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOrXi3IQtcA

Squirm some more! It was 'Legs & Co' apparently.

 

That dancing has nothing at all to do with the music.

You just summed up the careers of the TOTP dancers quite succinctly. :D