Spaghetti Lee Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 (edited) "Caress of Scrote" is one of the BEST albums of ALL time by ANY band. THIS Is how you record a band...NO excessive reverb, drums that sound like they are in the room with you, perfect separation between the instruments, incredible dynamics, every tiny nuance and sound can be clearly heard on ANY system, and the intensity is just sheer ecstacy. THIS is how a record should sound. TAPE compression. NO digital reverb. NO drums that sound like snappy trebly non-distinct walls of mush. Bass that sounds as if the bass amp was built into your speakers. Guitar that rips your face off yet every note rings true. Just GREAT. "No One at the Bridge" is one of Rush's BEST, and has Geddy EVER belted better than this album? He started losing his range and power during the 2112 tour, but here he was just balls-out nuts; every single lyric fits the music to a "T," and it is a progressive album in the TRUE sense of the word meaning VARIETY...that's why "I Think I'm Going Bald" fits so well; it actually reminds me of the Beatles' "White Album" in that regard; it's just all over the place which is GREAT!!! Progressive rock should NOT just mean long songs that ALWAYS go into some fast instrumental section (ala the sameness of Dream Theater); REAL progressive rock is about variety and throwing everything together with the amazing gift of making it WORK. This album gels together so well it could be used as Michael Jackson's afro-sheen when his hair caught fire for Pepsi. It doesn't smell as bad, but damn if this album doesn't b-u-r-n!!! But again...the production!!! It's just pure sonic bliss. I would KILL to have bands record like this again...when the band sounded like it was in a ROOM with you, NOT in the back of a STADIUM drenched in a reverb-y wall of of mud!!! Highlight: Geddy's voice on "Scream out desperation!!!" with that PERFECT fast wide vibrato that he abandoned later... DEFINITELY a perfect album. It's unfathomable that this was the same band that recorded "Heresy" and "Bravado" years later...not to mention "Available Sh*t" and "Half the World." Talk about sharting on your legacy with such crap!!! But I digress..."Caress of Scrote" is an exemplary example of the eternal REAL Rush; for without it, we would have NEVER gotten to hear "Carve Away the Stone" or "High Water"...which is perhaps the ONLY bad thing about it. They did end up giving us "Neurotica" and "You Bet Your Life" afterall; hmmm...perhaps I'm on to something here. Could you imagine all the sh*tty songs Rush would have never been able to record had "Caress of Scrote" made them lose their record deal??? Things that make you go hmmm... BTW, Arsenio's cancelled again. Yay!!! Edited June 6, 2014 by Spaghetti Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coventry Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Great record apart from ITIGB. The other songs are terrific though. The intro chords to Necromancer are lush. As are the intro chords and the outro to "Lamneth". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 I don't think it's perfect although it is one of my favorites and I listen to it a lot. I personally think that The Fountain takes off a little bit of the "perfect". I prefer The Necromancer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifeson90 Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 The fountain of lamneth quite early genesis imo, indeed i believe Al described some of his playing on no one at the bridge as being very steve hackett, i wish rush had produced just a little more material like this they exceptional at mixing up tempo but seem to have focused on the faster stuff since permanent waves really. Truly superb album, the Fountain only rush i play to literally relax to, the rest being more intense prog rockers mainly. Easily gets in my top 5, possibly top 3 and even has a shot at the top 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Digital Man Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 It's such a shame that so much of the early stuff will never be performed live again due to Geddy's now limited vocal range, let's hope it won't anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Empty Mindless Spectre Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) I don't think it's perfect although it is one of my favorites and I listen to it a lot. I personally think that The Fountain takes off a little bit of the "perfect". I prefer The Necromancer. :goodone: Edited June 10, 2014 by Empty Mindless Spectre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coventry Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 So, been listening to COS the past few days in the car and on the LSA/Ref 3A system and I just can't see it as anything close to a perfect album. It has some sonic moments and instances of potential, but it comes across as unoriginal, over-played, and uninspiring. Yes, parts of 'Bacchus Plateau' are blissful, and the the chord structure of 'Panacea' is memorable, but the rest of the tunes stand as a stark reminder that pure talent can't make up for a lack of passion or vision. I'm not saying Rush wasn't passionate at this time, nor that they didn't have some vision for this album, but those aspects don't crystallize into any cohesive lattice. These guys can play, and they know the ideas of song-writing, but it's not like anything they're doing hasn't been done before - and done better. Still, I'm not trying to take away from its power for the OP and others. It's a fun album; just not perfection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pause Rewind Replay Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) Perfect only if your dog wants to play and you've lost your Frisbee Bastille Day: classic, but it's on ATWAS Lakeside Park:: good, also on ATWAS everything else: No reason for me to bother owning it. Edited June 10, 2014 by Pause Rewind Replay 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorraine Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 :o 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narps Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Perfect only if your dog wants to play and you've lost your Frisbee Bastille Day: classic, but it's on ATWAS Lakeside Park:: good, also on ATWAS everything else: No reason for me to bother owning it. That stings a little. I do prefer the live versions of the songs you mentioned however. On that we can agree.... :) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brucey Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Perfect only if your dog wants to play and you've lost your Frisbee Bastille Day: classic, but it's on ATWAS Lakeside Park:: good, also on ATWAS everything else: No reason for me to bother owning it. That stings a little. I do prefer the live versions of the songs you mentioned however. On that we can agree.... :) I hope this doesn't sting but, I think the whole album is awful. :o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rushman14 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 without Caress of Steel there would be no 2112, but perfection it is not. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narps Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Perfect only if your dog wants to play and you've lost your Frisbee Bastille Day: classic, but it's on ATWAS Lakeside Park:: good, also on ATWAS everything else: No reason for me to bother owning it. That stings a little. I do prefer the live versions of the songs you mentioned however. On that we can agree.... :) I hope this doesn't sting but, I think the whole album is awful. :o It's not everybodys cup of tea. I knew you didn't like it anyway and that's understandable... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorraine Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Perfect only if your dog wants to play and you've lost your Frisbee Bastille Day: classic, but it's on ATWAS Lakeside Park:: good, also on ATWAS everything else: No reason for me to bother owning it. That stings a little. I do prefer the live versions of the songs you mentioned however. On that we can agree.... :) I hope this doesn't sting but, I think the whole album is awful. :o :o 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel Rat Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 I've got an emotional attachment to this album, reminds me of summer days with my best friends in high school. One day, we just sat silently in a basement listening to Fountain of Lamneth. It was an unusual activity for us, we normally spent a lot of time beating stuff in each others yards with gardening tools. At the end of the song, after the heartbreaking sting at the end, all my friends were like "...wow." I'll never understand why people don't get this album - Rush fans, no less. I was just introducing my friends to Rush at that time. You rarely get the chance to get others interested in the music you like. Caress of Steel really brings me back. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorraine Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Yeah. "Wow" is the word. I can't help but think when I listen to Caress of Steel and AFTK how much more of an impact they would have made had they been released in 1967/68. Those were two really "wow" years. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILSnwdog Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Perfect only if your dog wants to play and you've lost your Frisbee Bastille Day: classic, but it's on ATWAS Lakeside Park:: good, also on ATWAS everything else: No reason for me to bother owning it.Wow. I think CoS is far from a perfect album. It's one of those albums that I have to be in the mood for...but come on...have you heard the Necromancer? :haz: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILSnwdog Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 without Caress of Steel there would be no 2112, but perfection it is not.I think we are done here. Rushman has nailed it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronos Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 we normally spent a lot of time beating stuff in each others yards with gardening tools. LOLWUT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeddyLeeRoth Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I love Caress of Steel, but it is far from a perfect album, IMO. Hemispheres is Rush's most perfect album. The material never suffers and it is perfectly balanced in its song-cycle. Beginning, middle, grand ending. COS was not a fully realized album and is rough in spots. But I still love if for its ambition and vibe all the same. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBluePhoenix Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 You guys must have been smoking the same thing that the band was when they made COS. It is by far the worst Rush album. I would go so far as to call it an embarrassment for the band. Just look at the results of the album: the band themselves called the tour “the down the tubes tour.” I’m just thankful that they were able to pull out of the death spiral with 2112. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troutman Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I enjoy the album, But I cannot remember the last time I listened to Bastille Day or Lakeside Park. ATWAS was what got me in to Rush. I love the live versions of the songs. Purchasing COS came after that. I was like, WTF is this? :P I guess I was spoiled from the live tracks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorraine Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 You guys must have been smoking the same thing that the band was when they made COS. It is by far the worst Rush album. I would go so far as to call it an embarrassment for the band. Just look at the results of the album: the band themselves called the tour “the down the tubes tour.” I’m just thankful that they were able to pull out of the death spiral with 2112. :o 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennyLee Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 You can definitely get spoiled by the live tracks, I agree. I love CoS but I do agree with others that they achieved perfection on Hemispheres. That being said, what an impressive musical display from a bunch of kids, really. Unreal when I compare what I was doing at their age and what they were doing at their age. Way beyond their years at the time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennyLee Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 You guys must have been smoking the same thing that the band was when they made COS. It is by far the worst Rush album. I would go so far as to call it an embarrassment for the band. Just look at the results of the album: the band themselves called the tour “the down the tubes tour.” I’m just thankful that they were able to pull out of the death spiral with 2112. Keep in mind it was the Down The Tubes tour because of the commercial success of the album, not the quality. They were (and had every right to be) very proud of that album. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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