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Signals-The Polarizing Album


The Analog Cub
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When it first came out it felt like a death in the family. I love it now but I'm still not a fan of the mix. I would love for it to get the Steven Wilson treatment.

 

I agree. I remember when I came out and I thought this is not the Rush that I know. What's with all the keyboards? Not to say that it didn't grow on me because it definitely did. I always loved Subdivisions. You know they've always been so ahead of their time which I think is why their music holds up so well.

 

Well done on coming out.

 

sorry...had to say it...

Just wait 10 years when she says the same thing about Clockwork Angels.

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Love the album and I personally feel it's closer to Moving Pictures than you think. Grace Under Pressure was the album that disappointed me, almost trying to compensate for Signals when it wasn't necessary. Luckily for some of us we got to hear the live versions, the live version of The Weapon on the Signals tour was transcendental if that's a word. I often think that seeing as they were going through a Police influence they should have got the guy who produced Regatta De Blanc to do it.
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When it first came out it felt like a death in the family. I love it now but I'm still not a fan of the mix. I would love for it to get the Steven Wilson treatment.

 

I agree. I remember when I came out and I thought this is not the Rush that I know. What's with all the keyboards? Not to say that it didn't grow on me because it definitely did. I always loved Subdivisions. You know they've always been so ahead of their time which I think is why their music holds up so well.

 

Well done on coming out.

 

sorry...had to say it...

Just wait 10 years when she says the same thing about Clockwork Angels.

 

Yeah but I never said I disliked Signals before, it was just very different from anything they had done before. I was sorry to see the guitar-driven band I loved stoop to using synths, which to me seemed like a step backward. It also put Alex more in the background, which he's never really recovered from.

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I liked and still like Signals. The handwriting was on the wall however and the end was near..... :)
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When it first came out it felt like a death in the family. I love it now but still not a fan of the mix. I would love for it to get the Steven Wilson treatment.

 

If it got the Steven Wilson treatment then Subdivisions would have a 3 minute creepy intro with some dissonant synth and gloomy chords here and there. But damn, the mix would sound good.

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Keep Signals the way it is thank you.!
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I remember my first time trying to listen to signals. I heard the opening synths and said f**k this. later on, I ended up hearing grace and really liking it, so I went back and forced myself to listen to signals. I ended up loving it, and now it's one of my favorite albums ever. good music's good music, heavy or not, and the synth albums also helped me get into stuff like peter gabriel and kate bush too, because they showed me that you could make poppy 80s music and still sound great.
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When it first came out it felt like a death in the family. I love it now but I'm still not a fan of the mix. I would love for it to get the Steven Wilson treatment.

 

I agree. I remember when I came out and I thought this is not the Rush that I know. What's with all the keyboards? Not to say that it didn't grow on me because it definitely did. I always loved Subdivisions. You know they've always been so ahead of their time which I think is why their music holds up so well.

 

Well done on coming out.

 

sorry...had to say it...

Just wait 10 years when she says the same thing about Clockwork Angels.

 

Yeah but I never said I disliked Signals before, it was just very different from anything they had done before. I was sorry to see the guitar-driven band I loved stoop to using synths, which to me seemed like a step backward. It also put Alex more in the background, which he's never really recovered from.

 

You're right, he's definitely hiding behind the other guys on Counterparts, Vapor Trails, and Clockwork Angels. The Anarchist in particular is such a wimpy rock song :P

 

(The above is all sarcasm, I understand your context :) ) He's definitely changed his styles, especially with his solos. Lot quirkier and a lot of whammy bar instead of pure shred like on 2112/AFTK. I do think that's for the better, though, it drew him away from the same guitar sound all the other guys in the '70's had.

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What bathory said. I bought Signals on cassette the day it was released, in September of '82. I rushed my gangly 14-year-old self home and popped it in the boombox, salivating at the prospect of more "old Rush." Instead I promptly went, "Dafuq?" and I shelved it for quite a while.

 

Now it's one of my mostest favoritest albums ever. I'd rank it 5 or 6 in the Rush discography.

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Great album. In fact, Rush's last truly great album for me.

You should try listening to Clockwork Angels some day. ;)
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What bathory said. I bought Signals on cassette the day it was released, in September of '82. I rushed my gangly 14-year-old self home and popped it in the boombox, salivating at the prospect of more "old Rush." Instead I promptly went, "Dafuq?" and I shelved it for quite a while.

 

Now it's one of my mostest favoritest albums ever. I'd rank it 5 or 6 in the Rush discography.

I had trouble warming up to Signals as well. Even more with GUP. Love them both now. :haz:
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I remember my first time trying to listen to signals. I heard the opening synths and said f**k this. later on, I ended up hearing grace and really liking it, so I went back and forced myself to listen to signals. I ended up loving it, and now it's one of my favorite albums ever. good music's good music, heavy or not, and the synth albums also helped me get into stuff like peter gabriel and kate bush too, because they showed me that you could make poppy 80s music and still sound great.

Peter Gabriel is insanely good stuff!
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Great album. In fact, Rush's last truly great album for me.

You should try listening to Clockwork Angels some day. ;)

Bah. It's an album full of re-treads and inept production. Nothing there of substance

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Just had the Signals conversation with a guy from work who was a big Rush fan from the 1st album. We both didn't and still don't like Signals, though we both like half of it (for me, Subd, Analog Kid, NWM and Losing It). Countdown is so bad it kind of ruins the album for me. We both agree that GUP was/is great, despite not being like the Rush we knew. Will concede that Signals kills anything they did between GUP and VT.
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It is a very good album, but it was also the start of my least favorite period of Rush. For my first 10 years of being a fan, Signals was the last album that had any songs I would listen to, and I would only listen to a few of them. I've grown to like it a lot more, and I've come to appreciate the 81-89 Rush, but it still remains a weak time for Rush for me.
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It's alright.

 

Subdivisions, Digital Man, The Weapon and Losing It are killer songs that I'd easily say are some of the band's best output.

 

However, Analog Kid is dull, Chemistry is all over the place, I've never liked New World Man and Countdown always stroke me as filler material.

 

So it evens out as being above average. I still think it's the worst synth album though.

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I have Signals in my top 5 as well. Losing It is absolutely beautiful. Countdown has lost its luster but definitely grabbed me back then.

 

Digital Man and The Weapon are magnificent!

 

Both kept me busy for months as a young bass player and that album got me very interested in synths and helped build my keyboard chops.

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When I got it, I just thought it was a very different kind of music from all the other hard rock out there which generated my interest into really liking them.

 

In many respects I reckon that but for Signals the band would probably not be around today.

What makes you say that?

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For a long time I was a '76-Subdivisions kind of fan, and never listened to the album beyond the opening track. A couple of years ago I had a conversion moment and became a fan of pretty much everything. Since then it has become one of my most-played albums, and ironically if anything I sometimes skip "Subdivisions" now, because I've heard it so many times (though truthfully I love the album in one whole go so I mostly play it anyway). I would love a mix where the guitar was louder, but I've kind of grown fond of that big mushy wall of analog synth now, so it's not a big thing. :)

 

Geddy's bass on Digital Man is one of his great performances.

 

Yep, listening to it now.

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When I got it, I just thought it was a very different kind of music from all the other hard rock out there which generated my interest into really liking them.

 

In many respects I reckon that but for Signals the band would probably not be around today.

What makes you say that?

 

I think he's right, if Signals didn't exist, it's possible the band would've just made Moving Pictures II and slowly turned into another irrelevant rock band from the '70's. Signals was their first major evolution of their sound.

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Losing It...like...my life needs that song...
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When I first heard it I wondered what the hell had happened to my beloved band. By the next album, I had my answer.
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