Rediscovering Rush

[psionic11]

QUOTE (daveyt @ Jul 1 2007, 03:46 PM)

QUOTE (pedro2112 @ Jul 1 2007, 12:49 PM) QUOTE (GoddessInTheirGarden @ Jul 1 2007, 09:43 AM) THE WRITER:  Welcome to The Rush Forum.  This is a really good group to hang out with, very creative, confident, and opinionated.  I know you'll have fun here. Um, Goddess... Writers been here almost two years longer than you.   THE WrITER needs to just keep it real instead of using all those flowers in his sentences What are you talking about? Flowers? Do you mean big words?   I think The Writer is very firmly entrenched in "the real".... it's your flippant remark that needs a reality check. Show us, don't tell us. The proof's in the pudding.   Or is that too flowery for you?

[The Writer]

Feedback

 

History

 

I do love a good cover version. The operative word being 'good'; unfortunately, for every good one, there are a dozen or more bad or simply pointless ones (what's the point of recording something that sounds indistinguishable from the original, for example).

 

When I heard about this (and I might have read about it on here, I suppose), I shook my head, and said 'nice gag'. Then I saw it in a shop, and I had to buy it.

 

Like I say, I like a good cover version...

[The Writer]

Summertime Blues

 

So, I listened to this. And I shook my head and listened to it again. And I wondered why on earth it sounded like that. After a while, I decided to find out why, and then i discovered Blue Cheer. Then I understood - this is cover of a cover.

 

Which makes a lot more sense. You see, in Britain, we've never heard of Blue Cheer and their strange, missing out the important part, version of this - we only know about Eddie Cochran. It doesn't make any sense to me to have the whole call-and-response part all call and no response ("I wrote to my congressman, and he said, quote: drum fill. Huh?). Now I've heard the 'original', I understand why this version sounds like this.

 

I do like it; it is a lot of fun, but it doesn't half sound odd to me.

 

Heart Full of Soul

 

Ah, this is better - I know this. This is the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck era. And that's a remarkable sound - it's Rush, but Geddy's voice is almost unrecognisable, and all the instruments are being played in something close to the period style - Neil's drumming here is quite distinctively un-Neil-like in places (and in others, like the fill at the end, he can't help peeking out from behind the curtain).

 

It's a great song, and this is a decent version, all the more so for not being quite what I expected. having said that, I'm not sure what I did expect - The Who and Led Zeppelin, I suppose. Given that the Yardbirds kind of sparked a lot of that British sound off, this makes sense, and the original Jeff Beck guitar sound - whch Alex approximates, rather than copies - was hugely influential. Nice.

 

For What it's Worth

 

You know, in spite of the kimono period, I find it hard to think of these three guys as hippies. But here's a real hippy anthem, although I actually had to look it up to find out who did the original (I had it pegged as a CSNY song, which is not so far from the mark).

 

Once you know that Buffalo Springfield were in the mix as early influences, then you can hear elements of that sound in the early work ('Making Memories', for example, carries an element of that sound, I think. Again, this is an impeccably chosen song to record; it stands the test of time admirably, and it sounds like it was a lot of fun to record.

 

And it might cause a few people - me included - to check out Buffalo Springfield, which is no bad thing; I'd forgotten just how good they were. In my defence, I was very young at the time.

 

The Seeker

 

Ah, here's The Who. Marvellous. It goes without saying that Keith Moon would have been an influence on Neil, as he was on just about every drummer at the time. What's clear from here, though, is a broader influence on the overall sound. Everyone talks about how Zeppelin-like the first album is, but there's another British band under all that stuff, and you can clearly hear it in this.

 

Great song, great version. I'm enjoying this, but there's a killer in here somewhere, and we haven't had it yet.

 

Mr. Soul

 

Another Springfield song - again, I'm somewhat surprised. It's also the first song on here that I'm not familiar with, and I had to go and seek out the original to compare it with.

 

And I'm not sure what to think. Is this one of Alex' favourites, included because he loved the solo, or is there more to it than I can hear? It just doesn't jump out at me (although I can hear 'Satisfaction' under it - a little more clearly on the original, but it's there).

 

And is that a quote from 'Eight Miles High?" Do they have to pay a royalty for that?

 

 

Seven and Seven is

 

Here's the killer. I just love this song; I've always thought of it as a song out of time - it's probably about 10 years ahead of its time - you could imagine the Ramones doing it, for example.

 

And, of course, what I love (ha!) most of all bout it is the drumming - of course it's on here - I wonder how long the teenaged Neil Peart worked at this until he could do it automatically. If this doesn't inspire you to become a drummer, then nothing will. Once started, if this doesn't cause you to give up, then you might just be a drummer.

 

Of all the songs on here, this is the one I keep coming back to, just for the sheer fun of it.

 

 

Shapes of Things

 

Reasons to love Rush, part 94:

 

Despite the fact that I've known the Yardbirds original with its wild and crazy guitar since I was about 8 years old, I've been haunted most of my adult life by the appalling version recorded by Nazareth - a band I'm ashamed to admit are Scottish, and who are the ultimate bar-band-got-lucky. now I have this much more listenable version to sooth my savaged ears.

 

OK, Nazareth weren't all that bad, but they really did a number on this, and I'm so glad to have a much better version now.

 

Crossroads

 

Heh. No, I don't suppose you were allowed to even be in a rock band in the late sixties / early seventies unless you played 'Crossroads'. Rush really aren't a blues band, so this sounds slightly odd, but they once were a blues band, and that's what we're hearing here. Again it's a cover of a cover, but this time I do know the version that's being done here, and it's a more than halfway decent version, too.

 

Alex isn't Eric Clapton, but he could have been, and you can hear all that going on here, even though it still sounds like our boy Lifeson. How much must he have enjoyed finally recording this, since I suppose he's been playing it since he was a teenager.

 

Oh, and Geddy's isn't a blues voice. But you knew that already.

 

 

Summary

 

It's enormous fun; it's really interesting to hear in terms of influences and so on, but ultimately, I suppose it's just a little disposable. Of these, only 'Seven and Seven Is' will continue to detain me - for most of the others, I'll more than likely listen to the originals if I want to hear them again.

 

But I do like a good cover version, and these are really good. Ultimatley, though, I want to hear Rush doing Rush songs.

 

Thankfully, there's one more album to go; I'd have been disappointed to go out like this, really.

[Lrigyttiw]

Writer,

 

I'm on a "Rediscovering Rush" mission also. I started liking them in 1977 when my twin brother brought home this new album with the cool cover, 2112. Over the years, I've held on to my favorites off of each album up until Moving Pictures. I couldn't embrace their need for the strong synthesized sound on Signals, so I let them go, missing all the hidden gems in the subsequent CDs (the format changed during the journey also). Fast forward from 1977 to 2006, when I picked up a copy of Neil Peart's book, Ghost Rider. I can't even remember what led me to the book at this point. After I finished that one, I immediately read Travelling Music and Roadshow, back to back. They lit me on fire, and the fire's been growing ever since. My first concert was this year, 8/24/07, and that was a month before I purchased Snakes & Arrows. Now, I'm 3 CDs short of owning everything they've put out.

 

It's been an expensive journey, but such a soul satisfying one. My job allows me to listen to my iPod all day long, so I've been listening to all the CDs in chronological order (Signals through Hold Your Fire is a painful era for me... not really, I just don't like the synthesizers). Things start cooking for me when Presto comes on, then it's smooth sailing through Snakes & Arrows. They are now my all time favorite band. Period.

 

Forever!

 

Dana

[The Writer]

So here we are - the end of the road. I'll sum it all up in one gigantic post at the end: coming soon. But, for now, this is my own last voyage, and I'd like to briefly acknowledge all the feedback - positive or otherwise - there has been along the way. Once these next few posts are done, that's it from me - this was always about doing this, not about joining in with any of the other things. I'll probably keep checking in here from time to time, but I'll almost certainly go back to being anonymous in a little while.

 

As for the posts; I'll certainly keep a copy of them, and I may even put them up somewhere (I have some bits and pieces of web presence around for just such an eventuality), but it won't be straight away. Oh, and I will take the opportunity to tweak a few things, correct spelling and punctuation, iron out some inconsistencies, and devote a little more time to 'Feedback', which I rushed (ha!) horribly yesterday: I didn't have quite as much free time as I thought I did.

 

Now I'm almost there, of course, I have all these thoughts crowding in - things I forgot to mention, observations I failed to make (and, of course, in the more than 2 years it's taken to get this far, I've changed my mind about some things, too - but it's a record of what I felt at the time, so I'm happy to stand by it). Enough of me - on with the story...

 

(there's an imaginary prize on offer for anyone who gets all the oblique references in those paragraphs - the subtlest of in-jokes for those who have been paying particularly close attention)

 

 

Snakes and Arrows

 

History

 

No more history for this than anyone else, I guess. I downloaded it (as I said before, entirely legally) in the first few days after it was released. Listening to it kind of disrupted all the other things I was doing for a while, but it was the first properly new Rush product I'd bought since 'Power Windows', so I felt able to indulge myself.

 

And the fact that I did download it suggests that this whole project has been something of a success - I'm energised enough about this band after all this time to want to hear the new songs, and that's not always been the case. I even contemplated going to a live show - 25 yeas after my last - but it just didn't work out; the nearest they came to me was Calgary, and I was in Britain then; when they were in Britain, I was back here. Never mind, there's always next time.

 

Except, we don't know for certain that there will be a next time, do we? To be fair, we never do - circumstances can take a hand and change everything at any time, but as a band (and its members) gets older and probably less inclined to do the whole album/tour/album thing, you always wonder - is that it? Have we heard the last of them?

 

Well, if so, let's make it a good one, shall we?

 

 

 

[The Writer]

Far Cry

 

Confession time - the first few times I heard this, I didn't rate it. For some reason, I just couldn't get a handle on it at all. Maybe it needed to be in the context of an album, maybe I wasn't listening properly, maybe I was expecting something else - I don't know. What I do know is that it wasn't until I heard the whole album that it began to make sense to me. The way the opening chords underpin the first verses is actually irresistible, once you've decided to let yourself go, and the chorus elements are just great - here are the catchy little tunes and hooks which were sometimes missing from 'Vapor Trails'

 

And here, too, are some elements of the Rush sound which have been missing for years. Everyone comments on the 'Hemispheres' moment, but I hear these things all the way through it - as if spending time working through the back catalogue has rubbed off on the modern sound without overwhelming it. Then, only after I have absorbed everything else, do I pay attention to the lyric - kind of bleak in a way, it sets the tone for much of what is to come, but also (as ever) quietly optimistic; 'I can get back on...'

 

Just like riding a bike.

 

 

Armour and Sword

 

(once again, I invoke Canadian-ness here)

 

Opens with all manner of splashing cymbals - is it meant to invoke a marching army in armour? Then there's a delicious drop out into a simple guitar figure, and we are plunged into a dark and brooding atmosphere (am I alone in hearing some of the lowering skies of 'Jacobs Ladder' in here?) and even the brief respite of the refrain doesn't exactly lift the mood - the sentiments owe something to 'Free Will', and something to 'Resist' (at least stylistically), but Neil is more pessimistic about these things now, and the whole mood is underpinned by a frankly angry guitar solo.

 

Hey, there's a guitar solo!

 

This is not, I can tell, going to be my favourite track on this album, but in the spirit of the covers we've just passed through, I can imagine it being covered very effectively by one of those post-Metallica bands out there.

 

Workin' Them Angels

 

Long ago, I commented on the lack of a final apostrophe on 'What You're Doing', identifying it as a sign of a certain classiness. So what am I to make of this? It's almost as if it had been put there to prove me wrong after all this time.

 

Except, of course, that it hasn't. This is actually the companion piece to 'Ghost Rider'; mature and sober reflections some years later to the events of that terrible time, and the title picks up on a recurrent theme in the 'Ghost Rider' book - Neil's letters to his friend Brutus, in which he often alluded to the angels he didn't actually believe in, and how, if they turned out to exist, he'd been giving them something of a hard time of late.

 

So it's already autobiographical, and then he throws in the magical touch of a sly reference to 'Moving Pictures', which elevates this song above the ordinary 'You know, I don't have such a bad life' song. And to cap it all, there are more - you know, I never did check out what they were; cuatros, I thought, but these sound a little like mandolins. Whatever they are, they are a clear sign of a band back on the top of their game. No need for the stripped-down 'Vapor Trails' sound any more; this is a much fuller (and much easier to hear, I have to say) soundscape - full of intriguing little elements like that.

 

Just like an old-fashioned Rush record, in fact.

 

The Larger Bowl

 

A pantoum, it says. Well, now. how many of us actually knew what a pantoum was before this? I'll be honest - I had a vague idea that it was something close to a villanelle (I have had occasion to contribute to collaborative villanelles before now, but let's not get into any of that now), but I, too, had to look it up.

 

And having done so, this instantly became one of my favourite songs. Not just on this album; not just of all Rush songs, but one of my favourites of all. You see, it's one thing to attempt to do something like this, and it's quite another to actually pull it off so that it works as a poem. It's quite another realm of achievement altogether to turn it into a song which not only works, but also transcends the form without breaking it.

 

By repeating entire lines in different places in successive stanzas, Neil gives his musical collaborators a real headache - you have to fit the stresses in the lines to keep it meaning the same (or to change the meaning , as appropriate). And you have to do it while keeping it all in a workable musical format. This song, after all the years of constructing clever ad/or witty songs, finally pulls all that wit and wisdom together in a coherent, cohesive whole which just soars - not least at the guitar solo, which suggests that all those cover versions have freed up Alex' playing a little, and may be one of his finest of all in its simplicity and direct appeal to the ear.

 

Hmm. I knew that would happen. I love this song, I really do. And I am in awe of the fact that it all makes sense. Ignore the cleverness of the structure, or the way it's been fitted into a wonderful melody - just listen to the words. Man, that's powerful stuff.

 

Spindrift

 

Love the opening - all backwards playing and menacing guitar. There's a definite sense of unease here, underlined by a truly unusual personal lyric. Neil really doesn't normally get this personal with things, which makes me wonder of it is actually either entirely imagined, or actually nothing like as personal as it appears.

 

And after a period of reflection, I'm tempted to go with the latter. I think this is actually a reflection, not on his personal relationship with anyone, but on his ambivalence at suddenly being a Californian (all the 'Western shore' business). I'm pretty sure that living in LA is a little different from rural Canada, and this seems to suggest that for all the benefits, it's actually a pretty weird place to get used to.

 

Musically ambivalent, too, I'd suggest - not quite what it seems. And a false ending, too. Have we had one of those before?

 

*thinks: back at the end of 'Fountain of Lamneth', unless I'm mistaken*

 

The Main Monkey Business

 

Aha - instrumental time. This, I suspect, is how we know that Rush is on form, and back to normal. Let's face it, can anything hope to supplant the early instrumentals by now? Probably not, in reality - I have so much more personal history with them. But this does make more than a decent stab at it. It's more structurally complex than some of the later ones, and has a truly beautiful little guitar hook, as well as some more of Geddy's wordless singing.

 

And it is at this point that I should note that the playing on this album is quite stunning. Fluid and relaxed - these are three guys who may have been proving something last time out, but who no longer need to; all they are focused on is doing the job impeccably and are clearly having a great time - there are all sorts of things in here; little percussion elements, throwaway string-based things; entire soundscapes we haven't heard for years.

 

It may never replace 'La Villa Strangiato' in my affections, but I love it a lot more than I thought I would.

 

(and I discovered that you can sing "Atomised/At the core" in places - which must be coincidence, but it's rather cool, don't you think?)

Edited October 16, 2007 by The Writer

[The Writer]

The Way the Wind Blows

 

Hold on - what's this? The opening sounds like an out-take from 'Feedback'; all bluesy guitar and spare drumming, before we're plunged into a solid Rush riff and a topical, biting Peart lyric.

 

Which is all very solid and satisfying, but then.... But then, the whole thing glides down to a subtle, understated guitar part and Geddy launches into probably the most catchy and magnificent chorus since - well, since a long time (don't ask me to pin it down any further than that!). Honestly, this song is one of the best things to happen to my ears in many years. I keep sending it to people and forcing them to listen to it - it really is that good.

 

In my mind's eye, I can see the huge crowd gazing up at the stage, and swaying (and singing, in some cases) along to this like - well, not like your typical Rush experience, to be honest.

 

I like this - can you tell?

 

Hope

 

In which Mr. Lifeson attempts to answer the "Broon's Bane" question from a few posts back, by pointing out that he's still quite the accomplished and technical guitarist. I can hear all sorts of influences in this, most of them just out of reach of my memory; I recognise the general sound, but I can't quite pin it all down.

 

In the end, what it reminds me is that there's a lot of life left in this band yet, if they want there to be. Funny how that thought is prompted by one of the vanishingly few songs they've ever recorded which does not feature all three of them. And it also causes me to reflect that this album is quite different in feel to what has come before it.

 

That's a good thing, in case there should be any doubt.

 

Faithless

 

Wonderful opening, all bass and almost aimless voice, and then a solid, muscular riff leading us to more 'Freewill' (and 'Resist' again) musings.

 

Interesting point, that: 'Freewill' kind of said it all, and the odd occasion on which Neil has found it necessary to reinforce the point, it has often sounded a little redundant. Not here, though - the only redundant thing I can hear is the repetition of the word 'faithless', which has one more syllable than is strictly necessary for the metre of the song. At first it bothered me, then I began to wonder if it wasn't deliberate. (Of course it is, these guys don't leave clunky-sounding things in their songs unless they mean to). So, it's another example of something jumping out at you because it's meant to - it makes you hunt down the words and figure out exactly what's going on.

 

Also, let's hear it for proper song endings. I knew they wouldn't let me down...

 

 

Bravest Face

 

How often, during this whole project, have I suddenly been pulled up short by a lyric? To be expected, I suppose, but here it happens again. At first listen, I felt this was a little lightweight, then I thought about the words I was already singing along to. It's not the most complex or obscure argument we've ever heard, but sometimes the message is the message.

 

By which I mean, that the way you phrase things can help you to have a different way of looking at them. I really like the way Neil uses the commonplace to illustrate the obvious (I know exactly which TV show he means, for instance, even if I don't watch it - it doesn't matter how much darkness you put in a show like that, the good guys win, the viewer gets their justice served, and, no, life's really not like that). Then, on top of that, there's some startlingly good guitar work (again - there's a theme here, no?) and a quite beautiful and un-Rush-like ending.

 

 

Good News First

 

Rumbles along nicely, then suddenly breaks down - again, there's a theme here - to a recognisably Rush-style melody and structure. For a moment or two, then we're back out into the 'Snakes and Arrows' movements - if this album were a film, it would be all hand-held Steadicam and jump-cuts - and a sweeping middle section, complete with tinny echo, which really made me smile for some reason - again, probably because I didn't expect it.

 

Oddly, I can't quite sort the lyric out - at first glance, we're back in the territory of 'Spindrift' , only this time, it really does sound personal and I'm suddenly less sure about my earlier analysis. It's a bit of a puzzle, this one, and I feel I'll keep coming back to it.

 

Malignant Narcissism

 

Has the feel - and sound - of three guys just picking up whichever instruments are to hand, and having a blast, just to see what comes out. First few times, I'm straining to hear what the little spoken parts are, but after a while, I just shrug, and enjoy listening to my three favourite rock musicians just having a great time.

 

As instrumentals go, I have the odd feeling that this one will last much better than most - it has a delicious spontaneity to it, showcases all three of them, and doesn't outstay its welcome.

 

We Hold On

 

No - wait; this can't be it?

 

I'm afraid so - this here is the actual end of the road; everything which comes afterward is just me hanging around in the parking lot, not quite ready to go home yet.

 

So, after all this time, what message do we have; what do I get to set me back on the road to sanity? It is, most satisfyingly from a personal point of view, a restatement of the themes from 'Middletown Dreams'; looking at things from another point of view, we have these dreams, and maybe we could make them happen, or maybe we are actually able to be happy where we are - not just holding on, but actually having hope for the way forward.

 

For me, I had the opportunity to make the break, to follow the dreams, but it's not the case for most (I guess) people, and perhaps if things had been different, and I was still typing this up in my old office on my old computer, where I started, I would hear this as some kind affirmation that I had done the right thing, after all.

 

You could also read it as a message to those of us who fear that this is the end for Rush - we may get bored of the touring and so on, but what else could we do? We hold on, and we keep going.

 

 

Summary

As for me, well; I'll keep going, but not at this. This really is it now. What's most satisfying for me is that the final album, which could have been 'just another record' (well, maybe not, but there have been some which didn't quite measure up) turns out to be a magnificent work. I'm certain that if this had been released by a younger, more fashionable band, it would have been a huge hit. But it wouldn't have been, would it? This album, 18 and a half records in, is in many ways the culmination of all that's gone before. It may not be a career-ending record, but if it turns out to be, then at least they (and we) can say that they went out at the top, all guns blazing, still as committed to their craft and their sound as they were all those years ago.

 

The raw energy of 'Finding My Way' has its echoes here; the sound may have moved on, but the energy and enthusiasm is still there. You can't really ask for more than that, can you?

[The Writer]

So here we are. Two years (and two months) on, and what have I learned? Well, first of all, of course, we're all two years older, and there is one more Rush album than there was when I started - I'm glad it fitted in, because I don't suppose I'll come back to this project in the future.

 

(But ask me again when the next one comes out)

 

Things which were dreams when I started have come to pass - my old life ended, my writing career got some kind of a kick start, and the exercise of doing this played a big part in that. Just today, I took delivery of my shiny new Canadian Permanent Resident card, and I found myself pondering whether I ended up living here because of Rush. Which is only partly ridiculous. As a Rush fanatic all those years ago, I would contend that I was more aware of, and more interested in, Canada than I would otherwise have been. When the discussions (and they had been going on for many years before we actually moved) came round, as they invariably did, to moving, Canada seemed this cool place, partly because it could produce people like Neil, Geddy and Alex. But of course there was and is a lot more (all of it more important) than that to moving one's entire family halfway round the world. However, a tiny part of me is here because I once heard 'Closer to the Heart' on a tinny transistor radio late one Friday night.

 

So, in a way, this whole project has been a gesture of thanks to a band which meant a lot to me when I needed something to mean a lot to me, and who never really went away, even when I was steadfastly ignoring them. Two years ago, I genuinely had not heard three entire albums worth of material (none of us, not even the band, had heard a fourth, of course), and had only a passing acquaintance with several others. Now, I consider myself well-versed in Rush, if not quite the obsessive I once was. This, on balance, is a good thing. Many of the songs I rediscovered, having known them before, have made me smile or be otherwise grateful to have found them again, and more of the newer songs than I'd have expected have given me great enjoyment. Some songs I used to love have turned out to be thinner than I remembered (I'm looking at you, 'Madrigal'), while others I had neglected turned out to be worthy of my time - of anyone's time.

 

I have been inspired to read Neil's published works, and have discovered, not exactly a kindred spirit, but someone I can readily relate to and understand (I enjoy my faint brush with fame much more than he does, but mine is on a scale so minuscule compared to his that they are scarcely the same thing at all - protozoa and blue whales are both living things, but they don't exactly compare.)

 

Don't ask me to rank what I've heard in any kind of order - once upon a time, I'd have happily spent several days doing that, but now I don't really see the point. Different songs and different albums fit different moods and different times, and that's just how it should be. No point in getting me to figure out whether I prefer 'Moving Pictures' to 'Snakes and Arrows' - I don't know, and asking me isn't going to make the answer magically appear (I did find all the album / song polls on the forum, though. I note that my favourites are not the majority's favourites. This pleases me immensely.)

 

This project took shape late one Friday night as I flew back from Milan to London. The flight was, as always, delayed, and I had just spent the most intense three days of my life helping to bring a major technical project online - mostly in three languages at once, one of which I hardly spoke at all any more - I was exhausted and keenly looking forward to spending at least a little more time with my family (although there were things I needed to follow up over the weekend, that could be done from home, and in reality I felt that the worst was over - the job was done, and I could relax at least a little.) I had my mp3 player lodged in my ears, the better to distract me from the privations of flying Alitalia, and I was listening to my small selection of Rush songs, when an idea (or Idea) took hold. I need a new project, I thought - I haven't written anything substantial in some time, but I don't have a lot of time, and it needs to be able to be done in bite-sized chunks.

 

So I came here a few days later, scouted the lay of the land, and plunged in. I'll review all the studio albums, I thought. Then I thought that I may as well throw in the live ones, too. I'll keep it brief and top and tail each review with a few pithy thoughts. I'll be done by Christmas, and I'll be back in the swing of writing regularly. Oh, and to end it all, I'll compile a list of all the best bits.

 

Funny how things turn out, isn't it?

 

Anyway, to the one remaining order of business. A list. No; A List. The pieces of music (in chronological order) which have most struck me during this process. Note that this is not a list of my favourite Rush songs ever (although I'm sure that many of them are in there), but of the things which have most enlivened my dark evenings while I've been doing this. The forgotten gems, if you like - songs which surprised and delighted me in one way or another. No rules other than that - there won't necessarily be one from each album, or anything like that (although I'll try not to miss anything out), and I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to this more than you are, for I have no idea what I'm about to say.

 

The Writer's List Of Rediscovered Gems, Some Of Which May Have Been Discoveries, Now I Come To Think Of It.

 

Before and After - that skipped beat, and the fact that the 20-year-old me would have just loved this.

 

In The End - just the perfect way to finish an album; still sounds fresh somehow.

 

Fountain of Lamneth - if it's just a single CD we're making here, then 'Panacea' and 'Bacchus Plateau'. Not sure how often I'll listen to it all again now, but boy, did it surprise me at the time.

 

Something for Nothing - "Ah, I love this band sometimes"

 

By-Tor and the Snow Dog (live) - never my absolute favourite, but I was spellbound by hearing this live version again.

 

A Farewell to Kings - I hadn't forgotten it, but I had forgotten how great it is.

 

Cygnus X-1 - sumptuous. What I love most about this now is how much my children enjoyed it. And how much I did, too.

 

Jacob's Ladder - mighty and muscular, possibly the biggest surprise I had in this whole journey, because I used to skip over it.

 

Witch Hunt - that atonal chime: still gives me shivers.

 

YYZ (live) - I wasn't about to miss this out.

 

Brron's Bane / The Trees - my only cheat, I think. Not even remotely surprised by these, but I couldn't leave them out.

 

The Analog kid - I'd almost entirely forgotten it, but what a song!

 

New world Man - I'm still bouncing...

 

Kid Gloves - another I used to skip; not any more.

 

Territories - perhaps my favourite rediscovery; just a magnificent thing

 

Middletown Dreams - Can't believe I hadn't heard this for so long; it kind of became my theme song for the move ("It's understood, by every single person who'd be elsewhere if they could")

 

Open Secrets - that whole 'burned on the ceiling' thing. Like a new song for me.

 

Closer to the Heart (live) - that ending: too good for words.

 

Presto - I'd really underrated this for all those years.

 

Red Tide - gravitas, my friends.

 

You Bet Your Life - I really didn't expect to even like this, for some reason. Wrong again...

 

Between Sun and Moon - still on the internal jukebox.

 

Double Agent - woah: what the hell was that?

 

Time and Motion - had to work hard at this; worth the effort, I feel.

 

Driven (live) - the point at which I fell in love all over again.

 

How It Is - once I'd read the book, it all made sense.

 

Nocturne - all that stuff going on.

 

O Baterista - of course; the big band still does it for me. Every time.

 

La Villa Strangiato (live) - that's jazz...

 

Seven and Seven Is - OK, so I lied; at least one from every album. Oh, those drums.

 

The Larger Bowl - almost too clever for words.

 

The Way The Wind Blows - still rocking, after all this time. And in such unexpected ways.

 

 

 

 

And with that, I'm done. I'll stick around for a little while, just to see how things pan out, and I'll certainly take a copy of all this and will probably do something with it one day. I won't post again (although I might reply to the odd PM if pressed) - I think 100 not out is as good a way to end as any. Thank you all for putting up with the ramblings of an old fool, and I wish you well.

 

 

The Writer.

[drumstruck]

What a journey.

Whether I agreed or disagreed, it was always nice to read the words of a gifted Writer. Odd that it was somewhere in this thread over a year ago that I finally plunged in and made my first post to this forum.

Rediscovering Rush is something that I will be doing again and again. It is the thing that will keep this band alive even after they (eventually) call it quits. My Rush journey started as a 14 year old punk who knew nothing about music. And continues today, nearly 30 years later - Rush by my side every step of the way.

 

[sullysue]

Thank you so much, Writer, for the time you've taken here. I've read most of your posts, and I've enjoyed them very much. I hope this isn't the last we see of you. I smile a little when I see that you've made a new post, so I'll miss that. Good luck to you and your family with your new life in Canada. You'll always be part of The Rush Forum family.

[The Writer]

Six years and it's still here?

 

No thanks to me, of course. I thought I had bolted this particular door behind me, but it seems not. Six years. I have some things to tell you, if you would hear them. And if you wouldn't, I'd hardly blame you - it's just some stranger, ranting on the internet after all.

 

Still here? Very well, let us catch up. Six years ago, I wanted to be a writer. I had just completed this; my newspaper column had a few months left in it before staff changes at the paper and the inevitable fear of repeating myself brought it to a graceful ending. I turned those columns into a book, but no-one seemed particularly interested. So I turned to doing some actual, proper writing. Now there's an actual book (which contains no Rush references, I'm afraid. The next one won't, either, but the one after that... ). You should buy it, it's good...

 

In other news, I now have two teenagers living in my house, there's a whole unreviewed Rush album to ponder, as well as another reimagined which I'd quite like to talk about if time permits. Those teenagers? They have both seen two Rush concerts, which means that I have seen twice as many as I had the last time we met. This might deserve an explanation or two.

 

Let me take you back to May 25th, 1983 - the last date of the Signals tour. As I wandered back to the bus with YYZ ringing in my ears, I wondered when I would next see these guys in action, because there was definitely going to be a next time. Concerts like that don't happen all that often, and I wanted more.

 

Funny how life turns out, isn't it? The next time Rush came anywhere near me, five years had passed, and I had - or so I thought - moved on. The full story is further up this thread if you're really interested. So the news I have for my 21-year old self was this: the next time you see Rush in concert, you'll be middle-aged; you'll have your wife and sons with you, and you'll be on a different continent.

 

Like I say, funny....

 

Ever since I made all these posts in here all those years ago, I knew two things for sure: I needed to see Rush live one more time, and it probbably wasn't going to happen. The gods are malign, or the cards aren't aligned, or some such. Consider the obstacles - there has to be another Rush tour, which is never certain; there has to be a concert relatively close to me (Vancouver is 9 hours drive away, as is Edmonton); it has to fall at a convenient time - a weekend, say, which doesn't clash with school, soccer commitments, family holidays, and which we can do without breaking the bank.

 

Over the years, the boys have become entirely indoctrinated in all things Rush. Even my wife, not exactly a fan, is tolerant and understanding. So there's that in our favour. But still, all those other factors...

 

Snakes and Arrows came and went. Rush played Vancouver, but the boys were in a soccer tournament that weekend, and since I'm the coach, we can't just not show up. It's not to be, I assumed.

 

I assumed wrong. Over the next couple of years, the boys get more and more enthusiastic; one is a drummer, one a guitarist - they could not have better role models. When Time Machine rolled around, they came to me with the tour dates. "Dad, can we...?" It was Christmas time; the date seemed to work - the start of a holiday weekend, the last day of school, no tournaments planned. Parents consulted, then made a plan. We would all go. I honestly don't know which of us was more excited at the prospect.

 

Of course it was a spectacular, magnificent experience. How could it not be? Even the few problems we had added to the rich texture of the whole thing: No. 1 son was affected by the - let's call it 'aromatic' - atmosphere towards the end and was feeling a little queasy. No.2 son, still only 10 years old, couldn't see much at all for long periods of the first set, and was overpowered by the sheer noise of the whole thing. But we sorted those out, with the help of some earplugs and creative shuffling of the seating arrangements, and they saw...

 

They saw something which they will never forget. We still talk about it; how 'Spirit of Radio" came tearing at us so loud and fast it took a full minute to adjust and understand what we were hearing; how loud all those people down there could be; how much fun those three guys on the stage were having; how many of our favourite songs got an airing (my wife only wanted to hear "Closer to the Heart"; I had told her I thought it had been retired. As the intro faded into the song proper, I looked along the row. My whole family, on their feet, singing at the top of their voices. Funny how things turn out, isn't it...); the drum solo, with No.1 son trying to record it on his phone and watch it and interpret it so he can start work on it as soon as he gets home.

 

But none of that was the best thing about that weekend.

 

The best thing about that weekend was that it was the Canada Day holiday. The next day we walked around Vancouver, taking in the sights and sounds, and looking resplendent in our new Rush t-shirts. Everywhere we went, people asked about the gig, or shared their favourite bits. The boys loved it, talking to complete strangers about a shared passion. As we headed down to Granville Island, we passed two guys - I think the only proper word for them is dudes - who smiled to see us and as we passed commented:

 

"Way to go, dad - bringing the boys up right."

 

Yeah, it was memorable.

 

So, there are two albums and another gig to consider. What do you think? Shall I bring the story up to date?

 

 

(you know what, I'm probably going to do it anyway, but it would be nice to know that someone might read it)

[EagleMoon]

I just spent about an hour reading through this thread. Fascinating stuff