Lucas Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 (edited) I have long considered Terry Brown the fourth member of RUSH, and have never really questioned what the band would have been without him .. Rush consistently made headway and created some fantastic cinematic albums during the time he spent with the band .. But after reading a book about the making of KISS' album Destroyer, which chronicled the lengths Bob Ezrin went in transforming KISS in late 1975 / early 1976, I began to wonder what an album like 2112 ( for example ) would have been with a guy like Ezrin .. Sometimes the "comfortable shoe" is not always conducive to bringing out the best in something, whether that be art, music, relationships, personal growth, etc Staying with Ezrin for a minute - he had a big influence in transforming Alice Cooper, giving him an added dimension that his previous albums lacked ...Same with KISS ... and Ezrin's fingerprints are all over Pink Floyd's The Wall .. Don't get me wrong - when the subject of 2112 is brought up, we are talking about one of the greatest albums ever ... But I think it could have been better ... Listening to the Universe Divided bootleg, the song is off the charts incredible - sure, that was 3 years later and the band had played it to death at that point - but how many times have we said "the live version of By Tor is so much better" or "the live version of In The End . . " etc etc And I must add that I have always had an issue with Different Strings ending too soon - just as Alex gets going, the song ends ... And Permanent Waves clocks in at a miniscule 35 minutes - a full 10 minutes shorter than Caress Of Steel - the song could have gone much longer ..... And I can only imagine what Tears would have been under a guy like Bob Ezrin ... One of my favorite bands of the 80s is Voivod - and Terry Brown killed them on Angel Rat On the other hand, there are some magic moments on these albums ( Jacob's Ladder, Cygnus X-1 ) and once Terry Brown left the fold, the band, I feel, lost a huge part of their identity and signature sound .. Even if it was for just one album, do you feel a little something more could have been brought out early on ? . . Edited November 27, 2015 by Lucas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUSHHEAD666 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 (edited) At 47 years young I can't understand thiis.It is what it is. Terry Brown will always be number one for me. Signed, Broon's Bane Edited November 27, 2015 by RUSHHEAD666 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas Posted November 27, 2015 Author Share Posted November 27, 2015 At 47 years young I can't understand thiis.It is what it is. Terry Brown will always be number one for me. Signed, Broon's Bane Is that a YES, he is above criticism ? Earl, don't you think that a different perspective - even if for one album - might have been good, if for nothing else, just a change ? And he should have put his foot down and said NO to I Think I'm Going Bald .. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narps Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Yes... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Segue Myles Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Signals sucks. And Hemispheres could have been a lot more interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narps Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 But yes the live version of every song on ATWAS is better than the studio one. Pure magic. Not sure what that means though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyBlaze Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Sure, Ezrin's resume is undeniable. But who knows what would've happened if he had been working with Rush? Their evolution might've taken a different turn had he been involved at some point in the 70s. Without all those successive Brown-produced albums, Moving Pictures might've been something different or possibly not at all. http://www.likecool.com/Gear/Pic/evolution%20of%20man/evolution-of-man.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUSHHEAD666 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 At 47 years young I can't understand thiis.It is what it is. Terry Brown will always be number one for me. Signed, Broon's Bane Is that a YES, he is above criticism ? Earl, don't you think that a different perspective - even if for one album - might have been good, if for nothing else, just a change ? And he should have put his foot down and said NO to I Think I'm Going Bald .. Lucas! Terry Brown deserved NO criticism!! HE RULES! To me is he PERFECT in the Production Protocol Of Progressive Perfection! To me "Caress Of Steel" is a perfect record. It's bloody brilliant!Many on here know this. I find it totally ironic that Shit Corporate Crap Mercury was going to drop the band from the label. This has NOTHING to do with Terry. I am a broken record on here but fukk it man it's all good. I will die by the sword of all things RUSH because I actually have confidence and swagger.I roll my hips like Mick Jagger! "I Think I'm Going Bald" is pure punny homage to another band I adore like you called KISS!!!! KISS Wrote "Goin' Blind" so Rush counteracted with "I Think I'm Going Blind." It's pure class and comedy all in one. People who hate "I Think I'm Going Bald" need to stop masturbating because I think they have hairy hands and palms and are truly the ones going blind by their ears. The riff by Alex is absolutely killer. The guitar solo is EPIC! i will never understand the stink eye for the "Caress Of Steel" album. Perhaps if the average Rush fan renamed the record "Caress My Steel" they would love it more. They could love it more like "FEEL MY STEEL." Yours Truly, CARESS OF STEEL PANTHER 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUSHHEAD666 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Yes... Amen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUSHHEAD666 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Signals sucks. And Hemispheres could have been a lot more interesting. HAHAHAHA!!! You are so sarcastic buddy, it's oozing through my computer screen. Tastes like chicken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUSHHEAD666 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 But yes the live version of every song on ATWAS is better than the studio one. Pure magic. Not sure what that means though... "All The World's A Stage" RULES! Signed, "One two buckle my shoe......" 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUSHHEAD666 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Sure, Ezrin's resume is undeniable. But who knows what would've happened if he had been working with Rush? Their evolution might've taken a different turn had he been involved at some point in the 70s. Without all those successive Brown-produced albums, Moving Pictures might've been something different or possibly not at all.http://www.likecool.com/Gear/Pic/evolution%20of%20man/evolution-of-man.jpg Blaze! You make me feel very happy now. So happy that Ezin didn't touch any Rush music. I support Terry Brown FOREVER! All other producers for RUSH ARE FUCKKING WEAK! JMO TERRY HAD BALLS!! THESE OTHER WIMPS WANTED GLOSS AND SYNTHETIC SYNTH SHITE! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babycat Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Sure, Ezrin's resume is undeniable. But who knows what would've happened if he had been working with Rush? Their evolution might've taken a different turn had he been involved at some point in the 70s. Without all those successive Brown-produced albums, Moving Pictures might've been something different or possibly not at all.http://www.likecool.com/Gear/Pic/evolution%20of%20man/evolution-of-man.jpg Blaze! You make me feel very happy now. So happy that Ezin didn't touch any Rush music. I support Terry Brown FOREVER! All other producers for RUSH ARE FUCKKING WEAK! JMO TERRY HAD BALLS!! THESE OTHER WIMPS WANTED GLOSS AND SYNTHETIC SYNTH SHITE! Ezrin? As in Bob Ezrin? Didn't he produce some Alice Cooper albums? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyBlaze Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Sure, Ezrin's resume is undeniable. But who knows what would've happened if he had been working with Rush? Their evolution might've taken a different turn had he been involved at some point in the 70s. Without all those successive Brown-produced albums, Moving Pictures might've been something different or possibly not at all.http://www.likecool.com/Gear/Pic/evolution%20of%20man/evolution-of-man.jpg Blaze! You make me feel very happy now. So happy that Ezin didn't touch any Rush music. I support Terry Brown FOREVER! All other producers for RUSH ARE FUCKKING WEAK! JMO TERRY HAD BALLS!! THESE OTHER WIMPS WANTED GLOSS AND SYNTHETIC SYNTH SHITE! Ezrin? As in Bob Ezrin? Didn't he produce some Alice Cooper albums?Yeah he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Segue Myles Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Signals sucks. And Hemispheres could have been a lot more interesting. HAHAHAHA!!! You are so sarcastic buddy, it's oozing through my computer screen. Tastes like chicken. Sarcasm? (I meant it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReRushed Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 No. Terry Brown, while being the perfect producer for Rush at that time, is overrated. Terry Brown's reputation benefited more from working with Rush than Rush's music benefited from working with Terry Brown. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReRushed Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Speaking of Ezrin, I think his production style would have been too theatrical for the music of Rush. I think he would have muted the rawness that makes 2112 so good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Principled Man Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 ....once Terry Brown left the fold, the band, I feel, lost a huge part of their identity and signature sound. The band loves to explore new sounds and ideas. That is the "identity" of the band, and it is THEIR band. Producers come and go, but Geddy, Alex and Neil decide what they want to do. They're on record as saying that they could have kept making albums like Moving Pictures, but then they would have broken up. They wanted to add more keyboards and synths into their music, and Terry Brown wasn't happy with that, so he left. That's the music business...... Their "signature sound" depends on who you are as a fan. It's in the ear of the beholder. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Segue Myles Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 (edited) Terry Brown was wrong for Signals, and had he stayed, they would have gone downhill. GUP through to HYF are flawlessly produced beauties! As for earlier Rush albums, I think Terry Brown was a perfect match. AFTK, 2112, FBN and COS all share a certain magic that I cannot trace in any other band, whilst PeW and MP are absolutely superb! My issues with Hemispheres has more to do with a lack of an emotional connection, but to be fair, when the mood hits me I am in awe of the guitar tone on Hems. Terry Brown left at the right time, as Rush continued to evolve wonderfully throughout the eighties! Terry Brown or no Terry Brown, the nineties albums stumbled, not due to the production, but because of the quality of the material. Test For Echo is punchy, and beautifully produced, but song for song, it ain't no Permanent Waves! (I like all the nineties albums, but musically and lyrically they were a little...off colour). When Rush and Terry Brown needed each other, they were pretty faultless. But a time came for Rush to move on, and Terry obviously wasn't the man to evolve with them (and judging by the fact most old school fans think the post MP works floundered, perhaps we ought to consider than Terry Brown felt that way too). Edited November 27, 2015 by Segue Myles 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apetersvt Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Rush went downhill when Broon left. But, nobody is above criticism. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troutman Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Rush went downhill when Broon left. But, nobody is above criticism. What. Ski resort was that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 "It is what it is" and it's a "coulda shoulda woulda" situation...but by the same token, what would the stuff that he was denied access have sounded like if he HAD worked on them? The fact that I can't stand Presto is a good case in point...would that have sounded less like a soft rock band with "second rate" songs if Terry Brown produced it? We'll never know... a sounding board is only as good as their opinion at the time...Yeah, a lot of people think Signals lacked...but I liked the songs, and thought that production was an issue. But when you look at it...would any of us actually HEARD Rush if Terry Brown wasn't there to begin with? And as far as the argument that the live stuff sounds better...of COURSE it does..when you get it on the album 99% of the time the band just learned the song, and was tweaking things as they put it on tape...that's why some bands like to work things out on the road before putting things down so that it's right where they want it (and in some cases it's why the FIRST album sound great, but the next one is kind of "eh"! Tough to say, really...but no use in speculating what might have been...if someone other than TB helped get this off the ground...would we even BE here 40 years later?!?! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyBlaze Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Tough to say, really...but no use in speculating what might have been...if someone other than TB helped get this off the ground...would we even BE here 40 years later?!?! Yup, that's along the same lines as what I was saying earlier. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babycat Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Sure, Ezrin's resume is undeniable. But who knows what would've happened if he had been working with Rush? Their evolution might've taken a different turn had he been involved at some point in the 70s. Without all those successive Brown-produced albums, Moving Pictures might've been something different or possibly not at all.http://www.likecool.com/Gear/Pic/evolution%20of%20man/evolution-of-man.jpg Blaze! You make me feel very happy now. So happy that Ezin didn't touch any Rush music. I support Terry Brown FOREVER! All other producers for RUSH ARE FUCKKING WEAK! JMO TERRY HAD BALLS!! THESE OTHER WIMPS WANTED GLOSS AND SYNTHETIC SYNTH SHITE! Ezrin? As in Bob Ezrin? Didn't he produce some Alice Cooper albums?Yeah he did. Thought so. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluefox4000 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 This is just me.......but he was the man as far as making Rush sound the best. sorry just is. Signals is debatable.......but i like it. he just knew what they needed. Mick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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