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The Debut


Lucas
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Funny thing is, if you listen to early boots when Neil first joined the band, he really kicked ass on the debut songs. They grooved, but he played with his trademark ferocity, and they were killer. Somewhere along the way,he got a little fancy and if you listen to Working Man off of DS, he almost gets out of control, aND loses the groove. On more recent tours, he seems to be holding back too much.

 

We talk about the synths and Alex's guitar sound in regards to the change in their sound, but Neil and his approach to the drums is something that I feel killed a lot of what they were ..

 

Granted, times were different in this video, but WTF is he doing in the second verse ( starts @ :22 ) ??

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUGoJ5W1KfM

 

Wow. It's like...what the heck was that?

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Granted, times were different in this video, but WTF is he doing in the second verse ( starts @ :22 ) ??

 

Alleviating boredom for himself is my guess.

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Love it. Youthful, energetic early 70s Hard Rock.

 

I love the path they went down, obviously, but they lost some of that energy as the years went on, IMO.

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Granted, times were different in this video, but WTF is he doing in the second verse ( starts @ :22 ) ??

 

Alleviating boredom for himself is my guess.

 

By dragging the song to a complete halt ?

 

Geddy and Alex seemed fully into it, as did the fans ... Nothing boring on their end

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Granted, times were different in this video, but WTF is he doing in the second verse ( starts @ :22 ) ??

 

Alleviating boredom for himself is my guess.

 

By dragging the song to a complete halt ?

 

Geddy and Alex seemed fully into it, as did the fans ... Nothing boring on their end

 

It's just a guess, man.

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There are a few songs on the debut that I really like: Finding My Way (wicked riff), Working Man and Here Again. But, to me, the debut album really isn’t Rush. It’s a hard rock band before it became Rush. Neil turned what always had down deep inside them into Rush.

 

However, I can’t stand to listen to Working Man live. They always play it WAY too slow and to be honest, I don’t like the way Neil plays it. He OVER plays it. Rutsey did a better job of holding it down (tight as a frog's ass) while Alex goes mental on the solos.

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What you're doing on R40 is unlistenable.

Yes, I agree. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY TOO SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.

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Listening right now and, damn, do I love this album!

 

 

:haz: W :haz: H :haz: A :haz: T :haz: Y :haz: O :haz: U :haz: R :haz: E :haz: D :haz: O :haz: I :haz: N :haz: G :haz:

 

 

 

Just a monster jam!

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On a scale of 1 to 10, "10" being the best:

 

"Finding My Way" - 9 - A smash-bang introduction that grabs you by the collar and doesn't stop shakin' you silly until it's over.

 

"Need Some Love" - 7 - A damn cool song. They kept it to just the right length.

 

"Take a Friend" - 6 - The weakest song on the album is still pretty darn good. Lyrics are a bit strange, but nothing wrong with that.

 

"Here Again" - 10 - An absolutely beautiful song. Everything comes together and works perfectly. Guitar, bass, drums, vocals. Gorgeous.

 

"What You're Doing" - 9 - Really powerful song that goes for the gut. Awesome all around.

 

"In the Mood" - 10 - Just a fantastic, very basic and very fun song!

 

"Before and After" - 10 - Another song that starts out beautiful and then grows, hit's the mark and keeps right on hitting it.

 

"Working Man" - 10 - The only negative I've ever found in this song is that if you pay attention to the lyrics, you realize that the subject of the song, this Working Man, actually doesn't really do much working. I mean, he gets up at 7. He goes to work at 9. Note that he doesn't say that he starts work at 9. From what he says it would seem that he leaves his house at 9 to head to work. So saying he lives close to where he works, he possibly actually starts working at 9:30. But then, he's home by 5. That would mean that he would have to leave work around 4:30. So he "works" from 9:30 to 4:30. He'd have to have at least a half hour for lunch. That means this "Working Man" actually works a 6.5 hour day. 6 and a half hours?! Not really much of a working man! Musically, the song kicks major ass. As a matter of fact, maybe we should say that "this one goes to 11"!

re: his work ethic...remember, he's Canadian.
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I love "Here Again". It has been in my rotation of favorite Rush songs for years.

 

Some of the versions on some of the bootlegs of that are awesome! They slow it down a little, and it feels a little more "bluesy" than on the first album...Great tune!

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What more can be said? I love it, it was the first Rush record that I could drum to!

 

Weird but true:

Years ago I was transcribing some of the drum parts from the debut for someone, and noticed that 5 and a half of the songs used the same (or similar) rhythm/beat.

Now that's not news - people do that all the time, but the beat he used (sort of a variation on Immigrant Song with a bass at the end instead of a snare) and the way he was able to adapt it to the various tempos and moods of the material is really interesting. I think that's pretty cool!

I played along to this record for years, and never noticed it until I went to write it down.

 

If you're interested, the beat shows up in:

Take a Friend

Here Again (played so deliciously slowly, and swinging very nicely against the straight time of the riff. Love the musical tension.)

What You're Doing

Before and After

Working Man (except for the fast jam)

oh yeah, and in the chorus of Need You Love.

 

Rock on John Rutsey!

Love that snare drum sound.

Edited by vaportrailer
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