goose Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 :musicnote:...I bring Laughter, I bring MusicI bring Joy and I bring TearsI will soothe your primal fears... :musicnote: :7up:That part is awesome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goose Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 :musicnote:...The Universe dividedAs the Heart and Mind collidedWith the people left unguidedFor so many troubled yearsIn a cloud of doubts and fearsTheir world was torn asunderInto hollow hemispheres Some fought themselves, some fought each otherMost just followed one anotherLost and aimless like their brothersFor their Hearts were so unclearAnd the Truth could not appearTheir spirits were dividedInto blinded hemispheres.... :musicnote:I find this part cringy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 I would pick Hemispheres just because that's my favorite era of Rush and I love the instrumentation and atmosphere they put into it and AFTK. Perfect mix of acoustic/electric, dabbles of synthesizers, interesting quasi-fantasy lyrics, all that percussion, .. Moving Pictures has great songs too (and more of them), and it is another bump in the technological direction they were headed. Tighter playing, more synths and sequences, lyrics about 'warm memory chips' and 'random samples'. I like them both but if I have to pick between the two, I'll still pick Hemispheres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) I find this part cringy. As much as I love Hemispheres, these lyrics always sound slightly corny to me: Apollo was astonished;Dionysus thought me mad.But they heard my story further,And they wondered, and were sad. Describing the gods feeling 'mad' and 'sad' and 'astonished' always sounds a little silly to me. On the flip side, I always like how the timbre of Geddy's voice changes when he gets to this part (going from rough to the clean almost childish timbre from part one): Some who did not fightBrought tales of old to light.My Rocinante' sailed by nightOn her final flight.To the heart of Cygnus' fearsome forceWe set our course.Spiralled through that timeless spaceTo this immortal place. Edited December 27, 2019 by LeChuck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue J Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 Listen to Alex go on that guitar! I find Alex’s tone on that song to be unique to anything else they ever recorded. I don’t know if it’s compression, or what it might be. But it’s absolutely unique, to my ears. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue J Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 I find this part cringy. As much as I love Hemispheres, these lyrics always sound slightly corny to me: Apollo was astonished;Dionysus thought me mad.But they heard my story further,And they wondered, and were sad. Describing the gods feeling 'mad' and 'sad' and 'astonished' always sounds a little silly to me. On the flip side, I always like how the timbre of Geddy's voice changes when he gets to this part (going from rough to the clean almost childish timbre from part one): Some who did not fightBrought tales of old to light.My Rocinante' sailed by nightOn her final flight.To the heart of Cygnus' fearsome forceWe set our course.Spiralled through that timeless spaceTo this immortal place. The first bit of lyric you quoted...musically that whole passage is possibly my favorite in all of Rush’s music. It’s just the crescendo, and the explosion, everything that’s going on there, until the final gong, before The Sphere. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ST3V Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) MP, because the only song there I am skeptical about is The Camera Eye (and even that one is pretty decent), but I really like every other song (and Limelight is my favorite Rush song) Hemispheres does have the better half of the Cygnus tracks but The Trees kinda ruins the album for me. Also its only 4 songs, 5 or 6 would've been nice. La Villa Strangiato has a couple dull parts. Circumstances is perfectly fine. Overall Moving Pictures would be above Hemispheres by a lot Edited December 27, 2019 by ST3V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ST3V Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 :musicnote:...The Universe dividedAs the Heart and Mind collidedWith the people left unguidedFor so many troubled yearsIn a cloud of doubts and fearsTheir world was torn asunderInto hollow hemispheres Some fought themselves, some fought each otherMost just followed one anotherLost and aimless like their brothersFor their Hearts were so unclearAnd the Truth could not appearTheir spirits were dividedInto blinded hemispheres.... :musicnote:I find this part cringy. That's actually my favorite part from Book II but I'll forgive you this time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syrinx Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 Hemispheres for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Your_Lion Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 (edited) I still think Hemispheres is one of the most beautiful and best songs Rush ever did! :cheerleader: It's stellar!!!! :)Hemispheres is my 2nd favourite Rush song, edged out (for me) only by the majesty of Xanadu Edited December 27, 2019 by Your_Lion 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue J Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 MP, because the only song there I am skeptical about is The Camera Eye (and even that one is pretty decent), but I really like every other song (and Limelight is my favorite Rush song) Hemispheres does have the better half of the Cygnus tracks but The Trees kinda ruins the album for me. Also its only 4 songs, 5 or 6 would've been nice. La Villa Strangiato has a couple dull parts. Circumstances is perfectly fine. Overall Moving Pictures would be above Hemispheres by a lot Wowza. That’s the most middling review of Hemispheres that I’ve seen in awhile. Certainly to each his and her own...and I do love Moving Pictures, it’s absolutely brilliant. I adore it. But Hemispheres just has more jaw-dropping moments through and through, to my ears. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorraine Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share Posted December 27, 2019 :musicnote:...The Universe dividedAs the Heart and Mind collidedWith the people left unguidedFor so many troubled yearsIn a cloud of doubts and fearsTheir world was torn asunderInto hollow hemispheres Some fought themselves, some fought each otherMost just followed one anotherLost and aimless like their brothersFor their Hearts were so unclearAnd the Truth could not appearTheir spirits were dividedInto blinded hemispheres.... :musicnote:I find this part cringy. i think it is apropos to the way things are now. Of course, this is only my opinion. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorraine Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share Posted December 27, 2019 Listen to Alex go on that guitar! I find Alex’s tone on that song to be unique to anything else they ever recorded. I don’t know if it’s compression, or what it might be. But it’s absolutely unique, to my ears. It's beautiful. I hadn't listened to the song in a while now, and it was almost as if listening to it the first time yesterday. I was reminded why, as a guitarist, I love him. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue J Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 Listen to Alex go on that guitar! I find Alex’s tone on that song to be unique to anything else they ever recorded. I don’t know if it’s compression, or what it might be. But it’s absolutely unique, to my ears. It's beautiful. I hadn't listened to the song in a while now, and it was almost as if listening to it the first time yesterday. I was reminded why, as a guitarist, I love him. Oh, I love that feeling, I know exactly what you mean! When listening to something you’ve heard a thousand times, but it’s been quite awhile, and it feels brand new again. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ST3V Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 MP, because the only song there I am skeptical about is The Camera Eye (and even that one is pretty decent), but I really like every other song (and Limelight is my favorite Rush song) Hemispheres does have the better half of the Cygnus tracks but The Trees kinda ruins the album for me. Also its only 4 songs, 5 or 6 would've been nice. La Villa Strangiato has a couple dull parts. Circumstances is perfectly fine. Overall Moving Pictures would be above Hemispheres by a lot Wowza. That’s the most middling review of Hemispheres that I’ve seen in awhile. Certainly to each his and her own...and I do love Moving Pictures, it’s absolutely brilliant. I adore it. But Hemispheres just has more jaw-dropping moments through and through, to my ears. I mean, I like La Villa Strangiato, its just that there are a couple parts that seem to drag, and I do like the Guitar in The Trees but the lyrics are no bueno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick N. Backer Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 Moving Pictures. There’s nothing wrong with Henispheres. It’s just not Moving Pictures. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grasbo Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snert Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Moving Pictures for me. Probably my favourite Rush album. How many times have I listened to MP over the years? Easily hundreds - it's still a regular on my work playlist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New_World_Man Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 My answer is tricky. Imo, MP is technically the better album but I prefer Hemispheres. I think maybe it's because I have just heard too many of the tracks on MP too many times on the radio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeChuck Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 My original answer was Hemispheres, and I don't think I'll change it. But after having listened to Moving Pictures a dozen times or so since my post, it really is an amazing piece of work. I love the variety of songs and how fantastic and tight their playing was. The use of synths was getting more interesting, but still mostly a backseat to their guitar/bass/drum foundation. They really are in top form at that point .. they must have felt so good when that album was completed and they got to listen to the final product. Some random highlights for me:- The guitar harmonics opening Red Barchetta are always neat to me. I'm used to hearing guitarists play a single or several harmonics for effect. I love the way he strings them together here to make an entire intro and outro.- The bass on YYZ is insane - he manages to play so many notes so fast! One day I'll be able to play this at full speed .. maybe- Limelight is such a solid tune, especially that guitar opening. Fantastic drum fills too. What a perfectly crafted rockout song. - The synth intro to The Camera Eye always blows my mind with the way it sets a mood. Reminds me of listening to the soundtrack of a great sci-fi movie (another intro like this is to "I'll Wait" by Van Halen, which coincedentally also uses the followup model of Oberheim synth).- I personally love Witch Hunt, especially the way it grows and the synths get bigger and bigger. There is also a subtle change to the chord sequence partway through that is neat (I didn't notice it until sitting down to learn it). I also like the brief bass solo where he plays this one note that sounds blue or odd.- The change in the drums on Vital Signs always gets me. I like the pseudo-electric minimal sound in the beginning, but then it switches to total rock out at the end. Neat use of sequencer (for the second time I believe at this point). Geddy's brief bass solos are also great here too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weatherman Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 Absolutely nothing is better than Moving Pictures.And I'm not a casual fan. It really is the best. The integration of guitar with synths. That's the most important thing. The balance of ear-friendly rock with progressive arrangements. Neil successfully boxing his talents into a more conventional structure.Geddy tamping down his shriek of a head voice, using his chest voice instead.The lyrics may be better on other albums, but with Neil you always get excellence regardless. I can quibble about Alex's solo in Tom Sawyer, or the sluggish tempo of Witch Hunt, but really who am I kidding.It is as perfect as rock music can get. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ST3V Posted May 8, 2020 Share Posted May 8, 2020 Absolutely nothing is better than Moving Pictures.And I'm not a casual fan.It really is the best. The integration of guitar with synths. That's the most important thing.The balance of ear-friendly rock with progressive arrangements.Neil successfully boxing his talents into a more conventional structure.Geddy tamping down his shriek of a head voice, using his chest voice instead.The lyrics may be better on other albums, but with Neil you always get excellence regardless. I can quibble about Alex's solo in Tom Sawyer, or the sluggish tempo of Witch Hunt, but really who am I kidding.It is as perfect as rock music can get.this might be the only thing you've said that i actually agree with haha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entre_Perpetuo Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Absolutely nothing is better than Moving Pictures.And I'm not a casual fan.It really is the best. The integration of guitar with synths. That's the most important thing.The balance of ear-friendly rock with progressive arrangements.Neil successfully boxing his talents into a more conventional structure.Geddy tamping down his shriek of a head voice, using his chest voice instead.The lyrics may be better on other albums, but with Neil you always get excellence regardless. I can quibble about Alex's solo in Tom Sawyer, or the sluggish tempo of Witch Hunt, but really who am I kidding.It is as perfect as rock music can get. For my money there's a couple of better Rush records, but they're better by very slim margins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas King Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 (edited) My answer is still Hemispheres. Permanent Waves, Hemispheres and A Farewell to Kings are Rush albums I rank ahead of MP. Edited May 10, 2020 by Texas King Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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