Rush: Classic or Dud?

Josh you going to either of the Notherly Island shows? i'm going on the 5th

Hold Your Fire, Presto, and Roll The Bones are kind of a low point for me. Hold Your Fire and Presto both have a bunch of good tunes, and Roll The Bones a few, but the overall sound and production values are just terrible. So jangly and trebly, with like zero low-end or guitar crunch. I much prefer their "return to rock" albums that they've put out since then.

well i think the rap on the song "roll the bones" is THE low point

but i like hold your fire quite a bit actually...time stand still is great...i like new wave 80s/synchronicity-jocking rush

If you're behind, Snakes and Arrows is their best album since Counterparts. To my ears, it's their best album since Signals, but most would not agree because they either have a nostalgic fondness for late 80s Rush, or they won't be able to appreciate Rush produced in a modern way. I think it sounds great, though all those new songs are even better live.

It's been a treat liking that record because obviously they play a lot of it in concert. So when a badass new track like Spindrift starts, and 1500 dudes start heading to the concessions stand to buy another $14 beer, I'm just rocking out and smiling.

i did enjoy the songs off S&A live when i saw them a couple years ago...

the recording from what i heard was too modern metal sounding i thought, but i guess that's rush, they usually try to keep up w/the times

I actually think Snakes and Arrows is their best since Presto. As big a fan as I am, they'd sounded creatively stagnant on record for the longest time, so that album really blindsided me. It still holds up well today.

the song title "workin' them angels" drives me UP A WALL for some reason

Tour dates are here: http://www.rush.com/

Those bastards play every other day. Must be nice :)

they've earned it!

did you read that "roadshow" book where peart did a tour by motorcycle (he would follow the tour vans and make his own route)....i thought it was pretty entertaining.

It's on the back of my toilet right now.

^^^yet another perfect ILM board description

Rob, I'll prolly go to one of them, if I can get in for free, especially now that U2 has been scuttled til '11.

Charter One Pavilion will be a great place to see Rush. I saw Dio with Heaven & Hell last year -- it was small enough that none of the seats were bad. There were fold-out metal chairs and hs-style bleachers, the stage facing the lake. There had just been a storm with 90+mph gusts of wind earlier, and the sky was still swirling with quick moving clouds, and Dio's hair blew dramatically like an 80s video.

I hope they do it like The Cult's Love tour -- after they played the complete album, they did "hits" from Electric and later. With Rush the question is do they stick to one era (Permanent Waves to Power Windows would seem cohesive to me) or not.

Well, considering the album runs less than an hour and a typical Rush set closer to three (including intermission), I hope they just pack the rest with goodness. I mean, Rush has a lot more to draw from than the Cult. I love "Love" but hated that show.

I don't think I can handle 3 hours! I thought the Cult show was great up through Electric. I left not long after they got into their sucky albums.

"did you read that "roadshow" book where peart did a tour by motorcycle (he would follow the tour vans and make his own route)....i thought it was pretty entertaining."

That's a great book. His other ones are pretty good too.

True story:

Daniel Richler's parked
Illegally at Shopper's
Then Geddy Lee hops in!

Whoops, drop the "Lee" from that last line to make it fit haiku form.

New Rush single is out today - Caravan b/w BU2B - and it rocks!

Some crazy instrumentals going on in Caravan, and BU2B is super heavy.

hmmm not really feeling this....

it's like they are just jamming random riffs together, no memorable melodies or songwriting...

these songs remind me of what ppl often say about rush like they are some kinda math rock band, when in reality they always used to write really great songs, great hooks...

why are they trying to be so "heavy", this is arguable "heavier" than they ever were, at the expense of the stuff i actually loved about rush.

Yeah, not feeling the new one. Reminds me a bit of the "Counterparts" comeback, when the band was all, hey, we can be heavy, too! But this seems almost Primus at times in its herky-jerkiness.

Yeah, the vocal melodies seem a bit generic TBH (although maybe not that much worse than many other hard rock/metal bands) but I think the music, especially on "Caravan", is very good. Surprisingly metal for them. Have they been listening to Mastodon or something?

xpost

I did think of Primus too, actually, but not in a bad way.

The new songs are pretty good if you ask me. Very heavy at times, but still willing to toss in some synths every now and then. I think it's very similar to what they did on S&A.

You guys are scaring me shitless with the Primus comparos.

doesn't sound like primus to me. no rubbery bass riffery at least. something else that might be worrisome though is what BU2B might have to do with bono

There's no Primus going on. Nice psych groove on "Caravan", though. Not unlike the new Cathedral.

Ha NOW you're talkin'!

Off to download now. This is my first official purchase of music from ITunes, lol!

I suppose I've always liked this neither fish nor fowl quality of the band. Is it metal? Well, no. Prog? Not really. Hard rock? In the most generic sense, yes, but ...

I just became a Yes convert, and I can feel Rush on the horizon..what is happening to me??!!

Cathedral is probably a better comparison, actually.

Can't stress enough how much a new Rush fan will get out of Sam Dunn's new documentary. Watch it asap Iago G :)

I want to watch it BADLY but it's not in wide release yet is it???

Will do, Nate--maybe it's on Netflix I'll check--thks for the tip

It's in theaters now. On DVD in a month or so.

As for the new single - LOVE IT. I'm a big Snakes & Arrows guy, and this follows it in the best way (heavy rock, creative songwriting), and leaves out the filler (acoustic instruments, blues jams).

More stoked than ever for Clockwork Angels LP + Time Machine tour.

wow Rush excitement! Really want to see the doc, as I was a major Rush head for a while in HS and early college. Liked what I heard of the new single too

I'll be seeing the doc at the Alamo Drafthouse in 1 1/2 weeks. Pretty much the ideal setting for a Rush doc, if you ask me.

A friend went to the Charter One Pavilion box office (only open on show nights) and got us tix for 7/7 show for $49.50, NO SERVICE FEES! I didn't think that was even possible for shows in that venue! Now I can spend what I saved on one 32 ounce can of Bud Light Ultra 64 Lite...

Correction, he got these through the LiveNation website, which is having a special on no service fees for certain concerts.

Those are lawn seats, right?

I hate to even post what I spent on 2 tickets for the San Antonio concert, it is a truly shocking amount. I love Rush and want an opportunity to go see them and have pretty good seats, but prices are getting way out of control.

I mean we are talking about $50 dollar tickets as if that is cheap. That's double what tickets cost about 15 years ago, and that represents the absolute least you can spend now, so really ticket prices have tripled or quadrupled in a fairly short amount of time.

Trying to get press passes. If that fails, I'm looking at $200 seats...

Not even playing in New England. C'mon guys, we're practically Canada up here!

Unforgettable 2002 São Paulo concert (maybe better than 'Rush in Rio'). Hope they come to Brazil this time.

And Caravan is awesome.

A band like Rush would normally play a much larger outdoor stadium where the tickets would be more like $70 to $100 with fees. I've vowed never to go to those shows again, as they're not very fun, and lousy value. However Charter One Pavilion is smaller. It's all metal fold-out chairs and high school-style bleachers, and it seemed like all seats had a good view of the stage and weren't too far away. I saw Dio w/ Heaven & Hell there last year, and it sounded great.

Yeah, I've seen Tom Petty there, Destiny's Child, Wu-Tang, Stevie Nicks and a couple of other things there, and it's a great place to see a show.

My (modest) feature review of the documentary:

http://wweek.com/editorial/3631/14141/