Rush: Classic or Dud?

Shit, man your right. I thought I read "Grace under Pressure", not Permanent Waves. I rescind on that one, Waves rules. My bad.

I guess I look at it like this: Rush are pretty much never going to play a show that does not include Tom Sawyer, Limelight, and YYZ. Most tours they also play Red Barchetta. That right there is half of Moving Pictures. Witch Hunt was a highlight of their last tour and I'd love to see them play it again. That leaves The Camera Eye and Vital Signs, both amazing songs that I've always wanted to see live.

That adds up to about 40 minutes worth of music, they'll probably perform for upwards of 3 hours, so there's lots of room for other great stuff.

And having seen Mr. Big open for the group on the "Presto" tour, I'm doubly glad it's been "A Night with Rush"-mode from there on out.

The two times I've seen them (1992 & 1994), the openers were Primus and Candlebox respectively. Now, in 1992, seeing Primus and Rush on the same bill blew my 18 year old brains right out the back of my head. 20 year old me was well aware that Candlebox sucked pretty hard.

Ditching the opening bands was probably one of the smartest things they ever did. Their tours got way better once they did that.

I love Presto and Roll The Bones and Hold Yr Fire with a passion that is inscrutable to me. I think of it as their Police-ish atmospherock period and I am a sucker for the (even more) earnest turn the lyrics take during those. Signals and Grace Under Pressure def fall into a different 80s Rush basket, more of a heavy new wave power synth kind of thing. I need to go to this tour man, I wonder if the NY/NJ dates are already sold out...

geddy makes me squirm
busy pretentious songcraft
but tom sawyer's good

Pretty sure "Tom Sawyer" was the first Rush song I ever heard, but the first Rush tape I ever bought was Hold Your Fire. "Time Stand Still" is an impressively structured pop song (complete with Aimee Mann's contributions). But it was Presto that really cemented me as a raging fan (at least for a brief moment in time). I bought all the albums and listened to them constantly. By the time of Counterparts, I was kind of over it all. Test For Echo is the last one I bought, and I can't even remember a thing about it, except there was a song on there that mentioned "email."

Fun Rush fact: "Test for Echoes" is the only Rush album I've never owned or even heard once. Wikipedia should be updated ASAP to reflect that.

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.