Rush: Classic or Dud?

wanted to see them tonight but when I finally got around to looking for tickets, completely sold out.

'clockwork angels' delayed till 2012

http://www.billboard.com/news/rush-signs-with-roadrunner-preps-new-album-1005333222.story

not surpised by this, but I wish they'd hurry up and get it done. Time Machine tour wrapped up almost 2 months ago and I'm going through Rush withdrawl.

no kidding. the putative lead single for this album came out last year

and it was awesome

Wasn't that the first time the band ever toured behind nothing in particular? No new release or anything?

2 new songs on the Caravan single, but yeah it was really the tribute to Moving Pictures tour.

Definitely classic from "2112" until "Signals", with "Hemispheres" being my favourite. I'm also fond of several tracks from the first three albums: 'Anthem', 'Bastille Day', 'Lakeside Park', 'Beneath, Between and Behind' and the epics 'By-Tor And The Snow Dog' and 'The Fountain Of Lamneth'. I will confess to not having heard anything from "Grace Under Pressure" onwards, am I missing out on much? I've heard that "Power Windows" in particular is meant to be a stinker.

Grace Under Pressure is one of their best. Power Windows is very good, but maybe just a notch less so.

Then there were a few not-so-great ones.

More recent Rush albums that I enjoy: Counterparts, Vapor Trails.

'presto' might appeal to you, turrican
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNLc41ArS-k
'hemispheres' is my desert island pick too. the title suite kicks major ass and "la villa strangiato" is one of my favorite instrumental rock songs ever

So I've just given "Grace Under Pressure" a listen and I enjoyed it for the most part - standout tracks were definitely the first three, and I love the riff on "Kid Gloves", but I can't ever see me ever liking "Red Lenses". The album sounded like a continuation of "Signals", but possibly more accessible. Going to give it a few more listens though before I decide where it ranks in Rush's discography, mind. Will try Presto also sometime this week!

I can't listen to the entire "Hemispheres" suite anymore. The prelude is really nice but I don't think the whole composition really hangs together formally: they just seem to repeat material without developing it iirc. "La Villa Strangiato" is pretty cool though.

Oh, I think it hangs together really well. You're right though, they do repeat various themes here and there but I've always thought that made the piece feel more 'whole'. I also love the bit in the middle with the ambient washes of keyboards, and on headphones you can hear parts of 'Cygnus X-1' going from ear to ear, as well as incorporating little riffs and chord progressions from 'Cygnus X-1' into the composition itself (I know it's meant to be a follow-up piece, but I always liked the way they did it and I much prefer it to 'Cygnus X-1'.

In the extras on the documentary DVD they talk about how arduous the writing/recording of Hemispheres was (they tried eleven times to record "La Villa Stratiago" straight through before admitting defeat, and stitching together different takes), and then how they realized with horror that the music was pitched too high for Geddy to sing. It's not clear if they re-did everything, or if Lee just went for it anyway.

Yeah, I remember reading something somewhere about the writing process of "Hemispheres" being difficult - apparently the the title track and 'La Villa Strangiato' weren't completely fully formed when they went into the studio? I don't know if that's true or not. I definitely know 'Natural Science' from "Permanent Waves" was sort of a last-minute thing that they put together in the studio from riffs that they had lying around at the time. All I can say to that is that they must have worked well under pressure, because I couldn't praise that track highly enough!

I got the impression that all of Hemispheres was written in the studio, but except for Vapor Trails, they've never said if they generally write in the studio, in rehearsal, or some combination of the two. "Tom Sawyer" and "Subdivisions" were definitely written before they were recorded, as I've heard bootlegs that predate the albums those were on (and those live arrangements are slightly different).

Power Windows is the best post-Moving Pictures Rush record imo. Vapor Trails is a pretty close runner-up though, and Hold Your Fire is a major guilty pleasure

I'll check out both Power Windows and Vapour Trails after I've checked out Presto simply based on recommendations here - I've heard a few things about Vapour Trails mastering though, is it really that bad?

its mastered very loud, yes. it's kind of annoying but the songs themselves are very good and don't really suffer from the loss of dynamics that you get from overmastering. it's their most in-your-face record.

In fact, I've decided to leave "Presto" for the time being and went straight to "Power Windows" because it's discographically the next album along from "Grace Under Pressure" - I'm only three tracks in at the moment, so it's a bit too early to say really, but I'm actually surprised by what I've heard so far. The material sounds stronger than that of "Grace Under Pressure", but I don't think I'm too taken with the production. These are songs I can imagine would sound incredible live, though!

Didn't the band properly remix "Vapour Trails," admitting defeat?

"Presto" might be the band's most restrained, most song-oriented album. That and "Roll the Bones," I guess. This period of the band is pretty underrated. My fave is the techno-pop-prog of "Signals," "Grace" and "Power WIndows." And there's no reason at all to feel guilty about "Hold Your Fire." Good songs, great playing. "Power Windows" and "Fire" songs sound great on "A Show of Hands."

To this day, "Test for Echo" is the only Rush album I've literally never heard. No idea why.

Test for Echo is actually the best of the three 90s ones but that's not saying much

though i think "Sound and Motion" is pretty neat

err "Time and Motion"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHSam88u5WM

I've given "Grace Under Pressure" another spin, and now I'm listening again to "Power Windows", and I quite like both. I do think "Power Windows" is the better of the two and I'm finding myself suddenly excited to go further into their discography :)

I'm more attached to Grace Under Pressure, but Power Windows is a great album. "Marathon", especially. I couldn't stand "Mystic Rhythms" when I was 15, but over the course of 25 years it's grown on me quite a lot.

Yeah, 'Marathon' came across to be a definite standout of the record, but I also thought 'Grand Designs' and 'Manhattan Project' were great also. The only one that I found myself feeling a bit 'meh' over was 'Territories'. With "Grace Under Pressure", the only one I heard that I could consider to be a real stinker was 'Red Lenses'... but bear in mind I've only just heard these two albums today after spending years listening to everything up to and including "Signals", they're definitely records I need to spend more time with - but I do like them enough to listen to them more and investigate Rush's discography further!

"Territories" has that awesome spooky coda, though. It's the peak of Peart's arranging skills, that mix of electronic triggers that sound like acoustic drums and acoustic drums produced to sound like electronic drums.

Gotta love Neil Peart, sometimes I listen to his drumming on 'The Weapon' and I just think "how on earth is he doing that?"

I think I read somewhere that the drum part in The Weapon was based on a drum machine part that either Geddy or Alex came up with kind of as a challenge to Neil. They were daring him to play something really unintuitive and mechanistic and took the bait.

*he took the bait

That's awesome. Always been one of my favorites.

King on Peart (2007)

---

Ethan Iverson: Dave, tonight we played Massey Hall. What is "YYZ"?

David King: It is the airport code of Toronto and the "Giant Steps" of rock and roll.

EI: What band played "YYZ"?

DK: Rush.

EI: What were they famous for?

DK: They are a prog-rock power trio that uses iconoclastic playing to create a sound much bigger than three guys. They also made wizard hats sexy.

EI: Who was the drummer of Rush?

DK: Neil Peart was the second and most famous drummer, but on the first record it was John Rutsey.

EI: But Peart is who we mean when we talk about odd-meter mayhem, right?

DK: He was a loud Joe Morello with gongs.

EI: Does Peart have good technique at the drums?

DK: Does the new Pope drink umbilical-cord blood from a satanic chalice?

EI: Yes. Can anyone play faster in seven than Peart?

DK: Probably some obscure doumbek player, but not many in rock. The thing about Neil Peart that appealed to me (and probably a lot of drummers of my generation) is that he was an active force in creating the sound of the band he was in. He wasn't just a timekeeper. Rush represented a certain freedom of ideas for the drum as a lead instrument in rock and roll.

EI: What are the quintessential Peart performances?

DK: This could be controversial, but my favorite period of Rush and Peart is from 1979's Permanent Waves through 1984's Grace Under Pressure. This was a period of Peart's most progressive playing. From the merging of electronic and acoustic drums to the dark themes of the music, this period represented the most complete realization of Peart's concepts. (This is just my opinion, of course. I don't know much of their music after this period.) There is a fill in the song "Natural Science" that is truly some avant-garde shit. It makes no rational sense in the composition. It reminds me of an interpretation of Chinese box drumming or something.

EI: Why do some people hate Rush?

DK: Because they stole their girlfriends. Seriously, though, I think that any music that doesn't belong to any scene and follows its own path without being concerned with what's cool will naturally turn off a great hunk of the masses. I suppose some people think it's kind of geeky and kind of masturbatory, but I believe it's pretty ballsy to do your own shit without apology.

EI: The Bad Plus is now playing "Tom Sawyer," and you play the Peart drum fill just like on the record.

DK: I play the four-piece kit version. Peart had a 37-piece kit with nine bass-drums when he recorded it, so my version is a little small in comparison. But the intention is strong. I felt you had to pay homage to one of the most recognizable drum solos in recorded history. It's almost like a song in itself. It's like if you covered "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins and didn't do "the fill that brings in the big chorus." You'd get your ass kicked on the street if word got out that you were the doof that thought you could do better. Phil Collins fans are fucking vicious and they will shank you without thinking twice

awesome

Funnily enough, I would agree with him - the span between "Permanent Waves" to "Grace Under Pressure" does feature some of my absolute favourite Peart drumming. Sure, he was much more... 'energetic', for want of a better term on stuff like 'Anthem' from "Fly By Night", but he was far more intricate on those first few '80s albums - while still keeping rock solid time and retaining the energy.

Any true Rush nerd knows that Permanent Waves is from 1980.

Yeah, I love the drumming on Grace Under Pressure. Signals, too. So much more subtlety going on.

Yeah, completely. Like, superficially it can sometimes sound like Peart is playing it straight and then you really listen to what he's doing with the hi-hat or ride cymbal at the same time and it's like "how are you DOING that"?

Feeling pretty disappointed with the Time Machine tour CDs. They are really poorly mixed and Geddy's voice sounds completely shredded. Does not do justice to their recent live shows at all.

now you tell me (my copy's in the post as I type) :(

^ hmm with a bit of effort, I could have made that a haiku

His voice is showing age on this one, definitely, but it's not atrocious. I'm really enjoying the DVD, not surprisingly.

True, but his singing was also much better in the concerts I saw on this tour than on the recording, as was the overall sound mix.

I'm still eagerly anticipating the blu ray release, plus I'd like to get the new Neil Peart dvd that shows the entire Time Machine concert from an all-drums perspective.

Happy Rushgiving everybody!

It's 2-1-12

hell yeah! listening now!

this is one of the best opening sequences to an album ever

Man, they kick so much ass.

New single "Headlong Flight" is coming out 4/19 and the Clockwork Angels album will be out on 5/29!

That's great news! Was chatting just yesterday with Turrican and I was wondering if the new album was actually coming out this year.

I've heard "Headlong Flight." It kicks a whole lot of ass. It sounds very much like their '70s work (no synths) and I have been informed that the radio edit (which I've heard) is about two and a half minutes shorter than the album version (which I haven't heard).

oh cool. i just listened to snakes & arrows seriously for the first time a couple months ago and was pretty impressed, best thing they've done since god presto or something