Rush: Classic or Dud?

the upcoming Atlantic-years boxed set

which is only, like, forty bucks at Amazon and I'm not sure I can resist!

this is the year I went from Rush hater to "fuck it, this is fun" dude

I love a lot of improvised music but I have no real desire to hear long jammed-out versions of "South Side of the Sky" or "Red Barchetta". The compositions are the point in those cases.

Yeah, good point. There does seem to be a line drawn between the varying types of prog bands, whether they were capable/willing of stretching out or not. "Working Man" and maybe "By-Tor"-era Rush could and did; after that, not so much. Same deal with post-Ian MacDonald Crimson. I think that the presence or absence of mellotron maybe signified whether or not the band were the jamming sort.

Still, I feel the first album and most of For by Night separates them from prof.... it's like if the first Yes album sounded like Mississippi Queen and Free

For By Night definitely not a prof record.

Hahaha

On my phone

But yeah, first-two-albums could be Dust or Budgie or something. Exploring the more progressive boundaries of power-trios, but not quite all the way.

But the first Yes album is a more straightforward rock album.

Listening to it now, the playing is surprisingly loose and imprecise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfsbF2yYpi4&list=PLDE3099EA7349D6DA

Yeah but not working man or finding my way

Those aren't even dust or budgie or prog at all

Well, yeah, I think we all agree that there is enough to distinguish them from classic European symphonic prog bands.

I have to say, though, I never though of the 1st album as a great one. They were still finding their way imo.

I dunno, I think "Working Man" would've sounded just fine on the first Budgie album

POX euro-symph rush jams

"hemispheres"
"natural science"
"la villa strangiato"
"xanadu"
"the fountains of lamneth"
"jacob's ladder"
"cygnus x-1"
"2112"
"the necromancer"
"the camera eye"

Even most of those have more of a heavy rock/proto-metal element than you find in most symphonic prog + they weren't really coming out of a utopian countercultural perspective. Like, the point is just that they were a later band from a different place who were influenced by symphonic prog but also by heavy rock.

Anyone else ever find it odd that the two Farewell To Kings epics are the only ones in that entire era to do without individual names for their various movements? Maybe they were just rushed (ouch) to complete that record?

Does "Xanadu" have individual movements?

prog is not a four letter word

(I'm a huge prog fan btw.)

Well "Xanadu" has that long free-form instrumental introduction, same deal w/"Cygnus". But I see that "Cygnus" has been retroactively broken down into "Prologue" and parts 1-3. And retroactively retitled "Book One: The Voyage", like it was "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" or something.

there was the whole "Fear" trilogy too

been listening to 80's Rush again a lot this week and it's still by far my favorite period of the band. Signals and Grace Under Pressure in particular. Signals is a great sounding album; everything is so balanced mix-wise, nothing is overpowering anything else. Probably my favorite one by far.

Re: Raymond Scott/"Powerhouse"/"La Villa Strangiato":

The segments titled "Monsters!" and "Monsters! (Reprise)" are an adaptation of Raymond Scott's popular composition "Powerhouse".[2] Though Scott's publishers did not attempt to take legal action until the statute of limitations had run out, Rush's management, feeling it was the right thing to do, gave some monetary compensation to Mr. and Mrs. Scott.[3]

Nicest band ever.

some?

http://gs1.wac.edgecastcdn.net/8019B6/data.tumblr.com/e486b96a11230aab31af69fb75e242be/tumblr_mtq8ag5l2h1qzex9io1_500.jpg

Remixed _Vapor Trails_
In "Ceiling Unlimited"
new guitar solo

More haikus! Yay!

Live album coming
Rush with a string section, dude
November 19

Can't feel the pyro
On a live Rush recording
But you can hear it

No need to line up
When Peart takes his sweet solo
With cold beer on hand.

Nothing but the hits?
Every Rush song is a hit
When you are a fan.

Every song a hit?
Yes, "I Think I'm Going Bald"
Is, to me, a hit

Hits are not songs sung
Hits are what Neil's drum kit takes
His sticks take the breaks

I don't understand
Rush being trendy right now
But it's cool with me

Rush was always cool
It's better cool than cast out
The world admits

Huh:

http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961200request.htm

"There are elites that form on both sides. There is the elite of the guy who can play all these notes and scales, and then there's the elite of, 'Fuck off, he's a wanker. Why can't you have both [the Sex Pistols'] 'God Save the Queen' and [Rush's] 'Tom Sawyer'? Both songs changed my life."

What's weird about that is that by the time "Tom Sawyer" came out, Reid was already a pretty hardcore jazzbo. I mean, he put out that album with Bill Frisell not long after, I think. Of course, Frisell is another guy whose tastes run the gamut, but I find it hard to believe - though I guess not that hard - that Reid's mind was blown by 'Tom Sawyer" while he was out shredding harmolodically with Ronald Shannon Jackson or whomever. But maybe! It's cool, anyway, that he would say it.

I always heard that Reid lifted a note for note bit of Lifeson for his "Time's Up" solo...

reid always seems pretty cool even if i don't always dig his music

his sister was doing census work when i was living in crown heights, his home neighborhood. i don't remember how living colour came up while she was interviewing me; once i found out who her brother was, though, i remember nearly falling off my stoop

So I wrote a Rush thing for Stereogum. A 16,000 word Rush thing.

http://www.stereogum.com/1685666/rush-albums-from-worst-to-best/list/

:D cannot wait

awesome list! i rate 'presto' higher but really nice to see 'hemispheres' get some love

Looking forward to this, have to wait until I'm home from work to read it

Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland (2011)

I read this article-while at work. Even if i disagree with some of the rankings, this is one of the best pieces of rock journalism ive read in a long time.Nice job, A. !!

Thanks , Bill!

Glad to see Hold Your Fire get some love, unfairly maligned era imo

Great write up, still working through the whole thing.

Albums I'd bump up higher in my own personal list: Test For Echo (I still prefer it over Caress and Roll The Bones), Vapor Trails, Counterparts, Power Windows, Grace Under Pressure

Albums I'd bump down: Roll The Bones, Hold Your Fire, Snakes & Arrows, A Farewell To Kings, 2112

I agree that the Time Machine tour album is pretty bad, Geddy's vocals sound terrible. It's a shame because it was an excellent tour. Weirdly, I find the DVD much more palatable.

I'd rank Different Stages much higher, it's my favorite of their live albums. The version of 2112 is absolutely brutal, improving on the original studio recording, and the bonus 70s concert is a lot of fun.