Rush: Classic or Dud?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (2269 of them)

They were good but you didn't miss much, imo. They were famous - and justly so - for replicating the studio versions pretty much perfectly.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 28 November 2017 01:13 (six years ago) link

You didn't really get much in the way of per se surprises but you did feel the general enthusiasm live for sure -- perfect balance between technical flash and heartland arena rock vibes leavened with a bit of humor as it went. Good working formula!

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 28 November 2017 01:56 (six years ago) link

Actually, the best experience of seeing Rush live was being in a big place surrounded by other dorks really into Rush. That and watching people try to air drum/bass/guitar at the same time.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 28 November 2017 03:25 (six years ago) link

I'm listening to Counterparts for the first time, at least the reissue on Spotify. I always avoided it because I hated "Nobody's Hero". I still skipped that song, but, otherwise, I'm surprised by how much I actually really like this. Mostly not that different mainstream rock of the early 90s (which I have a nostalgic spot for) but the playing elevates it, pushes the songs ahead, and the sound is clear and muscular. Lifeson esp sounds great. Solos on "Alien Shore" (esp) and "Cold Fire" are great and "Leave That Thing Alone" is up there with the back catalogue.

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Monday, 4 December 2017 17:23 (six years ago) link

I think that was a record they did after hearing a lot of the bands they'd inspired, like Primus. I remember hearing the lead single "Stick It Out" and thinking, wow they're finally coming back! iirc album as a whole not *tons* better than the ones preceding it, but it was a kind of "welcome to the 90s" for them.

Dominique, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:31 (six years ago) link

Counterparts is one of my favorite Rush albums. Thought it was a big step up from Hold Your Fire, Presto, and Roll The Bones.

Moodles, Monday, 4 December 2017 19:31 (six years ago) link

It was consciously their "return to guitar" record, iirc.

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 4 December 2017 19:42 (six years ago) link

I did a buddy of mine's taxes one year and his payment was taking me to see Rush on the Counterparts tour! They were so good that tour.

BlackIronPrison, Monday, 4 December 2017 19:44 (six years ago) link

one month passes...

I ride hard for Hold Your Fire

also Presto was kinda a return to guitar relatively speaking imo

Joan Digimon (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 5 January 2018 01:50 (six years ago) link

I ride w/u for HYF

Winter. Dickens. Yes. (Jon not Jon), Friday, 5 January 2018 02:34 (six years ago) link

"Force Ten"'s been coming to mind the last few days.

Ned Raggett, Friday, 5 January 2018 03:26 (six years ago) link

Force Ten's great, but there are a lot of weak tracks after.

Moodles, Friday, 5 January 2018 03:31 (six years ago) link

Time Stand Still is literally next! But yeah, there are couple lesser tracks before Prime Mover, Mission and Turn the Page. Still love the record, but a step down from Power Windows and a big step up to Presto, the latter of which I would argue is the apex of their songwriting, conventionally speaking.

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 January 2018 03:51 (six years ago) link

but a step down from Power Windows and a big step up to Presto, the latter of which I would argue is the apex of their songwriting, conventionally speaking.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, January 4, 2018 9:51 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the way this is phrased lost me a little in terms of which album is better than which

Joan Digimon (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 5 January 2018 14:54 (six years ago) link

Power WIndows>Presto>>>Hold Your Fire.

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 January 2018 15:06 (six years ago) link

HYF would be a killer 40-minute album. Subtle changes already when looking at the shift towards CD, even from 1985.

(I bet that for many fans at the time, HYF was the Rush album they first bought on CD)

Master of Treacle, Friday, 5 January 2018 15:13 (six years ago) link

I think A Show of Hands was the first Rush album I bought when it came out, which perhaps explains my affinity for Hold Your Fire.

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 January 2018 17:22 (six years ago) link

Presto might be more consistent but the highs on Hold Your Fire are WAY higher and way more memorable than most Presto songs therefore I would take HYF over Presto

Joan Digimon (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 5 January 2018 17:58 (six years ago) link

I agree. I like HYF slightly more than Presto because the good songs are really good, but there are plenty of not-so-good songs. There are more consistently decent songs on Presto (still plenty of clunkers), but none of them really thrill me. Roll The Bones has about 4 solid tracks and the rest are pretty much garbage. Also, I don't love the production on HYF, but I actively hate the sound of Presto and RTB.

Moodles, Friday, 5 January 2018 18:28 (six years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B52bvzudAvQ

mookieproof, Saturday, 13 January 2018 02:11 (six years ago) link

I think reaction videos are weird, and that is not the first of these I've seen for YYZ, but awesome to see the enthusiasm, and even better to watch the awestruck reactions coming right when you'd expect them too. And now I am thinking of Michael Jackson, too.

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 13 January 2018 04:29 (six years ago) link

"i feel cool as hell listening to this"

budo jeru, Saturday, 13 January 2018 04:32 (six years ago) link

Thanks a lot for sending me down the youtube rabbit hole. This dude covering "Emotion Detector" (maybe my favorite deep cut) is awesome, not least because he focuses on the Moog foot pedals. Not that the foot part is hard or anything, but it's nice to see what someone's, well, feet might be up to during this, and imagine how hard it would be for Geddy to sing, play bass, play synths and do this somewhat syncopated pedal bass part as well, all at the same time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPcSC2BHTuU

Needless to say, one of a relatively small handful of songs Rush never played live.

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 13 January 2018 04:42 (six years ago) link

Haha, just found the long list of songs they never played live:

I feel like I post this a lot in this sub, but here's the list of every song that they've never played live.
*Take A Friend
*Before And After
*Making Memories
*Rivendell
*The Fountain Of Lamneth
*Lessons
*Tears
*Madrigal
*Different Strings
*Emotion Detector
*Open Secrets
*Second Nature
*Tai Shan
*High Water
*Chain Lighting
*Anagram
*Red Tide
*Hand Over Fist
*Available Light
*Face Up
*The Big Wheel
*Heresy
*Neurotica
*You Bet Your Life
*Cut To The Chase
*Alien Shore
*Speed Of Love
*Everyday Glory
*The Color Of Right
*Totem
*Dog Years
*Carve Away The Stone
*Peaceable Kingdom
*The Stars Look Down
*How It Is
*Vapor Trail
*Sweet Miracle
*Nocturne
*Freeze
*Out Of The Cradle
*Bravest Face
*Good News First
*We Hold On

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 13 January 2018 04:45 (six years ago) link

And now I am thinking of Michael Jackson, too.

I'd never made that connection before, but yeah, Rush were apparently big fans of Off The Wall.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 13 January 2018 13:17 (six years ago) link

That "YYZ" video is great. They really nail it when they point out that it doesn't sound like anything else. A large part of Moving Pictures' appeal is that it feels almost completely sui generis. Tracks like "YYZ", and "Tom Sawyer" even more, just feel like they have no antecedent, no previous songs that you can point to as an influence.

Moodles, Saturday, 13 January 2018 16:31 (six years ago) link

Well, I think you can find antecedents. What makes it so ingenious is that in a certain way it's sort of a prog pastiche, but they hide it super well, and a musical sense of humor, rare as that is in the first place, goes a long way. Also, brevity is the soul of wit.

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 13 January 2018 16:49 (six years ago) link

That's a real shame they've never played "The Fountain Of Lamneth" or "Madrigal".

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:36 (six years ago) link

Weirdest was when they didn't play "Losing It" on the tour that had a string section! They did it once or twice on the last tour, I guess.

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 13 January 2018 18:56 (six years ago) link

forget burn out or fade away, the best way to go is just to stop, ideally on top.

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 January 2018 20:35 (six years ago) link

surprised they didn't chain lightning on the presto tour, that's one of the best songs on the album imo

bhad and bhabie (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 20 January 2018 21:42 (six years ago) link

Guitar solo possibly unplayable?

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 January 2018 21:53 (six years ago) link

heh yeah it is really "out there" like super fripp/belew/reeves gabriel shit

bhad and bhabie (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 20 January 2018 22:10 (six years ago) link

I think it just might be backwards!

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 January 2018 22:24 (six years ago) link

heh yeah it is really "out there" like super fripp/belew/reeves gabriel shit

― bhad and bhabie (upper mississippi sh@kedown

how do guitarists rate Gabrels?

morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 January 2018 22:33 (six years ago) link

I am not much of a guitarist, but I have never liked him, from when the first Tin Machine album came out on.

Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 20 January 2018 22:46 (six years ago) link

wait, when did rush play "i think i'm going bald" live?

Arnold Schoenberg Steals (rushomancy), Saturday, 20 January 2018 23:53 (six years ago) link

Reeves Gabrels is seemingly a very charming, wonderful person. Now that he lives in Nashville, it's weird to see him popping up in the comments of my friends' facebook posts just like no biggie.

Johnny Fever, Saturday, 20 January 2018 23:59 (six years ago) link

i def remember him being one of the "weird guitar mag" dudes that would get props like Belew, Fripp, Vernon Reid, Alan Holdsworth, Zappa

bhad and bhabie (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 21 January 2018 01:15 (six years ago) link

xpost Huh, yeah, I don't know if they ever played "Bald" live. I saw this: "Along with "The Fountain of Lamneth" it is widely believed to never have been played live, although there are no known records of when they headlined during the "Down The Tubes Tour" (Caress of Steel) so they may have been played live."

Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 21 January 2018 02:16 (six years ago) link

i'm glad they got to stop just being the butt of stupid jokes way before they called it quits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhVJEKb_xG8

\m/

reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 14:57 (six years ago) link

two months pass...

If this is it for them, it’s such a good run. They are the Ultimate Dude Band – I’m not sure I ever met a woman who liked them. However, VH-1 was showing a few documentaries on them a number of years back and I had my wife—who fucking hates Rush—watch the biography with me. She came away super impressed and had a real respect for them.

It’s not hard to see why – they are just such underdogs who by all rights shouldn’t have made it out of the Toronto bar scene but instead had a massive career for four decades and maintained their dignity the whole way, while also managing to make a bunch of really impressive records. They were terrific in the 70/ and had some moments in the 90s but Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, ... Exit Stage Left, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, and Power Windows is such an unbelievable run. Bon voyage, indeed.

Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 23 March 2018 03:59 (six years ago) link

counterpoint: my brother's wife is the biggest Rush fan I have ever met and I find that at least 50% of my conversations with her, no matter where they start, wind up in Rush territory.

omar little, Friday, 23 March 2018 04:07 (six years ago) link

This is nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYx5AOMtwU0&app=desktop

Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 23 March 2018 04:25 (six years ago) link

Hmmmm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYx5AOMtwU0

Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 23 March 2018 04:27 (six years ago) link

counterpoint: my brother's wife is the biggest Rush fan I have ever met and I find that at least 50% of my conversations with her, no matter where they start, wind up in Rush territory.

Yeah upthread I posted how many women I saw at the Time Machine show seven or eight years ago. I had completely forgotten!

Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 23 March 2018 04:27 (six years ago) link

I'm kind of in awe of this guy's chops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD5Xo1Tkh4U

Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 23 March 2018 04:31 (six years ago) link

I just started Power Windows this week. I'm really impressed, I had heard very mixed things but this has some great stuff on it, "International" is amazing. Do any of the following albums have this sound?

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 23 March 2018 17:15 (six years ago) link

Hmm, sort of. Hold Your Fire is in the same vein, but more mushy 80s in sound.

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 23 March 2018 17:36 (six years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.