Cail's big honking Rush thread

[Zarathustra]

Oh, I agree. I don't listen to music on anything but my home stereo. I told my son this morning, "I haven't listened to music all weekend. This is your warning. Xbox time will end soon." It's about time for Zar's Sunday "church" session to begin. A tall glass of Russian Imperial Stout, and very loud music ... this is how I worship.

But you should be able to transfer it to CD. www.ehow.com/how_5074700_convert-flac-f ... io-cd.html That's what I did.

The guys over at Counterparts have already started uploading new links as per my request, and they assure me the rest will be available soon. I'm going to redo my own CD and go through the process all over again to get the latest version. Once I'm done I'll describe my process and walk anyone through it who wants to try.

[Cail]

Sorry guys, been buried with real life.....Here we go...

Snake & Arrows

Or as I like to call it, they're back.....Oh yes, they're back.


Not that I would have known about it. Zar posted something about Malignant Narcissism a few years back, and I said, "whoa". But I didn't buy the record. Then he posted something about the Blue-Ray from the tour, and I ponied up for it. Damn, I'm a Rush fan again.


Far Cry - I'll say it, this is one of their better singles, and I think it's better than anything from Vapor Trails. Lyrically, it's sort of a callback to Between the Wheels, and the music is just propulsive. Doesn't quite have the groove of Animate, but I think it's a stronger song. Lots going on in the mix, and just a great Rush song.

Armor and Sword - The opening sounds like Leppard's Hysteria, and the theme continues. Bit of Dream Theater to it too. I wish there was a bit better resolution to it, but it is what it is. Not a throwaway, but not something I hang on to.

Workin' Them Angels - Another riding song, and arguably Neil's best. He really captures a lot here, that I guess you probably wouldn't get if you didn't ride. Just a good, solid song about doing something you love.

The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum) - Uhhhhh....I got nothing. Not one I care for.

Spindrift - Musically this sounds like someone else.....I can't put my finger on who, but it's got a sinister sort of sound to it. I like the lyrics, but they don't jell well with the music for me. It's like there's two really good ideas here that don't work together.

The Main Monkey Business - The first of three(!) instrumentals. Honestly, I don't get it. No real narrative or direction to it. Certainly it's competent, but it doesn't really go anywhere or have anything to say.

The Way the Wind Blows - Intro sounds like Cream. Lyrically, like a thread in the Tank. It's got an "older" feel to it. Not a keeper, but not bad. Again, I wish there was more of a climax and resolution to it. Still, this song is a grower; probably better than I give it credit.

Hope - Beautiful acoustic guitar work from Alex. I could listen to hours of this.

Faithless - Again, heavy guitars in the background. It's bugging me that I can't figure out who I'm hearing. I like the song, though I find myself tuning out the lyrics, not because they're bad, just that Neil's theme is getting well-worn.

Bravest Face - Sounds like it belonged on T4E, which means I like it. Yet another grower. I have a feeling I'll be re-wrining this whole review in 6 months.....

Good News First - Love the dynamic guitar and the way the song seems to shift every now and then. Again, lots of underlying heaviness, which I like.

Malignant Narcissism - Zowie! Like Limbo and YYZ, this sucker just goes. Zar did a great job of dissecting this, but suffice it to say that Alex provides a stunning framework for Ged and Neil to go apeshit.

We Hold On - Freaking great. Awesome forward motion, and Alex is on fire. Wouldn't be out of place on Counterparts.


Yeah, I know it sounds like I'm shortchanging this record, but it's one that I hear differently every time I hear it. That's the sign of a good album, one that keeps giving.

It's also an interesting prelude to CA, from a stylistic standpoint. Geddy's changing voice is used particularly well, and there's a new enthusiasm in the instruments. It goes without saying that it's produced and recorded far, far better than Vapor Trails, though it lacks the sonic clarity and separation that Counterparts and Test For Echo have. It also lacks the silence and space that those two records, and really the rest of their catalog have. This is truly a new era for the band, though not as stark of a change as either Power Windows or Counterparts was.

Though I think there's a lot of good material here, I think there's also a fair amount of wasted potential, especially given how strong Far Cry is. It's far, far better than its predecessor, but it doesn't reach the heady level of CP or T4E.

[Zarathustra]

I love this CD. It's a perfect transition from VT to CA. It does sound much better, especially the MVI stereo tracks. I love most of the songs, except the Larger Bowl.

Far Cry is a great Rush tune.

A&S has an interesting drum opening and off-kilter riff, but it really shines in the middle right before the guitar solo. The part that starts with, "Confused alarms of struggle and flight ..." has an almost spooky melody with a haunting harmony, and then it's carried through into the solo with an intensity that only Alex could muster.

WTA is catchy, a nice chorus. I'm a little tired of hearing it live.

Spindrift is a great dissonant, haunting tune that alternates between weird and beautiful. I love that jam at the end on the Blu-ray.

TLB is interesting as a lyrical exercise, but not as a piece of music. I like how some lines are sang at different parts in the melody, shifting their place in the stanzas and altering their emphasis each time. But it's a boring tune.

TMMB is an awesome instrumental. I've got to disagree with Cail here. I love this song, and could listen to it over and over. I like its expansive structure, how it meanders through several different parts with gradually increasing intensity. The main riff could easily be on Clockwork Angels, similar to BU2B or Caravan.

TWTWB hints at Rush's bluesy side, which they really don't show enough. Yes, it sounds like Cream. It also sounds like their early work in the 70s. It could have come off the first album. But then the main riff kicks it into a different direction. I think this song does lack climax/resolution, but those verses are awesome. [Tangent: on the MVI disc, there's a "behind the scenes" video describing each song as it was recorded, and this one is particularly interesting regarding the drums. Neil rerecorded the whole thing after it was finished, based on the advice of his engineer. That story starts on 6:16 of this video. The beginning of the video has the MalNar story.]

Hope is just gorgeous. I completely agree on that one. [Incidentally, the MVI video has Alex jamming on 6-string, doing either alternate takes of Hope or completely different stuff; it's similar but different. Anyway, I think he *could* go on for hours do this type of music. He obviously has a blast playing it.]

Faithless is just a perfect atheist anthem. The music is pretty, too.

BF gets a lot of grief, but I like its dorky, twangy pseudo-country sound. And I think the chorus is beautiful, very moving lyrically.

MalNar is a classic. I wish they'd do more stuff like this and put some words to it. That bass line is so fun to play, just infectious.

GNF and WHO also get a lot of grief. They're weaker songs, but both have their strong points (unlike Larger Bowl). They remind me more of VT than CA, kind of looking backward rather than forward.

Lyrically, I think this is the pinnacle of Rush messages. It captures the entire spectrum of unbelief, from criticizing religion for how it bends us down, molding us into sometimes violent drones, to showing us the positive side of being faithless. It's not just a critique of religion, but a positive way of life in itself, with its own value system and its own version of Good. Bravest Face reminds me of themes in the Chronicles, how even if there is no magical place, it's still important to face one's life with bravery and authenticity. Each song has its own distinct message, but all of them cohere into a common theme, like Counterparts. I'm glad they finally came out of the agnostic closet.

[I still intend to download the VT "remix" and post my results. Maybe this weekend.]

[Cail]

Geddy Lee on Rush's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction: 'We'll Show Up Smiling''It made my mom very happy, so that's worth it,' says singer
About.

Damn.

Time.

[sgt.null]

agreed, what took them (the HoF) so long?

Working Man with John Rutsey on drums

[Vraith]

Geddy Lee on Rush's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction: 'We'll Show Up Smiling''It made my mom very happy, so that's worth it,' says singer
About.

Damn.

Time.

Now if Deep Purple and Judas Priest will get in soonish, and if Ray Guy can get into the Football HoF, I'll be fairly satisfied with this kind of stuff.

[Cail]

And now, surprisingly late, on to.....

Clockwork Angels:

Or as I like to call it, a career-defining album.

So during the Time Machine tour, the boys trotted out two new songs, and damn they were pretty good. So good that I downloaded them as soon as they became available, and waited with baited breath for the new album. The first time since 1986 that I'd breathlessly waited for a new Rush album.

To say that the band was in top form on the TM tour is to sell them short. I saw them twice....Haven't done that since the Hysteria tour way back when. Though Geddy's voice has matured and aged, musically they've never sounded better.

I'm not really big on concept albums, but there's actually a coherent and reasonably cohesive story here. Better still is the fact that all but one song stands just fine on its own without the overall narrative structure. I'm going to avoid dealing with the theme of the album, since that's sort of a separate discussion....which I'm more than willing to have, but including it here would make this review massive.


Caravan - I have to say that I think I like the pre-release single a smidge better, 'cause I think it's mixed a little less densely. Otherwise, this is a powerhouse album opener. Great jam in the middle, great stutter-step tempo, great lyrics. I'll say this a lot during the review, but all three of them are just playing their asses off.....Stunning given the fact that they're pushing 60 and this is their 19th album.

BU2B - I also like the single mix a bit better, as it's lets the guitars and keyboards sparkle a bit more. But DAMN this is heavy. Again, I'm surprised how much this practicing Catholic loves the indictment of religion. BU2B works as an indictment far better than Neil's writing from the '90s.

Clockwork Angels - If this isn't a callback to pre-Permanent Waves Rush, I don't know what is. It's a perfect melding of old and new, with a lot of the journey between included. Brilliantly produced, this song is just a sonic treat. Love the "as if to fly...." lyric, and the soaring solo works great with it.

The Anarchist - This one's taken a while to really grow on me. Really potent and powerful lyrics....

The lenses inside of me that paint the world black
The pools of poison, the scarlet mist, that spill over into rage
The things I've always been denied
An early promise that somehow died
A missing part of me that grows around me like a cage

And of course, the Eastern flavor that haunts its way through the song. Still, for some reason, though I like it, I find that I skip over it as often as not. Weird.

Carnies - Nasty guitar intro, but another song that just doesn't gel with me. I get its place in the narrative, it just doesn't work really well for me as a standalone song.

Halo Effect - Wow, this is Rush? This is an achingly beautiful song about the disillusionment of young love. There's nothing musically or lyrically groundbreaking about this, but it suits Ged's voice perfectly and will strike a nerve for anyone who's given their heart to someone only to have it stomped on.

Seven Cities of Gold - Great, straight-ahead arena-rocker. Guitar's very Gilmour-influenced again. In fact, this whole song could very easily appear on Floyd's The Division Bell. Lyrically though, there's a lot here that sounds like it could have been written during the Moving Pictures sessions. This one one I was ecstatic that I saw played live.

The Wreckers - This has a similar tone to that awful Smashing Pumpkins song "Tonight Tonight", without sucking. Great chorus, beautiful imagery, fantastic use of the strings to create mood. Once again, Ged's matured voice is a perfect fit for this.

Headlong Flight - It's as if they went into the studio to make the Rushiest Rush song they could. You can hear a lot of other songs in this sonic orgy. Truthfully, it's a little over the top, but the lyrics are fantastic and the song just moves forward with such unrestrained energy that it's hard to hate on it.

BU2B2 - OK, not really a song as much as a narrative advance. With that said, the lyrics are spectacular.

Wish Them Well - Don't like it. Doesn't really fit into what's going on, and between the chorus and Ged shouting "wish them well!" in the background, it descends into silliness.

The Garden - Once again, this isn't really anything special. There's no death-defying time changes, no complex drumming, no soaring guitar solo. The lyrics are, I hate to say it, not especially deep or profound. But this song is a perfect example of the whole being more than the sum of its parts. I love it. It brings me to the verge of tears, if not well past the verge, every time I hear it. It is a simple song, but it's simply beautiful. I'd go as far as to say it's one of the best songs I've ever heard. Every note of this song, and every syllable of lyric is absolutely perfect. If Rush never records another note, they will have gone out on the highest one possible.


Needless to say, I really like this album. What's so great about it is that Ged's voice is finally used the way it should....Presto was probably the last album of theirs where I really felt like Geddy was singing his ass off.

Musically this album is aces, though truthfully the best songs on the record are ridiculously simple. I find myself listening to it a lot, and singing many of these songs to myself during my day.

I count myself as lucky that I saw the tour, as they played the whole thing live (minus the BU2B twins).

[Cail]

So we're done with Permanent Waves through the present, Zar, you want to tackle the classic albums?



And I suppose a ranking is in order, now that I'm done with these.....I went into this thinking that it'd be a shootout between Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures....Nope. I'm looking at a 3-way tie between MP, CA, and T4E. I think it shakes out like this....


Test for Echo
Moving Pictures
Clockwork Angels
Grace Under Pressure
Permanent Waves
Counterparts
Presto
Snakes & Arrows
Vapor Trails
Roll the Bones
Signals
Power Windows
Hold Your Fire

Truthfully, the top three are so close that it's hard to call. The second three are also very tight. After that, it's difficult. I give Vapor Trails more credit than it probably deserves given its circumstances, but the recording is so bad I rarely listen to it. Signals and Power Windows are both graced with two excellent songs, HYF only one.

[Zarathustra]

I didn't really like Caravan and BU2B until I saw them on the Time Machine BD. I listened to each one once when they came out, and thought Snakes was much better. But now I love both tunes and don't understand how I could have thought otherwise.

[Tangent: I know B2B sounds anti-religion, but I think it's more about anti-control and anti-determinism as epitomized by a Newtonian, mechanistic, deterministic universe. That kind of worldview would fit the period for a steampunk story (i.e. pre-Einstein and pre-quantum mechanics, Enlightenment era). The Watchmaker is a Regulator, not a Creator. Obviously, people are brought up to believe in a lot of things, not just god.]

CA the song definitely reaches back to, say, Xanadu or the Grand Finale (2112), but still sounds brand spankin' new. It's epic in the old Rush way, but still sounds like nothing else they've ever done. I love the little bluesy stanzas in the middle where the Angels are singing. They come out of nowhere, in a haunting and echoing but almost cheesy tone (because the Angels are fake automatons, of course). And Ged is singing his ass off in this goofy little diversion.

Anarchist is so great, sometimes I pop in the CD just to hear this one song. The entire thing gels together so well that I can't put my finger on what makes it great. But if I was forced to choose, I'd point out how well Ged's vocal melody just seems to flow with the music. There are so many other Rush songs where I cringe at the way he twists a lyric up or down with a strange intonation that mars an otherwise perfect tune, but on this one he does just the opposite. The notes he chooses to sing make the song more, not less. And the Eastern stuff before and during he solo are great. And I love the harmony vocals added to the last few repeats of "the missing part of me, that grows around me like the cage."

I love Carnies, too, but it's definitely weaker than the previous 4. However, the "how I prayed just to get away" part sticks in my head more than other parts of this CD. And I really dig Alex's quirky guitar sounds.

Halo Effect: Cail's right, this is beautiful. Rush is pushing beyond their "Rush sound." Reminds me of Available Light in this regard, but that song didn't quite nail it like this one. This one is just perfect, wouldn't change a note.

Seven Cities: that fat bass opening is awesome. I like Neil's alternating cow bell and cymbal strikes that he inserts between the notes of Ged's riff. And the vocals during the opening stanzas of each verse are some of my favorite melodies on the CD. I'm not hearing Gilmore or Floyd as much as Cream in this one.

I could do without The Wreckers. My son calls it "the rhyming song." As in, "oh no, not the rhyming song!"

Headlong Flight is awesome! I love the chorus chord progression. Very "Rushy." Again, I'm reminded of Xanadu. The solo could have been off the first album, maybe Working Man. And the opening is definitely reminiscent of Anthem, off FBN. This sounds more like classic Rush than any song they've done in 30+ years. The end floors me every time, where Ged sings, "live it all AGAIN" in a vocal range I didn't think he could reach anymore.

I don't like Wish Them Well, either.

The Garden is pretty, but doesn't do much for me. I actually do like the lyrics, but the music meanders through "blah" territory too much.

[dANdeLION]

I don't want to admit this, but I've listened to Clockwork Angels enough times now and it's freaking fantastic.







Damn you Cail!

And damn me for not going to the concert. I just got a bit gun shy after listening to Geddy trying (and failing) to hit the high notes on the Moving Pictures stuff (especially Camera Eye) in 2010......I'm not blaming Ged; it was pretty much the last show on the tour; he had to be worn out.

[Cail]

They're still on tour.

[Zarathustra]

Looks like I'll be seeing them in Nashville. It's a 3+ hour drive, but that's as close as they're coming to me.

[dlbpharmd]

Looks like I'll be seeing them in Nashville. It's a 3+ hour drive, but that's as close as they're coming to me.

I've never seen them live, and over the past year or two I've become what Cail describes as the "casual Rush fan." May 1st is a Wednesday (damn it!) but I may still try to make it.

[Zarathustra]

Damnit, I just saw that they may be adding Cinci to the list. If that's true, it would be a shame to miss out on a chance to have a beer with you before the show, DLB! But I'd have to take the shorter drive option, half the distance.

[Cail]

More tour dates. I'm going again in Baltimore.

[Sorus]

They're skipping CA. The fiends.

[Cail]

They're skipping CA. The fiends.

Huh....That's odd and surprising.

[Zarathustra]

Got my tickets for Cinci yesterday. Pretty decent seats at a relatively small amphitheater. No turf wars over blanket space on the lawn this year!

Can't wait for the Blu-ray. I heard it's coming out in May, but these things are usually put off a couple months after the initial rumors.

[dANdeLION]

They're still on tour.

Thanks for the heads up; my brother and I am going to the show in Orlando!

[Cail]

You won't be disappointed.