Kevin's Watch

Zarathustra wrote: I liked My Favorite Headache. A couple of songs are really good, approaching greatness in a couple spots. Matt Cameron (Soundgarden) does a great job on the drums.

I remember liking it...don't know why I never bought it.
And thinking it had a fair amount of the flavor/soundscape of some early folky/psychedelia. And looking into the guitarist...an interesting background to him.
I'm gonna go see if it's on spotify.

Anyway, I like Signals...though I agree with Mort, "Countdown" is very meh.
I disagree about "Losing it." The music is sappy/schmaltzy, the lyrics even more so...maybe my least favorite Rush song, definitely in the bottom 5.

I agree that Victor is much better than MFH. And I'm a bass player because of Geddy, so if it was even close, I'd have given the win to Geddy.

As for Rush albums, I'd rank them accordingly:

1 Moving Pictures
2 Permanent Waves
3 Farewell To Kings/Hemispheres
4 Roll The Bones
5 2112
6 Signals
7 Vapor Trails
8 Counterparts
9 Power Windows
10 Clockwork Angels
11 Hold Your Fire
12 Fly By Night
13 Caress Of Steel
14 Snakes & Arrows
15 Test For Echo
16 Grace Under Pressure
17 Rush
18 Presto
19 Feedback

Here's how I'd rank them:

1 Hemispheres
2 Moving Pictures
3 Permanent Waves
4 Clockwork Angels
5 Signals
6 Vapor Trails
7 Snakes & Arrows
8 2112
9 Counterparts
10 Presto
11 Power Windows
12 Grace Under Pressure
13 Farewell To Kings
14 Fly By Night
15 Hold Your Fire
16 Caress Of Steel
17 Rush
18 Roll The Bones
19 Test For Echo

Feedback doesn't really count, imo.

After making the list, I'm tempted to move Signals down a few notches. The newer albums really mess up my ranking system that I've had for so long.

Did we kill off the fun with our meandering discussions? Sorry, couldn't hold my tongue.

Yeah, you big buzzkill, you.

I was holding back on discussing specific albums until Cail introduced them, but to continue to meander:

I was really surprised how hard it was to come up with a ranking for the albums. The first couple were easy, as were the last few. But the middle (from 6-16) was tough.

1- Permanent Waves
2- Moving Pictures
3- Farewell To Kings
4- Roll The Bones
5- Clockwork Angels
6- Hold Your Fire
7- 2112
8- Snakes And Arrows
9- Vapor Trails
10- Grace Under Pressure
11- Counterparts
12- Signals
13- Hemispheres
14- Presto
15- Fly By Night
16- Rush
17 - Caress Of Steel
18 - Feedback
19- Power Windows
20 - Test For Echo

I was watching Live in Rio the other night and was struck again by the crowd response. It really is incredible. And while the crowd vocal in YYZ has been discussed before, I forgot they do a similar thing near the end of Natural Science, too. As the song is leaving the third section (with it's incredible 6/8 to 4/4 shifts, I love that part) the band shifts from one melody to another to end up the song, but the crowd keeps singing the previous melody over it. It sounds fantastic!

And I did read the book for CA. It's certainly the best book of Anderson's I've read, so that was a nice surprise. The writing style is very different from Peart - Peart's prose is more dense, whereas Anderson's is more action driven, but it was still enjoyable. The story didn't proceed in quite the way I thought it would, from listening to the album, but what's life without surprises? I don't want to get into any spoilers until anyone else reads it but overall, I did enjoy it.

The distance between Power Windows and HYF is interesting. Looks like I'm in the minority here about RtB. TFE is consistently low, as well as the first three albums, with PW and MP consistently high. Very interesting.

I haven't watched the Rio DVD since the Blu-rays have come out, but I used to watch it every weekend for months. Drove the family crazy. I'd even have it on in the background while working out, etc. I love the energy and the set list. But I can't stand the sound quality now that I've heard the high resolution mixes of the new stuff. Even for DVD, that mix is awful. The three from the 80s are much better. I did find a "fix" for it, however. I'd play the stereo track through Dolby Pro Logic II set to "music," and then crank up the center channel because Geddy's vocals are too low in the mix. The Dolby Digital surround that it comes with is just unlistenable, imo.

Yeah, the sound quality on the Rio DVD is none too good. I'd agree that the 80s concerts sound better.

Re: the Power Windows / HYF split on my list, I think it comes down to the song writing. It's not so much the musical palate, because, in that respect, the two records are very similar. (Though I usually prefer more guitar.) But whereas Windows has 2 great songs and one I enjoy on occasion, HYF has three that I think are among the band's best (Force 10, Time Stand Still and Mission). And then, for me, the other 5 on Windows are either just ok, or even downright forgettable (I don't think I could hum part of Emotion Dectector right now for any amount of money, and I've heard it many, many times). But even the "lesser" songs on HYF are all pretty darn good tunes - I find myself singing parts of things like Second Nature without thinking about it. The only 2 that I reall don't care that much for on HYF are Tai Shan and High Water, and there are even times when I kind of like Tai Shan.

As for T4E being consistently low and Waves and Picutres high.... well that just means that you guys have all got good taste.

But we're Rush fans, so we knew that already

Sorry y'all, been busy with stuff....

The lists are interesting. I think my top 3 would be some combination of MP, PW, and CA, bottom 3 would be some combination of HYF, T4E, and Power Windows (or maybe Caress of Steel).

I'm tempted to jump back in at HYF and move forward. I've found that the pre-PW stuff (with a few exceptions) just doesn't do it for me any more.

Just a quick note to let everyone know I've started a Clockwork Angels (novel) thread in the Gen Fantasy forum. Didn't want to clog up this thread with that conversation.

I don't know if you guys want to be spoiled on the new set list (Rush had their opening show last night), but be prepared to be a little disappointed, Cail. One of your least favorite albums is heavily represented. To a bizarre degree. In fact, the first half of the show is just downright weird. It could have been from a different decade.

Spoiler

FOUR songs from Power Windows! Big Money [Yeah!], Territories, Grand FUCKING Designs?!? Manhatten Project.

Two from Signals: Subdivisions, Analog Kid [Yeah!]

Two from Grace: Red Sector A, The Body Electric [Yeah!]

One from HYF: Force Ten [Yeah!]

Seriously, the first half is an 80s extravaganza. The second half has 9 CA songs, couple more 80s songs, and the predicable encore (TS, SoR).

I hear you, Z. That being said, I personally am glad I don't get the same thing from Rush every time I go see them.

Oh, I think the setlist is awesome! But I liked that album that Cail hated. Except for one or two songs, this works for me, especially the second set. And yes, it's nice to get a different set every tour. They have a wealth of songs that enables them to mix it up. However, there are certain standards and a general formula they follow, which has been completely abandoned this time.

Funny, I just came here to post that.

It's Rush, it's all good. I'll let you know how it is, we're seeing them tomorrow night.

Spoiler

They did The Body Electric? They never play that live. Not that I've seen, anyway.

Z, that sounds set list sounds cool as hell! I agree, I love that they just don't play a "greatest hits" set every time. And even though some of the tunes listed aren't my favs, the novelty would be well worth it.

Spoiler

And 9 from CA? Wow! Outstanding!

Here's hoping for a second leg next year! (Please, please, please....) I'm very jealous of those that are getting to see them this time.

Edit to add: You know, I just had a thought about the set list -

Spoiler

Maybe the reason for all the 80s stuff is the orchestra. Maybe they've re-arranged all the keyboard parts for the strings. That would be very cool!

Mortice Root wrote:Z, that sounds set list sounds cool as hell! I agree, I love that they just don't play a "greatest hits" set every time. And even though some of the tunes listed aren't my favs, the novelty would be well worth it.

Yup. As much as I love Def Leppard, the core of their shows has been the same since about 1995. You generally get 1 or 2 "oh that's cool" songs per tour. I appreciate the fact that Rush (Iron Maiden too) really changes their setlist for each tour. And I'm really stoked that they're playing almost all of CA. That's what bands should be doing when they tour behind a new record.

This is certainly not the setlist I would have chosen (and no "Middletown Dreams"!), but I'm still really looking forward to the show.

Ok, the posted set list is shit.

They played "Middletown Dreams", and they closed with "Temples of Syrinx".

More when I have a keyboard.

love seeing Floyd/Waters live - but you can guess the setlist before going and get 98% of it correct. (even when they aren't touring on a redoing of an album, Wall, DSotM)

Cail, looks like you got a "B" night, which switches out songs from "A" night. On A nights, they play Bravado instead of The Pass, The Body Electric instead of Middletown Dreams, Carnies instead of 7 Cities, Manhattan Project instead of Dreamline, and Spirit of Radio (supposed to play Limelight, too, but tech problems cost time) instead of 2112.

So not "shit," just different. I mentioned this in a PM to Dan, but didn't post it in the thread.

Great show!

Needless to say, I was thrilled that the posted setlist wasn't what they played. The substitutions were perfect. I freaked right the hell out when they played The Pass and Middletown Dreams. And I was really glad they put Seven Cities of Gold in, as I think that's a great song.

Second night of the tour, so Geddy's voice sounded great.

The crowd was weird though. We saw them at the same outdoor venue we saw the first leg of the Time Machine tour 2 years ago. It was filled to capacity then, the lawn was nearly empty last night. Now granted, it was a Friday night 2 years ago and not a work night.

But it seemed like no one kew the songs. Everyone stood the entire time, and there was plenty of applause, but there wasn't the wild fanaticism of the TM tour.

I dunno, I thought it was great.