Kevin's Watch

Rush.

Best albums: Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, Signals, Vapor Trails, Snakes and Arrows. There's eighteen studio albums in their discography, folks. There's bound to be something there you could like, if rock is your thing. (Just don't get Test For Echo.)

You are a mega-dork, KiGirl. (This coming from a guy who can write 1000s of words on the philosophical distinction between science fiction and fantasy. . . )

Malik23 wrote: You are a mega-dork, KiGirl. (This coming from a guy who can write 1000s of words on the philosophical distinction between science fiction and fantasy. . . )

Ok...maybe I am just a plain old dork....we should reserve mega-dork for you.

Spiral Jacobs wrote: my most impressive feat is that I've turned my woman (who only used to listen to French pop music) into a Dream Theater fan

That's beyond impressive! She must really love you

As for bands I obsess over, my nick is one clue But I don't really listen to them that much now. Spock's Beard was probably my last real obsession, but since Neal left not so much. If anything, right now I'm really into listening to everything I filled my iPod with. There's just so much great music out there!

Malik23 wrote: (Just don't get Test For Echo.)

Awww come on, Test for Echo is alright. It may not be the best they ever released, but at least it's better than Hold Your Fire.

I think Hold Your Fire is much better than Test For Echo. You might not like their "keyboard phase," but the songs are complex, thoughtful, and innovative. Not silly, bland, formulaic, and uninspired. T4E is the only Rush CD I've sold after buying it.

"Keyboard Phase"....Yep, that's why I stopped listening to new Rush albums. I think that's why I liked Roll the Bones so much, it wasn't overdone with keys.

I remember when "Big Money" came out, I was like WTF is this?

The Big Money rooocckks! I love that song! The live version on the Rio DVD is even better. I don't think of that as a "keyboard song" at all. Not like Subdivisions or Mission (both which still rock).

Cail, what do you think of Dark Side of the Moon? Do keyboards necessarily kill a song?

Power Windows was in fact the first Rush cd I ever heard. I still have a soft spot for it.

Keyboards don't kill a song at all if they're used well (see Rainbow, Pink Floyd, or Deep Purple). The problem with Rush's use of them is that Rush was such a guitar-based band for so long, with keyboards used for texture, it was jarring when the keys suddenly became the dominant instrument.

Cail wrote:Keyboards don't kill a song at all if they're used well (see Rainbow, Pink Floyd, or Deep Purple).

In fact, you're now mentioning at least two bands for whom the 'keyboard', which you so disrespectfully call it, was one of the determining factors of their sound! Need I say 'Hammond B3'?

Oh no, don't get me wrong, I have no disrespect for keyboards at all. Quite the contrary, the three bands I mentioned, and we might as well include Zeppelin too, all used various keyboards (Hammond, Mellotron, piano, and full-on synths) to great effect.

dAN, a few months ago, made a very prescient point, which I'd like to revisit. Moving Pictures is the culmination of three awesome musicians making a f*cking unbelievably good album. It's the band at it's peak. And yeah, their use of keyboards to that point was brilliant.

Then came Signals, and as much as I enjoyed certain songs on that album (Subdivisions and Countdown), it was a serious change in direction for the band, and one that I didn't care for at all.

Now, maybe I just feel like keyboards ruined my band (because in 1982 I was a huge Rush fan), but I think that Rush's newfound reliance on keyboards didn't do their sound any good.

Edit-That's probably why I liked "Show Don't Tell" and pretty much the entire Roll The Bones album, because there was a return to the "synth-as-texture-only" dynamic.