Rush

[Kensterberg]

skvorisdeadsorta said:

At least (and believe me I'm not implying that you would be into this band) I don't listen to Styx. There are alot worse bands out there.

Yeah, that's very true. And actually, I can deal with ZZ Top and (some) Santana. But the setup was just too good to let go.

[Thorngrub]

* Had I known Riley already set up this board, I wouldn't have set up a RUSH board over on the music pages.

[Dr. Drum]

kenholzman said:

Dr. Drum: How can "New World Man" be Rush's first "true pop single" when it was like four years or so after "Spirit of Radio" -- their best pop single?

Just wondering ...

New World Man was a mere 2½ years after "The Spirit of Radio", believe it or not... For me, this is sort of a "mountain coming to Muhammed/Muhammed going to the mountain" type thing. TSOR is the better song and a great single but ultimately, I'd categorize it as a species of progressive rock. "New World Man", written after the band had assimilated various post punk and new wave influences (Talking Heads, The (English) Beat, China Crisis and Andy Summers/Stewart Copeland among them) is Rush, without reservation, writing an out and out pop song. Sort of fitting that it remains, to this day, their only Billboard Top 40 hit.

The Summers/Copeland influence is still discernable on their new disc, btw.

[wayved]

Rush is coming to Phoenix and I want to go. But It would be cooler with a friend. My hardcore Rush friends are in different cities. My wife won't go cos she CANT STAND RUSH (or YES--something about high male voices--so all the stuff I like when Im driving have to take the back seat (more like the trunk))

So I ask a friend of mine, 10 years my senior, who loves Rush if he wants to go...."They are gonna play their new stuff huh?"

I was like "YEAH! I hope they do! Im sure they are gonna play a whole bunch of old stuff too! Cmon man! Lets get tickets--im buying mine today!"

He explained to me that everything after Moving Pictures sucks. That they were pandering for the top 40. Instead of raising my blood pressure any higher than it usually is, I just let it go. I tried to explain to him that it would be a good time regardless. He thinks James Blunt is cool. I need to find a way to explain to him that all those songs AFTER Moving Pictures are skillfully crafted and that they are just as inspired off anything off of Caress of Steel or Farewell to Kings.

Maybe hes just pissed cos he offered me a free Eagles concert ticket to go with him to see them years ago--but I really hate them--i told him to take his wife! And he did! (an aside: The other day I was in the grocery store and "Hotel California" came on over the speakers, and the guy in back of me sang every word. For some reason the bad side of me, the dark wannabe elitist asshole side, wanted to tell him to shut up......but I guess my better half won and I let him go ahead of me in line just so I wouldnt hear him anymore.)

I just need to convince my friend to go. If not im going SOLO.

[Thorngrub]

Yeah wayved, go solo for sure, if no one else wises up to what a golden opportunity this is.

That mentality -- the "everything after Moving Pictures sucks" mentality -- gets my goat. If your friend only knew how powerful and moving the new album is, how amazing the songs off Vapor Trails sound live, he'd go in a heartbeat. Not to mention the fact that RUSH plays a 3 hour + show, usually 3 and a half hours, which is chock-full-a the old shite. Not to mention, furthermore, that the albums in between Moving Pictures and Snakes & Arrows are 90% sheer brilliance.

I wonder what they have in store for us as their intro -? Last time it was that 20 minute medley (and I usually hate medleys, thinking they're 'copouts'), but RUSH kicked that medley so awesomely & seamlessly, that when you consider the staggering amount of albums under their belt, I would honestly say RUSH is one of the few bands who have earned the right to kick off w/a medley.

But wouldn't it be cool if this time, they started off with, for instance, the entire Hemispheres movement, or even 2112 uncut ? Damn that would be truly radical .. .

[wayved]

Yeah thorn. 2112 UNCUT would be awesome. I think the first side of Hemispheres needs some love though. I really dont want to miss this show.

[Thorngrub]

Oh man, this show WILL be the concert highlight of '07 for me.

[wayved]

YEAH!

[JACkory]

I always thought Rush would be an absolutely great band were it not for Geddy Lee's singing. I've come to realize that Geddy's shrill vocals are an integral aspect of their style. So they have are relegated to being simply a "great band" as opposed to "an absolutely great band". There's not a whole lot of difference, though, so I never give it a second thought.

[Thorngrub]

Well guess what. I'm going to see RUSH tonight! It's either my 17th or 18th RUSH show. . . . I've lost track. This is going to be phenomenal.

Hey jac, at least Geddy's vox have dropped several notches in register, since the old days. It makes for a much more pleasant / approaching baritone sorta Geddy-vocal. . . I can't even believe I'll be seein' em again. So stoked

[JACkory]

You make me sick, dude. You know what I mean? I'll probably never see them live because my ears are so sensitive I can't handle the loudness. Hell, I even had to put protection in my ears for the Sigur Ros show, and that was a heartbreaker. But enjoy, man. I envy ya.