Back to sci-fi epics? Sweet.
Last album was interesting, solid even, but not great. Still the best album since Roll The Bones.
They need to pick up the tempo. The whole last album was in a low to mid tempo which combined with Geddy’s new country/yodeling style just made it a bit dull. Alex was the only one that sounded completeley revitalized.
/faints
The clock is showing 9:12 aka 21:12 in military time.
Good catch!
I read it on the notes :)
I hope that’s not the actual cover, though. It’s awful. Or, at least, not up to Hugh Syme’s usual standards.
I like it. Signals… now THAT was an awful cover (and album).
I am a fairly rare person - a Canadian dude who doesn’t like Rush. I also don’t like hockey much. What I’m saying is, I had a fun childhood.
That said, I will watch pretty much any music documentary, so I recently watched that Beyond The Lighted Stage doc. They are hilarious dudes, with a surprisingly high level of self-awareness about themselves and their career. So when the Time Machine concert movie popped up on one of my movie channels, I thought I’d take a peek.
Here’s what I discovered:
Rush is awesome if I fast-forward to the three songs I like - i.e., the first side of Moving Pictures.
Rush fans are the best. There’s a shot in Time Machine of a row of six or seven dudes, all in their early forties like myself, all air-drumming in perfect synchronization to Neil Peart. That’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.
Hush! That cover works, and the album is amazing.
Presto, on the other hand…
[QUOTE=Omniscia;3104219]Hush! That cover works, and the album is amazing.
Presto, on the other hand…[/QUOTE
… Is their best album in over 20 years!
This is the best non-Rush fan post ever. But yes, they are awesome, even beyond their awesome music.
Tour dates, get’cher tour dates here:
I’ll hit the Montreal show for sure, and maybe even the Manchester, NH, show, for good measure.
What the hell is a 1-800-ASK-GARY Ampitheatre, though?
First time in years they haven’t come to South Florida. Can’t complain they came here twice for Time Machine.
So end result: you’re a Canadian who likes Rush! :)
You should give them a chance though. I consider RUSH one of my favorite bands ever and yet they have released some of the worst music ever: with the exception of a track or two, the albums Caress Of Steel (1975), Signals (1982), Counterparts (1993). I also don’t care much for their debut album or Grace Under Pressure (1984).
And on many other albums there’s at least one or two mediocre to awful tracks. Even on the so called classics like 2112. The first half of that album is worth the price of admission. The second side? Blah. Of their often maligned 80s output, Power Windows (1985) is their best but it is very unbalanced. It starts out tremendously with 4 of their best songs and then goes downhill fast. Not that different from Presto (1989) which has a great first half.
Even Moving Pictures’ 2nd half is weaker than the first but that is still a great album in their catalog, second only to Permanent Waves (1980).
So even with all the bad music they’ve produced, I still consider them one of the greatest because when they click, it’s magic. And I’ve never seen them live except on video but those videos are amazing, ESPECIALLY the one from the Moving Pictures tour which has concert footage along with narration by Neil Peart and pre-concert footage.
Nov-13 Seattle, WA KeyArena
Nov-15 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
Dammit. You have to drive through Portland to get from Seattle to San Jose. You can’t stop at the Rose Garden on the 14th?
Oh, believe me, I have. It’s kinda hard not to, growing up in small-town Ontario in the 70s and 80s. And while I’ve come a long way with regards to prog since my punk-or-nothing teenage years, I’ll still pick FM over Rush in the Ontario space-prog sweepstakes.
Can’t like everything, man.
Bought my ticket for New Hampshire!
My tax refund is going to splurging on the VIP ticket package. Somewhere within rows 1-15, here I come!
Am definitely going to try and go to Charlotte on October 30. Going there earlier in the year for Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper as well.
I dunno, maybe I’m a bit of a fanboy, but I like pretty much all of their albums, for various reasons. I love all of the different stages of their career, and that I can bounce between their prog metal days to the more New Wave stuff to the fantastic Presto to their newer stuff. My favorite period is definitely Fly by Night through Hemispheres, though. Even Caress of Steel. Especially Caress of Steel. I love Necromancer and Fountain. And 2112’s B-side – Twilight Zone, Passage to Bangkok, and Something for Nothing are wonderful. Circumstances’ (from Hemispheres) bass line blows me away. Favorite song, though is Xanadu, easily.
Signals is a decent album, if for any other reason than Subdivisions, New World Man, and The Weapon. And the video is a time capsule, rivaled only by the first few minutes of Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Subdivisions is a terrific track and New World Man is ok. The rest of the album I can do without.
Funny thing I don’t get is how many fans LOVE Signals but hate their other 80s synth-centric stuff. Hold Your Fire and Power Windows are immensely better albums.
The first half of Power Windows is up there with their best albums. Even Grace Under Pressure which I don’t like much is a little better than Signals in that it’s more consistent (though there isn’t a track on there that can hold a candle to Subdivisions).
Looking forward to this new album. Their last one made a great first impression but didn’t hold up after repeated listenings. There are some fantastic songs on it but the sound quality is abrasive, just exhausts my ears. And Geddy’s “yodeling” on a few songs annoyed me.