1901

http://www.rockband.com/newsletter/1/

1902

where the hell is nevermind already…

1903

In the RB2 thread I said a week or so ago that I was getting tired of not being excited about the songs they are announcing.

I am now excited. Red Barchetta is one of my most-wanted songs for these games and, I don’t know if anybody has considered this, but I’m pretty sure YYZ is officially the first instrumental to be included in the game. From my perspective, that is a huge thing and something I was worried they would never do.

I already have the available cover versions of these songs, but it will be nice to have the originals. I’m just glad that there’s finally more that I can buy with gusto.

1904

The Nevermind release was apparently nothing more than a rumor. Harmonix debunked the rumor a while back. To hammer the nail in the coffin a little more… Drain You is going to be in RB2 which probably would not have happened if they were planning to release it as an album any time soon.

1905

re: instrumentals – John Cage’s 4’33" would be a perfect April 1 release. Although I can’t say if it’d be possible to 100% it or not.

1906

And according to joystiq, the full Rush album will be $11.

1907

Actually, I had forgotten how long The Camera Eye is, too. At 11:00, I’m fairly sure that’s the longest song in the game, too, yes?

1908

I’m not sure how I feel about Moving Pictures. I love the album to death, but now we’re going to pay for 2 songs that are already available, except now we get masters instead of covers?

I dunno … something about it bugs me. You didn’t get the master originally … let it go and do some other songs. 2112, please!

1909

Thank you god! Now how about 2112 and Presto?

1910

Presto? I could go for Fly By Night. Or fucking Hemispheres.

1911

Don’t blame Harmonix if your OCD forces you to buy songs you don’t actually want. The great thing about DLC is that they can release all sorts of things that people don’t want and it doesn’t degrade their play experience at all. I’ve only bought one song in the last month and I’m still happy as a clam.

1912

I’d pay serious cash for La Villa Strangiato.

1913

Love having more Rush, but Permanent Waves would be my first choice.

1914

I’m probably the only person who thinks this way, but I would pick Roll the Bones. It was their last really good album before they spiraled into suck, and it’s got the most phenomenal bass work of their career in my opinion.

Failing that, I’d probably go with Hemispheres or 2112 for the enormous LP-side-spanning rock operas.

That said, I’ll be picking this up day one. I’m a little peeved about their addition of master tracks after I’ve already purchased several cover versions, but they’re one of the few bands where I’d be willing to suck it up and buy twice. And hey, maybe the only way they could get the rights to master tracks was by proving the amount of demand for their music.

1915

A bandmate of mine put it this way:

"Moving Pictures makes no sense to do as a full album… look at the track list:

Tom Sawyer
Red Barchetta
YYZ
Limelight
The Camera Eye
Witch Hunt
Vital Signs

Out of that list we’ve got two already in the game (although it’d be nice to have the originals), one instrumental, and one song that’s nearly 11 minutes long. That leaves three songs.

It just doesn’t seem like a very good choice, and this is coming from somebody who’s seen Rush live multiple times."

1916

Fuck that logic shit. I’m just excited to get a version of Limelight that doesn’t blow.

1917

Since Rush is willing to do master tracks now, it’s valuable to get Tom Sawyer and Limelight in their true form, but think about how bad it would look if they just released those songs as normal DLC. That would be three Rush masters in a row to replace existing cover versions. By doing the whole album, you get the better version of those two songs, YYZ (which I’m sure people want badly since it was already in GH2), Red Barchetta (which at least is big for Rush fans), and 3 more songs that are not as well known.

If you consider this a Red Barchetta/YYZ pack plus the other stuff, it makes more sense. For fans, anyway. Look at the Pixies album, though. Those songs were almost universally unpleasant to play and didn’t make very good choices for the game – except for fans of the music. Granted, there are a lot of people who HATE Rush, but at least their songs have historically made for good “levels.”

1918

What’s with the hate for getting Moving Pictures? It’s a phenomenal album, great on all instruments, and despite having only seven songs, they’re all at least reasonably long. Sure, it would be great to have all the other good Rush albums as well, but I’m happy just to get one.

And yes, I’ve already bought the Limelight cover, and I don’t care if that turns out to be have been two dollars “wasted.” It’s two dollars.

1919

As someone who hasn’t followed any of the bands in RB or GH, what would be the difference between the master version and cover version of Tom Sawyer? I enjoyed the cover one and I might pick up the master version as well.

1920

Mostly just that fans aren’t fond of the singer’s Geddy impression. It’s never really bothered me, though.