RUSH, baby, YEAH!!!!!!!!

tedvanfrehley

tedvanfrehley

Your Favorite Uncle
May 28, 2003
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I was listening to the Rush greatest hits today and boy what a great freakin' band this is. I don't know if ya wanna call 'em metal but the elements are there. They are just a great hard rock band in my opinion. I had forgotten how cool they were. I am into Rush the way Sixxswine has been into Deep Purple. Just digging it out and jamming. "WORKING MAN" sounds a lot like Sabbath, to me. Who else wants to salute this 3 piece wonder ?!?!?!
Ted
 
My second favorite band...have every album!!! Permanent Waves, Caress OF Steel, and Hemispheres are my top 3. I would say they were a prog metal band up until 82, Alex changed his guitar style, and they put more keyboards on every album, but I still like everything they have ever done!! I think you can put 2112 up there with all the great metal albums of the 70's, and it's as heavy or just as heavy as anything from that decade.
 
Rush rules! Awesome band. And each member is a wizard of his instrument, especially The reigning GOD of the drums himself, Neal Peart. My favorite album of theirs is actually a tie between the godly "2112" and the ungoldy underrated "Presto".
Sixxswine said:
I'm thinking I'd better track down a copy of their
best of discs...
Click to expand...
Go for their 2 disc best of "Chronicles". It's a tad more pricey, but it's damn worth it.
 
Psychonaut said:
I personally think Grace Under Pressure is a severely underrated record.
Click to expand...
It is a pretty good album. "Distant Early Warning" is one hell of a song. But I hear NO ONE talk about Presto. At least I hear SOME things about Grace Under Pressure.
 
I have their compilations, but their "best of "type cd's don't have their good songs on them. The songs on the compilations are good, mind you, but the record companies that put these out won't put on 2112(in it's entirety)or Cygnus X-1 book I or II, or Natural Science, etc....When getting your first Rush album, start with 2112, or the next or preceding album, that's if you want to hear them when they were the most heavy, and had longer songs. And yes, Presto is a strong album!!!
 
most "after Moving Pictures" Rush albums are underrated because of the strong pop elements ..
Grace Under Pressure rocks hard
the only "bad" Rush album is "Power Windows"
these guys even played power metal in the 70s
 
IOfTheStorm said:
most "after Moving Pictures" Rush albums are underrated because of the strong pop elements ..
Grace Under Pressure rocks hard
the only "bad" Rush album is "Power Windows"
these guys even played power metal in the 70s
Click to expand...
That's too bad..I like Power Windows a lot. I wouldn't go as far as saying pop, but yes, they trimmed down the concept songs and song length from Signals all the way to Vapor Trails. I keep hearing that they are going to eventually put all their past video's out on DVD format. I hope so..especially the Exit Stage Left video!! What's your favorite Rush album covers? My top 5 are..
Caress of Steel
Grace Under Pressure
Permanent Waves
A Farewell to Kings
Signals
 
1) Power Windows
2) A Farewell to Kings
3) Moving Pictures
4) Hemispheres
5) 2112

I once did a web review on Power Windows. It explains why I like PW the best. For those who wonder. I don't say that PW *is* the best. I say I like it the most. *For me* it is the best. I never debate what album/band/sing etc. is the best. I consider this a complete waist of time.

Nough said here is the review:


When "Power Windows" was released I was curious. I kinda missed the big guitars from albums like "Moving Pictures" and "A Farewell To Kings". Of course being a total Rush fanatic I still loved "Signals" and "Grace Under Pressure".

When the needle slid down into the first track and I heard the opening chord I just knew I would love this album. And I did. The production of this album is just perfect if you ask me. Put on some headphones and tell me I am wrong. This is also the perfect album to play really LOUD. It rocks in a high tech way. The song that turned out to be my least favorite was that same opener "Big Money". Too much repetition.

Next comes "Grand Designs" Great track with obvious reggae influences. The lyrics tackle what is really importand in life. Do you go for Power or principle?

"Manhattan Project" Starts relax and builds up to the climax. The lyrics deal with the development of the atomic bomb in a historical context and the ensuing arms race that followed. Lyricist Neil Peart pulls no punches:

"When the chain reaction was done The big shots-try to hold it back Fools try to wish it away The hopeful depend on a world without end Whatever the hopeless may say"

How prophetic these words were. As it turned out the arms race and the treat of Mutually Assured Destruction prevented WWIII!!

"Marathon" picks up the pace and never let its go. The lyrical subject goes into running and to find the power and the determination to achieve your goals in life.

Side two opens with one of my favorite Rush tracks. "Territories". What at first may seem like a disco beat becomes a pulsating driven beat. As more intruments begin to play this song really starts to live when Alex plays a wonderful riff!! This is a great song with a fantastic unity between lyrics and music. On the surface the song deals with nationalism and colonialism. But it also takes on the collectivism/individualism dichotomy. Needless to say, the lyrics belong to my favorite Peart lyrics.

I still get a chill when I hear the following lines:

"They shoot without shame In the name of a piece of dirt For a change of accent Or the colour of your shirt Better the pride that resides in a citizen of the world Than the pride that divides When a colourful rag is unfurled"

"Middletown dreams" may be one of the most underrated songs in the Rush catalog. Sometimes when I am playing it on my house stereo I find myself dancing through the room on it. Again the lyrical subject is great. Its about the tension of our dreams, the reality of our lives and how we all are alone with them. As illustrated by this wonderful piece of prose:

"The boy walks with his best friend Through the early fields of May They walk awhile in silence One close-one far away"

"Emotion detector" goes for the Freudian EGO! Can love change our animal instincts or is our civilized behavior just a small veneer? This is really a song that rocks! The chords under the chorus just kicks ass!! Incidentally, it might be interesting to notice how far Neil Peart already had strayed from the orthodox Randian view. His view on things had become so unRandian and that becomes very clear in this song and the next.

What could I say about "Mystic rhythms"? This song goes strait to the heart and never lets you go. Neil is asking how far reason can go and is being overtaken by mystic rhythms... A true Rush classic.

Power windows is a monumental album the music is powerful and the subject matter of the album deals with power in the outside world (Big money,Manhattan project, Territories), power inside of us ( Marathon, Middletown dreams, Emotion detector) and the power in a world we seems to glimpse just barley (Mystic rhythms). This makes it into an essential Rush album and in fact it is nothing more and nothing less than a true piece of art.

Hawk
 
Rush is a top notch band. I consider them the "godfathers" of prog-metal. Of course Fates Warning really took it to the "current level" yet gets greatly overshadowed by Dream Theater. Still it is a great possibility neither band would exist at least in their style as we know them without Rush.
Though Rush certainly has a big fan base, and also may not be "exactly" metal, they get overlooked too often for the music they have created and the influence they have had over modern metal.
Just listen to "Tom Sawyer" and listen to how many metal "cliches" you hear especially in the drumming. When they wrote that song, they weren't cliches, they were brilliant and original.


Bryant
 
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