I saw that concert.

/ get off my lawn

Did Spinal Tap come out before or after that?

/Saw them on that tour
//

Great song.

A lot of fans wish they would go back and do epic songs like this again, but I'm a little happy they're not. That phase of rock came and went, and maybe it's best to remain there. But I still have a soft spot for it all.

The Glass Dragon: Great song.

A lot of fans wish they would go back and do epic songs like this again, but I'm a little happy they're not. That phase of rock came and went, and maybe it's best to remain there. But I still have a soft spot for it all.

The last 2 Rush albums have plenty of songs with 'epic' scope and plenty of changes, etc... they just choose to not be so obvious about hitting you over the head with it these days..

TSE: The last 2 Rush albums have plenty of songs with 'epic' scope and plenty of changes, etc... they just choose to not be so obvious about hitting you over the head with it these days..

What I mean is songs like 2112, Xanadu, Fountain of Lamneth, etc. These big 30 minute sci-fi/fantasy epics.

I got your Xanadu for you, right here.

/off to knock one out

Thanks subby havent heard that song in a while.

"Xanadu--held within the Pleasure Dome"

/need to find that dome.

In before that fag spouts off about vikings and buckethead.

Not a Rush fan, but I like a lot of their songs, and Xanadu is my favorite by theirs. Thanks subby.

By the way, the new Rush album is actually quite good. There's about 20 minutes worth of total mediocrity on there, but The Main Monkey Business, Bravest Face and We Hold On are some of the best songs they've ever done. Chop the album down to about 40 minutes and you might have Rush's best album.

They made a lot of noise for 3 guys.

Meanwhile, Mull Historical Society are just watching (new window)

Way over indulgent riffage with too many changes.
Overly pretentious and corny lyrics.
Busy rhythms that never ever fall into a steady "in the pocket" groove.


....ahhhhh the hallmarks of classic prog.

Rush were somewhat embarrassingly late on that bandwagon.
Even the most dense purveyors of prog had abandoned this format by the late 70s.(Yes,Genesis...etc.)
Not Rush.
They had no shame in recycling ALL the silliest prog/concept album themes and cliches.

Full side-long marathons of contrived pretentiousness.
/still love 'em
// listened to Yes "Relayer" the other day unashamed
/// planning on buying "Tarkus" on cd soon
//// any suggestions on a good classic Rush live dvd?

craigdamage:

Rush were somewhat embarrassingly late on that bandwagon.
Even the most dense purveyors of prog had abandoned this format by the late 70s.(Yes,Genesis...etc.)


Yup, I like you. You're totally right.

Rush's best album was Signals, anyway.

craindamage

Exit...Stage Left or A Show of Hands

craigdamage
any suggestions on a good classic Rush live dvd?

They had this DVD set out a year or two ago that had the 'Exit Stage Left', "Grace Under Pressure", and "A Show of Hands" concerts all in one package, called REPLAY.
Each one has nifty informative booklets too... and an audio CD of the "Grace Under Pressure" concert is included too. All for [when i bought it] $30 CAN.

YEAH!!!! Great track.

Seeing them tonight, though sadly, they won't be playing this one.

My all time favorite Rush tune. Just great.


///hey, I like other music too, you know.

They had this DVD set out a year or two ago that had the 'Exit Stage Left', "Grace Under Pressure", and "A Show of Hands" concerts all in one package, called REPLAY.
Each one has nifty informative booklets too... and an audio CD of the "Grace Under Pressure" concert is included too. All for [when i bought it] $30 CAN.

I have it and it OWNS.

This song was based off of an unfinished poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh ! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover !
A savage place ! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover !
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced :
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail :
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean :
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war !
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves ;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice !
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome ! those caves of ice !
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware ! Beware !
His flashing eyes, his floating hair !
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

I really would like to hear "Grace Under Pressure" stuff live.

I really liked the songs from "Grace" and also "Power Windows" as well but I so hate the dreadful 80s sounding production on those two records.

Both are too cold and sterile sounding. Lifeson's switch to solid-state amps and Geddy using the dreadful tone Steinberger bass doesn't help matters much either.

"Signals" and "Moving Pictures" are more warm and organic in sound to me and are more like their classic era albums.

craigdamage

I really would like to hear "Grace Under Pressure" stuff live.


Then buy "Replay X3". Has the whole Grace Under Pressure show. Amazing stuff, especially "Vital Signs".

I bought the CD " a show of hands" and i thought it farking sucked. too 80's and overproduced slickafied.
the song list was ok tho...

the "different stages" cd from 1998, my copy had a bonus third disc... a concert from 1978... great versions of F.T.K and earlier stuff... I'd say that it just might be better than All the World's a Stage... tho that one has a fond spot in my heart as well...
i don't own "exit stage left" on cd, but i do have it on dvd in the Replay package and it was pretty good.

Okay, old guy time here. I had the 8-Track of Farewell to Kings. Saw them twice before that one came out. As warm up for KISS and then warm up for Boston.

Actually thought they sold a little soul with the synthesizers.

But they are still my favorite rock band.

By the way, does anybody else think Xanadu is the only good song on AFtK, and that the rest of the album is freaking horrible?

tarkus
By the way, does anybody else think Xanadu is the only good song on AFtK, and that the rest of the album is freaking horrible?

Nope. I like every song on it except for "Madrigal". i hate that freaking song.
IMHO, "Xanadu", and "Cygnus X-1" kick so much ass. the rest of the other tracks are pretty good too. [tho i find that "closer to the heart" is overrated and overplayed].

And i think that "Hemispheres" is a better / greater overall album... the title track suite is perhaps their greatest side long song EVER. tho "Circumstances" annoyed the hell out of me at first cuz of what i thought was inferior song writing quality and Geddy's super high screechy voice, but i got used to it. the title track and "la villa..." is worth the amount paid for the album alone, IMHO. "the trees" is pretty good as well.


/ yes, i Like Rush and those other 70's rock/prog. acts. ie. yes, elp, genesis, the mighty crimso, gong, etc.
// hey you negative farkers, so what, maybe they did jump on the art rock/prog rock band wagon a little too late, but who cares? it's just timing... plus they put out more than a few good/great albums in the mid/late 70's... stop ragging on them for jumping on the bandwagon a little too late... nobody's perfect...
/// yes i even like the early to mid 80's synth period rush...
Moving Pictures and Signals are fricking great, and Grace Under Pressure is also pretty good too, and kind of underrated.

craigdamage: I really would like to hear "Grace Under Pressure" stuff live.

"Distant Early Warning" at Madison Square Garden last September brought down the house. Probably the best live performance of any song I have ever seen.

tarkus1980: By the way, does anybody else think Xanadu is the only good song on AFtK, and that the rest of the album is freaking horrible?

I think AFTK And Cygnus X-1 are pretty kick-ass. Madrigal is just... awful. Not Tears or Rivendell bad, but close.

Third_Uncle_Eno: plus they put out more than a few good/great albums in the mid/late 70's... stop ragging on them for jumping on the bandwagon a little too late... nobody's perfect...
/// yes i even like the early to mid 80's synth period rush...
Moving Pictures and Signals are fricking great, and Grace Under Pressure is also pretty good too, and kind of underrated.

See, if I were to give letter grades to Rush albums, this is how it would look like to me:

Rush: C+/B-
Fly by Night: B/B+
Caress of Steel: C+
2112: B
All the World's a Stage: B/B+
A Farewell to Kings: C
Hemispheres: B+
Permanent Waves: B+
Moving Pictures: B+/A-
Exit Stage Left: A- (my favorite one to listen to)
Signals: A-
Grace Under Pressure: C+/B-
Power Windows: B
Hold Your Fire: C-
A Show of Hands: B-
Presto: C+/B-
Roll the Bones: C
Counterparts: B-
Test for Echo: B/B+
Different Stages: B+
Vapor Trails: C/C+
Rush in Rio: B+/A-
Feedback: B
Snakes and Arrows: B (but if 20 minutes were lopped off, it would be a solid A-)

bv2112: tarkus1980: By the way, does anybody else think Xanadu is the only good song on AFtK, and that the rest of the album is freaking horrible?

I think AFTK And Cygnus X-1 are pretty kick-ass. Madrigal is just... awful. Not Tears or Rivendell bad, but close.

Tears is my favorite song on 2112. Cygnus X-1 sounds like a bunch of warmup riffs held together by duct tape and with a sci-fi theme slobbered on top of it.

Tarkus1980
here's my grade list:

Rush: C- [three or four good songs surrounded by dreck]
Fly by Night: never listened to it.
Caress of Steel: C+/B
2112: B
All the World's a Stage: B
A Farewell to Kings: B+
Hemispheres: A-/A+
Permanent Waves: C/C+ [yes, a C+. i only like maybe 3 songs on it]
Moving Pictures: A-/A+ [everything is excellent except for "Vital Signs"]
Exit Stage Left: never listened to the album.
Signals: B+/A- [everything is good except for the last 2 songs]
Grace Under Pressure: B [suprisingly good and underrated]
Power Windows: C [a few good songs]
Hold Your Fire: C-
A Show of Hands: D-
Presto: C-
Roll the Bones: C+
Counterparts: B+ [surprisingly good mid 90's "rock/grunge" fare]
Test for Echo: never listened to it.
Different Stages: C+/B [B+ w/ bonus third disc]
Vapor Trails: D [ugh. don't get me started]
Rush in Rio: never listened to it.
Feedback: never listened to it.
Snakes and Arrows: never listened to it.

You know who else sent Geddy Lee's parents to a concentration camp?