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AlexDOM 
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Joined: February 02 2011
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 Posted: May 23 2012 at 20:59 |
 Jbird wrote:
Grace Under Pressure is maybe my favorite Rush album.
I didn't like it as much as the older stuff when it first came out, as it reminded me of the New Wave scene at the time, especially the guitar rhythms/tone.
Now, it's a toss-up between Moving Pictures, Grace Under Pressure, and Counterparts as to which is my favorite. Depends on my mood that day, I guess  |
I love Grace Under Pressure too!
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verslibre
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Posted: May 23 2012 at 19:00 |
Ambient Hurricanes wrote:
I was just listening to Grace Under Pressure today, and I got to thinking that the classification of Rush's work from 1982's Signals to 1987's Hold Your Fire as the "synthesizer period" is a real myth. Just about every description you hear of that era describes it as "synthesizer dominated," "drowning in keyboards" or something of the sort, trying to tell us that the guitar was pushed to the background as the keyboards came to define the sound of the music and take the lead in almost every song. This has never made any sense to me. Sure, Alex Lifeson had to share the spotlight with some keyboards, but for the most part, the synthesizers were confined to the rhythm section, playing chords, ostinatos, and atmospheric parts. They emerged into the lead from time to time but Alex still got all the solos and played some brilliant rhythm parts and arpeggios, working with the keys in a masterful way. If anything, this period was his most tasteful, where his parts might have been a little more sparse, but added to the music that much more, not to mention that he shredded on his solos as much as ever. Does anyone else think this? I think the 80's contained some of Lifeson's best guitar work, and some of Rush's best material overall. |
I agree with the above sentiment. '81-'85 features both great guitar and synth work, and the synth lines on Hold Your Fire are fine, I just think the digital patches haven't aged as well.
Epignosis wrote:
OK, okay
Since we are fans, how about this:
Worst Rush album?
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Presto has suffered through the years. Songs like "The Pass," "Anagram (For Mongo)" and "Hand Over Fist" don't do it for me, though I did like them when they were new. The next album, Roll The Bones, is slightly more consistent but I think "Neurotica" and "You Bet Your Life" could together form the nadir for Rush when compared to the bucketloads of exciting music they've recorded for decades.
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rdtprog
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Posted: May 23 2012 at 04:28 |
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The guitar sound was push down in the Signals album, but were back again up front with GUP. I agree that the 80's guitar of Liefson was excellent, because he is himself a excellent guitarist.
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Queen By-Tor
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Posted: May 23 2012 at 01:30 |
Snow Dog wrote:
I like Test For Echo too. All of it. |
Interesting. GUP is one of my favorite Rush albums. T4E still hasn't sunk in the way I want it to... 
Edited by SharkZ - May 23 2012 at 01:31
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Biff Tannen
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Posted: May 22 2012 at 00:23 |
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Alex's guitar work in Distant Early Warning is beyond awesome. Listen to his work during the second verse; the way it moves along and builds is creative as hell, and then the solo later in the song is almost an extension of it. Killer stuff.
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"What are you looking at, butthead?"
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Flyingsod
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Location: United States
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 22:03 |
Hmm Listening to GUP now and the guitar tones are reawakening my awe. I never thought about it before. Alex was long known for guitar tone extravagance. Perhaps it was just an effort to compete with the lush sounds a synth can produce. If so I'm even more glad for the synths that helped push these awesome guitar tones.
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Flyingsod
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 21:56 |
I haven't listened to Grace Under Pressure for a few years now despite it being one of my favorites ( like every other Rush album). Im gonna spin it right now though and pay attention to what you said about each song.
Interestingly in my mind Presto Is a keyboard free zone. I admit to never having analyzed it for keyboards before however and as some of you are saying it was a perfect mix of keys and guitars I'm sure theres plenty of keys in it. I do remember it being a breath of fresh air though after the previous synth laden decade. I mean to us it sounded like a huge return to "old Rush"... maybe it wasn't really. I do remember Geddy saying in an interview that it would be silly to totally ditch keys but they had made a conscious effort to not have them be the driving force of the music. I'll go listen to it agian with all this in mind.
I think im seeing more the the OP point now. I think no one can argue that the 80's were not Rush's synth period but perhaps things are more balanced twixt keys and guitar than the zeitgeist would have us belive.
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Jbird
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 19:45 |
Grace Under Pressure is maybe my favorite Rush album.
I didn't like it as much as the older stuff when it first came out, as it reminded me of the New Wave scene at the time, especially the guitar rhythms/tone.
Now, it's a toss-up between Moving Pictures, Grace Under Pressure, and Counterparts as to which is my favorite. Depends on my mood that day, I guess |
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Biff Tannen
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 18:19 |
The least best albums are easily the debut, Presto, Test for Echo and Vapor Trails.
Scars is a good song, but they have probably 70 or 80 songs that are better, no joke.
Power Windows is one of their five best albums, and definitely THE album where they perfected the use of keyboards in their music.
Alex's playing is always awesome.
Roll the Bones is a lot better than many give it credit for. Not a top 10 album, but still pretty darn good.
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"What are you looking at, butthead?"
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Snow Dog
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 16:55 |
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I like Test For Echo too. All of it.
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Epignosis
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 16:51 |
JS19 wrote:
Epignosis wrote:
Ambient Hurricanes wrote:
Epignosis wrote:
OK, okay
Since we are fans, how about this:
Worst Rush album?
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The debut. Here Again is great, though. |
I'm going to say Power Windows. I just don't like it. Can't get into it.
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I second that, but Mystic Rhythms saves it. As does The Pass from Presto, One Little Victory from Vapor Trails, Between The Wheels from Grace Under Pressure, Time Stand Still from Hold Your Fire and Working Man from Rush.
In fact, pretty much every single sub-standard Rush album is saved by one or two stand out tracks.
Apart from Test For Echo.... Ugh. Even the title track is far, far better on the Different Stages live album! |
I happen to love Test for Echo; the only track I don't much care for is the instrumental.
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Gerinski
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 16:13 |
Agree that the "keyboard period" of Rush contains much of Alex best guitar work. Sure their 70's albums were amazing, rockier, groundbreaking and in some sense proggier, but his guitar work in the 80's became much more sophisticated and unique, and his mastery at using the effects much more developed. In the 70's he was already unique but he was closer to what we could call a standard rock guitarist.
I love them all from Signals to Roll the Bones and it's perplexing that none of them reach a weighted rating of 4, and a brilliant album like Presto barely 3.1.
Weakest albums for me, apart from the debut are Counterparts and Test for Echo.
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JS19
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Joined: October 10 2010
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 14:52 |
Epignosis wrote:
Ambient Hurricanes wrote:
Epignosis wrote:
OK, okay
Since we are fans, how about this:
Worst Rush album?
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The debut. Here Again is great, though. |
I'm going to say Power Windows. I just don't like it. Can't get into it.
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I second that, but Mystic Rhythms saves it. As does The Pass from Presto, One Little Victory from Vapor Trails, Between The Wheels from Grace Under Pressure, Time Stand Still from Hold Your Fire and Working Man from Rush.
In fact, pretty much every single sub-standard Rush album is saved by one or two stand out tracks.
Apart from Test For Echo.... Ugh. Even the title track is far, far better on the Different Stages live album!
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spknoevl
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 13:40 |
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I actually think that Lifeson's guitar work became far more interesting from Moving Pictures onward.
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http://martinwebb.bandcamp.com
The notes are just an interesting way to get from one silence to the next - Mick Gooderick
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Sagichim
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 13:33 |
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I also remember Alex said, before Counterparts if i'm not mistaking, that "This is it, no more keys from now", and the band had to go with him.
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Ambient Hurricanes
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Joined: December 25 2011
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 10:25 |
Blacksword wrote:
Guitar in 80's Rush.
Did anyone take note of what Alex Lifeson said in 'Beyond the lighted stage'? He felt like he was competing with keyboards and was quite uncomfortable with the bands direction at the time. I think some of those albums, post Signals were too reliant on keyboards and overbright production, but the guitar playing was still there, it was just down in the mix.
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I did hear what Alex said in the movie, but I also heard what Geddy said about Power Windows having the perfect balance between guitar and keyboards (even he thought Hold Your Fire was too keyboard heavy). From Alex's perspective, I'm sure he was uncomfortable because he had dominated the sound of the band previously, and now he had to share space with keyboards. From a listener's perspective, I think the balance was almost perfect, Alex had plenty of his own space, and that he was too focused maintaining his previous role to realize how good the music really was and how much his tasteful guitar playing impacted it.
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I love dogs, I've always loved dogs
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Blacksword
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 10:14 |
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Guitar in 80's Rush.
Did anyone take note of what Alex Lifeson said in 'Beyond the lighted stage'? He felt like he was competing with keyboards and was quite uncomfortable with the bands direction at the time. I think some of those albums, post Signals were too reliant on keyboards and overbright production, but the guitar playing was still there, it was just down in the mix.
GUP is actually more of a guitar album than a keyboard album, imo, because of the way the guitar comes screaming to the foreground in the mix. It was a slow grower for me; quite cold sounding, but now, after Moving Picturs and Permenant Waves, I think it was their best 80's album. When they played 'Between the Wheels' on the R30 tour, I was blown away. Hi-light of the night for me.
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Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy!
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Snow Dog
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 06:27 |
Epignosis wrote:
OK, okay
Since we are fans, how about this:
Worst Rush album?
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Grace Under Pressure.
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Horizons
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Posted: May 21 2012 at 06:21 |
Test for Echo and Roll the Bones are my least favorite Rush albums. NEVER listen to anything on either. They were all fairly strong during the 80's period. Hold Your Fire is my favorite Rush album post-Singals. Has grown on me a lot. Peart's lyrics weren't too consistent but had some incredible highs. Turn the Page is one the lower lyrical points of his during that period, but it's still great. The bass and catchy ending to that song..
Edited by Horizons - May 21 2012 at 06:44
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Crushed like a rose in the riverflow.
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Ambient Hurricanes
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Posted: May 20 2012 at 22:21 |
stonebeard wrote:
Ambient Hurricanes wrote:
^What's so bad about Scars?
I feel like Presto was the album where Rush really mastered the use of keyboards in their music, being in one sense the culmination of an era and in another the shift away from that era. I think it's similar to Permanent Waves in that regard. |
They hardly mastered it at Presto. Moving Pictures had good use of them, Signals even more, and it all progressed from there. I personally never think they "overdid" the synth stuff, mostly because the songwriting was fantastic on almost every 80s album. |
Agreed (mostly); I do think they were always great at integrating synths into their music, but I still consider Presto to have the most tasteful and effective use of keyboards, especially as they incorporated the piano a little more, which I like.
Really, the synths helped so much to define the sound of that era (even though I don't think they "dominated"), and the keyboards and electronics in general were so vital to the shift in the thematic material from fantasy/philosophy and such to commentary on life in the modern world. From the digital, technological focus on Signals to the bleak atmosphere of Grace Under Pressure and finally the uplifting, hopeful vision of the future on Hold Your Fire, the synths helped to create an atmosphere that perfectly matched the era.
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I love dogs, I've always loved dogs
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Guitar in 80s Rush
