The Rush 'Synth Period' Thread

Horizons wrote: I still don't understand how CA can be accepted as a good Rush album, that's another thread though.  I could never get into GUP from that period. Second place would certainly be Signals though. Let's be real here: Subdivisions is a complete anthem.

Jeffro wrote: Mirror Image wrote: Horizons wrote: I still don't understand how CA can be accepted as a good Rush album, that's another thread though.  I could never get into GUP from that period. Second place would certainly be Signals though. Let's be real here: Subdivisions is a complete anthem.  I don't listen to any Rush post-Hold Your Fire. I think they lost a lot of magic when the keyboards no longer had an important role in the music. As I mentioned before, Geddy said he wished the band could have expanded on this direction, but Alex was getting pretty fed up with it all. Personally, I love Grace. Killer album from start to finish.  At the time, I welcomed their move away from synth. However, most of the albums post-HYF, (exception is presto) don't interest me as much as what came before. There is not one single album after Presto that I listen to in its entirety. They are have some great songs on them but as complete albums are not as interesting.

I am one of those who love all Rush, there's hard for me to pick a favorite era, it changes with my mood, but I remember seeing for the first time the Grace under pressure tour on laser disc (yes, I am that old), it was so great, the enemy within sounded so alive, so real, and even today, I put on my cd of that tour and the feeling is still there, that song live is way better than the studio version, at least for me.

Hans il mercante wrote: Afterimage from GUP is one of my fav, let's think a bit... Between the wheels, the rhythm section is out of this world, hard not to air drum that song,  The bass line on The Enemy Within (the closing section brings shivers down my spine).

"Afterimage" and "Between the Wheels" alone make Grace Under Pressure worth the price of admission, and "The Enemy Within" is incredible. Indeed, Geddy's bassline is a tasty one, and to think the guy sings a lead vocal over it demonstrates the level that Rush works at.

Which is why I wasn't too thrilled with many of the basslines on Presto and RTB, and the good ones still didn't pop because the production of those albums made thems feel lighter than the '80s albums.

I listened to Clockwork Angels this morning (with a good bit of volume, of course), and it must be reiterated that the production and playing on the album are what I expect of Rush. They really came back with a vengeance starting with Vapor Trails. Geddy's bass intro to "Seven Cities of Gold" is one of his best in the history of the band.

To put it mildly, they've still got it!

I got to say that CAngels is not my all time fav, but it wakes strong emotions of days passed, they without a doubt show the world that they still can make good music in a very modern way (if you know what I mean).

Edited by Hans il mercante - August 22 2014 at 13:44

Are we going to open the Rush appreciation threat?, c´mon, we got a lot of albums to talk about.

I discovered Rush with A Farewell To Kings, followed by Caress Of Steel, 2112 and Hemispheres (and then their two first albums which did not convince me to the same level), and obviously I fell in love with all of them. Then Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures were the icing on the cake.

Edited by Gerinski - August 22 2014 at 17:29

Is there a Rush fan central?, c'mon it would be nice to listen to the whole catalog (again) and write some impressions on those wonderful albums (even though I don't need to listen to them once more, I know them by heart), we can add a record from time to time and read the members favorite moment on each album.

I just bumped it for you Hans.

Or you could always start a new thread for such an endeavor. I'll participate when I can.

Hans il mercante wrote: Mirror Image wrote: Jeffro wrote: Mirror Image wrote: Horizons wrote: I still don't understand how CA can be accepted as a good Rush album, that's another thread though.  I could never get into GUP from that period. Second place would certainly be Signals though. Let's be real here: Subdivisions is a complete anthem.  I don't listen to any Rush post-Hold Your Fire. I think they lost a lot of magic when the keyboards no longer had an important role in the music. As I mentioned before, Geddy said he wished the band could have expanded on this direction, but Alex was getting pretty fed up with it all. Personally, I love Grace. Killer album from start to finish.  At the time, I welcomed their move away from synth. However, most of the albums post-HYF, (exception is presto) don't interest me as much as what came before. There is not one single album after Presto that I listen to in its entirety. They are have some great songs on them but as complete albums are not as interesting.   Yes, I suppose they reached a certain saturation point and the need to move away from the synthesizers was what needed to happen. I read an Inteview where Geddy said that they where writting songs like machines, no feeling at all, they went back to basics to feel the music grow again.

Edited by Mirror Image - August 22 2014 at 20:37