I was doing a compare of the original release and the Sector release this evening and cranking it out and... dare I say... it's starting to grow on me. Still a little shrill, and that drum fill on Red Sector A is still by far the worst in the catalogue by a long shot, but some of those tunes are really starting to sink in. Red Sector A is excellent, as is The Body Electric.
Maybe it's just that it's not 9am yet, but what do the bolded mean?
Can I brag that I saw the GUP tour?
It was my third concert ever. Unfortunately, it was at an outdoor venue (the old Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in SoCal), we had seats on the grass in the back, and it took most of the opening song (The Spirit of Radio) for the sound guy to get things right. When the song started, we could barely hear the guitar over the crowd noise.
So..... some of you know my blatant, core-level dislike of Grace Under Pressure. I was doing a compare of the original release and the Sector release this evening and cranking it out and... dare I say... it's starting to grow on me. Still a little shrill, and that drum fill on Red Sector A is still by far the worst in the catalogue by a long shot, but some of those tunes are really starting to sink in. Red Sector A is excellent, as is The Body Electric.
NO, The Body Electric still sucks, but that's a pretty good album overall. It's more of an EP, so there is serious suckage on it, but there's 5 really good songs anyway.
My issues with GUP are many, but I've recently landed on the conclusion that it could have been a MUCH better album with better instrumentation and production. Red Sector A was, at the time, the wimpiest song in the band's catalog (save for Rivendell), but the 21st Century live versions are almost complete 180s. The Body Electric almost as bad (and worse in some ways), but when you hear it done with ballsier guitar, chunky bass and all acoustic drums, it's pretty good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVDDub4UtPU . For my money, the worst thing Rush ever did was when Geddy played the Steinberger and Wall basses.
Other than when I intentionally listen to the entire album, the only songs I will ever go to are The Enemy Within, Between the Wheels and Kid Gloves. Distant Early Warning is ok. Afterimage is a yawner. Red Lenses is just...I don't know...at this point, that song is a caricature.