I still can't believe that Geddy was polling right up there with Emerson, Wakeman and Downes (I need to dig some of the mags that have the polls) back then.
It was the times. Prog was waning. Neither Emerson nor Wakeman had done anything of note in a while (ELP was dead, Yes was on hiatus again), and Downes' claim to fame was Asia, basically a pop band with some prog roots but nothing really evident in their sound. Meanwhile, Rush was hot, still had one foot firmly in prog, and those Oberheims did sound sweet. Who's the keyboard player for Rush? Geddy Lee? Yay, he's my favorite keyboard player!
I imagine that's how it went down.
Looks like I'm doing the Rush - Live in Cleveland Hat trick.
I'll be watching the two-hour edit on Rushashana, the watching whole thing on the big screen Oct. 26 (once theaters are announced at
https://www.rushtimemachinepremiere.com/ ) and buying my copy the weekend before it comes out.
Of course, Nick has all of us one better.
Ironically, the split between the two CDs of the Cleveland show is right where the vinyl-sides of MP split!
-Marc.
No irony about that. It was intentional.
dbrroks22:
On the topic of ASOH, I have been listening to a bootleg from 1988 from Birmingham, AL. It is awesome - the band is just so tight. And Neil has that energy that i mentioned a few pages back in this thread. Marathon, Lock and Key, Mission... really an awesome show from an awesome era.
Not too familiar with this one (might have it on tape which would explain a lot). I should look to see if I have it. I haven't been listening to those mid-to-late '80s shows much over the last several years for whatever reason, but whenever I do I'm always impressed by how much they really nailed what they were doing. NOBODY was doing that then. Even tribute bands rarely touch that stuff (and Mission isn't all that hot on that Magna Carta disc).
I'm not sure if i ever really appreciated that era live as much as I probably should have when it happened. I guess I wasn't an experienced enough listener to really pick out the subtleties.
Neil didn't really start to swing until he studied with Freddy Gruber. I know there there was a lot more energy in the past, but I really like the way he plays now too. That's not to say I wouldn't ever listen to the solo on that first tour or the one from Permanent Waves. (If it's energy you're looking for from senior drummers, how about checking out the Carl Palmer Band?)