The Rush Thread v. Clockwork Angels

[skydivingninja]

Got my ticket in the mail!

[PlaysLikeMyung]

Mine hasn't shipped out yet. Should be sometime this week though.

[DarkEternalNight]

Got my ticket in the mail!

o/

[skydivingninja]

*\o

[PlaysLikeMyung]

Rush tickets are in the mail

[Ultimetalhead]

My tickets have been sitting around in my room since Christmas.

[The Letter M]

So... I have been listening to two of my favorite albums a LOT lately - Permanent Waves and Power Windows. Both are just amazing albums and, ironically enough, the third album in their respective periods/phases of the Rush discography (oddly enough, Counterparts also ranks high on my Rush-albums rankings - don't know about Caress Of Steel, but it's pretty good for what it is).

PEW is just amazing front-to-back, with two solid songs opening the album, and a very grandiose and epic song in "Jacob's Ladder", with it's various loud/heavy and soft sections. Then on Side 2, we open with two more very solid songs ("Entre Nous" becoming a fast favorite, while "Different Strings" has always been one of those "deep album" gems), and another epic, but this time on the more prog-metal-esque side. "Natural Science" definitely blends together the epic sounds of their past multi-part songs with the more song-oriented sound. It's definitely a great way to end such an amazing album, which probably stands in my Top 3 Rush albums.

As for POW, each song is pretty much a hit for me, with a couple being less so, like "The Big Money", which took me awhile to warm-up to, despite being the album's lead-off single. However, songs like "Marathon", "Manhattan Project" and "Middletown Dreams" are just rocking and epic in a way that only Rush could do in 4-6 minutes. It's as if Rush set out to write songs with an epic feel but without bloating them to 10+ minutes. By this time, their writing had become really focused, and we got "epic" songs like "Marathon", which is probably one of my favorite songs from the band's "Synth-era", and with the live ending, it's even better! I'm a bit displeased that the live version on A Show Of Hands seems a bit slow, but they've seemed to bring it back up to speed on the recent Time Machine Tour! (thank goodness!)

-Marc.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

fuck yeah power windows

[Orbert]

I just want to say how cool it is that you refer to the albums in terms of "sides".  Some bands took a lot of care picking the track list order, and in the LP days, there was the added issue of arranging songs into two acts.  Each side generally had its own opener and closer, sometimes the sides themselves contrasted each other (mostly acoustic vs mostly heavy, for example), that kind of thing.  That was kinduv lost with the transition to CD.

[KevShmev]

Power Windows is arguably as epic as anything they have done, when looking at whole albums.  Too many get hung up on the song lengths not being as long or the prevalence of keys, but like I always say, epic is more of a feel and pacing thing than length, and most of the songs on PoW are very epic and powerful in scope.  The whole album just sounds huge.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

Marathon is a fantastic closer, but they could have done more for the ending.

[The Letter M]

fuck yeah power windows

Well, it's where I got my name from! It also happens to be my first initial! When I read the liner notes for POW and saw that it was "brought to you by the letter m", I knew it was love at first sight. It also happens that every song that begins with the letter m on the album is really good!

I just want to say how cool it is that you refer to the albums in terms of "sides".  Some bands took a lot of care picking the track list order, and in the LP days, there was the added issue of arranging songs into two acts.  Each side generally had its own opener and closer, sometimes the sides themselves contrasted each other (mostly acoustic vs mostly heavy, for example), that kind of thing.  That was kinduv lost with the transition to CD.

I was listening to PEW earlier and realized, that perhaps by mistake, that the last note/chord of "Jacob's Ladder" is in the same key as the opening of "Entre Nous", and when listened to on CD (where the two sides would just play continuously), it creates an unlikely, but awesome sounding transition. Unfortunately, many albums aren't as lucky, so where songs that close Side 1 sound great, the transition to the opening song on Side 2 may not be as smooth, BUT, I believe Rush were thoughtful of that, as they probably thought of the album as a WHOLE, but still carefully crafted the song order for both sides, in addition to the whole album.

Another example is "Limelight" into "The Camera Eye", in which the former lyrically references the title of the latter, and sort of gives a bit of a "nod" to what comes next, which is similar in fashion to hearing "closer to the heart" as a lyric in "A Farewell To Kings", when at the end of Side 1 of AFTK, there's the song with that title.

Rush were very smart about it, and I think they were wise to order their older albums in a way that created a sort of musical rise-and-fall across the album, with climaxes that peak on both sides of the album, but still create an over-all sense of beginning and ending across the whole thing.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Marc, I totally agree, but I am 99.999 sure that "Closer to the Heart" was the first song on Side 2 of the original vinyl, not the last song of Side 1.  But anyway, again, I agree on the sides thing.

[The Letter M]

Marc, I totally agree, but I am 99.999 sure that "Closer to the Heart" was the first song on Side 2 of the original vinyl, not the last song of Side 1.  But anyway, again, I agree on the sides thing.

Huh...well I'll be damned. I always thought it was 3-songs-a-side on that album, but I just googled an image of the LP's back cover and you're right!

Don't know how I missed that. Hell, that makes it an even better, then! Hurray for album foreshadowing!

Today I Learned... that CTTH opens Side 2 of AFTK! 

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

I remember being surprised when I found that out, so you are not alone in that regard. I think it was mentioned in the "Visions" book that that B-Man fella wrote.

[The Letter M]

I remember being surprised when I found that out, so you are not alone in that regard. I think it was mentioned in the "Visions" book that that B-Man fella wrote.

It just seems to fit better as 3-and-3,  with Side 1 being 19:52, and Side 2 being 17:21...seems more even to me than 16:59/20:14, but it's only a matter of 22 seconds difference, so it's not terribly upsetting. Still very interesting though - I always felt Side 1 would have more shape placing "Xanadu" in the middle, but opening Side 2 with "Closer To The Heart" makes more sense than closing Side 1 now that I know that it actually didn't close Side 1.

Back to the talk of vinyl sides - I wonder if they knew how the vinyl edition of S&A would be done when they put together the album's track list? It's interesting to look at...
Side 1 = 16:42
"Far Cry" - 5:19   
"Armor And Sword   " - 6:36   
"Working Them Angels" - 4:47  

Side 2 = 15:32
"Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)" - 4:07   
"Spindrift" - 5:24   
"The Main Monkey Business" - 6:01

Side 3 = 14:01
"The Way The Wind Blows" - 6:28   
"Hope" - 2:02   
"Faithless" - 5:31

Side 4 = 16:33   
"Bravest Face" - 5:12   
"Good News First" - 4:51   
"Malignant Narcissism" - 2:17   
"We Hold On" - 4:13

Each side is about 14-17 minutes long, and the first three all feature what I feel are focus-songs, the high point, which happen to be the longer ones. The last side doesn't really have one, but it also has four songs as opposed to three. Also, each of the last three sides contains one instrumental, which in itself is pretty unique for a Rush record, but also cleverly thought out. I mean, sure they're evenly displaced throughout the album, but they happen to fall in three different vinyl sides!

And looking at the songs as sides of an album, it seems very fitting to me - each side contains songs that seem very well put together as a group, especially Side 1 and Side 3.

I think VT's vinyl track list is pretty well done as well, even though the album seems LESS fitting for vinyl than S&A does, IMO. I'm not sure why, but S&A just feels more cohesive as a 2LP album than VT does, considering the track lists. However, "Vapor Trail" makes a good closer to Side 2 and "Secret Touch" makes a great opener for Side 3!

-Marc.

[King Postwhore]

A must buy for all Rush fans!!!!


https://www.amazon.com/dp/1770410589/?tag=imwan-20

[ytserush]

A must buy for all Rush fans!!!!


https://www.amazon.com/dp/1770410589/?tag=imwan-20

I've got my autographed limited editon coming soon. Thanks for the reminder. I completely forgot about this.



The Fountain Of Lamneth might be my favorite track off of Caress Of Steel. (There are days when I like it more than 2112).



The Rush In Rio DVD is nothing short of amazing (Obviously the sound of the DVD blows the CD away). The Rush In Rio CD...not so much (although Vital Signs and Between Sun And Moon appear as bonus tracks).


I guess it's time to start getting psyched about going to Madison Square Garden....

[TL]

Regarding Power Windows;
I've tried time and time again to get into it, but have never been able to. I give it another chance every now and then because of the overwhelmingly positive opinion some people have of it.

For me, it's just a very cold album. There's not really anything on it that resonates with me.

Obviously it's all personal taste, and I don't begrudge anyone for liking it, but it feels strange to me that an album could be so polarizing amongst people who all greatly enjoy most of Rush's other albums.

[skydivingninja]

...wat.

[King Postwhore]

...wat.

wat he said.

[Gadough]

I love Power Windows because out of all the synth albums, it has the biggest low end. If that makes sense. It sounds more full and less "airy" than the other synth albums.

[ZBomber]

ALBUM RANKINGZ TIME!!!!

1. Permanent Waves
2. Hemispheres
3. A Farewell to Kings
(Top 3 are interchangeable really, depends on how I'm feeling at the moment)

4. Power Windows
5. Grace Under Pressure
6. Moving Pictures
7. 2112
8. Snakes and Arrows
9. Caress of Steel
10. Fly By Night
11. Presto
12. Signals
13. Roll The Bones
14. Hold Your Fire
15. Counterparts
16. Rush
17. Test for Echo
18. Vapour Trails

[PlaysLikeMyung]

Power Windows

Signals
Fly By Night
2112
Moving Pictures
Permanent Waves
Snakes and Arrows
Hold Your Fire
Roll the Bones
Counterparts
Grace Under Pressure
A Farewell to Kings
Hemispheres
Rush
Test for Echo
Caress of Steel
Presto
Vapor Trails

[skydivingninja]

OH BOY ALBUM RANKINGS?

1. Moving Pictures
2. A Farewell to Kings
3. Power Windows
4. Permanent Waves
5. Counterparts
6. 2112
7. Snakes and Arrows
8. Signals
9. Hemispheres
10. Fly By Night
11. Grace Under Pressure
12. Rush
13. Hold Your Fire
14. Hold Your Fire
15. Caress of Steel
16. Vapor Trails
17. Presto
18. Test for Echo

Love the love for Fly By Night, Will.  Great album except for Rivendell.

[glaurung]

Rivendell is a good song. Not very intense or exciting or anything, but good.

1. A Farewell to Kings
2. Permanent Waves
3. 2112
4. Hemispheres
5. Moving Pictures
6. Power Windows
7. Counterparts
8. Signals
9. Grace Under Pressure
10. Snakes & Arrows
11. Fly By Night
12. Roll the Bones
13. Caress of Steel
14. Rush
15. Vapor Trails
16. Presto
17. Hold Your Fire
18. Test for Echo

[ZBomber]

Rivendell is a good song. Not very intense or exciting or anything, but good.

Different Strings is easily the best Rush ballad.

And that is why I have PW as number 1. I would give every song on that album a 10/10, two thumbs up, raging erection, etc.

[King Postwhore]

Different Strings or Tear.  And yes with the Power Windows love.  What a great tour.

[Mladen]

This is gonna be tough and bound to cause some controversy. 

Permanent waves
Moving pictures
Power windows
2112
Vapor trails
Hemispheres
Grace under pressure
Signals
Presto
Caress of steel
A Farewell to kings
Counterparts
Test for echo
Roll the bones
Snakes & Arrows
Hold your fire
Fly by night
Rush

[ZBomber]

I've honestly only listened to Vapor Trails front to back maybe 3 times. I just can't stand the production on that album. The songs themselves seem just OK, but I'm sure I'd appreciate the album a lot more if I could listen to it without my ears bleeding.

Looking forward to the remixing of it.

[The King in Crimson]

1. Permanent Waves
2. 2112
3. Moving Pictures
4. Grace Under Pressure
5. Counterparts
6. A Farewell to Kings
7. Signals
8. Roll the Bones
9. Snakes and Arrows
10. Vapor Trails
11. Presto
12. Hemispheres
13. Fly By Night
14. Hold Your Fire
15. Power Windows
16. Rush
17. Test For Echo
18. Caress of Steel

[Nick]

A Farewell to Kings
Hemispheres
Power Windows
Permanent Waves
Roll the Bones
Moving Pictures
Counterparts
2112
Snakes and Arrows
Signals
Grace Under Pressure
Presto
Hold Your Fire
Caress of Steel
Fly By Night
Test For Echo
Rush
Vapor Trails

Biggest change since last time is that Presto has probably jumped up about 4 spots.

[King Postwhore]

I find here that people love RTB more then Presto.  I find Presto a better cd.

[KevShmev]

I'll admit that I like Roll the Bones a lot more than many, partly because it came out right when I was getting into Rush, but I still think it is much better than Presto by just about any measure.  Better songs, better sound, better theme, etc.

[Orbert]

I prefer Presto to Roll the Bones also, but that may be because I've listened to Presto a lot more.  Roll the Bones has some good stuff, I'm just not as familiar with it.