I was originally going to do a completely different theme for this roulette, but considering the tragic loss of Neil Peart recently and to honor my favorite band, Rush, and favorite drummer, I thought I would do a Rush themed roulette.
RULES
- No, you do not need any prior knowledge of Rush to participate
- There will be themes (don’t worry they will be broad in scope)
- Open to everyone
- No limits to how many can join
- 10 Rounds
- Songs rated on a 1-10 scale. And I will use the full scale. If your submission really sucks, you may find yourself getting somewhere in the 1-4 range. I may use quarter/half points at my discretion
- Submissions – Please PM submissions. I would very much prefer if songs that are submitted are available on Google play music (since I have a subscription to that and use it the most) or files (320kbps mp3 or FLAC). I will also accept Spotify or YouTube links as a last resort, but this is not preferred, and I may just conjure up those songs through black -
magic... I listen to most of my music while I am driving for work through Google play music and would prefer to put all submissions in a playlist on my Google Music App.
- No eliminations until right before the final round (maybe). The Parama Rule 6 may come into play if I hate your submission enough
- Artists scoring at least a 7/10 will be banned for the rest of the roulette, unless you ask to reserve that particular artist once songs are revealed each round. In that case you are obligated to use that artist regardless of what score it gets. Let's call this the TAC Rule
- I will also accept the same artist/song in any given round from multiple people. Let’s call this the 2nd TAC Rule
- I reserve the right to reject any submission as I’m sure I have forgotten something that should be on my banned list. Therefore, my banned list may change. Be aware of that. I tried to make it as thorough as possible, but things get missed.
- No time limit for submitted songs, but be reasonable
- If you are confused by anything, just ask
The Rounds
1-9. Submit 2 songs based on the round theme (You may send 2 songs from the same artist)
10. Make a concept EP (because why not...they are fun)
Now you may be wondering about the themes. This is a Rush themed roulette afterall. So here is how this will work. Each round is going to be based on 2 Rush albums. You will then decide on 5 options for your songs.
1. You can base your songs on the musical style of both the albums in question (you can do this with 1 song based on one album and the 2nd song based on the other, or an amalgamation of both albums). This can be very loosely based. I’m sure you can find correlating styles between Rush and just about any music genre out there.
2. You can base your songs on the lyrical content of both albums or specific songs on those albums
3. You can send songs that have the same name as a song on the albums in question or the same as the album name
4. Everyone will start the roulette with 1 Free Choice card. Meaning you can ignore the theme for one round and send anything you want. However, you are free to purchase more Free Choice cards during the roulette. All it will cost you is 1 point off your score for the round you purchase it for.
5. Everyone will also start with 1 Free Interpretation card. This means you can base your song choice solely on my made up theme names. Same rules apply as the Free Choice Card.
You can pick any one of those options at any time and you don’t have to use all of them over the course of the roulette. Just whatever you are comfortable with. Some of you that aren’t very familiar with Rush may have to do some lyric reading if you want to use option 2, or perhaps listen to one of the greatest bands to ever walk the face of the Earth to use option 1. I'm not going to be too much of a stickler about the themes as long as you have some reason for pairing the songs you pick with the theme.
The Themes
Round 1. Flying Angels (
Fly By Night |
Clockwork Angels)
Fly By Night and Clockwork Angels always fills me with a sense of adventure and self-discovery. Fly By Night is Rush finding their feet, learning to deal with the constant touring that they were doing at the time,
being on the road away from families, meeting new people. They also started dabbling in more Fantasy oriented stories (By-Tor and the Snowdog). Clockwork Angels is the band coming almost full circle with the
fantasy elements with an entire Steampunk concept album, but at the same time a lot of the lyrics have to do with looking back at the lives that the band had lived, what they have learned, and not having any regrets. Round 2. Caressing Snakes & Steel Arrows (
Caress of Steel |
Snakes & Arrows)
Caress of Steel saw Rush not only branching out in to Prog Epics, but also writing lyrics that (at the time) were about things important to them. Even in the epics there seem to be analogies to things that the band
and Neil specifically held dear to themselves. There is also a bit more humor sprinkled in with I Think I'm going bald. The album as a whole is sort of inconsistent song writing-wise, but I think it gets more of a bad rap than it deserves.
Snakes and Arrows is another inconsistent album as far as song writing is concerned, but for different reasons. They aren't a young band anymore trying to find their way. At this point in their careers they were
writing exactly what they wanted to, but the problem is some of it just didn't speak to me personally. On the other hand this album seemed like a start to the return of a conceptual album (although not exactly).
That was fully realized on the follow up, Clockwork Angels. The two things these albums ultimately have in common for me, is the inconsistent song writing and the use of a lot of comparisons/metaphors/analogies/similes/etc
in the lyrics. Round 3. The Chem Trails, Man! (
2112 |
Vapor Trails)
2112 was where Rush really came in to their own. Throwing caution to the wind they again did what they wanted, consequences be damned and knocked it out of the park. This is where they finally wrote a truly
cohesive prog epic and were basically afforded the opportunity to do whatever they wanted in the future. This album was my first true exposure to prog rock epics or really any song over the 10 minute mark. I think
I was 7 or 8 when I first heard this album. It left a lasting effect on me and between this and the other 2 Rush album I had at the time it lead me down the road to way more music than I ever knew existed. Vapor Trails
on the other hand was Rush re-emerging from a hiatus brought on by tragedy. To this day I still look back with fondness in 2002 of picking up this new Rush album and immediately popping it in to my CD player in my
car. Rush was back! And more explosive and heavy than they ever had been in the past. Just the opening double bass kicks of the opening track got me going. Now the production of the original album left a lot to be
desired, but the remix is where it's at for me. I still love this album. It sounds like nothing else in the Rush discography. Round 4. A Farewell to Echo (
A Farewell to Kings |
Test for Echo)
A Farewell to Kings always seemed like Rush's most adventurous 70's album. It goes from medieval/renaissance sounds at the beginning to spacey prog epic at the end. Cygnus X-1 is still an incredibly mesmerizing
song for me. I love every minute of it. It's almost trance inducing, especially the first half with that repeating riff with the slightly changing bass line and drums around it. This was the song that probably lead me the
most towards the more atmospheric black metal and stuff like Moonsorrow, with the way that type of music has those repeating rhythms/riffs that slowly change over time. Test for Echo was the third Rush album I ever
heard after Roll the Bones and Moving Pictures. It was such a departure from what I thought Rush was capable of the time and again I was mesmerized by the bands ability to pretty much play any style of music they
wanted and still sound amazing. Sure there are a few mediocre parts on the album (the lyrics to Dog Years and Virtuality (although this one doesn't bother me as much as some people), and the relative blandness of
Carve Away the Stone), but I think overall it is a very diverse album. Round 5. Two Halves of One (
Hemispheres |
Counterparts)
This match up of albums was incidental and yet perfect. With Hemispheres you have two very different ways of living and with Counterparts you have the overarching theme of love and the two differing sides to that
and dealing with it. Hemispheres is one of those albums where every song (to me), is perfect. This was the album where I believe and I'm pretty sure Rush believed, they accomplished the best epic song they could.
They also accomplished the best Instrumental song they could. With Counterparts, it's an album with many moving parts, differing vocal styles, song writing styles, and lyrical styles, and yet it all is cohesive and
sounds like it belongs together. Some of the bands most emotionally charged material comes from Counterparts. Round 6. Oceans of Skeletons (
Permanent Waves |
Roll the Bones)
Permanent Waves was the start of Rush trying to be more succinct with their songwriting and really learning about song writing in general. Rush always seemed to have a sort of innate ability to craft amazing and
beautiful melodies, but this album is chock full of them. Roll the Bones was the first album I bought with my own money (and the second Rush album I ever heard). I remember it was either late fall or early winter
1991 and I was with my mom at the mall in Santa Rosa. We would always go to the music store there and this time I saw the album on cassette and just had to buy it. As a young kid I was always impressed by the
amazing drum and bass work on this album. As I got older I began to appreciate it more and more. The creativity in the drums on this album always comes to the forefront of my mind. The whole drum groove on
Bravado is amazing. The guitar leads on Ghost of a Chance are utterly brilliant. The bass on Where's My Thing completely blew my mind the first time I heard it. Round 7. Magical Art Rearrangement (
Moving Pictures |
Presto)
So Moving Pictures was the first Rush album I ever heard, when I was either 4 or 5. My dad had the album on vinyl and I remember getting in to his record collection, even though I wasn't allowed to touch his records
or his turntable. I was a rebellious child, so meh. I knew how to operate it, mostly, from watching my dad. So this album naturally ended up being the first one I played after sneaking in to my dad's office when he
wasn't home and listened to his music. The rest, they say, is history. This is Rush at their most popular, and yet they stayed true to themselves, they didn't sell out. How this album became so popular, well who can
say? Presto on the other hand was Rush finally coming out of a controversial (to some) musical era and going back to their roots, so to speak. Ditching the majority of the keyboards and going to a much more organic
guitar, bass, and drums sound. Yes the guitar sound was kind of tinny, and the bass had a weird tone, but it was still Rush and the album still rocked. Plus Available Light might have been one of their best all around
songs to that point (from a purely song-writing perspective).
Round 8. Signal Fire (
Signals |
Hold Your Fire)
So Signals was one of those albums I was disappointed in when I first heard it and then came to absolutely love it later on. Something about it sounding so different to their previous album, Moving Pictures, just threw
me for a loop and it took me a long time to come to terms with the bands willingness, need, and ability to change things up and still make it sound amazing. Hold Your Fire was another album that did the same thing to
me. I hated it after coming to absolutely love Power Windows. It was only as I grew older that I realized the genius of Hold Your Fire. The song writing is top notch, the melodies are lovely. I really became a sucker for
good melodies as I got older. When I was in my teens and early twenties I was all about flashy displays of technical chops. I still enjoy that to a certain extent, but it better be accompanied by good song writing and
melodies.
Round 9. Grace Pressure Washes Windows (
Grace Under Pressure |
Power Windows)
Here we come to two albums that sound both very alike and very different at the same time. I know some around these parts absolutely hates one or the other of these albums (you people are dead to me
). Personally
I love both of these albums for different reasons. First off, Grace Under Pressure has a very cold atmosphere. It's very bleak, but not so much to be depressing. I love the cold sound to the album. It gives it its own
personality compared with other Rush albums. The bands journey of becoming good song writers on top of amazing musicians is almost at its peak here. Power Windows on the other hand is very bright and full of major
chords. It has a much happier tone. Songs like Marathon are kind of one in a million for me. It hits so many things perfectly. Perfect songwriting, perfect instrumentation, perfect vocal melodies, perfect buildup, perfect
climax. The rest of the album is almost as perfect. Middletown Dreams might be won of the most underrated songs in the entire Rush Discography, not quite as upbeat and triumphant as Marathon, but still an amazing
song, with great movements and melodies and atmosphere. Lyrically this album also speaks to me, then again most Rush albums do, but this one is quite special lyrically for me.
Round 10. EP (Come up with your own theme/story)
EP Round Rules
My two favorite Rush albums are Hemispheres and Power Windows. The length of those albums are 36:11 and 44:28, with 4 and 8 tracks, respectively. You will need to come up with a theme or story to base your EP on and it will need to be between 36 and 44 minutes long (I will give you up to 30 seconds over/under of wiggle room) consisting of anywhere between 4 and 8 tracks (this includes intros, outros, interludes, etc.). You may use as many or as few artists as you like (up to 8 for logistical reasons, no less than 1 for obvious reasons). A theme or story is mandatory (as is a title for the EP), as part of the EP will be graded on the story/theme aspect. While write ups explaining the story/theme aren't necessary, they could help with getting your story across and potentially improve your chances. Flow for the EP's will also be considered and scored accordingly. The songs don't necessarily have to flow from one right in to the next, but if there are jarring cuts it will be detrimental to your score. If you decide to edit the whole EP together as one long track, please include timestamps for where individual songs are supposed to begin/end.
The rules break down as follows:
- Top 5 will advance to this round, the rest will be unceremoniously cut. There may be participation trophies, for all you special snowflakes out there
- Theme/story mandatory
- Length 36-44 minutes long (with 30 second leeway)
- 4-8 tracks (no more, no less) (includes intros, outros, interludes)
- Provide timestamps if editing into 1 track (I actually prefer this method)
- Will be scored out of 25 points (10 points for song quality, 10 points for story/theme quality/coherency, 5 points for flow)
- Bonus points will be issued for Favorite EP Title, Favorite song, and maybe a couple other things. These will be worth 1 point each.
Scoring
Rounds will be scored out of 20 points, 10 for each song.
Scores
Ariich - 16.25, 17.25, 12.5, 12, 17.7, 18, 16, 16.7, 17.7, 23.6 = 167.7
Train - 18.5, 19, 16.7, 13, 13.6, 16.9, 17, 17.9, 17.2, 17.2 = 167
Kattelox - 17.5, 14.7, 14.2, 18.9, 14, 16.5, 16.5, 17.8, 15.8, 20.9 = 166.8
Romdrums - 17, 16.75, 18.7, 16.5, 16, 14, 16, 15.5, 15.5, 19.1 = 165.05
Elite - 10.5, 16, 17, 18.6, 14.2, 14.5, 16.8, 17.8, 14.9, 19.7 = 160
Nekov - 17, 16, 14.8, 14.3, 16.5, 15, 12, 16.3, 18.4, 16.5 = 156.8
Cyril - 15.25, 18.25, 16.5, 17, 14, 13, 16.1, 17.5, 12.2 = 139.8
Tomislav - 16, 16, 16.5, 16, 12.5, 15, 16, 12.4, 13 = 133.4
Lethean - 13.5, 16.5, 11, 18.2, 11.6, 14.5, 12.5, 16, 16.4 = 130.2
TAC - 11, 11, 17.2, 16, 14.5, 11, 17, 15.5, 16.5 = 129.7
Stadler - 14, 16.3, 14.2, 11, 13.5, 17, 10.5, 13.5, 14 = 124
Topic: Puppies' Rush Roulette V.3 (Ultimate Post-Roulette Mega Rundown!) (Read 54823 times)