does HOld Your Fire suck
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 05:19 (nine years ago) link
No, I think its great. Synth-y in a good way.
― 29 facepalms, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 11:31 (nine years ago) link
As in, I think people have a problem with the production on this album but the sound of it seems inseperable from the writing.
― 29 facepalms, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 11:33 (nine years ago) link
I love hold your fire
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 27 May 2015 11:35 (nine years ago) link
I also love hold your fire
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 13:03 (nine years ago) link
'open secrets', 'high water' both slay
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 13:06 (nine years ago) link
I think of power windows and hold your fire as twin records, they have the same production pretty much, but power windows got all the worldly songs and HYF got the introspective ones so its even more deeply uncool than baseline rush
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 13:12 (nine years ago) link
Love Hold Your Fire. Production suits the songs, but there's some incredible playing, particularly the drum fills and guitar solos (even more so than usual). I love the arrangements, too. Like Power WIndows better, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 May 2015 13:35 (nine years ago) link
thanks dudes. I checked it out and I actually liked it a lot on first listen! reminded me of Peter Gabriel at times.
also checked out Roll the Bones. like quite a few of the songs but the main thing that bugs me is the production is sterile as hell, and the arrangements fairly dull. it sounds like session musicians playing, nothing to stand out as Rush. yet I don't *dislike* it, but weirdly it sounds more dated than the albums that came before it. the bass on the title track sounds like the generic "funk-pop" bass that was popular in those days.
I guess now I've heard all of their albums except the debut and Test for Echo.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Thursday, 28 May 2015 02:27 (nine years ago) link
Ha, it's possible I'm in the same boat! I mean, I love Rush, and have for ... 25 years? Wow. But I don't think I have ever heard the first album or listened to Test for Echo more than once.
Of all the Rush albums, Presto seems the most outlier to me. Almost singer-songwritery, with this really intriguing spare production totally unlike anything that came before or after.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 May 2015 03:34 (nine years ago) link
test for echo is definitely one of the weakest rush records but 'time and motion' is a neat song
roll the bones is also pretty weak but i like 'dreamline' and 'ghost of a chance' is about as close as rush ever came to writing a love song which makes it kinda interesting
presto is definitely a cut above the other 90s-alt-rock-period rush records
― ciderpress, Thursday, 28 May 2015 13:56 (nine years ago) link
cool and remote like dancing girls
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 May 2015 14:24 (nine years ago) link
For me it's a tie between Hemispheres, Moving Pictures and Caress Of Steel. Rush are one of my favourite bands but I've never felt any of their albums had an "all killer" track list.
I've got the 1989-2007 box set on my wishlist but not sure if I want to get it. Worried it's going to be just diminishing returns. I've heard everything from Fly By Night to Grace Under Pressure and I have a copy of Power Windows waiting.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 28 May 2015 16:47 (nine years ago) link
oh yeah "force ten" is the best song ever
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 May 2015 17:29 (nine years ago) link
oh wait sorry i was thinking of "prime mover"
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 May 2015 17:30 (nine years ago) link
"Force Ten" IS the best song ever
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 May 2015 17:33 (nine years ago) link
the point of the journey is not to arrive
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 May 2015 17:36 (nine years ago) link
tough times!
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 May 2015 17:36 (nine years ago) link
Demand tough talk.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 May 2015 18:36 (nine years ago) link
anything can happen *4 bar long bass riff*
― ciderpress, Thursday, 28 May 2015 21:24 (nine years ago) link
"Time Stands Still" is great; "Turn the Page" and "Force Ten" are good. Otherwise, I never got into Hold Your Fire. A Show of Hands mostly contains all the 83-89 Rush that I need, and even there I usually skip "Mission".
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Friday, 29 May 2015 16:14 (nine years ago) link
despite there being a bunch of decent-to-good songs there, Hold Your Fire, Presto, and Roll the Bones is kind of a weak run of albums. I was very happy when Counterparts came out and they ditched that thin, trebly sound for more chunky rock.
― too young for seapunk (Moodles), Friday, 29 May 2015 16:28 (nine years ago) link
That's interesting, because I was really (at the time) into HYF, Presto and RTB, and heard Cpunterparts as a concerted grunge bid. Of course, in retrospect it's pretty much a smart transition, and really sets the template for (slightly) heavier Rush from the '90s on.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 May 2015 16:42 (nine years ago) link
Other than Clockwork Angels (which I have a giant conflict of interest about since I worked for their label when it came out), Counterparts is my favorite post-80s Rush album by far.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 29 May 2015 16:47 (nine years ago) link
clockwork angels and vapor trails are both fantastic, the 90s records all sound like a mistake after hearing those
― ciderpress, Friday, 29 May 2015 16:52 (nine years ago) link
One Little Victory prob the best Rush opener since Show Don't Tell, for sure.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 May 2015 16:58 (nine years ago) link
actually i like 'dreamline' a lot in that category but the rest of the album doesn't really follow up on it
― ciderpress, Friday, 29 May 2015 17:17 (nine years ago) link
I do like that by and large each Rush album has entered at least one song into the always happy to hear it canon.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 May 2015 17:21 (nine years ago) link
Counterparts was definitely a nod to grunge, yet I think it holds up better than a lot of the grunge albums of the time.
"Dreamline" is indeed a great tune
― too young for seapunk (Moodles), Friday, 29 May 2015 17:40 (nine years ago) link
Is "We're only at home when we're on the run" the last notable nerd-quotable Neil Peart line? Or maybe "it's not the heat it's the humanity?" I guess lots of people use that one.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 May 2015 17:44 (nine years ago) link
Ha, listening to "Caress of Steel" and the coda of "The Necromancer" is totally Rush doing Springsteen.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 May 2015 17:45 (nine years ago) link
Synth Rush all fuckin day today. Power Windows then Signals then Hold Your Fire.
Can anyone resist grinning at the minnow-wiggle bass statement at the beginning of "prime mover"?
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Friday, 29 May 2015 22:20 (nine years ago) link
Also, fyi, a spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Friday, 29 May 2015 22:21 (nine years ago) link
Like Geddy's funky (but not slap-funk) turn in the '80s.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 May 2015 22:23 (nine years ago) link
http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/images/books/guitar-player-04.1986/guitar-player-04.1986-1-s.jpghttp://toygunslinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Davy-Crockett.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 May 2015 22:24 (nine years ago) link
i really love the way Geddy sings the old songs like he clearly didn't know he'd be expected to sing them again 40 years later! the notes in "Anthem" are insane, and he's not even really falsettoing.
I mean I do think it's my least favorite era of him vocally because he really had a much richer tone in his mid-range and even those notes were often pretty high!
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Friday, 29 May 2015 22:54 (nine years ago) link
even though his voice is getting more warbly as he gets older, it's still a thrill to hear him belting it out. "Xanadu" also had some pretty badass vocal moments on this tour.
During that stretch of late 80s and 90s albums, he pretty much stopped reaching for those high notes both on their albums and in concert. I remember being disappointed when they just skipped the high vocal moments in "Freewill" and "Xanadu" on the Counterparts tour. So glad that he decided it was ok to reach for the skies again.
― too young for seapunk (Moodles), Friday, 29 May 2015 23:05 (nine years ago) link
i was really surprised at the notes he got out! and the stuff he had to alter ("2112" and "Anthem") was jsut outright in the stratosphere
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Friday, 29 May 2015 23:08 (nine years ago) link
finally listening to Test for Echo and I really liked the first two songs out of the gate but maaaaaaaaaaaan, if crap like "The Color of Right" is gonna take over eesh.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Friday, 29 May 2015 23:14 (nine years ago) link
ok I coulda really left that one unplayed. not horrible but just bland. though there are a few tracks I did like from it.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Friday, 29 May 2015 23:38 (nine years ago) link
"Limbo" is kinda cool
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Friday, 29 May 2015 23:39 (nine years ago) link
Ha, that's funny, I finally gave that album a chance today, too, and think I stopped early as well. What's up with "Test for Echo?" It'd be one thing if this was the album after Neil's bad period, but this is the album before all that stuff happened.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 29 May 2015 23:51 (nine years ago) link
presto has for me always stood out slightly from those around it, but i too wish it weren't so very trebly
― mookieproof, Saturday, 30 May 2015 00:26 (nine years ago) link
so they've repudiated their repudiation of their eighties catalog by now, right? That documentary released a few years ago made it clear the band didn't want to talk about that period or at best saw it as a necessary but not aesthetically rewarding period. Clearly the fans who prefer '70s are starting to get outnumbered, so it wouldn't surprise me (nor is it a reflection on the band) that the guys (re)turn to the '80s material live thanks to cold calculation.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 30 May 2015 00:30 (nine years ago) link
i thought it was mainly lifeson who was unhappy at having his axe (relatively) sidelined
― mookieproof, Saturday, 30 May 2015 00:40 (nine years ago) link
"No one told ya not to learn keyboards man"
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Saturday, 30 May 2015 00:44 (nine years ago) link
yet to my ears Lifeson still got excellent moments to shine -- and the terseness helped.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 30 May 2015 00:45 (nine years ago) link
agreed
― mookieproof, Saturday, 30 May 2015 00:46 (nine years ago) link
I prefer Permanent Waves - moving Pictures...when they were still prog but embracing synthetic and creating an unbeatable sound.
Followed by 70s a la Hemispheres.
Then the 80s stuff. Grace Under Pressure the best of the Signals - power Windows threesome.
I mean the synthetic shit was extremely creative so other than the meatheads I don't get people that write it off.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Saturday, 30 May 2015 01:03 (nine years ago) link
*embracing synths