Rush - Love it or Leave it? [Archive] - Sawmill Creek Woodworking Community

Prashun Patel

02-01-2019, 3:52 PM

Jim Koepke

02-01-2019, 3:56 PM

My first thought was who?

Mostly my listening is from groups like the Incredible String Band to Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks.

jtk

Derek Meyer

02-01-2019, 4:28 PM

I'm a big Rush fan and have been since high school. My first album was Moving Pictures, and I have several on vinyl as well as all of them on CD. My favorite album is either Hemispheres or 2112. Though I really like the newer albums, especially Clockwork Angels.

Mike Chance in Iowa

02-01-2019, 4:40 PM

A new netflix documentary? Cool! Will have to add that to our queue. I was a Rush fan in High School and had their albums on cassette. Unfortunately an uninvited house guest walked away with my tape cases years ago so I haven't listened to their music in depth for years. As for albums, my era would have been Moving Pictures and Signals.

Tom Stenzel

02-01-2019, 4:43 PM

I'm just a so-so fan. Don't hate them or adore them.

Saw them once a, um, few years ago when they were on their 2112 tour. They were the warmup band for Ted Nugent at the beautiful air-conditioned Cobo Arena*. They put on a good show.

-Tom

*Any longtime Detroiter will get that one!

Jim Becker

02-01-2019, 4:43 PM

They have always been enjoyable...great music and I can't pick out anything I like more than something else.. Rush was not "my band" when I was growing up...Yes got that nod. But it was really kewel when Geddy Lee joined Yes on stage when that band was inducted in the hall of fame to play bass after the passing of Chris Squire from cancer. So many of these bands and people have been supportive of each other

Pat Barry

02-01-2019, 5:40 PM

I'm a a Rush fan. Ever since 2112. For three guys they did a great job in the studio and on-stage.

Doug Dawson

02-01-2019, 5:43 PM

The new Netflix documentary on Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage reminded me of how rabid a fan I was in high school. The documentary is fantastic. Then as now, Rush has always been a polarizing band. You either love them like no other band, or just don't get it.

So, question 1: Are you a Rush Geek or is it all Greek to you?

Question 2: What's your favorite album?

I'll start:
Hemispheres. I am trying my darndest to listen to stuff post Presto, but it's hard. I'm doin' it for Geddy, though!

(Rob Lee, I'll be highly disappointed if you are not one of us...)

I don't have the '90's stuff, but I have everything else before or since on either vinyl or CD. My favorite period was the late 70's, I can't single out one particular record. The recent vinyl re-releases are fantastic, BTW. Does that make me a Rush geek? The 60's and 70's were my musical period, and you can trace the evolution of that from a lot of earlier stuff. I gotta say, the musicianship of Rush was/is incredible.

Bruce Page

02-01-2019, 6:05 PM

My kids now in their 40's were huge Rush fans. I never cared for them.

Doug Dawson

02-01-2019, 6:16 PM

My kids now in their 40's were huge Rush fans. I never cared for them.

They were like an extension of King Crimson and early Yes, infused with the energy of Zeppelin. Everybody who liked those earlier bands should give them a chance. You're never too old to break your hip head-banging to prog rock.

Frank Pratt

02-01-2019, 7:54 PM

I'll probably have my Canadian citizenship revoked for this, but I can. not. stand. Rush. Geddy Lee's voice just sends me over the edge. I can't deny that there is much talent there, but that voice...

But there are a couple of their songs I like. New World Man comes to mind, there may be others but I can't recall.

John K Jordan

02-01-2019, 8:52 PM

Gasp! When I saw the thread title the image of "Rush Limbaugh" hit my brain cells. :)

Bruce Page

02-01-2019, 9:04 PM

They were like an extension of King Crimson and early Yes, infused with the energy of Zeppelin. Everybody who liked those earlier bands should give them a chance. You're never too old to break your hip head-banging to prog rock.

I was a big Yes fan. Yessongs is one of my all time favorite albums and one of the reasons I have tinnitus... :rolleyes:

Gerry Grzadzinski

02-01-2019, 9:39 PM

Saw them once a, um, few years ago when they were on their 2112 tour. They were the warmup band for Ted Nugent at the beautiful air-conditioned Cobo Arena*. They put on a good show.

-Tom

I saw them at Cobo as well, but Moving Pictures tour. That's the only Rush CD I own.

Jim Becker

02-01-2019, 9:40 PM

I was a big Yes fan. Yessongs is one of my all time favorite albums and one of the reasons I have tinnitus... :rolleyes:
I guess that makes us related, although my hearing issues are slightly different. LOL At the height of my "Yes obsession", I only had a small, old "record player" with two speakers...a kind of portable thing. There was no provision for headphones, so it was the old "lye on the floor with my head between two speakers thing". :) :D

Recently, I spent quite a bit of time on YouTube listening to a wide variety of their recorded live performances...and I enjoyed every moment of it.

We now return you to discussion of Rush, rather than Yes. LOL

Andrew Seemann

02-01-2019, 9:54 PM

I'll probably catch it from the die hard Rush fans, but my favorite albums are probably the first 3. I was a big fan in high school. I'm actually particularly fond of the first album, but I probably like Fly by Night the best. Also like Permananet Waves. The further from Moving Pictures you get and the less I care for the albums. Signals was OK, Grace Under Pressure had a couple good songs despite the keyboards and tinny guitars, and Hold Your Fire had Time Stand Still, still one of my favorite songs. I don't have anything newer than that though.

Neil's books are a pretty good read, and Ghost Riders helped me get over my grandmother's death. I really like Alex's guitars, his suspended chords are like no one else's. Pity about Geddy's voice. I saw them on the Time Machine tour and you gotta feel sorry for a guy who has 20 years of material that is too high for him to sing anymore.

Working Man was the song that inspired me to take up guitar. Alex was better guitar player at 19 than I will ever be in my life. Although I think I have him beat at woodworking:)

Art Mann

02-01-2019, 10:40 PM

I thought the same thing!

Gasp! When I saw the thread title the image of "Rush Limbaugh" hit my brain cells. :)

Phil Mueller

02-02-2019, 12:12 AM

A staple for me. I don’t remember where or when or even which one of the band was being interviewed, but someone asked him why he didn’t wear a watch on stage. The answer was something like “are you kidding?, with just three of us making that much music, when would I have time to look at a watch?”

Kev Williams

02-02-2019, 12:21 AM

Ever since Star Wars, several times a year I'm reminded of the fact that we are all connected by some 'force' or whatever you want to call it, by some weird common denominator from out of nowhere...

Today this thread is another reminder...

This morning my brother in law (works for me) comes over to me and starts asking "Who's that group, with a song that starts out, sound like water falling or dripping, then a guitar starts in slow, then it gets faster... you'll know it if you hear it!" I had no clue who he was talking about-- about 10 minutes later he's playing songs from 2112... In 40 years I've didn't even know he LIKED Rush! But today something's 'calling' him to search it out...

--and then I open my browser, and find this thread on Rush... Seriously, what are the odds? :D

As for the question at hand- back in my eardrum killing days, there was a lot of music I listened to, and then there was music I PAID to listen to. I listened to Rush, but never got into them enough to buy an album.

As to 3-man bands, the loudest concert I ever attended-- Grand Funk Railroad. Didn't know there was enough electricity to play those amps that loud! (10th row helped too)

glenn bradley

02-02-2019, 1:03 AM

So many good songs spread across so many albums :-)

mike holden

02-02-2019, 11:07 AM

I always thought Rush was a Led Zeppelin tribute band.

Prashun Patel

02-02-2019, 12:20 PM

Mike, said clearly to provoke ;). Rush had nothing to prove. I can see comparisons between yes and other progressive rock bands. They shared many of the same members.

But Rush was on their own island of nebbishy, weird, earnest originality.

Art Mann

02-02-2019, 12:56 PM

Wow! I just learned a new word - nebbishy. I won't say one way or the other whether I think it applies in this case.:)

Prashun Patel

02-02-2019, 1:07 PM

I don’t know if I spelled that correctly. Geddy described himself as a nebbishy teenager.

Tom Stenzel

02-02-2019, 1:13 PM

I always thought Rush was a Led Zeppelin tribute band.

You're thinking of Greta Van Fleet! Although when I listened to their new CD I thought they had lifted more than a few pages from early Rush's playbook.

-Tom

Jim Becker

02-02-2019, 1:20 PM

'...nebbish, which derives from the Yiddish nebekh, meaning "poor" or "unfortunate." '

Doug Dawson

02-02-2019, 1:32 PM

I always thought Rush was a Led Zeppelin tribute band.

That's what the studio thought too, until the second album came out, whereupon they became quite confused.

Edwin Santos

02-02-2019, 2:17 PM

Pity about Geddy's voice. I saw them on the Time Machine tour and you gotta feel sorry for a guy who has 20 years of material that is too high for him to sing anymore.

Back in maybe 2002, a professional opera singer told me that there is a danger zone of "over-belting" where a singer can damage their vocal cords due to the way they are singing. This is usually when a singer has not had professional training before their career and signature sound takes off. She used Christina Aguilera as a prime example, who sure enough has dropped off the radar since 2012. Whenever I hear Geddy Lee, I think of this.
He had to have been way into the red zone on songs like Freewill.

Rush is awesome! I agree with Prashun, they were living on their own fantasy island musically, and especially lyrically. Amazing that three guys could put out that much sound.

Stan Calow

02-02-2019, 3:13 PM

I'm the right age, but never got into it - couldn't get past the vocals. So what is the one song that you would recommend to win me over? I'm willing to spend the $1.29 on iTunes to humor you fans.

Pat Barry

02-02-2019, 3:41 PM

I always thought Rush was a Led Zeppelin tribute band.

LOL. Never, in my wildest thoughts would this have ocurred to me and I love both those bands.

Doug Dawson

02-02-2019, 3:47 PM

I'm the right age, but never got into it - couldn't get past the vocals. So what is the one song that you would recommend to win me over? I'm willing to spend the $1.29 on iTunes to humor you fans.

The Spirit of Radio, although New World Man was their biggest hit (and many people like The Trees, which to my knowledge was never released as a single; these are very accessible songs.) But they're all over Youtube, and that's free. (Play any track.)

Pat Barry

02-02-2019, 3:47 PM

Prashun Patel

02-02-2019, 4:36 PM

The popular song is Tom Sawyer, but It was YYZ and La Villa Strangiato that will blow your mind. And these are instrumentals so you don’t have to choke down the Geddular shrieks to begin with. Start with Macallan before Lagavulin.

Geddys voice grew in my mind from cacophonous to tolerable to enjoyable to indispensable over time. The later albums are really hard to take precisely because they lack Ged’s siren wail.

A lot of people love Neils drumming but can stand the lyrics. Starting with yyz or strangiato, you don’t have to be distracted by that if you are not a fan of mythology or Ayn Rand.

Bruce Page

02-02-2019, 5:07 PM

I'm the right age, but never got into it - couldn't get past the vocals.
Ditto, I never cared for Geddy Lee's voice. Musically, they were great.

Andrew Seemann

02-02-2019, 6:28 PM

I'm the right age, but never got into it - couldn't get past the vocals. So what is the one song that you would recommend to win me over? I'm willing to spend the $1.29 on iTunes to humor you fans.

Try "Time Stand Still" It is from the 1987 album Hold Your Fire. At that point, Geddy had damaged his voice to the point where he had stopped doing the shrieks on the studio albums, but he could still sing well. Later albums, especially recent ones, he had to do those cringe worthy glissandos to basically cover up the fact that he couldn't sing on key anymore. The lyrics for Time Stand Still are some of Neil's best; not out-there or Rand-oriented, but very a human take on getting older. Note that the video is absolutely awful; the effects are so dated today as to be almost, but not quite, charming.

"Countdown" would be another one. It is from 1982. He hits some high notes in that one, but they aren't screamed like earlier albums. Plus the video is awesome. It is also dated, but in this instance in a very charming way. Both song and video are a tribute to the Space Shuttle back in its heyday.

It is unfortunate, if Geddy would have sung the way he did in the 80s from the start, he probably could still sing today, but then they probably wouldn't have made it in the first place, since Plantesque caterwauling was all the rage when they started out.

Edwin Santos

02-02-2019, 6:36 PM

It is unfortunate, if Geddy would have sung the way he did in the 80s from the start, he probably could still sing today, but then they probably wouldn't have made it in the first place, since Plantesque caterwauling was all the rage when they started out.

Since you've mentioned it, I wonder how Plant has kept his voice intact. Have you heard his performance when the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited for Celebration Day in 2007? It's amazing, maybe even better than when he was young. I guess some guys can just defy age, wear and tear.

The Rush documentary mentioned talks about how much physical pain both Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson were enduring in their later tours. Other than for Robert Plant, I'd say being a rock star is a young man's game.

Gerry Grzadzinski

02-02-2019, 6:44 PM

Red Barchetta has always been a favorite.

Andrew Seemann

02-02-2019, 7:48 PM

Since you've mentioned it, I wonder how Plant has kept his voice intact. Have you heard his performance when the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited for Celebration Day in 2007? It's amazing, maybe even better than when he was young. I guess some guys can just defy age, wear and tear.

My guess is partly use and partly technique why as to Plant is in better vocal shape. Rush didn't make it big early in their career like Zeppelin did, and did many years of grueling touring playing over 100 shows a year and recording in between. If I read the numbers right, they did something like 1000 shows between 1973 and 1980, all during Ged's screaming phase. In total they are over 2000 shows. Zeppelin did something like 600 shows in their career, and only did more than 100 shows in 1969, when Plant was about 20 years old. Plant did do some 100+ shows later in his career, but also had many years with very few shows. For various reasons, Plant was better at giving his voice time off to heal over his lifetime.

Also, I think Robert Plant (wisely) didn't strain and push his voice as hard as Geddy. Plant does a lot in his high range and had his trademark hollers and screams, but he typically didn't do entire songs (and concerts) with that vocal chord tearing screech start to finish. I'd also say he has better technique in general. Plant would also vary his range and style during albums and concerts while Geddy stayed in his screaming phase until he was about 28, when presumably years of abuse to his voice caught up with him.

Using your voice less and more gently over your life adds up once you hit your 50s, 60s, and 70s:)

Bill Dufour

02-02-2019, 9:59 PM

Gasp! When I saw the thread title the image of "Rush Limbaugh" hit my brain cells. :)

I expected something about chair upholstery. I prefer woven cloth with cotton/wool carpet padding. My wife has learned, from me, to only buy chairs that can be reupholstered with a staple gun. I made two chairs for little ones that are now being used by the original owners for their children. Right height to stand on at the sink and. low enough so your feet touch the floor even before you start grade school. They were only my second biscuit joint projects and they are still unbroken. But I used screws right through the biscuits.
Bil l

Rob Luter

02-03-2019, 9:52 AM

I guess I’m a big fan. My passion for the band waned after the “Moving Pictures” album. After that they kind of lost me. Even so, I have immense respect for their achievements.

Robert Cherry

02-03-2019, 9:57 PM

Count me as a huge Rush fan as well. I have every album, many on both vinyl and CD. I’ve seen every Rush concert (many multiple times) since Moving Pictures. A very talented band musically, amazing that three guys can make so much music. Sad that they will not be touring any longer. Hemispheres has been my favorite album for many years, but I think the recent Clockwork Angels album is up there as well and a return to the 2112/Hemispheres genre.

Mike Henderson

02-03-2019, 10:20 PM

I never heard of "Rush". I thought it was a TV show when I read the opening subject line. A while back someone mentioned "Duck Dynasty" to me and I had no clue what that was. I thought perhaps it was about duck hunting.

I don't watch much TV - just the news. And don't follow music. Do occasionally go to the movies.

Mike

Rick Potter

02-11-2019, 5:52 PM

I know I am dating myself, but my first thought was "Who?", second thought was Rush Limbaugh, but after reading all the posts I have to admit.......I am back to my first thought.

Entertainers are just not on my radar. Meh.

PS: Direct TV just made me change a password, and they said choose your favorite actor, singer, etc. So I chose 'John Wayne'. The operator never heard of him. Hmmm. It's old I am.