Ok Picked up Presto on chrome cassette from my LRS and wow!
Been a long time since gave this a listen but it is shockingly good, very well recorded and really tight playing by all involved. Geddy can still cover quite a vocal range here.
@shadorne A thoroughly enjoyable video. Never caught the Terry Brown harmony or Alex's picking on the intro before. Must listen for them both next time.
1974 debut. Not the elusive Moon first press, but the 1st run Mercury, which is just as tough to find. My copy that it is replacing was a mess. This one is in fine condition.
@shadorne - Thank you for the link to the Beato video.
Holy cow! That was awesome.
I'm a consumer of music. I don't know music theory and I don't read music. All I know is that since a young teen, I've loved Rush and always felt they were different and exceptional. Watching this video helps me understand how different and exceptional they were.
@reubent Presto is quite good. Some of their tightest playing and more catchy melodies. It's thin on production, but lyrically one of Neil's better offerings.
This dissection of Limelight is incredible, it will give everyone more appreciation for Rush and explains why I like Xanadu (all those rare minor and sus chords)
Limelight was my favourite track from Moving Pictures - side two of that album was so good, like side 2 of Duran Duran Rio - much more interesting than Side 1 that got so much more radio play.
Not my favorite, but I’m listening to my new copy of the remastered version of "Presto" now. I think it’s pretty good. Yes, it is more poppy than their previous releases, but still very good. Some of my favorite cuts are "Show, Don’t Tell", "The Pass" and "Available Light". The musicianship is awesome, even if the songs are not as memorable as some of their stuff.
(1) Moving Pictures - More than 20 or so years ago, I attended Cornell as an undergraduate in English and Physics. Around my junior year, I started grabbing lunch at one of the graduate student dining halls. The dining hall was a beautiful room - hardwood floors, solid oak tables, vaulted ceilings, and cathedral windows with a fantastic view of the surrounding countryside. They also had a jukebox, with a relatively nice sound system for the space. However, it only had about five albums, but one of those albums was Moving Pictures. The first day I was there, after sitting down to eat, I heard "Tom Sawyer" blaring out of the jukebox, which I had never heard before. It was a "Holy Cow" moment. I had always been a fan of classic rock -Zeppelin, Who, Doors, Cream, Stones, etc - but this was something new. I asked my friends about the song, but none of them recognized it. To date myself, I then ran a search on something called "Gopher," and learned about Rush and this album - which is solid from beginning to end. I have been a fan ever since.
(2) Self Titled (1974) - Before they eventually degenerated into self indulgent, prog rog pablum, there was the first album - hard core, blues inspired rock. This was Rush at its minimalist best, with a shoestring budget. Full of energy and intensity. "Working Man" is still a go-to song of mine to this day.
When I was in high school RUSH filmed the video for Subdivisions in my school. I used to be an uber geek who would point out my school locker in the video. I don't think the girls were impressed by that. Remember videos.
P/G is such a sonically gorgeous album, especially on vinyl. The songwriting is dead-on, as are Peart's lyrics, which balance the line between self-conscious and detached.
I remember tearing up slightly at my last Rush show during the R40 tour when they ended the first set with "DEW"/"Subdivisions", knowing I'd never hear them live again.
Moving pictures, Hemispheres, Signals. I love most rush but my least favorite is snakes and arrows. Need to give that some more listens though bc it sounds like most people like that one. I think production wise rush really took a step back after Broon. And the last one clockwork angels I’m not sure what they did but it sounds terrible to me which is unfortunate bc I like most of the songs. As I side note the guy saying rush lacks musicianship and in the next post claims Santana is a great guitarist is a bit curious. Lifeson can play circles around Santana. Check out Santana playing the star spangled banner on YouTube it’s cringe worthy.
"Grace Under Pressure - not everyone’s choice" Well, it is mine, and an easy one to make ~ they hit their stride here, then fell off the wall...they gradually morphed into something you didn’t see coming, listening to this album ~ and ALL the musicians I knew when I was playing back in the 80s talked about this album, and pretty much it only ~ reverentially.
@simao - Thanks. I have an OP of Hemispheres that I'm perfectly happy with. Just trying to decide if I want to invest in the 40th Anniversary edition. Probably not......
I can’t take Geddy’s singing from the last...what is it...10, 15 years?...where he’d lost his old vocal dexterity and no longer does the high notes. Even within his lowered vocal range I found his voice to be a hard-to-listen-to strained gargle. Especially the later live performances. Egad! A real bummer and pretty much rules out Rush music of that era for me.
@reubent From what I hear, the 40th ann. pressings of "Hemispheres" is inferior to the original. I got the original a few months ago and it sounds simply fantastic.
Anyone have the 40th anniversary vinyl of "A Farewell to Kings" or "Hemispheres"? How is it? Do you have an OP to compare? Just curious. If the 40th versions are superior, I would invest the money. But they are pricey and I don't want to throw away money if they are not better sonically.
"something for nothing" is probably my favorite song and I use it often to test equipment or just when I’m driving and the road opens up (I don’t think barchetta is a good driving song in spite of how they promote it). It’s also my ten year old daughter’s favorite Rush song.
To those who are sensitive and put off by the technical issues in the drum solo of "all the world’s a stage" album (tape head misalignment or defective tape?), I just got the recent special edition box set of "hemispheres" and it includes bonus tracks. Within these, there are selected tracks from another live concert in which Peart plays basically the same solo and it sounds very good and clear.
Still and always will be: Moving Pictures2112Fly by NightHemispheresExit Stage LeftPermanent Waves Amazing lyrics/stories sometimesand absolutely wonderful music !!!
This is the perfect storm album. As in they had perfected all aspects of their craft, including managing how they produced LP's. It's also the album I have listened to most, and as one fellow posted, it's a great demo LP for your system. In my mind, you could dial your system (gear choice) specifically to this album. You don't have the right system until this album sounds glorious. But I listen to classic rock mostly, so I'm a little biased.
2112 is creatively my favorite album. I think part of the reason for this, with me, is similar to your first kiss. I had their early albums, but this album was when my mind exploded and I thought these guys were one of the top bands in the world. Plus, the album creates a soundscape that is unique and timeless. All these years later, I can listen to this and the thought of how many decades have passed eludes me.
Great topic, I’m a big fan up until moving pictures. I have tried very hard to like their newer stuff and didn’t know why I could not accept it. The balance is different Then I realized as I was listening recently. Geddi’s voice changed, he started to sing in a lower octave. This changed the sound of the band that I new and what impacted me when I was 14 and first heard Caress of Steel. You need that upper octave in the sound triangle, otherwise everything is low. Having said that, my most played Rush albums are :
2112 Hemiapheres Caress of steel Moving pictures Exit stage left
But I own all their documentaries on video and their concert in Rio, I’m just stuck in the original Rush sound. I feel the same way about pink Floyd, Toto and journey.
For Rush fans, and those who have a surround system, 2112 blu ray audio Hi-Res is a great disc. Additional animation plays along with the songs and sound quality is great. Fun listen in 5.1 or greater
@n80 Much appreciated. Totally agree. Some bands are great on records and not live, and vice versa. Some bands are never really captured well on recordings and must be heard live. Except these days with nugs.net and other band releases we get a pretty good sense of what they are live - without our ears being blown out.
Agree with several of you. I got off topic, focusing on live shows, and not the original post. Sorry, got carried away - but I had fun.
Peart does have a reputation of being stand-offish. But he, and people close to him, insist this is as you say, a misconception about why this is so.
But there's a big difference between being a privacy-loving person who isn't comfortable jawing with fans, and not being a pro when it comes to actually performing for the fans. Peart is clearly a pro.
My brother-in-law was a roadie for Rush a few times. He also thought Peart was arrogant. Having seen a number of good interviews and documentaries on Rush I would say he is a little arrogant, but no more than anyone else and it is apparent that the perceived arrogance by outsiders is a misconception. The truth of the matter is that he is intensely private and very uncomfortable with fans. I don't see that as a personality flaw and probably reflects a healthy response to stardom. Fortunately for the fans, Geddy and Alex seem to be _very_ at ease with fans.
@tonykay : I doubt seriously that Peart missing a concert had _anything_ to do with arrogance or disregard for the audience and persisting in that belief is more of a problem with the believer than with Peart. We all like to have a scapegoat to be mad at.
@simao : Finding a woman who likes Rush is a rare find. Good thing you held onto her. My wife doesn't get Rush any more than she gets the Three Stooges. Both character flaws I have been willing to overlook these 31 years.
@prof : "To his ears, pretty much all other music, especially any popular modern music, is only fit to be played by "cavemen dancing around a fire." "
He is 100% correct. But man it is fun to be a caveman sometimes!
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