The Album Review Club - End of Round #9 Break (page 1904)

FogBlueInSanFran said:
And I completely understand why. I loved the earlier description of Rush fans as Trekkies. I’m not a Trekkie nor do I listen to much Rush any more nor anything after Power Windows at any rate, so I think they were a “phase” (“phaser”???) for me but a super important one, and this is by far the record I return to more than any other of theirs (and I own everything between their first and PW).

It’s funny about Working Man as that was very early on when they were basically Led Zep clones and before Peart joined to inject both his drums and his interest in swords and sorcery.

My wife was a huge Deadhead long ago but she’s outgrown it basically. I never got into the scene at all and apart from maybe a half a dozen tunes I don’t cotton to them. Also I am nothing like a hippie :). That said, I think I mentioned that I read a piece that described them as America’s Greatest Ever Band, which might be a thread unto itself. It’s easy in the UK since it produced the greatest band (and probably a goodly number of the contenders), and it’s likely Rush in Canada but who is it in the US? The Beach Boys? Creedence? Springsteen and the ESB? It’s definitely a conversation. In Australia is AC/DC the odds-on (and do they even count since they’re Scottish??)? Or someone else? Anyway — for another time.
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And in Ireland?
Don’t say it. Don’t mention them.
Not that bunch of so called North Siders.
 
OB1 said:
Not in a million years (and I did buy and am enjoying the MO compilation to add to album of theirs I did have).

AC/DC are absolutely brilliant at what they do but whatever you think of their artisitc merits, they are soooo huge, I don't think any other Aussie band enters the equation; if they did it would be Skyhooks ;-).
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Kylie?
 
OB1 said:
Sorry Bill but I watched part of a Yes documentary very recently and Bruford pissed me off with his comments and how he came across.

BTW, I never said he had zero drumming personality, I said he lacked it from my point of view. Maybe it's not a great description but it's what I've got. I've seen him live a couple of times but never came away thinking wow or much of anything about him. Not being noticed as drummer and complementing the music is not a bad thing. BB wouldn't be in my top ten favourite drummers, regardless of how good he is. Chris Squire and Wakeman are both top 3 for me on their instruments. Anderson was in my top 10 vocalists in the recent poll.

I do recall going to see King Crimson a few years ago and they had three drummers and someone commented that they needed that because they didn't have Bruford!
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For me a much overlooked and underrated drummer was, Rod De’Ath.
He played with Rory Gallagher effortlessly complimenting his free form solos always keeping the suspense and momentum going.
 
RobMCFC said:
Moving Pictures - Rush

Although their approaches to rock are wildly different, both Rush and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers have similar trajectories in my own musical journey. I owned 2 or 3 of their albums in the late 80s\early 90s, I enjoyed listening to them, but neither were anywhere near my top 10 and I didn’t feel the need to investigate their back catalogue. Seems crazy now, but there you go.

In both cases it took me a long time to appreciate their respective genius: for Tom Petty, it was seeing the best music documentary ever made (Running Down A Dream) and in the case of Rush, reading Q Magazine on a flight to Gran Canaria. There was an interview with producer Nick Raskulinecz, who was talking about their new album, Snakes and Ladders (2007) and I decided it sounded like a decent buy. Crucially, I decided to make it a double purchase, along with Spirit of Radio – a compilation that covers the years 1974 – 1987.

I mention this because it’s crucial to my view on Moving Pictures, but I’ll just finish off by saying that in the years since that purchase I have listened to Rush’s entire back catalogue via Spotify and bought a good number of their albums. My favourites, weirdly, are Hold Your Fire and Clockwork Angels plus their more generally accepted highpoints 2112 and A Farewell to Kings.

No Moving Pictures you say? Well, yes and no. The thing about that Spirit of Radio compilation is that it’s a near-perfect track selection – almost every one of the 16 tracks is pretty much the best cuts from their respective albums (OK, no “Xanadu” but the running time was probably a bit long for a best of, and I’d have chosen one or more of the excellent shorter tracks from 2112, but these are minor quibbles). Moving Pictures gets three tracks: “Tom Sawyer”, “Red Barchetta” and “Limelight” and each of these tracks is superb. I love them all: the brooding synths on “Tom Swayer”, the unbridled joy of the rhythm and power chords in “Red Barchetta” and the crunchy brilliance of “Limelight” – you can play them all ten times in a row without getting bored.

The problem for me is the drop-off between these three and the other four. “YYZ” is a decent instrumental with some nice Middle-Eastern-influenced guitar, and I must admit that I enjoyed “Witch Hunt” and “Vital Signs” on this last listen more than I have ever done before, but “The Camera Eye” still feels like a waste of ten minutes. But nevertheless, I just can’t listen to these four tracks with anything like the enthusiasm I do for the best three.

I can understand why some will be put off by Geddy Lee’s vocals, it’s certainly an acquired taste, but it doesn’t bother me as much as whiny indie vocalists. At the same time, I’m always amazed that Rush’s technical brilliance seems to count against them. Whilst they have their longer self-indulgent tracks that don’t always come off, songs like “Red Barchetta”, “Limelight”, “Time Stand Still” and “Closer to the Heart” (amongst many others) have great melodies, thumping drums, groovy bass and joyous chords that mean you don’t have to be Chopin to get them.

Hearing the three tracks on the compilation has clearly skewed the way I listen to and appreciate Rush and this album in particular. If I’d have been in from the start like @OB1, I would probably have had a different view, but as it is, Moving Pictures has some tremendous plusses, a few solid songs and a few negatives, but 8/10 feels right for this.

Like Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Rush don’t have a single album that would be in my top 20 or 30 (maybe a couple of Tom Petty’s solo albums). Their best material is scattered across their entire catalogue, but both bands have produced so much superb material over the years that they both deserve their places on a very short list of the greatest rock bands of all time.
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Nice review.

I must confess "Camera Eye" has grown on me. As I think I mentioned, it was the most requested song during the long period that they omitted it from the set. "YYZ" has always suffered from not being "La Villa Stangiato" but it is worth the price of entry just for Geddy Bass playing, which I think got voted the best bass playing ever in some sort of poll. The 40th Anniversary cd has some nice comments from other well known musicians on their love of the album and Rush. Les Claypool the bassist, who The Fog reminds us was rejected by Metallica for being too good, tells a story about a fairly recent meeting wth Geddy where Les persuaded him to show him how he played YYZ. Les' band Primus have jammed on YYZ for many years in soundchecks. Les discovered he'd been playing it wrong all that time.
 
It’s ok lads. It’s alright not to like them.
It’s alright to admit you don’t get them. You’re in a safe place now.
The fact the rest of us do, is no reflection on your musical taste being slightly deficient. Nothing like that at all. You like what you like and it’s all subjective. We don’t think less of you. ;-)

Seriously though, I think some of us in here have a tendency to overthink things. I started listening to these with a recommendation given to me for A Farewell to Kings.
It was getting great revues.
And you know what. I thought, meh, it’s not bad, but it’s not Yes or Genesis for that matter.
I got Hemispheres and liked it but as prog went I still thought Yes were the pinnacle. It was when I heard All The World’s a Stage that I really saw something in these three.

I understand those that can’t get into Geddy’s voice. In the early heavy metal screeching stuff, I actually couldn’t really take to it and it was holding back my enjoyment.

This is why I really appreciated the change in direction from Permanent Waves on. Each album seemed to be a progression and as time went on Geddy’s voice was toned down to a more mellow sound.

I can’t give this album a 10, as much as I’d like to, for the simple reason that to my taste and to my ears, where they went afterwards with Signals and then Grace Under Pressure , was even better. I have these three albums from Moving Pictures onwards on repeat this week and it’s bringing back great memories. This is my favourite period of the band and I didn’t really pursue beyond this although I did dabble with Vapour Trails and Snakes and Arrows after having seen the band live in Dublin. And yes they had a great sense of humour live. Neil Peart was a serious dude, no doubt. Alex and Geddy more than made up for it though. I don’t believe they took themselves too seriously and Alex for all his ability is a very humble man.

I’ll give this album a well deserved 8 simply because to give it a 10 would leave no room to go higher on Signals and Permanent Waves, both of which I love. They are melodic and more accessible and diverse and lyrically more relevant.

A great choice again. Enjoying my music this week.
 
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mancity2012_eamo said:
It’s ok lads. It’s alright not to like them.
It’s alright to admit you don’t get them. You’re in a safe place now.
The fact the rest of us do, is no reflection on your musical taste being slightly deficient. Nothing like that at all. You like what you like and it’s all subjective. We don’t think less of you. ;-)

Seriously though, I think some of us in here have a tendency to overthink things. I started listening to these with a recommendation given to me for A Farewell to Kings.
It was getting great revues.
And you know what. I thought, meh, it’s not bad, but it’s not Yes or Genesis for that matter.
I got Hemispheres and liked it but as prog went I still thought Yes were the pinnacle. It was when I heard Exit Stage Left that I really saw something in these three.

I understand those that can’t get into Geddy’s voice. In the early heavy metal screeching stuff, I actually couldn’t really take to it and it was holding back my enjoyment.

This is why I really appreciated the change in direction from Permanent Waves on. Each album seemed to be a progression and as time went on Geddy’s voice was toned down to a more mellow sound.

I can’t give this album a 10, as much as I’d like to, for the simple reason that to my taste and to my ears, where they went afterwards with Signals and then Permanent Waves, was even better. I have these three albums from Moving Pictures onwards on repeat this week and it’s bringing back great memories. This is my favourite period of the band and I didn’t really pursue beyond this although I did dabble with Vapour Trails and Snakes and Arrows after having seen the band live in Dublin. And yes they had a great sense of humour live. Neil Peart was a serious dude, no doubt. Alex and Geddy more than made up for it though. I don’t believe they took themselves too seriously and Alex for all his ability is a very humble man.

I’ll give this album a well deserved 8 simply because to give it a 10 would leave no room to go higher on Signals and Permanent Waves, both of which I love. They are melodic and more accessible and diverse and lyrically more relevant.

A great choice again. Enjoying my music this week.
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If I was voting, I would, these days, give Moving Pictures a 10 but I would also give Signals 10 too. I thought about reviewing Signals, which might be my favourite Rush studio album but is not what I would claim to be their best.

My favourite Rush album is "All The World's A Stage" and that is very special to me but it's a live album...
 
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