FEATURED CD: Rush - A Farewell to Kings

[Jerjo]

Geddy played lower on the scale than Squire. Squire is almost up into the midrange. Really my biggest gripe with Yes is the lack of bottom end in their sound. Offord mixed as if neither Bruford or White got near the kick drum, the bass is where the guitar should be, and Howe always up high. And of course, Rush just rocked and rocked hard.

[mellotron storm]

I picked up A Farewell To Kings back in 1978 while on a High School field trip to Toronto. I was 17 and we had a couple of hours of free time to shop or whatever so me and a buddy hit Sam The Record Man's shop where I also got Led Zeppelin IV both on vinyl . I still remember the teacher asking what I got as we all piled back on the bus and he managed a half smile, obviously not into the music. The girl behind me showed him her Mike Oldfiled Tubular Bells album and he went on and on about it. I had no idea who Mike Oldfield was at the time.
Xanadu was the song that always intrigued me as I played this album in my bedroom countless times.

[Trane]

I did notice a similarity to Squire's bass sound (later on...since I heard Rush first and it was a few years before I got into Yes), but it never occurred to me that they were the same. Geddy was getting what I felt was a more aggressive and hard-hitting sound. He just seemed to attack the bass with far more gusto. Squire of course could get aggressive with the pick, but also employed a more diffuse and massive sound at times...and was generally harmonically more interesting and cerebral. But then Yes music called for that in ways that Rush music did not do as often. I like Squire more for the interesting places he went with the notes he played. I prefer Geddy's studio-recorded bass tone overall (at least through roughly the first half of their recorded output), though obviously one is not better than the other, it's just a personal taste thing. Geddy's tone appeals to me as a bass player.

I may be breaking down a wide opened door, but....
... it seems to me that the typical Rickenbacker sound has much responsability for the similar sonics.
+++Just like Glenn Hughes had THAT sound as well while in Purple...

The difference in the way the played the thing is relatively minor, IMHO...

Never a musician, I could recognize the Rickenbacker quite easily during the 70's... though let's face it, I didn't hear "it" when Macca played one.

Oddly enough, I didn't hear much Rickenbacker during the 80's... Which major 80's group's bassist played one?

[yamishogun]

I played side 1 so much and then re-winded my tape to play it again (first Rush to listen to from a friend) that it was a while before I played side 2.

[elliottnow]

Cliff Burton played a Rickenbacker with Metallica.

[Steve983]

I just played my original AFTK vinyl LP from 77/78, it still sounded excellent and I prefer it to the unpleasant sonics of the last remaster cd's. Has anyone bought the recent vinyl re issues? I was wondering if there's any difference between the old and the new?

[Garden Dreamer]

"He held up his riches/to challenge the hungry." Does anyone understand what this means? I sure don't.

As I recall from the concert booklet, "Cinderella Man", written by Geddy, was about a movie called "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town." So the song probably makes more sense if you've seen the movie.

I don't get the reasoning behind, "he's copying Squire's Rickenbacker tone, so I don't like it..." I loved Squire's tone and I gravitated towards other bassists that "copied" it, or shall we say were "influenced" by it, in Geddy's case he used fingers instead of a pick and had a different approach to filling in the bass spectrum than Squire. By that reasoning, I should also reject all my Renaissance albums because Jon Camp went for the Squire style sound/playing also.

[Guitarplyrjvb]

Geddy Lee moved beyond Chris Squire in bass ability, somewhere around Permanent Waves IMHO. He continued to expand as a player and really came into his own on Grace Under Pressure. The Rickenbackerisms were well in his rear-view mirror by then. He's one of the great virtuosos on the bass in Rock music! I agree with those who say Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures were the band's pinnacle. FTK is a pretty good record, though!

[Fracktured]

I can understand the sentiment that this is where they found their groove. I think they were really expanding themselves into a progressive style here. I too like 2112 better only because I thought that they really didn't achieve what they were going for but gives them props for making a good effort here. Hemispheres was a giant leap forward and you can hear the progression from 2112 to Hemispheres when you listen to Farewell To Kings.


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[Soc Prof]

As I recall from the concert booklet, "Cinderella Man", written by Geddy, was about a movie called "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town." So the song probably makes more sense if you've seen the movie.

Thanks for the tip.

[Facelift]

Dude - are you for real? Who the fuck gave you the omniscient power to ascertain what is considered "compositionally strong" or not? Your statement above reads as one of the most arrogant and pompous diatribes I have ever read on this site. Who the fuck are you condemning other members opinions in that manner you arrogant twat? I hope you have 30 ft. ceilings at home for that huge head of yours. Who the fuck are you seriously?

It doesn't require omniscience, just the most basic, rudimentary knowledge of music. I'm sorry you're unable to separate a liking or disliking of something from being able to objectively evaluate its component parts. Stick to the shallow end, my friend. You're out of your depth.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

shut up already Mr. anal

[Plasmatopia]

Stick to the shallow end, my friend. You're out of your depth.

As if!

[Halmyre]

It doesn't require omniscience, just the most basic, rudimentary knowledge of music. I'm sorry you're unable to separate a liking or disliking of something from being able to objectively evaluate its component parts. Stick to the shallow end, my friend. You're out of your depth.

Objectivity is subjective.

[gearHed289]

Dude - are you for real? Who the fuck gave you the omniscient power to ascertain what is considered "compositionally strong" or not? Your statement above reads as one of the most arrogant and pompous diatribes I have ever read on this site. Who the fuck are you condemning other members opinions in that manner you arrogant twat? I hope you have 30 ft. ceilings at home for that huge head of yours. Who the fuck are you seriously?

It wouldn't be Progressive Ears without the occasional pseudo-intellectual douche bag chiming in here and there.

[Mikhael]

Wow. Feel the love in here. A lot like sulfuric acid.

Personally, I LIKED the Ric sound. It's slightly gritty tone worked well in a power trio. I missed it when when he started using Steinbergers, Wals, and the Fender.
And chalk me up as another who liked "Caress of Steel"; at least it didn't have anything as cringe-worthy as "Rivendell" on it...

[Sputnik]

Wow. Feel the love in here. A lot like sulfuric acid.

Personally, I LIKED the Ric sound. It's slightly gritty tone worked well in a power trio. I missed it when when he started using Steinbergers, Wals, and the Fender.

I also love Lee's Rick tone. Yeah, it's Squire-like in ways, but Geddy's approach to playing is very different. I've been influenced by both and they both bring a lot to the table.

At least through Moving Pictures, Geddy's Jazz Bass tone was virtually indistinguishable from the Ric. We had a thread on bass tones a while back, and there was lots of ambiguity on what bass he used for what tracks on MP. I finally had to listen to isolated tracks to really tell the difference, at which point it was pretty obvious - but in context with the rest of the music, I think Geddy got a very similar tone with both the Ric and the Jazz Bass. I totally agree with you, though, about the Steiberger and Wal tones, which don't have nearly the same bite as that Ric/Fender sound.

Bill

[gearHed289]

Just more proof that it's mostly in the player's hands. Plus he was playing through the same rig. I'm a big Ric fan (as you can probably tell from my avatar) and it never bothered me at all that he sounded a bit like Squire. It's a Ric, it's going to sound similar. Whether it's Chris, Ged, Roger Glover, the guy in Sweet, Cam Hawkins, Starcastle... Now put some flatwound strings on there and you've got a whole different animal (Paul McCartney).

I did not like the Steinberger, but I did like the Wal. It fit what they were doing at the time, and I was already into them through Percy Jones.