^The Masked Rider.
^The Masked Rider.
I wish I could 'like' so many of the posts here. It's a wonderful commiserative gathering of serious music fans who have all been touched in some way by his life's work.
With Neil's death, Rush is now done with absolute certainty, and I'm sure many have been reflecting on their legacy as a whole. One thing I appreciate is that they never allowed themselves to become an oldies act. Not to pick on Yes, but let's face it, they may as well be the Beach Boys or the Four Seasons. They'll trot out a cursory tune from their latest album if there even is one, but basically a post-Rabin Yes show is little more than a '70s nostalgia fest (and 50%+ is likely culled from their remarkable 3-album run in '71-'72). A latter-day Rush show, on the other hand, would always emphasize their latest album, with a generous helping of tracks from the 2-3 that preceded it. Sure, they had their evergreens (Tom Sawyer, Spirit of Radio), and would often revive songs from older albums (Digital Man, Entre Nous), but anyone expecting mostly a rehash of Exit...Stage Left would be sorely disappointed. As long as Rush existed, I don't think they ever stopped thinking of themselves as active, contemporary artists. That doesn't describe an awful lot of rock stars in their later years.
My progressive music site: https://pienemmatpurot.com/ Reviews in English: https://pienemmatpurot.com/in-english/
Carl's handler have let him down. -1 for his manager.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
In my sadness, I am learning to play the Garden on acoustic Guitar. Sort of a way to grieve and not appear to be grieving. The problem is, I cant get through the song without tearing up. It will be a while before I can attempt to play this in the public domain. Perhaps that's the intent of the song - beautiful in every respect. That song is a lament, and it still hits home.
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
I’ve had The Garden in my head for 3 days.
That's a tough one to get through. Available Light, too. I'm noticing so many little moments in listening back to all these songs that are very moving. The bridge in Good News First really hit me ("...some would say they never fear a thing, well I do...") just now.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
From those that I have read thus far, this is among my favorite tributes to Neil. Too lengthy to copy/paste here so follow the link below. And, please, don't let the name of the site stop you from reading this very thoughtfully written piece.
https://bleedingheartlibertarians.co...eart-and-rush/
Last edited by oilersfan; 01-15-2020 at 01:18 PM.
^^^
Thanks for sharing. Well written, indeed.
David
Happy with what I have to be happy with.
Well-written but not always right..Bill Martin would classify the latter as "the blues orthodoxy," which is what he claimed the rock press adored. Not the "elite." In fact, they generally hated the elite, which is where they put prog rock.The high-brow stuff was more associated with the urban elite, and certainly the rock press, while the lower-brow stuff was clearly working class, though often beloved in a somewhat condescending way by the rock press, usually for its “authenticity.”
But the obit itself was a nice read and heartfelt.
I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.
One thing I will say about RUSH as far as I'm concerned is that it doesn't matter if you only liked some of their music or all of it, they gave everything they had of themselves on every album for their fans and I always respected that. I can't say that about a lot of other acts through the years.
RIP Neil you will be sorely missed and thanks for all the great music which I will listen to for the rest of my lifetime.
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
I enjoy reading the tributes and Neil's own words but I really don't care to listen to their music anymore and haven't for a few years now. I won't change the station if they come on, but I have a huge feeling of "been there, done that".
He's lumping rootsy, "authentic" music, like Dylan, with art-school music like Bowie (and prog); then setting them against working-class music like Aerosmith. They're really three different things. Critics loved "authentic" music, usually disliked self-consciously arty stuff, and ignored Aerosmith et al as much as they could, because they were playing blue-collar music, but it wasn't what those critics thought blue-collar music should be. (Bruuuce is what they thought blue-collar music should be.)
That author also said, "there’s a great Gender Studies thesis/dissertation to be written about Rush and masculinity." As well as, presumably, a treatment of just why women famously didn't like them. I have some theories on the matter, but they'd probably get me in hot water if I voiced them; I will observe, though, that Rush were one of the least sexy major bands around - no love songs, no sex-machine rhythms, no presenting themselves as sex objects a la Mick, Robert, Roger, or Rod.
Also, the singer was:
A. Stuck playing bass and keyboards rather than owning the stage,
B. Had a voice that was just strange and yelping rather than Robert Plant's soul falsetto,
C. The homeliest guy in the band, with a jutting chin and a big nose.
Last edited by Baribrotzer; 01-15-2020 at 06:10 PM.
I re-watched the Time Stand Still documentary, and I'll tell ya, that's an emotional one. It already was, but knowing now that shortly after it was filmed and they played that last show, that Neil was diagnosed... it just flattened me. The cruel unfairness of life.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
I have been listening to all of the Rush albums in order this week from the debut onwards. I am currently up to "Power Windows". This band produced such a great collection of music, and were able to do it by changing their sound and experimenting with a lot of different things over the years. Just an amazing career really.
Curious question........if a few years down the road Geddy and Alex decided to tour with another drummer would you guys go see it? I doubt that they would call it Rush, but I could see something like this happening at some point, now that Neil is gone.
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