Rush - Moving Pictures at 40.

[odysseus]

One of my favourite Rush albums.... I must investigate.... 

[odysseus]

6 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

 

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with the drum sticks though 😂.

 

 Order in some noodles?... 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

3 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

Relentless travesties.

Good band name, that.

[leroydiamond]

4 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Sounds good, will give it a listen then. It was Genesis trick of the tail which put me off remasters, in that it completely broke Ripples which is one of my favourite tracks. However, some of the Steven Wilson remasters have been good.

I downloaded Moving Pictures 40th in Hi Res audio. An old vinyl pressing I have sounds considerably better. Remasters are not always all they are cracked up to be.

[MrSpace]

I'm speaking as a fairly recent convert to Rush, hearing Xanadu on the radio was what inspired me to pick up the bass again after 25 years. I think Exit Stage Left is a fantastic album, but mainly because it has all my favourite Rush songs - the sound quality is not that good. The "Live at YYZ" part of Moving Pictures 40 is like a better ESL, it might become my new favourite. 

[dave_bass5]

Love em or hate em, Apple Music has the album available in lossless and Digital master versions. Sounds marvellous through my sound system. I’ve got so used to MP3’s over the years it’s liken listening to a brand new album. 

[Skybone]

As a big Rush fan, I always thought that, although Moving Pictures has some great songs, it's also got a few that aren't that great. 

 

Always thought that Permanent Waves was a far better album, even though it was very underrated.

 

But what do I know?

[leroydiamond]

42 minutes ago, Skybone said:

As a big Rush fan, I always thought that, although Moving Pictures has some great songs, it's also got a few that aren't that great. 

 

Always thought that Permanent Waves was a far better album, even though it was very underrated.

 

But what do I know?

Probably my age (60) but for me and my peers, listening to albums was always done from beginning to end and opinions arrived at from the experience of having heard the album in its entirety. Probably had to do with having analogue sources back in the day and no digital alternatives, so skipping tracks was not a convenient option. Tracks in isolation might well have not worked, but as a piece on the listening Journey from the beginning to the end of the album,  such tracks can be a crucial part of the overall listening experience. In this regard  for me at least, Moving Pictures gets 10/10. 

[Skybone]

I know where you're coming from @leroydiamond, and totally agree that you just can't beat listening to a whole album. Skipping tracks meant having loads of skill lifting the needle off the record at just the right moment, and more crucially, having the steady hand and skill to put it back at just the right place. Fast Forwarding tapes was a whole other black art!  

 

Like I said, I like Moving Pictures, it's just that for me, Permanent Waves worked better as an album. 

 

There's no dispute that Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, Limelight and YYZ are amazing songs, but I always thought that the other songs weren't as strong. 

 

Again, just my opinion.

[leroydiamond]

28 minutes ago, Skybone said:

I know where you're coming from @leroydiamond, and totally agree that you just can't beat listening to a whole album. Skipping tracks meant having loads of skill lifting the needle off the record at just the right moment, and more crucially, having the steady hand and skill to put it back at just the right place. Fast Forwarding tapes was a whole other black art!  

 

Like I said, I like Moving Pictures, it's just that for me, Permanent Waves worked better as an album. 

 

There's no dispute that Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, Limelight and YYZ are amazing songs, but I always thought that the other songs weren't as strong. 

 

Again, just my opinion.

Total respect for your opinion. Without different opinions we have little to discuss. For me when listening to an album it is the some of the parts, rather than the parts themselves that generate the flavour of the overall album listening experience. When I listen to an album, the impact of one track in isolation to the rest, gets very little traction at all and this is particularly the case when listening to 'prog' albums 

[Dr.Dave]

Funny - I worked out 2112 note for note and thought that meant I was as good as Geddy.

 

By the time I bought Moving Pictures I'd figured out that I wasn't because he thought of it.

[wateroftyne]

What blows my mind a little bit is how fast music evolved back then.

 

Ten years prior to Moving Pictures, your average prog fan might have been dropping the needle onto the newly-released Nursery Cryme by Genesis. Stylistically & sonically, that’s a massive leap. 
 

These days, nowt really changes in 10 years.

[Daz39]

1 hour ago, wateroftyne said:

What blows my mind a little bit is how fast music evolved back then.

 

Ten years prior to Moving Pictures, your average prog fan might have been dropping the needle onto the newly-released Nursery Cryme by Genesis. Stylistically & sonically, that’s a massive leap. 
 

These days, nowt really changes in 10 years.

Yes! That’s why I love Prog.

I’m still utterly impressed that Alex went from his blues-rock soloing that he grew up with on Working Man to his technically epic noodling in multiple styles all over La Villa Strangiato, in about 4 years. 

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, Daz39 said:

Yes! That’s why I love Prog.

I’m still utterly impressed that Alex went from his blues-rock soloing that he grew up with on Working Man to his technically epic noodling in multiple styles all over La Villa Strangiato, in about 4 years. 

I don’t think Alex gets nearly enough plaudits, especially for his rhythm playing. Geddy and Neil are revered, not so much Mr Lifeson. Plus he’s hysterical.

[wateroftyne]

3 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I don’t think Alex gets nearly enough plaudits, especially for his rhythm playing. Geddy and Neil are revered, not so much Mr Lifeson. Plus he’s hysterical.

 

Agree re: his rhythm playing.

 

I'm an absolutely HUGE fan of the band, but it saddens me to say that - to me, anyway - Alex's solos are generally forgettable.

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, wateroftyne said:

 

Agree re: his rhythm playing.

 

I'm an absolutely HUGE fan of the band, but it saddens me to say that - to me, anyway - Alex's solos are generally forgettable.

I think that’s what I like about them, they’re an embellishment, not the raison d’être of the song as with a lot of guitar heroes. However, when listening and he fires up the solo, it’s almost always an ‘oh yeah’ moment. Definitely a band that was the 3 of them in symbiosis. I’m not a fan of everything they did, the 80-92 period is my favourite. I’d dearly love for them to release a remixed Clockwork Angels, as I dislike that mushy production.

[Woodinblack]

13 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

I'm an absolutely HUGE fan of the band, but it saddens me to say that - to me, anyway - Alex's solos are generally forgettable.

 

Not for me, his solos are amongst the most meaningful and significant and affected my guitar playing growing up (not enough to make me good mind!). He has a style that was not like the standard samey rock / metal / blues riffing that most other have got, with a few notable exceptions, and are still solos I really listen to. Considering them wanting to be zep style at the start, going somewhere totally different

I guess its the variations to what we like. Solos don't have to be 8 bars of pentatonic noodling.

[wateroftyne]

2 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Solos don't have to be 8 bars of pentatonic noodling.

 

No, but it helps if they're memorable (again, this is all IMO).

 

He has plenty that start well but he tends to fizz out into a flurry of notes.

[Woodinblack]

8 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

No, but it helps if they're memorable (again, this is all IMO).

 

Yes, and to me they really are. ie, I would pretty well say that up to but maybe not including all of Power Windows, when I stopped really following, I know them note by note and if I could play well enough I could play them all.

 

8 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

He has plenty that start well but he tends to fizz out into a flurry of notes.

 

Which is his style, which I love. I still remember spending weeks trying to nail songs like Analog Kid (which is a flurry of notes all the way through) and La Villa Strangiato . Some are fast, some are less so, some really make a statement but all of them bring stuff to the party rather than just fill in a space like a lot of rock / blues songs.

 

For me he will always be one of my favourite guitarists, both for solo and rhythm, but I don't really separate the two.

 

[wateroftyne]

Just now, Woodinblack said:

 all of them bring stuff to the party rather than just fill in a space like a lot of rock / blues songs.

 

 

Ha ha - is the exact opposite to me. It’s like he’s really thought about the first few bars, then got bored and filled the rest with… whatever.

 

But then I’m not really listening to it as a guitarist, so how hard it is to replicate doesn’t really win any brownie points in my book.

[Woodinblack]

10 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Ha ha - is the exact opposite to me. It’s like he’s really thought about the first few bars, then got bored and filled the rest with… whatever.

 

Yep, different things for different folks. For me he is one of the few soloists who seems to have really though about the whole thing rather than thought oh i need to put a solo here and gone through the motions.

 

10 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

But then I’m not really listening to it as a guitarist, so how hard it is to replicate doesn’t really win any brownie points in my book.

It doesn't to me either, and neither am I, I was just saying that about it being memorable, and my lack of skill.

 

As we say, its down to what you like. i hear something you don't hear, and that is fine

[White Cloud]

My favourite album... for me this release is incredible. 

 

I want it as the soundtrack at my funeral.

[Barking Spiders]

33 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Not for me, his solos are amongst the most meaningful and significant and affected my guitar playing growing up (not enough to make me good mind!). He has a style that was not like the standard samey rock / metal / blues riffing that most other have got, with a few notable exceptions, and are still solos I really listen to. Considering them wanting to be zep style at the start, going somewhere totally different

I guess its the variations to what we like. Solos don't have to be 8 bars of pentatonic noodling.

I'm not a fan of Rush but thanks to a recent thread I was introduced to Envy of None and have since bought the CD, which is the mutts nuts. For me, one positive I have to say about Rush is AL's playing which avoids the cliches that bog down most metal and hard rock. The most off-putting things for me come from other two members, Geddy Lee's vocals most of the time and Neal Peart's lyrics/song titles. 

[NancyJohnson]

23 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

I'm not a fan of Rush but thanks to a recent thread I was introduced to Envy of None and have since bought the CD, which is the mutts nuts. For me, one positive I have to say about Rush is AL's playing which avoids the cliches that bog down most metal and hard rock. The most off-putting things for me come from other two members, Geddy Lee's vocals most of the time and Neal Peart's lyrics/song titles. 

 

Just on the subject of EoN, if you're unfamiliar with them, check out Curve (start with 1992's 'Doppelganger').  Whether it's intentional or not (probably the latter), EoN as a unit sound incredibly similar to them.

[Woodinblack]

5 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

Just on the subject of EoN, if you're unfamiliar with them, check out Curve (start with 1992's 'Doppelganger').  Whether it's intentional or not (probably the latter), EoN as a unit sound incredibly similar to them.

 

Having seen that a lot, and being a big fan of Curve, although there is some connection as it is the same sort of style I really don't see it as being that similar. Similar to SPC-ECO (or what curve did next).

However, always good to go back to curve for any reason - I would start at the john peel radio sessions!