The National Midnight Star #18

Errors-To: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Reply-To: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Sender: rush@syrinx.umd.edu Precedence: bulk From: rush@syrinx.umd.edu To: rush-list-all Subject: RUSH Fans Digest of 07/26/90 (#18)
RUSH Fans Digest, Number 18 Thursday, 26 July 1990 Today's Topics: (none) P/G Alex special apperance Artwork SAGA anthor great Canadian band questions galore (none) (none) ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 90 14:51:13 -0400 From: jtkung@caf.MIT.EDU (Joseph Kung) About "The Spirit of Radio," Paul Ackerman III says that the modified S&G quote is "The words of the prophets were written on the studio walls, and concert halls". Actually, Neil (being the consummate, witty writer that he is) changes "prophets" to "profits," making the statement even more bitingly sarcastic, and essentially quite accurate, especially these days. Too many salesman in the halls, and not enough musicians. This theme shows up in "Superconductor" as well, but in a different form. - Joe ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 90 12:23:14 PDT From: spike@d31mf0.Stanford.EDU (John T. Fourkas) Subject: P/G Being new to this Digest, I've just caught the tail end of what appears to have been a long P/G discussion, but I thought I'd throw in a couple of random comments which I hope aren't repeats. I was intrigued by the idea that the album is an over-reaction to the synthesizers of Signals. Although it seems obvious to me in retrospect, I think I never noticed it because of what I can only describe as the overproduction in most of the album. It's as if every "hole" created by the lack of a synthesizer had to be filled in with something else. This is something I had never exactly put my finger on before, but in that light it does seem to me that Rush evolved from a band that used silence very effectively to one that rarely ever uses it any more (although I suspect that a lot of the blame here goes to producers). For that matter, the band has moved away from the trading of short solo licks (YYZ being an obvious example), which I for one have been sorry to see. I think that this all has a lot to do with why I've always been dissatisfied with P/G. Vocally, I would say that P/G was Geddy's most subdued album ever (something that seemed to please the critics at the time). Does anyone out there know why? I've heard various theories, including the fact that he was smoking to much at the time (which seems fairly unlikely, since he seems to have the range back now), the producer insisted on it, and that they were looking for a wider audience. On the plus side, I think that Geddy made up for teh subdued vocals of the album by coming up with some pretty interesting new bass concepts. At that time, Geddy said in an interview that his favorite bass player was Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and I can hear a bit of the influence on P/G, although their styles overall are quite different. Lyrically and conceptually, I agree with those who say that the album has its ups and downs. I'm definitely fond of The Enemy Within, and I think that all of the man-vs-machine songs work quite well [BTW, has anyone commented on the fact that 1001001 converted to ASCII is "I" and 100100 is "$"? Coin- cidence? Maybe.] On the other hand, most of the first side of the album never did much for me. 'nuff said..... ------------ John Fourkas spike@d31mf0.stanford.edu Stanford University ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: 25 Jul 90 15:35 -0500 Subject: Alex special apperance From: yackob@eeserv.ee.umanitoba.ca! >X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.0.4 1/31/90) Yesterday GREG GORING <CS110255@Sol.YorkU.CA> mentioned the new Gowan album. Alex Lifeson is credited with guitars, and he plays on most (if not all) songs. You can only really tell by the solos, but that doesn't mean that Lifeson or Greer aren't playing aren't playing rhythm on a song. The album isn't all that great, but I'm a Gowan fan, so I like some of it. Last year (or 2 years ago) Lifeson produced an album for a band called Clean Slate. Not all that hot. By the way, where HASN'T Gary L. Dare lived? Montreal, New York, Toronto, Winnipeg... Is there anyone out there who has not lived within, say, 100 km of this man? :-) -- Kerry Yackoboski <yackob@eeserv.ee.umanitoba.ca> The Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Laboratory in the Cellar U of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 90 16:55:53 -0700 From: ddelany@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Dan Delany) Subject: Artwork Just thought some of you out there might want to know... In the new (Sept. '90) issue of _Modern Drummer_ magazine, Ludwig is selling Neil Peart posters for $3. The picture in the ad looks like it was from the same photo session as the ones on page 8 in the Presto tourbook. Here's the address to write to: Neil Peart PO Box 310 Elkhart, Indiana 46515 _~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_ "Memory banks unloading, Dan Delany Bytes break into bits. Cal Poly, SloTown Unit one's in trouble ddelany@polyslo.calpoly.edu and it's scared out of its wits." ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 90 11:07:31 EST From: Ronnie Peugh <rocker%eve.wright.edu@RELAY.CS.NET> Subject: SAGA anthor great Canadian band People have been talking about Triumph, which if a good band, but no one is talking about SAGA. They were the opening act for my first concert ever (Eddie Monet). They we AUSOME!!! If you like drums, you have got to see them. Their drummer used a regular drum set thought the show, but once another member of the band came on stage with a synth drum set no larger than a suitcase. And they had a battle of the drums, oh my was that great!!! If you want to get an album by them get Worlds Apart of Heads Or Tales, they're both great. Anyone know what happened to them? _______________________________________________________________________ _ rocker@eve.wright.edu | Al Bundy for President - ..!uunet!ncrlnk!wright!eve!rocker | _ Wright State U. Dayton, Oh | (he'd have to be better than ...) _______________________________________________________________________ ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 90 17:42:05 MDT From: nyx.UUCP!fpeabody%nyx.uucp@nike.cair.du.edu (Fred Peabody) Subject: questions galore Hi, I'm new to the Digest and I can tell I'm gonna have a great time discussing my favorite band! Here's a slew of questions I have: o Could someone give me an interpretation of the lyrics in Tom Sawyer? I don't understand them. o What does that symbol with the man looking at the pentagram-type symbol stand for? It's on the front cover of All The Worlds A Stage. I think it might have something to do w/2112 but I'm not sure. o Why didn't Broon continue to be RUSH's producer? Was there a fight? o What other bands do the guys in RUSH like? I know that Geddy is a really big Metallica fan [like me]. o Why did they put that cheesy ending in War Paint. "Boys and girls together, paint the mirror black." I hate that! It seems to me Atlantic or Hine made that commercial demand. I think that they should make at least one instumental/heavy hitting song that will show that RUSH can still rock heavy. Here's another Canadian Band: Voivod. A wonderful progressive metal band. Kinda weird, but cool. They remind me of a cross between RUSH, Pink Floyd, and Metallica. Sorry about all of those darn questions, but I'm a curious guy... >>>>*Freddy*<<<< [The Only Living Peabody] ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 90 18:28:19 -0500 From: Not a shriek <chas@morgana.pubserv.com> Eric Tang: I sent a response to your mail, but it bounced. If you're still interested, mail me again and give some suggestions about how to address a response. Chuck King (chas@morgana.pubserv.com) ---------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 90 18:22:03 -0500 From: Not a shriek <chas@morgana.pubserv.com> > to do with the rest of the album?". And as I think I've heard, "New > World Man" was thrown together at the last minute, and the boyz never > planned on it being a hit (are there other songs from the past several > albums that were, shall we say, extemporaneous?) I recall reading somewhere---it may have been in the HYF tour program---that "Force Ten" was just thrown together at the last minute. Now I have a question inspired by the recent discussion of p/g. It seems to me a lot of the zealous defenders of that album mentioned that it was the album that turned them on to Rush, etc. etc., and we've talked before about the special place everyone has in their heart for their first Rush album. What I want to know it this: For people who got into Rush BEFORE _Exit,_Stage_Left_ came out, what is your favorite album to come out SINCE ESL? And why? Chuck King (chas@morgana.pubserv.com) ----------------------------------------------------------
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