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Subject: RUSH Fans Digest of 08/16/90 (#32)
RUSH Fans Digest, Number 32
Thursday, 16 August 1990
Today's Topics:
"Inspirational reading"
RE- ESL dividing Line
Stages of Rush
(none)
Trial change
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Just a quick note before the festivities begin. At the risk of 'beating
a dead horse', this list has been plagued with a mysterious problem of
duplicate postings. It appeared to surface once the list got above a
distribution of 200 or so. (How many do we have now, you may ask? How
does about 350 strike you? And we're not even into the fall semester yet!)
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that yes, I know the problem
exists, and no, I don't have a solution yet. I've tried several different
things (including a few system upgrades), but nothing seems to work. Alas,
one solution, splitting the list into smaller sub-lists won't work with the
current digest software setup; it needs one and only one alias to send to.
I'm continuing to investigate the matter, and another change is waiting in
the wings; major mailer mods. I'll keep you posted via periodic updates
here. PLEASE don't send me mail at the administrivia account telling me
you're receiveing dups. I get about 2-5 mail items a day saying the same
thing, and usually a day or two after one of these informative updates.
I don't respond to each of these, as it would take too much time to do so.
So, in conclusion, I'm sorry it's happening, but I'd stop it if I could.
Please bear with us, and just zap that second issue if/when it comes in.
"Thank you for your support"
Manager,
RUSH Fans Mailing List
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Date: 15 Aug 90 11:24:42
From: Cris Fuhrman <Cris_Fuhrman.DIAL_976@gateway.qm.apple.com>
Subject: RE- ESL dividing Line
Reply to: RE: ESL dividing Line
Brad Armstrong <Lion.Wbst129@Xerox.COM> wrote:
> ... I feel, as I have
>previously stated, that the Exit...Stage Left dividing line was not
>artificial. Here is a question I think about sometimes, which I would like
>to hear some discourse from the rest of you about: What is the essential
>difference between, say, the period before Exit...Stage Left and the period
>after Signals (I think of Signals as kind of transitional, or at least more
>so than Moving Pictures)? ... I'm looking for comments
>on things like the band's apparent philisophy, the music's apparent
>philosophy, the music's value, or even the record company's influences.
I'd like to offer an opinion that's one of a musician who has admired the
music of RUSH for several years and it's helped to shape my musical ability
and style.
As far as the essential difference between the pre-ESL era and the
post-Signals era is concerned, the surest thing I can say that
I see is how much the band has *matured*.
I see how Neil has changed and become more confident in his style as a
lyricist. A lot of discussion has led to the fact that Neil has used many
of the ideas of other famous authors. I must say that at times I've been
disappointed to learn that the thoughts behind "The Camera Eye" and
"Red Barchetta" were not entirely his own. Perhaps other people
share this opinion as well. However, now I feel that in the later works
of Neil's seem to be more direct interpretations of his views on life.
He's matured as a writer. Songs like "Available Light" and
"Red Lenses" are examples of stuff that he's done "on his own" so to
speak.
In a similar way, I can see how RUSH have matured as composers. In a
recent interview I remember reading how Geddy "forgot" how to play
"Red Barchetta." When they had decided to do it for the Presto tour,
he had to go back and listen to it on a CD. Geddy remarked that in those
days, they often had a series of pieces to a song, and to make everything
to fit together, they'd play games with the time signatures. "Free Will",
"Red Barchetta", and "Hemispheres" are what I would consider
examples of what Geddy is talking about. The later works like "Red Sector A"
and "Anagram for Mongo" reflect a higher level of composition on the part
of the band.
I'd like to point out that my remarks have nothing to do with the value of
the music. Just as maturity in human beings can often seem "boring" to
a child, perhaps too the maturity of RUSH could be considered by some
as less exciting. I happen to appreciate the odd time signatured music,
as well as the the more-integrated pieces. We all have the freedom to
like what we prefer to like, for whatever reasons. That's what makes
RUSH so great. There's a lot of variety.
As far as answering the initial question goes, I don't think I have enough
hours in a day (or disk space on my Macintosh) to completely answer it
as best I can, but at least I've offered something for people to shoot at.
-Cris "End the need for Eden"
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Date: Thu, 16 Aug 90 00:14:41 EDT
From: gordon@Stars.Reston.Unisys.COM (Del Gordon)
Subject: Stages of Rush
Subject: Stages of Rush
Brad Armstrong writes:
"I have noticed [...] that Rush has changed the style and content of
their music over the years. I feel [...] that the Exit...Stage Left
dividing line was not artificial. [..] What is the essential
difference between, say, the period before Exit...Stage Left and the
period after Signals (I think of Signals as kind of transitional, or
at least more so than Moving Pictures)?"
It's true that Rush seems set into a pattern of making
4 studio albums and then 1 live album. The pattern is evident in the
following table, where live albums are enclosed in parentheses:
STAGE 1
1974 - Rush, Fly By Night
1975 - Caress of Steel
1976 - 2112, (All the World's A Stage)
STAGE 2
1977 - A Farewell to Kings
1978 - Hemispheres
1980 - Permanent Waves
1981 - Moving Pictures, (Exit Stage Left)
STAGE 3
1982 - Signals
1984 - Grace Under Pressure
1985 - Power Windows
1987 - Hold Your Fire
1989 - (A Show of Hands)
STAGE 4
1989 - Presto
1990 - ? {name this album}
I think each *stage* is different, so there's *more* than one
dividing line. Stages 1, 2, and 3 happen to exactly correspond to 3
salient stages in my life: High School, College, and Establishing a
Career. I don't know what Stage 4 might signify, "Approaching
Middle-Age" maybe? (eegads! :-( ) Naaah, how about
"Post-Adolescence", or "Graduate School," or, dare I say, "Maturity"?
So I think one could discuss the different attributes of each
stage, but I don't think there's a *single* turning point (except when
Neil joined the band! ;-). I think the members of the band continue
to grow as individuals, and change, as we all do, hopefully for the
better. Change is essential, and it is inevitable. I think Rush has
been changing for the better all along. (Now we can discuss what
"better" means ;-)
One attribute that is definitely noticeable is Geddy's singing
voice. It's obvious that he's relaxed his high-octane screaming over
the years. The first time I ever heard Rush, I can still remember it
clearly, it was their first album, RUSH. My first comment was, "What
is this, Led Zep at 78 rpm?" Of course, after Neil joined Rush the
world was uplifted a notch and I've been Rush-fanatical ever since.
As for comparing stages, well, here's one type of comparison,
for what it's worth: in Stage 1 they were more into Fantasy, Stage 2
it was more Science Fiction, while Stage 3 showed increasing interest
in science and technology; and "real-world" problems have been a major
theme since Stage 2.
Just my opinions... and you know what opinions are like!
No! Not that! Opinions are like belly-buttons...
Well, time to stomp on the road. "Fly by night, goodbye my
dear."
/\ /\ /\ 1-0-0-1-0-0-1, S.O.S. 1-0-0-1-0-0-1, in distress.
/ \ /\/ \ /\/ \ /---- - --- - -------------- - --- - -------------------
\/ \/ \/ Del Gordon gordon@stars.reston.unisys.com |><-
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Date: Thu, 16 Aug 90 01:48:19 -0500
From: franks@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Richard M Franks)
Somebody asked about ESL being a dividing line between the various peroids of
the band, so here's my input. Apart from being the live album at the end of
their second "quartet" of studio albums, I also see a change in influences in
the music. Namely, The Police was/were an established influence at this time.
Don't think so? The Gedster himself said so in an old issue of a guitar mag.
The interviewer posed the question of The Police's influence, and Geddy said
something to the effect that the sound of the whole band was changed by them.
He also reflected on Sting's choice of notes and sense of melody. If anyone
want's the exact quote, mail me and I'll see if I can dig it up.
Dream band:
drums: Carl Palmer
Keys: Geoff Downs
Guitar: Steve Howe
Bass/Vocals: John Wetton
Oh! Sorry! That was Asia(original) wasn't it? :-]
But seriously, or at least as serious as I can be on this subject.
Favorite musicians:
Guitar: Alex, Gary Moore, Brian May, Beck
Bass: Geddy, Squire, John Entwistle, Nathan East
Drums: Neil, Carl Palmer, Stewart Copeland, Keith Moon
Keys: Johnny Johnson (of Chuck Berry fame), Keith Emerson
Lyrics: Neil, Lars Ulrich/James Hetfield
Music: Pete Townsend, Geddy/Alex,..........the list goes on forever.
See you later-
Rich Franks
franks@en.ecn.purdue.edu
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Subject: Trial change
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 90 08:19:19 EDT
From: RUSH Fans Digest Manager <rush-mgr>
This will only affect those of you who receive their mail via a Bitnet
path, so the other 80% can ignore this.
I've changed the name of the gateway handling mail between Internet and
Bitnet from "umd2.umd.edu" to "cunyvm.cuny.edu". There should be no
interruption in your service, and may facilitate things a bit. The Umd2
machine is a local machine which can act as a gateway, but is not an of-
ficial Ineternet/Bitnet gateway, while Cunyvm is.
If you encounter any problems due to this, let me know!
Manager,
RUSH Fans Mailing List
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