Hey there Coldfire. I really enjoy your posts, so I thought it only right to share the fact that I just don’t like Rush.
I try. I hear their songs and don’t turn the station (well, not every time anyway.) I really like the instrumental and musical part of their songs. But, the singers voice tends to make my hair stand on end.
I really want to like them, they have put out a ton of music and it is played on the radio a lot.
My question to you (or any other Rush fan, he seemed the most obvious one to me) - Is there a particular song/group of songs/CD I should check out to give me the best possible shot at liking this group?
Thanks
The post below mine will most likely be occupied by LauraLee.
*Mullinator:
Hey there Coldfire. I really enjoy your posts, so I thought it only right to share the fact that I just don’t like Rush.
I try. I hear their songs and don’t turn the station (well, not every time anyway.) I really like the instrumental and musical part of their songs. But, the singers voice tends to make my hair stand on end.
I really want to like them, they have put out a ton of music and it is played on the radio a lot.
My question to you (or any other Rush fan, he seemed the most obvious one to me) - Is there a particular song/group of songs/CD I should check out to give me the best possible shot at liking this group?*
<h1>GASP!</h1>
I became a Rush fan in the early 80’s. Their music up to that point is what I like the most.
My favorite albums of theirs are “Moving Pictures”, “Hemispheres”, “2112”, “Fly By Night”, and “Caress of Steel”.
I liked “Signals”, but it’s where they started to migrate their music from the harder, guitar-based style to more synthesizer-based.
The last 3 albums I bought of theirs were “Hold Your Fire”, “Presto”, & “Roll The Bones”. Their style has migrated so much that I haven’t really followed them since.
Judges 14:9 - So [Samson] scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.
Blech. Rush, for me, falls into the same category as REO Speedwagon and Journey. Falsetto-voiced lead singers just ick me out.
Funny story: When I was in 6th grade in San Antonio, TX, REO Speedwagon emerged upon the scene. I didn’t like them then, either. All of the other kids in my school did. So in a bid to be “cool” like the rest of them, I announce that I loved Mario Speedwagon.
Didn’t improve my popularity a whit.
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.
Falcon, may I humbly expand the number of biggest Rush fans in this thread to five by posting here myself?
Coldfire, classifying Geddy’s vocal sound as an acquired taste is right on target, IMHO. I couldn’t stand him at first, but over time grew to like it very much indeed. The butt-kicking bass playing was likable immediately.
Also, although I could never make a true top five list, I too would have to put Moving Pictures at number one if forced to make a choice. I would also recommend it most highly to Mullinator, along with Sealemon’s recommendation of Permanent Waves. I love the albums prior to MP, espcially Hemispheres, but would consider them somewhat less accessible to the new Rush introductee. The heavily synthesized sound of their middle period is not my favorite, but even less-favorite albums had some highly likable tracks.
AWB, their most recent Test For Echo was strikingly light on synthesizers and had some outstanding work; it’s worth a listen. I believe it’s closer to the hard rocking style of their earlier work than anything they’ve done in the last decade. (And was that a great tour or what?)
Falcon, Roll the Bones and Power Windows from your list are also ones that I like a great deal and would recommend.
Mullinator, open-minded effort is all one can fairly ask, and you are to be commended for that. Just don’t be put off the effort when you run into a track that REALLY annoys you…just advance to the next and give that one a shot. There is a track or two on most of their albums that I usually skip myself, and I’ve had two decades of listening to get used to their sound. (Gee, that makes me sound old.) Listing favorite individual tracks is a bigger task than I’m up to right now, but there are gems on virtually every album.
The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go.
Different Stages is my favorite album. It has most of their songs that I’ve heard and like. And it was surprisingly cheap for a 3 CD set. I think it was ~$22 when I bought it.
Have to say Presto, Power Windows, 2112, and Hold Your Fire, in that order.
Mully- make sure that you read the lyrics before you listen to the songs. Rush’s lyrics- metaphors, puns, twisting imagery into meaning- are (IMO) the best part of the songs. And if you can’t understand what Geddy’s singing, it’s a good bit harder to understand why anyone really like their songs.
JMCJ
Just confirming that my ass is, in fact, the wisest part of my body.
