Goodbye, Neil Peart.

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Stalvern
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Goodbye, Neil Peart.

Postby Stalvern » January 10th, 2020, 8:15 pm


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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Goodbye, Neil Peart.

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 10th, 2020, 9:17 pm

This made me go back and watch some classics on YouTube like Tom Sawyer and Limelight. Man, I miss rock music. Especially the thoughtfully orchestrated "art rock" Rush could do so well.

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velcrozombie
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Re: Goodbye, Neil Peart.

Postby velcrozombie » January 12th, 2020, 12:35 pm

Peart was one of the rare drummers who was so integral to a band that he would often be interviewed alongside Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee whenever they would do a story about the band in the guitar magazines I used to buy. I gained even more respect for him when I began playing drums myself. He's probably the most influential modern rock drummer besides John Bonham, and the drummer that many prog drummers use as their jumping-off point. I remember reading that drumming had become physically painful for him, which was largely the reason for the band's breakup. Afterwards they did interviews with the other members and they all had other projects that they were planning or working on, but Peart had completely retired from music. Obviously he had a full and successful creative life but it's still sad to see him go out like that and then not get more than a couple of years to enjoy his family and other interests.

I'm actually not familiar with most of Rush's discography - I've only heard Moving Pictures, Roll the Bones, Counterparts and Clockwork Angels. I guess 2112 is the next logical step, but if anyone has any other suggestions I'm open to hearing them.

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Stalvern
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Re: Goodbye, Neil Peart.

Postby Stalvern » January 12th, 2020, 8:54 pm

velcrozombie wrote:I'm actually not familiar with most of Rush's discography - I've only heard Moving Pictures, Roll the Bones, Counterparts and Clockwork Angels. I guess 2112 is the next logical step, but if anyone has any other suggestions I'm open to hearing them.

You kinda do have to hear that one. "2112" is one of the dorkiest prog "epics" I've heard in my life, but it's a blast. And people rag on the second side, but "Something for Nothing" is the last great old-school Rush rocker before they went full prog on the next album.

Other suggestions: the debut, Hemispheres, Signals, and Vapor Trails. Vapor Trails tends to get overlooked because the original release is unlistenably compressed, but there's a remaster from 2012 (digital-only, sadly) that's just about perfect. I am not talking about the following year's limp, lifeless remix, which I pre-ordered and ended up selling immediately after I heard it.

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C64_Critic
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Re: Goodbye, Neil Peart.

Postby C64_Critic » January 12th, 2020, 9:33 pm

AMEN! I'm proud to say I've seen Rush in concert three times, most recently on their "Time Machine" tour when they came through Baltimore in April of 2011. Most definitely my favorite band of all time!

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Matchstick
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Re: Goodbye, Neil Peart.

Postby Matchstick » January 12th, 2020, 10:51 pm

Gotta admit, this caught me by surprise. Heard it on the radio this weekend while I was driving back home from work. In a bit of synchronicity, I had just finished listening to my Signals cassette tape but was close enough to home that I didn't want to pop another tape in, opting for the radio instead. What timing!

I love Rush. I know it's a nerd stereotype, but I can't help myself. They're right up there with Devo and Kraftwerk as my absolute favorite acts from the era. We had Moving Pictures, Signals, Roll The Bones, and Power Windows on LP growing up, and once my Dad signed up for the BMG catalogue (or was it Columbia House?) we had them all on tape, too. Man, did my Dad love Roll The Bones, but I always liked Signals more for the heavy synth and keyboard tracks. "Seeeeems to me it's chemmmistry...

When I first started driving, I raided all of my Dad's cassettes to listen to in my 1988 Chevrolet Beretta. Had all of the Rush tapes paired with stacks of tapes I'd score from the thrift shop for 4/$1. Car was such a "thing" - silver with a burgundy interior - and it got destroyed a few years later, T-boned by a 78-year-old woman driving a minivan. Though I was bleeding and dazed from the concussion I had received, I got it together enough to grab my Rush tapes out of the glovebox before the tow truck took the wreck away.

Spent the next few days recovering and shaking off the cobwebs. Gotta say, listening to Moving Pictures while concussed is... something. Makes me dizzy just thinking about it, but it's a memory I wouldn't trade for the world.

RIP, Mr. Peart. We all miss you already :cry:

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Stalvern
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Re: Goodbye, Neil Peart.

Postby Stalvern » January 12th, 2020, 11:23 pm

Matchstick wrote:Gotta admit, this caught me by surprise. Heard it on the radio this weekend while I was driving back home from work. In a bit of synchronicity, I had just finished listening to my Signals cassette tape but was close enough to home that I didn't want to pop another tape in, opting for the radio instead. What timing!

That was the one that I immediately went for when I saw the news. It's a uniquely emotional Rush album, caught between the stoicism of the albums before it and the sentimentality of the ones after. Nothing else felt quite as appropriate as a memorial.

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BlasteroidAli
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Re: Goodbye, Neil Peart.

Postby BlasteroidAli » January 12th, 2020, 11:25 pm

I love everything up to Moving Pictures. My fave album as Farewell to Kings.

I saw them in concert in London. They were great. Peart did an unusual solo where he brought the music of Glen Miller into his solo.

He will be missed by a lot of my friends and myself also.

lynchie137
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Re: Goodbye, Neil Peart.

Postby lynchie137 » January 18th, 2020, 12:43 pm

One of the all time greats imho. May he Rest in Peace..

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tREVdesigns
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Re: Goodbye, Neil Peart.

Postby tREVdesigns » May 7th, 2020, 5:43 pm

velcrozombie wrote:I'm actually not familiar with most of Rush's discography - I've only heard Moving Pictures, Roll the Bones, Counterparts and Clockwork Angels. I guess 2112 is the next logical step, but if anyone has any other suggestions I'm open to hearing them.


I would suggest A Farewell to Kings next. I give it a slight edge over 2112 as an album as it is more accessible to listen to, some people don’t have the patience to listen to a 20+ minute song. Rush expanded their equipment repertoire (Moog synths, 12-string guitars, Woodblocks, Tubular Bells, etc.) on AFTK and the album comes across as more polished. Xanadu and Cygnus X1 are the shining moments.

I am also a sucker for Permanent Waves. This was the first album down the pop path but rocks up a storm. The Spirit of Radio & Freewill are the hits off the album and for good reason. Natural Science is Rush at their prog greatness. Who writes a song about evolution? Peart did.

Hemispheres is an epic album but very complex, even Rush said so themselves, not everyone is going to get it.

Their first self titled album is a definite acquired taste. Straight up early 70s barroom rock and roll. Doesn’t try to be anything else.

Fly by Night is the first album with Peart. Songwriting now took a left turn, but still sounds akin to the first album style but with a prog drummer. Anthem and ByTor and the Snow Dog are gems. All of the songs sound better on the live All the Worlds a Stage.

I tend to skip all the post Moving Pictures 80s synth schloooze, but that is my taste. There are some good songs that are great live but horrendous sounding on the albums being buried under bad mixing and overproduction.


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