All Rush, All The Time

If you haven't seen the movie "Fanboys", which the above clip is taken from, I highly recommend it. If only his Rush collection was records instead of cassette tapes...

I recently won a lot of Rush records on ebay, all quality shit. Rush is one of my all time favorite bands and this goes a long way to completing my collection of all their vinyl releases(I'm pissed that "Test For Echo" never got pressed onto some wax).

1987's "Hold Your Fire" is not one of the band's better albums, though it fairs well in comparison to the two it came out between(1985's "Power Windows" and 1989's "Presto"). The mid to late 80s saw Rush stray from their prog rock glory days into a more pop sound. "Hold Your Fire" has no epic masterpieces or impressive concept tracks; instead you find a lot of keyboards. I like this album, especially the opener "Force Ten", but a lack of prog and a lack of Alex Lifeson's guitar put this toward the bottom the band's discography.

"Hemispheres" is quite possibly the pinnacle of Rush's career(though I love "A Farewell To Kings" equally). Released in 1978, it was the band's last album of that decade and the final part of a trio of near perfect prog rock albums. This album has it all, an epic song that takes up the entire first side, shorter songs chocked full of riffs and intricate melodies, and of course the impossibly complex instrumental "La Villa Strangiato". More than 37 minutes, and only 4 songs! If you like progressive music you need this album. The gatefold displays the artwork really well, something that this band has always done. It also came with a poster, which was still intact when I bought it. I'm amazed that 34 years later and this poster has never been hung up.

The first live album in the band's career, but certainly not the last, "All The World's A Stage" shows the band's young and unpolished live performance. I'm a big fan of the first four Rush albums, and all the songs played here are from those("Rush", "Fly By Night", "Caress Of Steel", and "2112"). Recorded at Toronto's Hassey Hall in 1976, this show was clearly for a hometown crowd. The energy from the crowd and the band is almost tangible when listening to this album. The set is long, taking up 2 LPs, and filled with all the choice cuts from that period. Hearing "2112", "By-Tor And The Snow Dog", and "Working Man" played in their entirety is a treat. Not the best performance ever, Geddy Lee hits a few wrong notes and at points I think I hear Neil Peart miss a beat, but that's part of the charm.

1977's "A Farewell To Kings" is Rush's fifth studio album, and just about their best. The second part of the trio of perfect prog rock albums, this is much like the one before and after it("2112" and "Hemispheres"). My favorite Rush song is the second track, "Xanadu", which I hope to see played live one day. There is not much more I can say than this is a flawless album.

The classic big hit album, "Moving Pictures". Released in 1981 to huge fanfare, it eventually hit #3 on the Billboard album charts and has been certified 4x Platinum. We've all heard the big three songs "Limelight", "Tom Sawyer", and "Red Barchetta" on many a classic rock radio station. Hearing those, it is quite easy to see why this album was so successful; you have Rush playing refined and controlled prog rock. The songs are short and easy to digest but upon repeated listens you will hear there is much more going on than it seems on the surface. The real highlight to "Moving Pictures" for me is the intricate "YYZ", an instrumental of "La Villa Strangiato" caliber.

Ah yes, "2112"! This is when Rush started to get crazy, and awesome. Side A is the 20 minute long title track, which in 1976 must have blown people away. Nothing really like this had been done, sure Pink Floyd and Yes were doing similar things but not on this level. Side B has the classics, "A Passage To Bangkok" and "Something For Nothing". The first foray into truly epic prog rock for the band was clearly successful. 

 

The band's third album, "Caress Of Steel", is in many ways the end of their first era. Released in September of 1975, just a year and half after their first album and 7 months after the second, this hints at what was to come very soon. The two epics, "The Necromancer" and "The Fountain Of Lamneth" show the band starting to branch out from their Led Zeppelin worship stage. That said, those songs don't quite reach the transcendence that the next few albums' epics did. 

 

The first album ever released in the 80s, on January 1st of 1980 in fact, is "Permanent Waves". While it is widely known for it's major radio hits, "The Spirit Of Radio" and "Freewill", the album is one of transition for the band. Rush went in a very different direction than they had charted with the three albums preceding; one that included a variety of influences. From the pop sensibilities of the two hits, to the reggae of "Spirit", to the synth leads of "Natural Science, the listener hears a different Rush. However, these influences have not altered the band's core sound much(yet). "Permanent Waves" is still Rush and still awesome, just more accessible. 

"Signals" is the band's 1982 love affair with keyboards. Really the first time that fans found more keys than guitars, and a lot of people didn't like that. You can imagine this album as "Moving Pictures with even more keyboards". The classics, "Subdivisions", "The Analog Kid", and "New World Man" are definitely in the higher end of Rush songs. The rest of the album isn't quite as good, it gets a little too keyboardy for me, but still a solid album for sure. 

 

What a shame this album is! "Grace Under Pressure" was released in 1984, when new wave was blowing up the charts. Rush took influence from that kind of music going as far back as "Permanent Waves", but it really took the driver's seat here. Two songs do this style extremely well, "Distant Early Warning" and "Red Sector A", unfortunately the rest is just decent. Of all the albums in Rush's long career, I find that this one is in the bottom of ones that I regularly listen to. Oh and the record is totally fucked, you can see a big chunk missing. Oh well, I ended up getting it for free. 

Fuck Yeah Rush!

New Year, New Finds

My local store, The Record Store, gave me some pretty cool coupons on black Friday to use in January and February. I guess the thought process behind this is to get people back into the store after the big holiday rush, well it worked for me. They were having a 30% off vinyl sale and the coupon gave me an additional 10% off, so pretty sweet deal. I picked up two records that I'd seen in the before, but didn't buy. This time I just couldn't pass up the price. 

Two classics, if a bit underrated, of British heavy metal above. Satan's debut, "Court In The Act", is one of the better NWOBHM releases. Lots of riffs, speed, and some pretty cool soaring vocals. Not quite as good as the other band that Brian Ross sang for(Blitzkrieg) but still quality shit. Next to it is Black Sabbath's seminal "Born Again", the 1983 album that features Ian Gillan on vocals! I love Gillan's work with Deep Purple and his vocals here are superb, a worthy replacement for Dio. Both of these have such 80s metal covers, just cheesy enough to be great. There is something extremely disturbing about that baby with fangs and claws.

I also recently ordered from the independent Wisconsin label, Gilead Media. I'd never ordered from them before, but their lineup of great bands has always piqued my interest. I've heard nothing but positive reviews of their service and their products, so I finally decided to place my first order for two Krallice records and the Thou/Leech split.

One of my top ten albums of 2011, New York's Krallice put out "Diotima" last April(this vinyl pressing came out in October). This band's third and best album; there isn't much more I can say about this epic prog black metal masterpiece that I didn't already say in my top 10 of 2011 post. Instead I'll talk about the record itself. A slightly different cover is found here than the original cd pressing from a distance it looks the same, but look at the full resolution image. I love the cover art, it just fits so well with the ambiance of the album, the sort of dark yet beautiful image of mountains peaking through clouds is exactly how the record sounds. The foldout image looks like Greek or possibly Roman ruins? It was used as the cover for the cassette version of the album(yes they still make those). This jacket, as well as the others from Gilead Media, are the best LP jackets I've ever come across. Really thick and sturdy, it feels like these are made out of something other than standard LP jackets.

The record comes with this booklet that contains the track listing and lyrics. A handy piece, as not even the song titles are anywhere to be found on the jacket. As for the vinyl itself, it's really high quality 180 gram heavy vinyl. A nice simple, yet effective label adorns the four sides. The sound quality is superb once you drop the needle as well.

Up next is another Krallice record, their 2009 sophomore effort "Dimensional Bleedthrough". I only heard this band for the first time maybe six months ago, but I quickly became a big fan. American progressive black metal is of the best scenes thriving right now in metal, and this band is in the top tier. While not quite as awe inspiring and epic as "Diotima", "Dimensional Bleedthrough" is a great album in its own right. Again I love the cover art, it manages to be very relevant to the music. The foldout image is interesting as well, I like trees so artwork involving them is cool to me.

Both LPs are 180 gram black, simple and tasteful with very nice art labels. The only thing that bugs me a bit is that the labels don't say which side is which, so you're left to drop the needle and listen to find out if you put the correct side on.

The last of this order was the ridiculously awesome Thou/Leech split picture disc.

This incredible split gives you just under 40 minutes of blackened doom. Slow, crushing, and eerily beautiful is how I would describe the music that Louisiana's Thou and Oregon's Leech play. There is just something about doom that does it for me, I have to be in the right mood but when I am the genre is perfect. This release is a must for doom fans!
The cover art for both sides is a picture of trees. I appreciate the beauty of nature and these photos really capture an awe inspiring scene, one which the music seeks to recreate. The foldout is a nice depressing art of what looks like victims of hanging, pretty damn doomy.

Side A is four Thou songs, and more trees.

Side B is over 20 minutes of Leech in just one song...and trees. Really a gorgeous record if I've ever seen one, something that really looks so nice as a picture disc. The record also came with this poster, which is very doom.

I also got a Thou/Leech patch and a Krallice patch, I guess they were part of the package. I have no idea what to do with all these patches I seem to get when ordering from labels, maybe one day I'll make a nice redneck metal head patch jacket.