RUSH …. It’s time

[DreamTheaterRules]

Jacob's Ladder is the hardest one to play as a band. That middle section is murder on drums (and keeping the rest of the band in sync). When I was auditioning drummers, that was the one that separated the men from the boys. If a drummer could play his way through the pattern and provide a solid timing reference for the rest of the band, that's all I needed to know.

On guitar, the tab you gave is the right one, and that is the way I saw Alex play it on the R40 tour. I do it a little bit differently since this is the way I learned it, and though my way seems less comfortable, it was more in line with the fingering I use to practice scales so it feels more natural to me. However, my fingers are killing me at the end:


--------------------------
--------------------------
-----------7----------7---
---7-9-5------7-9-5-----7-
-5-------9---5------9-----
--------------------------


The hardest for me is the bass pedal sequences during the "clouds prepare for battle..." intro as well as the aforementioned middle section. That section is also a good exercise for picking dynamics. I cannot use a volume pedal since my feet are already busy on bass pedals. The problem is most drummers need to hear the picking pattern pretty clearly so I generally don't mute it enough in the early part. The "Exit... Stage Left" version is gorgeous in the way Lifeson controls and brings in his picking dynamics.

I uploaded a video from the same show of us doing Jacob's Ladder, but we never shared it publicly since there are too many flubs. I don't have any good live performance videos of that song in 30 years of playing it, it's that hard as a band. I don't think any of the bands I have been with ever pulled it off well. This is as close as we could get it.

Great job!

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

Regarding the first album, that's one I never listened to when I first got into Rush. I didn't like the slow songs, and it just wasn't the Rush that I was used to hearing MP --> GUP. But when I relistened recently I liked it a lot more. I like Alex's tone and the songs are all pretty good. Just a really good solid rock band (which happens to sound nothing like the band that made Moving Pictures). Agreed that the live versions are better.





I can't disagree with this. Technically, that one part isn't to fast or complicated. However, try playing it with a band in front of an audience. All it takes is one brief moment of distraction and you're f@&*^%!. I had a bad experience playing that one once where I totally lost my concentration and stopped playing. After I die and go to hell and am forced to watch all of the mistakes I have made while performing on stage, that one will be in heavy rotation.

Here's a video of us playing it where I didn't crash and burn. I think we did a good job. And I still don't know what the hell is going on with the drums during the first half of that section.

Great job! Love the stage prop on the left!

 

[TFC]

Great job! Love the stage prop on the left!

Thanks. Paula went to every gig.

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

I love the twist this thread has taken! But, what about the original topic? More comments on Rush please!

And, love the videos. You guys are making clear one of the reasons I never played these songs live... I couldn't find people to play with who could play them! Even some good players I played with either weren't into prog, or, they liked it and listened too it, but weren't as good at playing it. I remember my mom hearing some Rush coming from my room when I was a teenager and saying "what time signature is that?" And it was one of the songs that keeps changing back and forth. Her classical influences made her think they were playing it wrong. LOL

But I remember some of my buddies that would jam along to ALL kinds of rock and southern rock, and you'd break into a Rush song and they'd look at you like an alien. LOL Like "I can't play that stuff." And in some cases, they could play music that was maybe in some ways harder to play, but they couldn't wrap their heads around odd time signatures, or ones that changed repeatedly.

 

[aamefford]

Are we on to “Caress of Steel” yet? I listened to that this morning. “The Necromancer” is a favorite, but I’d honestly forgotten how great “The Fountain of Lamneth” is. Sure, it’s long, and gets a little tedious. Sure if you are not a fan of Geddy’s voice, it will make you want to beat yourself with a food processor. Sure, the production values aren’t always up to later releases, and sure, it was kind of a starting point for Alex’s tone and style. Damn though, the crack, attack and tone of the drum solo, the tightness, the cohesiveness of a looong concept song, the story told in the lyrics. If you are not one to self flagellate with kitchen equipment, Geddy’s voice is unique, original and perfect for the song. Man, the angst as he sings the part about his crew deserting him is just palpable.

Clearly I love that piece. I haven’t listened to it in years. It was super cool to rediscover it.

 

[Draconomics]

But I remember some of my buddies that would jam along to ALL kinds of rock and southern rock, and you'd break into a Rush song and they'd look at you like an alien. LOL Like "I can't play that stuff." And in some cases, they could play music that was maybe in some ways harder to play, but they couldn't wrap their heads around odd time signatures, or ones that changed repeatedly.

That's what happened with my first band. I tried for a few weeks to get my bass player and drummer to try some Rush, and it never worked. We were doing alot of Zeppelin and Sabbath covers at the time, so most of our stuff was in 4/4. In the end we broke up, and it probably never would have worked. I wanted us to be like Rush and the drummer wanted to be more like Clutch, and things went south fast. We chewed each other out one day and I nuked the group.

 

[Draconomics]

Are we on to “Caress of Steel” yet? I listened to that this morning. “The Necromancer” is a favorite, but I’d honestly forgotten how great “The Fountain of Lamneth” is. Sure, it’s long, and gets a little tedious. Sure if you are not a fan of Geddy’s voice, it will make you want to beat yourself with a food processor. Sure, the production values aren’t always up to later releases, and sure, it was kind of a starting point for Alex’s tone and style. Damn though, the crack, attack and tone of the drum solo, the tightness, the cohesiveness of a looong concept song, the story told in the lyrics. If you not one to self flagellate with kitchen equipment, Geddy’s voice is unique, original and perfect for the song. Man, the angst as he sings the part about his crew deserting him is just palpable.

Clearly I love that piece. I haven’t listened to it in years. It was super cool to rediscover it.

Yeah, good ol Caress of Steel.

There's a contingent of Rush fans that look at CoS as an underrated masterpiece. I have to disagree. It's a step forwards from Fly By Night in some ways, but in others a step backwards. You know what...how about my personal take on Caress of Steel. Always wanted to articulate how I felt about it.

Bastille Day - Great. I like Anthem better, but its a solid tune. Good, good opener.

I Think I'm Going Bald - WTF? This might be one of my least favorite Rush tunes. Its a joke song, I think it was about one of the guys from Max Webster, but I still don't like it. It sounds like an out-take from the first album.

Lakeside Park - Nice little tune, love the lyrical imagery, though it's a bit safe. Its one of those earlier songs where Neil is trying to do lyrics that have a more complex sense of narrative, but the musical vocabulary isnt there yet to support it.

The Necromancer - Good, not great. The first movement feels like a bit of a cop of the Bridge of Sighs riff (BoS came out a year earlier). Second part is the best stuff on the album. Its proto prog-metal, and I love it. Third part is I think a riff off a Dire Straits tune if memory serves. Its a solid movement, very positive and triumphant, but it aint that Angband dungeon banger second movement. Necromancer is worth it just for that. I like the idea By-Tor becomes a reoccurring character in the lyrics, though I dont think it was developed any further than this.

Fountain of Lamneth - Hoo boy...overall I like FoL, but I don't love it. I think the biggest thing FoL has going against it is when it was released. This was 1975, we are three years removed from Close to The Edge, so in the sphere of prog epics...yeah, FoL was on the short end of the stick at this point. If it came out in like 1970 or 1971, I think it would have been lauded as a masterpeice. FoL has the ambition, it has the concept, but the musical vocabulary isnt there to support it. There are good moments. No One at the Bridge is very well done, and that tone Alex has for the solo...that was some heavy tone for '75. I Rather like Bachhus Plateau, and often sad to see Alex's solo is rarely ever mentioned. It's one of my personal favorite solos of his. It's so happy. Then moments I don't dig: I don't like his solo on The Fountain. A bit too over-reliant on pinch harmonics. Panacea is...well, A+ for effort on doing something so different, but D for execution. I never want to hear Geddy sing about being naked ever again. However, the best thing about FoL might just be that without it we may never have had 2112. It goes without saying 2112 was everything FoL wasn't. I still think FoL deserves some love and I wish bands would play the whole thing live once in a while.

Oh yeah, special commendation to Neil Peart for writing the word "Ambergris" into the lyrics of Panacea. Nobody but Neil would think of that.

 

[Draconomics]

On guitar, the tab you gave is the right one, and that is the way I saw Alex play it on the R40 tour. I do it a little bit differently since this is the way I learned it, and though my way seems less comfortable, it was more in line with the fingering I use to practice scales so it feels more natural to me. However, my fingers are killing me at the end:


--------------------------
--------------------------
-----------7----------7---
---7-9-5------7-9-5-----7-
-5-------9---5------9-----
--------------------------

I tried doing it this way last night. I'm on the fence about whether this is more difficult than the official tabs or not, though I doubt I could sustain playing it this way for two minutes. My hats off to you! Great job with the performance, you guys were darn near spot on!

 

[aamefford]

Yeah, good ol Caress of Steel.

There's a contingent of Rush fans that look at CoS as an underrated masterpiece. I have to disagree. It's a step forwards from Fly By Night in some ways, but in others a step backwards. You know what...how about my personal take on Caress of Steel. Always wanted to articulate how I felt about it.

Bastille Day - Great. I like Anthem better, but its a solid tune. Good, good opener.

I Think I'm Going Bald - WTF? This might be one of my least favorite Rush tunes. Its a joke song, I think it was about one of the guys from Max Webster, but I still don't like it. It sounds like an out-take from the first album.

Lakeside Park - Nice little tune, love the lyrical imagery, though it's a bit safe. Its one of those earlier songs where Neil is trying to do lyrics that have a more complex sense of narrative, but the musical vocabulary isnt there yet to support it.

The Necromancer - Good, not great. The first movement feels like a bit of a cop of the Bridge of Sighs riff (BoS came out a year earlier). Second part is the best stuff on the album. Its proto prog-metal, and I love it. Third part is I think a riff off a Dire Straits tune if memory serves. Its a solid movement, very positive and triumphant, but it aint that Angband dungeon banger second movement. Necromancer is worth it just for that. I like the idea By-Tor becomes a reoccurring character in the lyrics, though I dont think it was developed any further than this.

Fountain of Lamneth - Hoo boy...overall I like FoL, but I don't love it. I think the biggest thing FoL has going against it is when it was released. This was 1975, we are three years removed from Close to The Edge, so in the sphere of prog epics...yeah, FoL was on the short end of the stick at this point. If it came out in like 1970 or 1971, I think it would have been lauded as a masterpeice. FoL has the ambition, it has the concept, but the musical vocabulary isnt there to support it. There are good moments. No One at the Bridge is very well done, and that tone Alex has for the solo...that was some heavy tone for '75. I Rather like Bachhus Plateau, and often sad to see Alex's solo is rarely ever mentioned. It's one of my personal favorite solos of his. Then moments I don't dig: I don't like his solo on The Fountain. A bit too over-reliant on pinch harmonics. Panacea is...well, A+ for effort on doing something so different, but D for execution. I never want to hear Geddy sing about being naked ever again. However, the best thing about FoL might just be that without it we may never have had 2112. It goes without saying 2112 was everything FoL wasn't. I still think FoL deserves some love and I wish bands would play the whole thing live once in a while.

Oh yeah, special commendation to Neil Peart for writing the word "Ambergris" into the lyrics of Panacea. Nobody but Neil would think of that.

I can’t disagree with your take at all. Especially that without FoL, probably no 2112. I recall reading or hearing somewhere back in the day, that Geddy I think said that they essentially wrote music they then had to learn the skills to play for at least the first 6 or so albums. 2112, ATWAS and Caress of Steel, in that order, had a major place in my late teen / fledgling adult years. This totally colors my feelings toward them.

 

[Herr Squid]

Are we on to “Caress of Steel” yet? I listened to that this morning. “The Necromancer” is a favorite, but I’d honestly forgotten how great “The Fountain of Lamneth” is. Sure, it’s long, and gets a little tedious. Sure if you are not a fan of Geddy’s voice, it will make you want to beat yourself with a food processor. Sure, the production values aren’t always up to later releases, and sure, it was kind of a starting point for Alex’s tone and style. Damn though, the crack, attack and tone of the drum solo, the tightness, the cohesiveness of a looong concept song, the story told in the lyrics. If you are not one to self flagellate with kitchen equipment, Geddy’s voice is unique, original and perfect for the song. Man, the angst as he sings the part about his crew deserting him is just palpable.

Clearly I love that piece. I haven’t listened to it in years. It was super cool to rediscover it.

There are certainly things I love about CoS, and both Necromancer and FoL are major parts of it. There are pieces of it that are brilliant and Noone at the Bridge will be a favorite always. But the whole, unfortunately, is less than the sum of the parts. Fortunately for all of us, that 2112 thang worked out pretty OK for them.

I'm still trying to make up my mind whether the fingery parts of Jacob's Ladder or Natural Science are harder to play, but since I've never tried to play those songs live, I'm probably unqualified to comment.

 

[bodia]

There are certainly things I love about CoS, and both Necromancer and FoL are major parts of it. There are pieces of it that are brilliant and Noone at the Bridge will be a favorite always. But the whole, unfortunately, is less than the sum of the parts. Fortunately for all of us, that 2112 thang worked out pretty OK for them.

I'm still trying to make up my mind whether the fingery parts of Jacob's Ladder or Natural Science are harder to play, but since I've never tried to play those songs live, I'm probably unqualified to comment.

 

[Andrew Paul]

Ok, back to topic. This was not my introduction to Rush. I was introduced to Rush at a party, by a friend who insisted on playing the classic All The World's A Stage. In a social setting with lots going on, it only took a couple songs until I was focused on the music and not the party going on around me. I immediately started discussing it with some friends there between songs, and got a few of the usual "yeah, I like their music a lot I just don't like the vocals" comments. But by the time side 1 was done, I was hooked. By the time we made it through all 4 sides, I decided that Rush was my new favorite band. And, that became the first Rush album that I got. I wore it out! Then, I went back and got 2112 (of course) and Fly By Night as soon as possible, but didn't pick up the first album and Caress until over a year later. So, that said, thoughts on the first album:

#1- I loved Finding My Way.. because I was well familiar with it from the live album. I learned all 4 sides of All The World's..." within a few weeks of getting the album, so I had already been playing the live version of this song for probably 2 years before I heard the studio version. Really dig this song, always have.

#2- Need Some Love- I really liked this song. Not a lot to say about it, but really dug it.

$3- Take A Friend - liked it, never made it into my Rush hall of fame or anything, but I liked the song.

#4- Here Again- wasn't a big fan at first. Much more bluesy and liked it better at the end, when the guitar kicked in.

#5- What You're Doing - Familiar from All The World's..." really dig this song!

#6- In the Mood- again, familiar from ATWAS. Love this song, love playing the live version. The studio version didn't disappoint!

#7- Before and After- pretty good song. not much to say about it because...

#8- Working Man- Classic Rush song! love this song and have since the first time I heard it!

General comments: Nothing to deep here. Just general for now until others join in. I will say that, since I started with the live versions of most of these songs, that is the only way I ever played them. I never went back and learned the solos off the studio versions. I always played them from the live versions.

Sorry about my delayed comments. Just a few observations about this album. I haven’t listen to it in many years let alone in its entirety. There is a huge difference in drumming of course not that John was a terrible drummer, just very different from Neil. Songs like Finding My Way, What You’re Doing, In The Mood, and Working Man all self-explanatory great riffs, great grooves. Fond memories of many different live versions of In The Mood…. Hey cookie… Hey booby….. Hey Snooki ….. it’s a quarter to eight, I feel I’m in the mood .

Before and After, the beginning slow guitar, with the phaser, reminds me of what would later evolve into parts of the Necromancer from Caress of Steel. I could hear the narration Voice during that part of the song.. (you know the voice) “enter the champion Prince By-Tor appears….”

Anyway, it was fun listening to the album and its entirety. I did it twice. I’ll be moving onto “fly by night” this weekend. Thanks for taking this journey with me @DreamTheaterRules!

 

[Andrew Paul]

Jacob's Ladder is the hardest one to play as a band. That middle section is murder on drums (and keeping the rest of the band in sync). When I was auditioning drummers, that was the one that separated the men from the boys. If a drummer could play his way through the pattern and provide a solid timing reference for the rest of the band, that's all I needed to know.

On guitar, the tab you gave is the right one, and that is the way I saw Alex play it on the R40 tour. I do it a little bit differently since this is the way I learned it, and though my way seems less comfortable, it was more in line with the fingering I use to practice scales so it feels more natural to me. However, my fingers are killing me at the end:


--------------------------
--------------------------
-----------7----------7---
---7-9-5------7-9-5-----7-
-5-------9---5------9-----
--------------------------


The hardest for me is the bass pedal sequences during the "clouds prepare for battle..." intro as well as the aforementioned middle section. That section is also a good exercise for picking dynamics. I cannot use a volume pedal since my feet are already busy on bass pedals. The problem is most drummers need to hear the picking pattern pretty clearly so I generally don't mute it enough in the early part. The "Exit... Stage Left" version is gorgeous in the way Lifeson controls and brings in his picking dynamics.

I uploaded a video from the same show of us doing Jacob's Ladder, but we never shared it publicly since there are too many flubs. I don't have any good live performance videos of that song in 30 years of playing it, it's that hard as a band. I don't think any of the bands I have been with ever pulled it off well. This is as close as we could get it.

Sounds awesome thanks for sharing !!! Moving onto listening to fly by night album this weekend. Post any covers of those songs from that album you may have I would love to hear them!

 

[Andrew Paul]

Regarding the first album, that's one I never listened to when I first got into Rush. I didn't like the slow songs, and it just wasn't the Rush that I was used to hearing MP --> GUP. But when I relistened recently I liked it a lot more. I like Alex's tone and the songs are all pretty good. Just a really good solid rock band (which happens to sound nothing like the band that made Moving Pictures). Agreed that the live versions are better.





I can't disagree with this. Technically, that one part isn't to fast or complicated. However, try playing it with a band in front of an audience. All it takes is one brief moment of distraction and you're f@&*^%!. I had a bad experience playing that one once where I totally lost my concentration and stopped playing. After I die and go to hell and am forced to watch all of the mistakes I have made while performing on stage, that one will be in heavy rotation.

Here's a video of us playing it where I didn't crash and burn. I think we did a good job. And I still don't know what the hell is going on with the drums during the first half of that section.

Very excellent version. Thanks for sharing!! I envy your guitar playing on that.

 

[Andrew Paul]

Ohhhhh this is the band you mentioned in an earlier post!! They play this most excellent!!! Man I would never expect to hear that live anywhere!! Freaking love it when bands play covers of songs that are not the most popular ones! That is so hard to sing, Geddy’s voice was so high back then. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Andrew Paul]

I love the twist this thread has taken! But, what about the original topic? More comments on Rush please!

And, love the videos. You guys are making clear one of the reasons I never played these songs live... I couldn't find people to play with who could play them! Even some good players I played with either weren't into prog, or, they liked it and listened too it, but weren't as good at playing it. I remember my mom hearing some Rush coming from my room when I was a teenager and saying "what time signature is that?" And it was one of the songs that keeps changing back and forth. Her classical influences made her think they were playing it wrong. LOL

But I remember some of my buddies that would jam along to ALL kinds of rock and southern rock, and you'd break into a Rush song and they'd look at you like an alien. LOL Like "I can't play that stuff." And in some cases, they could play music that was maybe in some ways harder to play, but they couldn't wrap their heads around odd time signatures, or ones that changed repeatedly.

Are we on to “Caress of Steel” yet? I listened to that this morning. “The Necromancer” is a favorite, but I’d honestly forgotten how great “The Fountain of Lamneth” is. Sure, it’s long, and gets a little tedious. Sure if you are not a fan of Geddy’s voice, it will make you want to beat yourself with a food processor. Sure, the production values aren’t always up to later releases, and sure, it was kind of a starting point for Alex’s tone and style. Damn though, the crack, attack and tone of the drum solo, the tightness, the cohesiveness of a looong concept song, the story told in the lyrics. If you are not one to self flagellate with kitchen equipment, Geddy’s voice is unique, original and perfect for the song. Man, the angst as he sings the part about his crew deserting him is just palpable.

Clearly I love that piece. I haven’t listened to it in years. It was super cool to rediscover it.

I’m not on caress of steel yet. I’m going to do “fly by night” this weekend. If @DreamTheaterRules is ready to do fly by night and caress of steel, I can do that and comment Tuesday what say you dream theater rules.?

 

[Andrew Paul]

Yeah, good ol Caress of Steel.

There's a contingent of Rush fans that look at CoS as an underrated masterpiece. I have to disagree. It's a step forwards from Fly By Night in some ways, but in others a step backwards. You know what...how about my personal take on Caress of Steel. Always wanted to articulate how I felt about it.

Bastille Day - Great. I like Anthem better, but its a solid tune. Good, good opener.

I Think I'm Going Bald - WTF? This might be one of my least favorite Rush tunes. Its a joke song, I think it was about one of the guys from Max Webster, but I still don't like it. It sounds like an out-take from the first album.

Lakeside Park - Nice little tune, love the lyrical imagery, though it's a bit safe. Its one of those earlier songs where Neil is trying to do lyrics that have a more complex sense of narrative, but the musical vocabulary isnt there yet to support it.

The Necromancer - Good, not great. The first movement feels like a bit of a cop of the Bridge of Sighs riff (BoS came out a year earlier). Second part is the best stuff on the album. Its proto prog-metal, and I love it. Third part is I think a riff off a Dire Straits tune if memory serves. Its a solid movement, very positive and triumphant, but it aint that Angband dungeon banger second movement. Necromancer is worth it just for that. I like the idea By-Tor becomes a reoccurring character in the lyrics, though I dont think it was developed any further than this.

Fountain of Lamneth - Hoo boy...overall I like FoL, but I don't love it. I think the biggest thing FoL has going against it is when it was released. This was 1975, we are three years removed from Close to The Edge, so in the sphere of prog epics...yeah, FoL was on the short end of the stick at this point. If it came out in like 1970 or 1971, I think it would have been lauded as a masterpeice. FoL has the ambition, it has the concept, but the musical vocabulary isnt there to support it. There are good moments. No One at the Bridge is very well done, and that tone Alex has for the solo...that was some heavy tone for '75. I Rather like Bachhus Plateau, and often sad to see Alex's solo is rarely ever mentioned. It's one of my personal favorite solos of his. It's so happy. Then moments I don't dig: I don't like his solo on The Fountain. A bit too over-reliant on pinch harmonics. Panacea is...well, A+ for effort on doing something so different, but D for execution. I never want to hear Geddy sing about being naked ever again. However, the best thing about FoL might just be that without it we may never have had 2112. It goes without saying 2112 was everything FoL wasn't. I still think FoL deserves some love and I wish bands would play the whole thing live once in a while.

Oh yeah, special commendation to Neil Peart for writing the word "Ambergris" into the lyrics of Panacea. Nobody but Neil would think of that.

I didn’t get to “caress of steel” yet I am listening to “fly by night” this weekend and possibly “caress of steel” so I will read your comments after listening to “caress of steel”
Look forward to reading your comments. Thanks for sharing.

 

[aamefford]

Nice!

 

[aamefford]

I thought I might be out of order. “Caress of Steel” was all my age addled brain could come up with for the “next”album after “Rush” when I said “Hey Siri - Play…” on my way to work.

I’ll give “Fly by Night” a bit of time this weekend. It suffers from a common issue with me. I like the versions of any of the songs on ATWAS better, because I heard them first. I don’t know how I got turned on to Rush - it might have been the local college FM station in the 70’s. 2112 was life changing for me, and ATWAS did it all over again. That was junior and senior years in high school for me roughly when my “orbit” of friends discovered these albums. ‘75 thru ‘77.

 

[Andrew Paul]

ATWAS…. Is an incredible live album! I never got sick of it and loved the live versions of the songs from Rush, and of course live versions of the songs from the other three studio albums of that time.