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Richard Watt

Tag Archives: rushisaband

Rediscovering Rush – Rush III

Posted on August 17, 2005 by Richard

Side 2:

What You're Doing

The first thing I notice, before the song has even started, is that it's not called " What You're Doin' " - it's a small thing, but it's indicative of a certain class, I feel.  We plunge straight into a familiar riff - do I remember this, or does it remind me of something else?  I can't pin anything down, so perhaps my memory is still pretty good.  Odd, random things occur to me as we go along - that drumming is actually pretty damn good; this is a song assembled in sections, and I can hear some of the joins; are Geddy's vocals going to be echoed all the way through?

Turns out they are.  Not sure that I'm too fond of that effect.  Still, I like the song.

In The Mood

The first song I've heard more recently than 1984, this was one of the ones I put on my original selection, mostly because it is absolutely the perfect rhythm for powerwalking to.  It's a lovely riff and a great middle eight, just don't take the lyrics too seriously.  Actually, there's a thing:
Another of those things which bother me: The word 'baby'.  I mean, please.  Last taken even remotely seriously around the time of The Beatles' "Drive My Car", all it is by 1974 is a placeholder for those moments when you can't work out how to fill those two beats - goodness knows what purpose it serves now.  I suppose it's probably gone through the ironic, 'Austin Powers' thing, and is now a kind of post-ironic cool thing to say.  I wouldn't know; I'm middle-aged.  Still, with any luck that will be the last time we hear Geddy singing 'baby' to anyone.

Before and After

Before and after what, I wondered to myself.  Then I got about halfway through the song, and all became clear.  I have absolutely no memory of this song, yet it is exactly of the type that the 20-year-old me would have loved - a lyrical instrumental gradually building to flat-out rock.  I was a real sucker for that kind of thing back then.  Thing is now, I can't hear the charms for all the thoughts crowding in on me.  Firstly, that lyrical beginning; it takes three listens to work out what's bugging me - the skipped beat in the repeated measure at the beginning.  They do it something like eight times, and it sounds odder each time I hear it.  It's quite a good idea, because otherwise that repeated phrase might sound a bit bland, but it's a little unsettling to listen to at first.  This is not a bad thing, you understand.

Secondly, the two halves don't seem to gel - I don't hear the relationship of the second to the first really.  That's probably from listening to too much classical music, where every theme is developed, and all the strands seem to relate.  These two sound a bit too much like two half-finished songs glued together in the studio.  I don't think they were two half-finished songs; but they sound a bit like it.  Also, more doubled guitars, and now I realise what it reminds me of.

Wishbone Ash.  No, really - I wonder if there was any conscious or unconscious influence there?

Also, guess what?  Back there, that wasn't the last time Geddy sang 'baby'.  Let's hope this one is...

Working Man

This is the first track which is difficult to sort out in my mind.  First of all, I have heard it many times over the years; it's kind of a standard; part of the mental furniture.  Also, it's a genuine classic, isn't it?  So what can I bring to it save for some  idle speculation about the mid section.

Well, what the heck.  Let's do that:

I may be old and cynical, but this seems to me to be a triumph of expediency over intention.  The record needs to be in the vicinity of 40 minutes long (20 per side, kids) and here's a song which, without the middle - it's not a middle eight, really, more a sort of middle sixty-four - would be a simple, one-riff plod.  So this extended jam got shoehorned in; once again it doesn't really fit the rest of the song, but it doesn't half show off the musicianship of these three guys, and when we get back to that Black Sabbath-like riff, its an old friend.  Having said that, it works superbly well; much better than it ought to.

Summary:

Well, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed time-travelling back to 1974.  That album which I didn't play all that much even in my Rushaholic phase turns out to be a fine example of its time - wearing its influences on its sleeve, to be sure, and lacking a certain something in the lyrical invention department, but if you're in the mood (sorry) for a little early seventies bluesy rock, you could do a lot worse than this.

Baby.

Posted in Rediscovering Rush | Tags: alexlifeson, geddylee, johnrutsey, RediscoveringRush, rushisaband, rushthealbum |

Rediscovering Rush – Rush II

Posted on August 17, 2005 by Richard

Side 1:

Finding My Way

I wonder how many people there are who bought this when it first came out?  How many of them stayed the course, and are still here, endlessly rocking?  What can it have been like to know nothing about this other than what you can read on the sleeve, to put the needle carefully down on Side 1, Track 1 and hear this riff?  What I hear now is the stereo separation - I realised, as I was powerwalking around the village earlier, that I had probably never really heard this through stereo headphones before.  I genuinely didn't know that the guitar sound wanders from channel to channel at the start.  It's really rather effective and means that the entrance of the rest of the band is particularly satisfying, having been prefigured like that.

(look, I'm going to try not to be pretentious, but sometimes it'll just come out.  Sorry.)

Pretty much all the Rush ingredients are right there: the voice, the bass, the guitar sound, the-

Oh, hang on.  What's the one thing we know about this record? That's right - it's The One Without Neil.  Well, you know what - the drumming is just fine.  Not pyrotechnic, but all things considered, it's more than just OK.  The lyrics - well, that's a whole other story, quite literally.  But, actually, on this track, there's nothing wrong.  It feels right, it rocks along very nicely, and it stops.

Personal quirk no.1 in a series of way too many:  Why can't people write endings to songs?  If you're going to play it live, you're going to have to work out an ending, so why not do it right from the start?  Where did this practice of the fade-out come from? And why does it irritate me so much?

I think I'm going to like this project - first track, and I'm ready for more.  Of course, that's how it always used to work, wasn't it?  The strongest track goes at the start of Side 2; the next strongest at the start of Side 1, and the complex, difficult one goes at the end.  Do bands still do that?

Need Some Love

The first track I really don't remember, and it's really not what I was expecting at all.  Now I've heard it again, I still don't remember it, but I can easily fit it into the time and place - here's a bunch of guys who have been listening to lots of British music, and extrapolating from it.  I think this is what they used to call a 'fast-paced rocker' with a nice changedown into the chorus.  Doesn't really do much for me - maybe it's the lyrics - but I have a clear vision of a sweaty club, and this song getting everyone bouncing. And are those guitars double-tracked?  How did this sound live?

Take A Friend

Hoo, you're trying to annoy me aren't you?  Fade - in? Eep.  All together, boys and girls - can we say Led Zeppelin?  I think that the ambience of hearing this on a mono record player with a dusty needle would have improved the lyrics no end; they really don't need to be heard in clear stereo, piped directly into my ears.  Meanwhile, it's gradually dawning on me that the production on this is pretty damn fine, considering the time and place it was done.  It's fun, but it's not going to be in the top ten personal favourites at the end of this, I can tell.

Here Again

Ah, yes - that's the other given, isn't it?  The obligatory 'slow-burner' at the end of Side 1 - look; we don't just rock out, you know.  Actually, this is pretty odd, hearing Geddy's voice over an instrumental track which could have been laid down by - I don't know, Mountain?  Time I paid a bit more attention to the guitar solo, I think.  And that just reinforces my first reaction to hearing this all again - musically, Geddy and Alex hit the ground pretty much fully formed, didn't they?  That bass sound is already distinctive, and the lead is derivative, sure, but full of ideas.  You can't help seeing this through the lens of 30 years of music, but they've definitely got something.

Posted in Rediscovering Rush | Tags: alexlifeson, geddylee, johnrutsey, rushisaband, rushthealbum |

Richard Watt

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