DU Album of the Day: Rush - "A Farewell to Kings

[LynneSin]

Ok well I'm going to try again since a few people said you actually do read the thread and thank you for your kind thoughts.

I figured today would be the best day to throw out there an album from band that you either love to pieces or think it's the worst thing ever since man discovered chalkboardss and wonder what it would sound like if you ran your fingers over it.

I'm a part of the first group - I love Rush and it's in my top 10 of favorite bands of all time. I think Geddy Lee has a very unique and original voice and Rush is proof that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is nothing more than the Center for Crappy music that sold well and a Few Actually Decent Bands.

I remember the first time I listened to "A Farewell to Kings". My brother had an 8-track player and he had this on 8-track. Back then it wasn't uncommon to have a track flip in the middle of the song and to this day everytime I hear "Closer to the Heart" I still expect that '5 second pause, click, another 5 second pause' halfway thru the song.

"A Farewell to Kings" also contains one of my all time favorite songs by Rush - "Closer to the Heart"

And I close this post with a message that I wish all people would adhere to:

And the men who hold high places Must be the ones who start To mould a new reality Closer to the Heart

[Dr. Strange]

1. This is, of course, the greatest thread in the Lounge (at this moment).

But we need more Cygnus X-1:

[ohiosmith]

2. Thank you.

[HappyMe]

3. Yay!

One of my favorite albums.

[Swede]

4. Rush is one of my all time favorites.

[OriginalGeek]

5. Zep and Rush - my all time #1 and #2

Like a lot of people I discovered Rush from their first phase - science fictiony hard rock played with intricately technical and inspired excellence. I never bought into the idea that Neil Peart (pronounced Peert) was a soulless automaton and therefor sucked - that was bullshit talk from jealous nincompoops and bandwagon haters before haters was a word. The man is a genius.
I also think his lyrics have matured greatly from the early Randisms to more socially aware and caring stories he tells today.

I think Alex Lifeson is still one of the best guitar players on the planet and he writes fun, interesting and searing solos that complement the mood of the songs perfectly. He excels at both the heavy, in your face screaming power and beautiful, moving quiet passages. Lerxst is aces in my book.

Geddy Lee is Geddy Lee. I love Robert Plant screeches so it wasn't that far a stretch for me to get into Geddy. And the man is a monster on the bass. I don't care what you think of his voice or the band's genre or their lyrics or anything else, if you can't see how great Geddy Lee is on bass then you are either clueless or maybe you don't care about any bass (which is a perfectly fine state of mind - some folks just don't care about all the parts of the song. My wife likes songs that tell stories and couldn't tell you a bass bomb from an arpeggio - she likes Rush too, btw) or you are deliberately being a dick.

So for a long time early Rush was the only Rush I liked. I was put off by the heavier instances of keyboards in the mid 80s albums but that's only because I was young and wasn't interested at that time in poppier sounding (to me - the rest of the world never considered them poppy lol) songs. As I grew older and more experienced and started burning out on all guitars all the time I revisited later Rush and found there were tons of great songs on those albums. I have mentioned before about my friend I met in the early 90s who was a huge Rush fan however he was about 10 years younger than I so his first tastes of Rush WERE the mid/late 80s keyboard heavy Rush albums and because of those he went back and discovered the awesomeness of early Rush. I fully credit him with opening my eyes and ears to the later Rush experience.

My first Rush show was the Grace Under Pressure tour at the Lakeland Civic Center in Lakeland, FL. It was also the first time I took this girl I had been dating to a concert. Her positive reaction to that show is part of the reason she is my wife today. Since then I have seen them 7 more times and look forward to every new tour and new album.

So THANK YOU LYNNESIN! You picked a good'un! Rush has been a big part of my life since I discovered music and I daresay they and Led Zep have combined for more of my musical hours of listening enjoyment than most other bands put together.

[opiate69]

6. one of the best albums of the 70s.

[Populist_Prole]

7. This was my first introduction to them

It got me into the earlier stuff, and I very much enjoyed Hemispheres as well.

[lastlib]

8. "Let the truth of Love be lighted..."

"Let the love of Truth shine clear,
Sensibility, armed with sense and liberty,
With the Heart and Mind united in a single - perfect - sphere....."


(Wore the grooves out on that song....)*

*back in the days of vinyl

[hifiguy]

9. Good stuff!!

[Tripper11]

10. Love this album!

I listened to this album every morning before school when it came out.
The only reason I didn't listen to it, was when I was listening to the readio hoping for a snow day.

[bluedigger]

11. This is just getting weird.

You picked my only Rush album?



And tell that bozo Gratuity to stop leaving the toilet seat up!

And jiggle the handle!