What MUSIC are you listening to?

I like Rush's hits. I have the 2-disc Chronicles CD set, and that is slightly more Rush than I need.

I’ve never been into Rush. Someone once described them to me as musicians that only musicians appreciate.

n815e wrote: I’ve never been into Rush. Someone once described them to me as musicians that only musicians appreciate.

That's how I might describe The Velvet Underground, an influential band that was never very popular. Rush was legitimately popular from at least the mid-'70s to the early '80s. According to Wikipedia, "Rush has released 24 Gold records and 14 Platinum records (including three multi-Platinum), placing them fifth behind the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Kiss and Aerosmith for the most consecutive Gold or Platinum studio albums by a rock band in the United States.[195]"

Shellhead wrote: I like Rush's hits. I have the 2-disc Chronicles CD set, and that is slightly more Rush than I need.

They keep Chronicles in print because it is probably the best single-point-of-entry for the band. Great stuff, and most likely all you need if you aren't gonna go whole hog.

n815e wrote: I’ve never been into Rush. Someone once described them to me as musicians that only musicians appreciate.

The musicianship is great, but I can totally understand if people can't get past Geddy's voice, which seems to be the stumbling block for most people who shy away. But there's a lot of themes & musical approaches if/once you get past Geddy Lee's high tenor vocal delivery.

AND HERE IS YOUR RUSH TRIVIA OF THE DAY:
Geddy Lee was born Gary Lee Weinrib. His parents were both Holocaust survivors from Poland, and his mom spoke in a heavy Polish accent which meant "Gary" came out as "Geddy." His childhood friends would hear his mom's pronunciation & jumped on the bandwagon calling him Geddy. He used it as his stage name, and eventually had his name legally changed to Geddy. Geddy's mom died last year at the age of 95, one of the longest lived Holocaust survivors.

The first two albums I bought were Black Sabbath Master of Reality and Rush Caress of Steel. It doesn't get much love, but Caress of Steel front-to-back is still one of my favorites.

I went through a Rush phase or two. I don't know that I'll revisit them in the future, but I'm not opposed to it.

I saw them perform ca. 2002 and it was an amazing show. No opening acts, they just played a two-hour set with a brief intermission.

Neil Peart's book Ghost Rider, written after the back-to-back deaths of his wife (of cancer) and teenage daughter (auto accident), is a moving and compelling meditation on meaning, love, grief, and loss. Of course, Neil's gone now too. I'm glad I got to see him perform.

I was never particularly a Rush fan, but I had friends who were, which is how I experienced most of their catalog. I did/do own 2112 because I appreciated its SF themes and Moving Pictures because I appreciated YYZ. This , in fact, is a brilliant version of the latter during their first tour of South America, where you can feel the entire arena just throbbing to the sound. I have seen them a couple times (again, because I had friends who were fans) and they were decent enough live, but nothing that particularly stands out for me. I saw Primus recently and they were doing a tour that incorporated their own music and a complete rendition of A Farewell to Kings for the second half of the show, because Les Claypool is a huge fan whose musical awakening occurred with that album and its accompanying tour. In that instance, as inoffensive as I normally find them, I have to say I was mildly annoyed at not getting more Primus, rather than Primus doing Rush, since I regard the former as the vastly superior band. But, y'know, as with most things involving Rush: whatevs.

fightcitymayor wrote: Geddy Lee was born Gary Lee Weinrib. His parents were both Holocaust survivors from Poland, and his mom spoke in a heavy Polish accent which meant "Gary" came out as "Geddy." His childhood friends would hear his mom's pronunciation & jumped on the bandwagon calling him Geddy. He used it as his stage name, and eventually had his name legally changed to Geddy. Geddy's mom died last year at the age of 95, one of the longest lived Holocaust survivors.

I once heard the same story for Gedde Watanabe, or something very similar.

fightcitymayor wrote: I can totally understand if people can't get past Geddy's voice

I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy?

On that note, Pavement is touring and while I love that band, I'm not sure how to feel about it. September still seems soon to be committing to a live show for Coronavirus reasons and... I don't know, it doesn't seem right to be watching Pavement from a balcony seat. Tix are double what I want to pay. I don't know.

Geddy Lee's speaking voice is pretty normal, like Robert Plant's voice is normal.

In the R40 tour he had to stay away from the high notes he used to hit; my guess would be that he can hit the high notes most of the time (key word: most). but doesn't want to have his voice crack in front of 20,000 people.

Heh, good plan. The question is actually a reference to the Pavement song "Stereo":

"What about the voice of Geddy Lee
How did it get so high?
I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy?
(I know him and he does)"

I was in grad school in Louisville from 1996-2002, and most of Pavement lived in a house by Churchill Downs about half a mile from our crappy rented house. Of course, I didn't know who they were at the time. I think I had just discovered Ben Folds and maybe Clem Snide. And Neutral Milk Hotel.

www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-spo...derby-bashes-120014/

More McSweeney's. Off-topic for this thread, but on-topic for this site:

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/8-fun-games-...G4AH43O3RSozkg1dh_T0

sometimes you gotta listen to Da Funk on repeat

Heard on a local station in November, now found that it's by Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars... damn this is tight music. With these names and 85 million views it probably is huge in the states, but over here not so much.
Fun fact: there is no vinyl (yet) for this one, because all capacities were rented out to Adele, Ed Sheeran and Elton John for their new Albums.