and still am, but I was really
disappointed as a teen by
Rush's Signals album.
That's when music meant something
to me. It doesn't anymore, but
I think I've solved a big mystery.
It's about how bands can take a face plant
when copying other bands.
After the HUUUUGE album called
Moving Pictures
even the video was cool, with the snow and all
at Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_Pictures_%28Rush_album%29
How can you even compare this with the screaming
four-bar blues rock crap of that day?
It was both prog rock and yet it
had a soul, unlike British prog
which was really long winded and technical:
Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes, etc.
vs. Freewill
Anyway, after that big album, I was looking
forward to the next one, only to get a synth album called
Signals
check this "song":
Subdivisions
[the hydrant symbolises their Signals album]
Cold, passion-less, synth-dominated drudgery.It's as if somebody abducted their guitarist and
replaced him with C3PO.
Now, with the death of Nash the Slash, I had
a chance to revisit Nash's old band, FM.
on Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_%28Canadian_band%29
They were a decent synth band with a bit of
creativity. Their Phasors on Stun song was
big for a while. Here it is. 1978
Nash was on the mandolin. Pretty good schtick.
But, back to Rush. I believe that Rush was trying to copy
the feel of this music. As with every copy, you try to
get the essence, but Rush did a really shitty job, IMO.
Clue #1: (wiki) "In June, Ben Mink from the band FM was invited
to play electric violin on "Losing It" "
Rush had just stopped writing 10-minute songs about Xanadu,
and had become a solid prog rock band, with two astounding
albums, and then the song above broke my heart.
Wiki says:
"The band underwent another radical stylistic transmutation
with the recording of Signals in 1982." Ya, and lost their mojo.
I can't even bring myself to put up New World Man. stinko
The only song that had any guts was Digital Man.
(now that I've read wiki, this song is heavily Police-influenced,
but is at least a decent job.)
-side note: the ___ Man titles. unoriginal. navel-gazing. sexist
It took Rush years to get their Mojo back. witness:
Red Sector A
A good song, but I had long since moved on to Heavy metal.
what can I say. I was 16. I was looking elsewhere for
meaning and passion in music.
Also, check this frenetic song:
Animate 1993
perhaps their best tune
that's my thesis.
I'll do a story later about how this and other bands
all decided, in the early 80s, to f^*k with their
models for success.
The thing I learned was that bands are just humans,
and humans f&*(k a good thing, just because.
I also learned that bands have good songs, and good albums
even, but no one band is consistent. Some bands are best
right out of the box, while others mature.
some bands journey through some shit and
come back rejuvenated.
my task was to find righteous tunes. no more no less.
On to the next story.
