dc4296b8   
   From: jandohmen@NOSPAMplanet.nl   
      
   Damon Hynes, Cyclone Ranger wrote:   
   > On Mar 22, 7:02 pm, "Giovanni"  wrote:   
   >> Damon Hynes, Cyclone Ranger wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> On Mar 22, 6:04 pm, "Giovanni"  wrote:   
   >>>> So?   
   >>   
   >>> So, as in did I chase tornadoes today? Hells to tha no. Moving too   
   >>> fast, 60+ MPH. Lot of my friends did catch some today, though.   
   >>   
   >> I'm not sure the tornadoes felt caught.   
   >> But I meant; what's your (somewhat) fresh view on Hemispheres. It's   
   >> been 30 years since I fell in love with it, after playing it again   
   >> today I wish I could hear it for the first time again.   
   >   
   > Well, a few different viewpoints--Submitted For Your Approval:   
   >   
   > What else was I listening to in 1978?  KISS, The Cars, Boston, The   
   > Nuge, starting to get into The Who and Neil Young.  No Zep, Styx was   
   > ok, radio played a few Yes songs but played them too much.  Too damn   
   > much Tull, too.  Would I have sat down to listen to an eighteen-minute   
   > song?  Probably not.   
   >   
   > Y'see, and I have mentioned before, RUSH in 1979 was music for post-   
   > smoking wastoids in my high school.  If *they* liked them then by   
   > default I didn't. To be honest, they didn't try to convert me to   
   > either RUSH or weed, so maybe I didn't know what I was missing.  I   
   > probably didn't hear "The Trees" until at least three years later, and   
   > by that time I had already heard "Tom Sawyer", "Vital Signs",   
   > "Subdivisions".  So, if I considered it at all, I prolly thought "The   
   > Trees" was a lot newer than it was.   
   >   
   > Revisionism?  The easy thing to say is that since it's RUSH, it's   
   > good.  But if I was wanting to hear a poor-man's Zep or Yes, would I   
   > have picked up RUSH?  I don't know that I would have.  It took them   
   > getting on radio for me to figure it out.  I have heard the first   
   > three albums a total of one time each, aside from the classics.  And   
   > aside from the classics, I'm left with AFTK as never having heard all   
   > the way through.   
   >   
   > The songs:  What I notice is that there are lost of spaces in the   
   > songs.  One thing that has happened as RUSH's discography has   
   > accumulated is that there's more noise--good noise--lots of texture   
   > but not as much topography.  You mention wishing you could hear this   
   > for the first time again--I'm glad that I heard this for the first   
   > time now!  I hear a lot of foreshadowing in Cygnus X-1...some "Red   
   > Barchetta", a lot of Permanent Waves.  "The Sphere" is fantastic.   
   >   
   > Interesting solo about 6.5 mins in, good technically but seemingly   
   > just plugged in to the song--I heard this same complaint about a lot   
   > of guitar solos in this era.  I think "Cygnus" suffered from the same   
   > syndrome as a lot of GNR and Townshend stuff--too long and suffered   
   > from a lack of editorial feedback.  But if that's all I have to bitch   
   > about...   
   >   
   > I hadn't heard "Circumstances" until they played it about three tours   
   > ago, and it grows on me.  Of course I have heard "The Trees" a ton,   
   > but this is the first time with headphones, nice lightning bolts by   
   > Alex at 1:30...And again, altered perspectives--I like the RIR version   
   > of LVS better than the original!   
      
   (sorry, been away for a few days)   
      
   Although Hemispheres was their latest LP when I got into Rush, it was   
   the last I owned (took me a year or so to get all the older stuff,   
   starting with Kings, and still everything after Hem is 'new Rush' to   
   me). I agree with a lot you say, Cygnus X-1, book II: Hemispheres could   
   and maybe should lose about 7-8 minutes (including The Sphere, sorry,   
   what; the point wasn't clear enough? sheesh!), loads of Alex solos feel   
   filled in, there's four bars of space, do something with it. And this   
   one is the most obvious ever. But then there's the 'wandering'   
   guitar-thingy at about 9.20, sheer beauty, that really hit me the first   
   time I heard it, sort of medieval, lute-y. I doubt I really heard the   
   weird timing in there (coming from hard-rock, early metal  and Queen)   
   but it was mesmerizing. Circumstances was just a really good Rush-song,   
   I'd already heard Trees a few times on the radio. Then   
   LVS.............damn! Studio version every time, they played it better   
   later but that sound...and that tightness!   
   Just listened to Rush (the album), give it a second spin; there's gold   
   in them thar twisters!, Fly by Night is a mixed bag, Caress is awesomely   
   diverse but flawed soundwise, 2112 A-side is Fucking A, B-side is okay,   
   Kings picks up where Caress left off (or something); diversity,   
   sometimes for diversities sake and it would have been a perfect 30   
   minute or so album (although Xanadu was the song that first made me fall   
   in love, it is too damn long!) Anyway, when you've got an hour somewhen,   
   dive into old Rush! (or not)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)