From: jaeger@buphy.bu.edu (Gregg Jaeger)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: neil's cross?
Date: 28 Sep 92 17:15:09 GMT
Organization: Boston University Physics Department

In article <1992Sep28.162400.17908@cc.umontreal.ca>
tsirbasc@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Tsirbas Christos) writes:

Gregg Yaeger writes:
      ^(J!)

>>All the worse for you, IMHO. _You_ forgot the `real relation' and
>>gave into mainstream rock-n-roll behavior, it seems to me.

>I have not forgotten 'the underlying theme'

>It seems to me that Rush is a band that likes to take current musical trends, 
>integrates them into their music and makes their music a cut above the rest.

It seems to me that Rush is a band that likes to play music. They are
stimulated by styles with which they come into contact, some popular
and some not. For example, Neil's African drumming influences have never
come within a thousand miles of any North American or European pop radio
station. If the result of their being influenced is that some popular
style also shows up here and there, fine. Who cares? Hell, when I listen
to the music that goes along with the `rap' on Roll the Bones I'm
blown away. It's rhythmically very complex. There's even a
Kraftwerk-style pulse going on back there.


I'm not so counterculturally oriented that I'd get upset about hearing
some influence I might have heard on the radio before, especially since
I can recognized styles other than those that are on every radio station 
in North America in the music as well. 


>Unfortunately, most mainstream music today is pretty lame so Rush is trying 
>to improve on the inherent lameness of the current music scene.  

I think Rush has no interested in `improving the current music scene.'
Pop music is an always has been hopeless anyway. Hell, I've heard Neil
complain about how the sixties was a sell-out too. The only `scene' Rush
ever cared about was 70's style FM radio because of its diversity (`The
Spirit of Radio' CFNY being one of the last bastions of FM diversity),
but that's been irreveribly lost.

>Also, it seems
>to me that Neil's lyrics have gotten really boring and that he is repeating
>himself.  IMHO opinion, the Pass is "Tom Sawyer having a Nervous Breakdown",
>Anagram and Roll the Bones are simply rehashes of the "Why I am an
>atheist" theme, which I think that Bertrand Russell covered pretty well de-
>cades ago. 

It seems to me such an opinion can only result from a lack of
appreciation of the more linguistic aspects of Neil's lyrics,
leading to a concern with `the message' alone. I mean, hell, 
most ``great writers'' have a set of themes which concern them 
that they largely stick to for their entire careers. Neil's 
abilities as a lyricist have increased tremendously. As far
as `Today's Tom Sawyer' is concerned, that persona is hardly 
identical to that of ``The Pass.'' Hell, you might as well say 
that the character of ``The Pass'' is the Analog Kid unable to 
deal with life in the Subdivisions killing himself a la 2112. 

``Anagram'' is an incredible piece of writing (have you worked out the
anagrams one line at a time?) which is _much_ broader in theme than
`I am an atheist' (actually I don't see it as terribly atheistic
anyway) and has little to do with the central theme of motivation
in ``Roll the Bones.''


> Finally, I think that their choice of Rupert Hine as a producer
>says it all:  You can't get more mainstream than Rupert Hine, who, IMHO, has
>really done a good job at giving Rush the coldest sound they have ever had.  


You don't like the sound, fine. I like the sound of PoW and HYF much
more myself. This is a largely personal evaluation. 

Since when has coldness been good for sales anyway? 


>"Art as expression, not as Market Campaigns!"
>I think it's time that Rush took this advice to heart.


You give them no credit at all. The chose Hine _not_ because he has a 
mainstream sound, but because he has an incredible amount of experience
in terms of vocals and songwriting, which Rush themselves identified
as their weakest points. It is an attempt to improve their abilities
further, not to sell out. I mean if they said `fuck Hine, he's one of
those commercial guys' they would be just as stupid as all the
journalists who'd say about Rush `fuck them, their just an old heavy 
metal band with a squirrel for a vocalist.' If Hine didn't know what
he was doing _technically_ they wouldn't have got near him. 


Gregg

-- 
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