Sic Semper Tyrannis

What's the Rush?

Another important album for me from this time was Moving Pictures by Rush. This was another one loaned to me by the same teacher who introduced me to Genesis. Although I have a memory associated with this album-driving in my new car, (a blue Mitsubishi Mirage, with a CD player!), down 39th Expressway with windows down and the volume up, weather perfect- there is still some magic in the sounds, too. Although it’s not a concept album, I think there is something indescribably cool about the sequencing of the tunes. It starts off with probably the one Rush song that even non-Rush fans know: “Tom Sawyer.” And what a great way to start things. It just spills in with a downward analog synth filter and big drums in 7/8 before Geddy Lee comes in with his (admittedly) weird voice. Neil Peart’s lyrics are really smart, which is odd. How many drummers have been the lyricist for a band? No one’s immediately coming to mind. (Well, maybe Don Henley with The Eagles.)

Anyway, another cool thing about this album is the consistency of sounds; particularly Alex Lifeson’s gorgeous guitar tone-it’s dirty but not too dirty. And it’s not harsh or overburdened with effects like much of what would come later in the eighties. His sound is just so warm on this whole record. And really everything on the album, the drums, and the bass- it all just sounds so tight and economical. Although I usually hate the sound of eighties studio production, this album seems to be a bridge between seventies-type sounds and what would come later in the eighties.

After “Tom Sawyer,” “Red Barchetta” fades in and when the verse kicks in, you get these wonderfully ambiguous guitar harmonies. “YYZ,” the instrumental named after the international airport code for Toronto, I believe, displays all kinds of limber musical prowess. The main rhythmic figure was in my head constantly for a couple years there and I’ve still not figured out what’s going on, rhythmically-speaking, in the intro. This song has a nice guitar melody and one of the best guitar solos I think I’ve ever heard. It’s not overly flashy, which is one of the reasons you never hear about Alex Lifeson and his playing, but it’s really melodic and outlines the harmony kind of like a jazz solo. Still grabs my ears every time. I was sold on this album from that point on.

And then you get another classic-rock radio chestnut, “Limelight,” which sounds like Rush’s version of a stripped-down rock n’ roll song, but there are so many cool things to listen to if you’re so inclined. The ensemble playing is so tight. It seems like every little drum fill is matched by Geddy Lee’s melodic bass playing. Speaking of drumming, Neil Peart pretty much puts on a clinic with every song. And, of course, there are plenty of musicians who spit on his technique, saying he overplays. But I, for one, respect the man and his playing, and I thank him for giving my ears something to do for all of these years. But, I’ll agree, a “groove” band Rush is not.

The same part of me that loved seventies progsters Yes and Genesis and their extended structures loved the ten-minute song “The Camera Eye.” And once again, there are some great single-note lines being played by Lifeson, including one of the main melodies, which is really catchy. I can hum it right now.

I talked about the sequencing of this album and after “The Camera Eye,” there are two comparative miniatures: “Witch Hunt,” which I’ve always been sort of ambivalent towards, and “Vital Signs,” which always has struck me toward the end with Geddy singing in his upper register over big sustaining synthy chords and bubbling, blipping arpeggiations.

Anyway, I heard in this Rush band an obviously huge amount of technique from all the players, yet they weren’t trying to sound like an “electric orchestra,” like Genesis certainly did at times. This was more like a workingman’s progressive music. They still rocked enough to be on the radio every now and then. They should be commended for being able to present odd meters in a natural enough way that you don’t even notice it coming out of your radio speakers. And I guess that’s what I liked about this album-they seemed like regular guys who liked to play music and didn’t mind being a little nerdy and accomplished as they went about it. And even though this album was about fifteen years old when I first heard it, it wasn’t as far removed as, say, the first Yes albums from the early seventies that I was listening to.

Once again, I have to say “alas,” as I tell you that Rush is another grotesquely uncool band to like among today’s critics and hipsters. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that modern music criticism really has very little actual interaction with the music of the past beyond the occasional cred-building reference to the MC5 or Iggy Pop or the Velvet Underground, which no one really listens to anymore anyway. And I’m not a big Rush fan, but there are about four or five albums that really interest me and I’m not afraid to raise my freak flag. Soon, I’m going to have to write a prog apologetics post, but for now, this will have to suffice.

posted by Mike @ 11:58 AM