I first saw Rush, without having heard of them, when I tagged along with some friends going to their concert. This was back in '77. I walked away from that concert saying "these guys are my favorite band of all time!", and that stayed true till now. The album they had just put out was "A Farewell to Kings", so the first time I heard this song and the others from this album was when they played it live. It remains one of my favorite albums from them to date, and this is one of my more favorite songs. It's amazing, and the lyrics are so good that they feel like they were written for events today as opposed to over 40 years ago. An interesting thing about this song is that the place they were staying at when they recorded it had a courtyard, and their producer thought it'd be nice to record an intro in that courtyard and capture the birds and ambient sounds in the background. Alex walked around with an acoustic, Geddy somehow strapped on a keyboard, and Neil rigged up percussion bells and tinkling things to twalk around with, and all three recorded the intro outside. Everything you hear in that intro was captured as it happened, no studio.
Fellas, it’s simple: Rush=brilliance/genius, on every level. A lyric so foreshadowing of our times… This one’s so beautifully melancholic; the peaceful Medieval guitar setting in the intro, the breaking away moment in history and musically of course (rebelling against feudal kingship, and all that it presupposed), towards a new way- “I.s., materialism, modern egoism- “ cities full of hatred, fear and lies, withered hearts and cruel tormented eyes”(sums up present day society, and the heart modern of man ), and the call to balance out a purity lost, with much freedom gained( at the cost of our souls), they end with the call to “to find the minds to lead us closer to the heart”. Neil P. Was such an idealist at this point in his life, I loved the man’s heart and head space. His idealism would go on to be be tested by a series of harrowing and gut wrenching losses…, he ( and that innonce and idealism) would never be the same afterwards. RIP great one 🙏
You guys, AFTK isn't a concept album, per se, but there seems to be songs that are "cut from the same cloth", if you will. AFTK, Closer to the Heart, Madrigal, and Cinderella Man all have similar sounds/themes, that tie into the Medieval/Kings themes. Songs like Xanadu and Cygnus go, of course, completely off the theme into other, unworldly realms. That said, Xanadu is based on an 18th century Epic poem (fragment) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and The Cygnus song makes reference to the 18th century book "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes, published in the 17th century (i.e., the spaceship being flown into the Black Hole is called "The Rocinante", which was the name of Don Quixote's donkey/steed). So, there are ties there too, strangely enough! Wow, maybe it is a concept album! It certainly leads into a concept album, with Hemispheres, in 1978. Awesome song! Neil and Geddy's super-jazz/fusion solo section break is incredible! Neil is playing traditional/jazz grip, with his sticks, on that section and Geddy is just PROGGING out with the Bass line!
"Power Windows" (1985) and "Hold Your Fire" (1987) are two albums that I believe haven't been touched yet. Power Windows stands out as having a bright and clean sound, while Hold Your Fire builds on top of that and slides into the mid tones much more than previous albums. From Power Windows I recommend "The Big Money" and "Mystic Rythmns", and from the Hold Your Fire album I recommend "Time Stand Still" and "Turn The Page". As a hard core Rush fan since 1988 and knowing every note to every song, my personal all-time favorite is Turn The Page. Also - I would hesitate reacting to "Losing It", as it appears CZcams likes to hit that song with copyright strikes a lot. Keep up the awesome work!!
Fantastic song with lyrics of great insight. But that was Neil. Alex's guitar work is superb both acousticly and then rocking it out! I would suggest Stick it out which is from the same album as Animate and also Secret Touch from the Snakes and Arrows tour Nice to see you guys doing Rush again. Cheers 🇨🇦
Some of Neil's most profound lyrics! "Kings" gives a (not so complimentary) nod back to the bad behavior of ancient kings in history, connecting them to the similarly self-interested politicians of the 70s when this was recorded. Finally, it provides us all a warning for the future...even now, 46 years later. PS - Some of Alex's finest guitar tones ever!
you guys should react to some Grateful Dead sometime, they were never really commercialized so didn't get a lot of radio play, but they were together for around 30 years before Jerry passed, with a bunch of studio albums and even more live material. i would suggest starting with shakedown street, and moving on to songs like scarlet begonias, China cat sunflower, fire on the mountain, Franklin's tower, the music never stopped, and maybe the wheel, from Jerry Garcia's solo album. or you could check the few radio play songs like truckin, Casey Jones, uncle John's band, touch of grey, or one of my favorites that ive only heard played 1 or 2 times Ripple. also i would have to find the right date but their live cover of hard to handle from fallout to the Phil zone was absolutely amazing, you can just feel the energy of the crowd build and explode all throughout the performance. or some others sung by Pig Pen like easy wind, turn on your love light, or good morning little schoolgirl.
🤔 YYNOT and Permanent Waves are 2 Rush Cover Bands 🤩 I highly recommend. 😟 Unfortunately neither Band plays NYC. 🤯 I have to go all the way out in NJ😐or CT to see them! 🥰🐰
Been asking for this one for awhile now. You guys have been dodging Vapor trails, but you need to do Secret Touch! Studio and live versions, both great, but I would prolly start studio first so you can hear it all, cause it’s a LOT! Cheers,
Not going to comment on THIS song, but you opened the can of worms for the most relevant request you can get at this moment... Oppenheimer. Rush made a song surrounding that ya know - "Manhattan Project" off of their 1985 Power Windows album. "Imagine a place Where it all began They gathered from across the land To work in the secrecy of the desert sand All of the brightest boys To play with the biggest toys More than they bargained for"
I agree with Jared you need to take a dive into Power Windows, but its a whole different Rush era/style. Because you just saw Oppenheimer, start PW with Manhattan Project. Its a top tier tune, along with Marathon and Territories and Middletown Dreams. Just get ready for a little less Alex, though the part he does play on PW is amazing.
I love you guys, but you totally missed the point of the lyrics. Lyrically, this is one of their most powerful songs, especially considering how it predicted the times we're living in. Musically, it's stunning. This might be their most complete song.
These guys don't understand wtf Neil was trying to say in this song its above their intelligence. It's asinine to say it's too much lyrics, it's idiotic. What ever you do DO NOT LISTEN TO 2112. You will not understand it, you will hate it.
I first saw Rush, without having heard of them, when I tagged along with some friends going to their concert. This was back in '77. I walked away from that concert saying "these guys are my favorite band of all time!", and that stayed true till now. The album they had just put out was "A Farewell to Kings", so the first time I heard this song and the others from this album was when they played it live. It remains one of my favorite albums from them to date, and this is one of my more favorite songs. It's amazing, and the lyrics are so good that they feel like they were written for events today as opposed to over 40 years ago. An interesting thing about this song is that the place they were staying at when they recorded it had a courtyard, and their producer thought it'd be nice to record an intro in that courtyard and capture the birds and ambient sounds in the background. Alex walked around with an acoustic, Geddy somehow strapped on a keyboard, and Neil rigged up percussion bells and tinkling things to twalk around with, and all three recorded the intro outside. Everything you hear in that intro was captured as it happened, no studio.
“The hypocrites are slandering the sacred halls of truth, ancient nobles showering their bitterness on youth.” Some things never change unfortunately.
Fellas, it’s simple:
Rush=brilliance/genius, on every level.
A lyric so foreshadowing of our times…
This one’s so beautifully melancholic;
the peaceful Medieval guitar setting in the intro, the breaking away moment in history and musically of course (rebelling against feudal kingship, and all that it presupposed), towards a new way- “I.s., materialism, modern egoism- “ cities full of hatred, fear and lies, withered hearts and cruel tormented eyes”(sums up present day society, and the heart modern of man ), and the call to balance out a purity lost, with much freedom gained( at the cost of our souls), they end with the call to “to find the minds to lead us closer to the heart”.
Neil P. Was such an idealist at this point in his life, I loved the man’s heart and head space. His idealism would go on to be be tested by a series of harrowing and gut wrenching losses…, he ( and that innonce and idealism) would never be the same afterwards.
RIP great one 🙏
RUSH Army is present and prepared for duty.
You guys, AFTK isn't a concept album, per se, but there seems to be songs that are "cut from the same cloth", if you will. AFTK, Closer to the Heart, Madrigal, and Cinderella Man all have similar sounds/themes, that tie into the Medieval/Kings themes. Songs like Xanadu and Cygnus go, of course, completely off the theme into other, unworldly realms. That said, Xanadu is based on an 18th century Epic poem (fragment) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and The Cygnus song makes reference to the 18th century book "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes, published in the 17th century (i.e., the spaceship being flown into the Black Hole is called "The Rocinante", which was the name of Don Quixote's donkey/steed). So, there are ties there too, strangely enough! Wow, maybe it is a concept album! It certainly leads into a concept album, with Hemispheres, in 1978. Awesome song! Neil and Geddy's super-jazz/fusion solo section break is incredible! Neil is playing traditional/jazz grip, with his sticks, on that section and Geddy is just PROGGING out with the Bass line!
Michael Briefs. We uploaded one of our songs. Check it out.🎸
czcams.com/video/pUTwI9TYJdc/video.htmlsi=WBAFT2rtfAyHQ2yI
😀 AFtK is not usually reviewed, so thanks for this! 🥰🐰
"Power Windows" (1985) and "Hold Your Fire" (1987) are two albums that I believe haven't been touched yet. Power Windows stands out as having a bright and clean sound, while Hold Your Fire builds on top of that and slides into the mid tones much more than previous albums. From Power Windows I recommend "The Big Money" and "Mystic Rythmns", and from the Hold Your Fire album I recommend "Time Stand Still" and "Turn The Page". As a hard core Rush fan since 1988 and knowing every note to every song, my personal all-time favorite is Turn The Page.
Also - I would hesitate reacting to "Losing It", as it appears CZcams likes to hit that song with copyright strikes a lot. Keep up the awesome work!!
Fantastic song with lyrics of great insight. But that was Neil. Alex's guitar work is superb both acousticly and then rocking it out!
I would suggest Stick it out which is from the same album as Animate and also Secret Touch from the Snakes and Arrows tour
Nice to see you guys doing Rush again.
Cheers 🇨🇦
Hi Debbie - we uploaded a song, our music. Come check it out.
czcams.com/video/pUTwI9TYJdc/video.htmlsi=WBAFT2rtfAyHQ2yI
Happy 70th birthday Geddy 👍
Missed you guys on the Rush. Seen plenty of other vids, but Rush is my favorite band and I first found you guys with Rush.
We really appreciate it (;
Some of Neil's most profound lyrics! "Kings" gives a (not so complimentary) nod back to the bad behavior of ancient kings in history, connecting them to the similarly self-interested politicians of the 70s when this was recorded. Finally, it provides us all a warning for the future...even now, 46 years later. PS - Some of Alex's finest guitar tones ever!
I just looked at today's date and realized tomorrow is Geddy's 70th birthday
you guys should react to some Grateful Dead sometime, they were never really commercialized so didn't get a lot of radio play, but they were together for around 30 years before Jerry passed, with a bunch of studio albums and even more live material. i would suggest starting with shakedown street, and moving on to songs like scarlet begonias, China cat sunflower, fire on the mountain, Franklin's tower, the music never stopped, and maybe the wheel, from Jerry Garcia's solo album. or you could check the few radio play songs like truckin, Casey Jones, uncle John's band, touch of grey, or one of my favorites that ive only heard played 1 or 2 times Ripple. also i would have to find the right date but their live cover of hard to handle from fallout to the Phil zone was absolutely amazing, you can just feel the energy of the crowd build and explode all throughout the performance. or some others sung by Pig Pen like easy wind, turn on your love light, or good morning little schoolgirl.
Great reaction guys. 👍👍
Closer To The Heart is on the same album. Xanadu as well. And Cygnus X-1 (Book 1). Great record!
Oops, just got to the part where you figured that out LOL Thanks for sharing, glad you enjoyed it!
🤔 YYNOT and Permanent Waves are 2 Rush Cover Bands 🤩 I highly recommend. 😟 Unfortunately neither Band plays NYC. 🤯 I have to go all the way out in NJ😐or CT to see them! 🥰🐰
I tried covering this song, on drums, only because the lyrics fit some message I wanted to convey about some 'kingly' youtuber (in his own mind).
Our movie review channel link, comment what movie you would like to see us review. czcams.com/video/DDEcdVdej38/video.html
Been asking for this one for awhile now. You guys have been dodging Vapor trails, but you need to do Secret Touch! Studio and live versions, both great, but I would prolly start studio first so you can hear it all, cause it’s a LOT! Cheers,
YES! Secret Touch!
Not going to comment on THIS song, but you opened the can of worms for the most relevant request you can get at this moment... Oppenheimer. Rush made a song surrounding that ya know - "Manhattan Project" off of their 1985 Power Windows album.
"Imagine a place
Where it all began
They gathered from across the land
To work in the secrecy of the desert sand
All of the brightest boys
To play with the biggest toys
More than they bargained for"
I agree with Jared you need to take a dive into Power Windows, but its a whole different Rush era/style. Because you just saw Oppenheimer, start PW with Manhattan Project. Its a top tier tune, along with Marathon and Territories and Middletown Dreams. Just get ready for a little less Alex, though the part he does play on PW is amazing.
I love you guys, but you totally missed the point of the lyrics. Lyrically, this is one of their most powerful songs, especially considering how it predicted the times we're living in. Musically, it's stunning. This might be their most complete song.
These guys don't understand wtf Neil was trying to say in this song its above their intelligence. It's asinine to say it's too much lyrics, it's idiotic. What ever you do DO NOT LISTEN TO 2112. You will not understand it, you will hate it.
If they put it on and just enjoy the music that would be great. It's a banger.