Alternative Weekend: Rush - Just Beyond... 'Moving Pictures'

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Having listened in its entirety to Geddy Lee's 'My Effin' Life', I now find myself moving to 'Martin Popoff ‘s, Rush Across the Decades, Books 1-3'. It seems I can't get enough of them… or is it just that I am running short of material to listen to when driving back and forth to work?

In any case, my attention has been sent to the later years of the band, and by that I mean post 'Moving Pictures', which is years greater than 1981.

Not very recent, you may say, and I agree. When I was younger, I loved the progressive 'Rush' and felt nobody else sounded like them. The progressive dinosaurs mostly went extinct by 1980, or evolved into something more mainstream and Rush attempted to diversify.

You will never convince me that anything they did in the 1980's or beyond was as spectacular as '2112' or 'Hemispheres', but nevertheless, some of it is worth listening to.

Beyond 'Grace for Pressure', I am still in the dark, but listening to the aforementioned audiobook, which goes into great detail about their other albums, will eventually make me listen to even the 90s and beyond albums.

Rush - Subdivisions (Signals – 1982)

I sold all my 33’s around 2003 to a bloke I no longer talk to. They were in perfect condition, all in plastic sleeves and contained many gatefolds.

Signals could have been among them, but I don't remember, such was the impact this newer music had on me. 'Moving Pictures' is considered the Rush classic, and it is good, but it was written in a transition period. Note what I said above about extinction.

Subdivisions sees Rush going all synthesisers, which were the cool thing to have in 1982. Although I was a fan of this type of music in that year, I didn't particularly like it coming from my favourite progressive hard rock band of that time.

Now, I appreciate it a little more and figure I could play that basic synthesiser riff if only I had somewhere to set up my ageing and faulty Roland XP-50 workstation, that's gathering dust on a top shelf.

Alex’s guitars are somewhat muted in this song with the keyboards dominating the sound, but it doesn’t half sound ominous (again).

The 'Subdivisions' in Canada appear to be a terrible place to live, but seem to be detached properties, albeit 'little boxes'. Compared to the shit places I grew up in, I wouldn't portray these houses as particularly terrible.

Rush - Chemistry (Signals – 1982)

I have attempted to listen to 'Signals' in its entirety, and for the most part, it wasn't hitting me. Yes, there are lots of keyboards..., but not inspiring ones such as the British 'New Romantics' period that was happening at that time on the far side of the pond.

Was this a band that was forcing itself to reinvent, or simply making use of new gadgets that were appearing? The book I am reading states the latter.

'Chemistry' was the only other track from 'Signals' that hit my musical ticker in any form. Supposedly, it was going to be named 'Signals' and be the title track, but was changed somewhere during production.

This is a keyboard-heavy song, and I particularly like how Alex adds his guitar within the highlighted sections of the chorus. The verses sound a little lame to me, but when the synthesiser kicks in, it does make up for it somewhat.

The solo close to the end is more like the Alex Lifeson I have become accustomed to, and I did find this tune floating around in my head after a few plays. It must have something, then?

Fighting with the overwhelming keyboards must have been a tough call for the guitarist. He needed to be heard, but how?

Rush - Afterimage (Grace Under Pressure – 1984)

Moving to the 'Grace Under Pressure' album, I bought this in 1984 from 'Adele, The Hot Minx', much to her extreme disapproval.

Perhaps that negative experience sits in my mind, which helps me remember this 33' was in my record collection, whereas I could have bought 'Signals' at any number of countless record shops a year or so earlier.

Like its predecessor, I was disappointed in this album, except 'Afterimage', which still sits freshly in my mind decades later. Gone was the keyboard overload in this track, and that old familiar Rush sound was back, just momentarily.

Angry and aggressive, this one kicks from the moment you start it, but until I listened to the audiobooks mentioned above, I had no idea it was about a former colleague who died in a car crash.

'Suddenly you were gone..', Geddy sings, but in 1984 I figured this was about some chick who might have dumped him because of his long nose.

Geddy Lee seems to be very aware of his facial anatomy, having mentioned it in his autobiography more than once. A side effect of being Jewish, I suppose.

As for the rest of 'Grace Under Pressure', nothing stands out whatsoever, even the singles released from it. I am a particularly fussy bastard when it comes to music.

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