Rush - a Band of Limited Options

[The Picnic Wasp]

A sacrilegious thread which should be closed immediately with two day bans all round.😉

Nothing's sacred anyway. It's all fair game 

You're two threads too far down.😂

[pxr5]

Slim, is this a (very) belated April's fool?   Another member? Rush? Doesn't compute. 

[Nickslikk2112]

Just imagine if they'd kept on John Rutsey alongside Neil, could've gone full on SUVVERN BOOGIE!

[Slim]

I suppose I should have expected a couple of negative responses but ultimately the music is the most important factor. Another member would have given Alex and Geddy a bit more space to work their magic, as well as adding some variety, flexibility and fresh inspiration to the band.

You know - when they read this thread, as I suppose they will - we must be Europe's pre-eminent Rush fan forum now - they'll be nodding their heads and thinking "yep, Slim's right again. We should have done that but by the time we realised it, it was too late".

[David L]

Just imagine if they'd kept on John Rutsey alongside Neil, could've gone full on SUVVERN BOOGIE!

....or Glitter Band

[The Picnic Wasp]

I appear to have been censored.😂

[Slim]

I appear to have been censored.😂

Please see: http://betweenthewheels.net/index.php?topic=126.0 - second post. Many thanks for your understanding.

[Matt2112]

It's an interesting thought experiment this but the thing I would most have loved to have seen was a symphonic Rush show will full orchestra recorded for audio and video release at the Royal Albert Hall.

Of course, on the CA tour we got a very much scaled down version of that format which I thought worked extremely well.  I'm convinced making it bigger for a whole gig would have enhanced the show in direct proportion.

I'll kind of agree with James in one respect: if (and it's a huge "if" of course) Ged and Al put another project together between them, I think it would most benefit from being a 5-piece band, ideally with Marco Minnemann on drums, a dedicated formidably talented keys player (ideally Rick Wakeman) and a distinctive vocalist with a velvety melodic voice and a range of no less than four octaves.  But nobody springs immediately to mind on that score - any ideas?? 

[Fishy]

They'd need to give Patrick Moraz a call😀

[Nick]

Agree about the comedy shit they added to the latter shows, none of it was in the slightest bit humorous. When I joined the fanbase I saw them as technical kings and loved the complexity, lyrics, multiple instruments and being invited to shuttle launches. I expect they perceived themselves as being too distant to their fanbase and wanted to be a bit more down to earth, but they should have stayed distant and left us in awe.

[dom]

Perhaps a vocalist who could play kryboards/violin or some such would have been nice for the last couple of albums and tours. Geddy really began to struggle towards the end with his vocals and he became quite difficult to listen to, I thought.
 As I got very little from the last 2 albums it might have been nice if they'd gone off in a different musical direction.

Prior to that though I wouldn't have changed very much. It was great how they managed to change and develop their sound so much with a band that had stayed the same for all those years. I don't think they needed anyone else. The keyboards were there to fill. I think a virtuoso would have been a disruptive element. That might have been a good thing though for Snakes and Arrows and Clockwork Angels!

I agree with Matt that a full orchestra would have been enjoyable to see live, who knows even with a full on choir.

[Matt2112]

A discussion specifically about Clockwork Angels is for another thread of course, but I thought it was a pretty remarkable swan song, with an at times quite startling combination of prog technicality and melodic songcraft.

There is not a duffer on it to my mind.

[Fishy]

Agree about the comedy shit they added to the latter shows, none of it was in the slightest bit humorous. When I joined the fanbase I saw them as technical kings and loved the complexity, lyrics, multiple instruments and being invited to shuttle launches. I expect they perceived themselves as being too distant to their fanbase and wanted to be a bit more down to earth, but they should have stayed distant and left us in awe.

Yes have go agree with all that..Peart had a distinctly wtf  am I doing look thru all the sketches and Lifeson with his rants were quite plainly terrible ...
Stick to the songs boys...

[Slim]

I've shunted the last few posts of this thread into a new CA album discussion topic.

[The Picnic Wasp]

It's the first sentence of this thread where things start to go awry for me, specifically the phrase "much as we loved them". My love for this band is very much still alive and hopefully always will be. They were a constant in my life. They proved that any tweaks that were required could be handled in-house, and they did this remarkably well. With regards to symphonic performances, well there's nothing to prevent that from happening in the future if they so choose.

Also there's nothing in their history which suggests to me that they would be afraid to employ modern technology such as AI to enhance ageing vocal cords. Looking back at their career there's not much I would change. No band has a perfect discography but I'd still go back and buy them all again.

I think if their last album had been Fearless rather than CA they'd have been slaughtered so CA fits very nicely into the jigsaw and ends with the most emotional of goodbyes. Thank you guys.