Rush fans get your browsers over to the official Rush site and check out the very, very short teaser for the new Rush single, “Far Cry.” Jangly acoustic guitar in the background, gritty electric up front, and then . . . a particular chord-strike that sounds very, very much like stuff off of Hemispheres! Producer Nick Raskulinecz wasn’t kidding when he hinted that the album would have shades of the late-70s sound of the band – it’s there in all its glory.
And what’s even more encouraging, it sounds great – I mean, literally SOUNDS great. After the unfortunate marring that Vapor Trails received either due to a really heavy hand during the mixing or just really hot levels during recording, this is exciting.
Anyone that wrote Rush off after the 90s albums, and especially the relative dud, Test For Echo, should be looking back into the band again. We can’t fix the aural problems with Vapor Trails, but there’s no denying the power of the music the managed to capture there. If that’s why they decided to go with it as-is, then I guess I can’t fault them for turning an album in with so many sonic flaws. But this time they picked a good team to have behind the boards to let them go play in the studio, to concentrate solely on creating, rather than editing, mixing, etc. I have few doubts this is going to be one of my favorites of the year (I may be biased, but I’m also realistic – Test For Echo, while not a complete failure, wouldn’t have made my 1996 top-10, and it’s not in my favorites of the band, either.) But I’m also confident that Rush is the kind of band that no longer feels a need to turn out new music if they don’t feel it’s their best work. They’ve made it pretty clear that if they think they’re staggering along, if they’re not feeling it, they’re just going to hold off even longer until they’ve got something of which both they and the fans can be proud.
May 1st seems like a long, long two and half months away.
Known Johnson 
It’s almost certainly the mastering phase where Vapor Trails got roont. Somehow the boys got hoodwinked into letting somebody do one of those “brick-wall-limiter” mastering jobs (for the loudest CD in the world!). That’s why I’m pretty sure all they’d have to do to fix it is remaster the thing. It’s unlikely that all that crazy compression happened when they mixed.
Comment by Yogi — February 15, 2007 @ 1:39 pm |
Number one thing I have never listen to a bad rush song much less a bad rush album. Rush is Rush a great band and agreat group . You know from where I stand in the great state of louisana yes that would be New oilleans an I do mean OIL as OIL! the stuff that keeps your ungreatful ass warm in the winter . If it was not for bands such as Rush I don”t think I would be abel too stay sain in this great state of loiusana . There songs mean so much to me it keeps me grounded. so if you are a fan love them for them Because living in A fema trialer is A “far cry” from my house!
Comment by John Oliver Evans3 — March 14, 2007 @ 12:29 pm |
John, please remember that you can be a fan and not absolutely, 100% love everything a band does and, in fact, you shouldn’t because that’s blind love that should be reserved for family and religious idols. If you think every note the band has played is perfect, good for you, but I don’t and I don’t think ANY band is perfect, nor will there ever be any band that is perfect. Secondly, it’s just music – you’re taking this way too seriously. Lighten up, man.
Comment by Tom — March 14, 2007 @ 1:01 pm |