Geddy Lee & Rush - Still Got It?

[scottpro1969]

Ed, I couldn't agree more.....well said.

[scottpro1969]

While I agree that Geddy sounds like Geddy no matter what bass he's playing....listen to "A Passage to Bangkok" from the Snakes and Arrows tour live cd....PURE Rickenbacker tone my friends, it's almost like a time warp.

[psychomatthias]

While I agree that Geddy sounds like Geddy no matter what bass he's playing....listen to "A Passage to Bangkok" from the Snakes and Arrows tour live cd....PURE Rickenbacker tone my friends, it's almost like a time warp.

Considering that was what he used (as mentioned in an earlier post), well, yeah.

[atomic_punk]

Rush, to me, is one band still worth following and paying money to see live. So yes, they have still got it.

I find that music is experienced coinciding with certain times in our lives. Sometimes we are searching for something new and different, sometimes we are going thru things emotionally that the music meshes with. Sometimes we grow accustomed to a "sound" or a "style" and that is what we expect a band to always be like. We have to remember that THEY are also human beings, they are searching for sounds or styles that are different and exciting for THEM, and they hope we choose to come along for the ride. But as far as being brilliant musicians and trying to express themselves in a new and creative way every time, yes, they still have it.

[rush_fan]

Rush, to me, is one band still worth following and paying money to see live. So yes, they have still got it.

I find that music is experienced coinciding with certain times in our lives. Sometimes we are searching for something new and different, sometimes we are going thru things emotionally that the music meshes with. Sometimes we grow accustomed to a "sound" or a "style" and that is what we expect a band to always be like. We have to remember that THEY are also human beings, they are searching for sounds or styles that are different and exciting for THEM, and they hope we choose to come along for the ride. But as far as being brilliant musicians and trying to express themselves in a new and creative way every time, yes, they still have it.

WOW Steve, you said it perfect! As I was reading through the different posts, I was trying to find the words to say. Steve, at least I think, has pegged it.
I got into Rush during the Moving Pictures album. That is also when MTV use to play cool videos, ie Tom Sawyer from the Exit Stage Left album. When I first saw and heard Geddy I thought, "I wanna be like him!" What was even cooler was his bass.
I too was kind of bummed when he put the Rick down but I try not to get hung up on the bass itself rather the musician. I wasn't overly fond of some of the late 80's stuff but I put it into perspective. Would Rush still be around if they stuck to what they did in the 70's? Not to mention Geddy hit some very high vocal notes back then.
During the first stint of the "Snakes and Arrows" tour, they did Circumstances from the Hemispheres album. Did it sound the same as it did back then? Well no but it did have a more mature and distingushed sound and I was estatic that they did it.
Rush is thenly band that I will go see no matter what. I have not missed a concert since 1986. I would even still go back to the PNC Banks Arts Center and pay the ticket fee, parking fee, convienence fee, using the bathroom fee, breathing the air fee, etc... As you can tell this venue has gotten out of control with fee's.
So to end it, YES Geddy and Rush still have it, Rickenbacker or not.

Thanks,
Steve

ps...my brother-in-law could not believe how much I carried on when Geddy brought out the RIC for Passage to Bangkok.

[bobcat]

Rush are sort of why I play bass, and definitely why I bought a Ric, though I've since then found plenty of other reasons to love Rickenbacker basses.

Strangely enough, I always thought they had pretty damn "clean" production from 2112 onwards. A Farewell to Kings is my one of my "ideal" bass tones, but it's also an album I point people to when I want to explain how good, clean production can make a band sound just as lively and energetic (or more so) as anyone who claims high productions values = sterility/lack of emotion. Then again, my other favorite Rush album is Signals, which has a very "thick" sound that some might describe as muddy, but I have no problem with it as I can still discern the instruments and notes being played from each other. I think '80s Rush isn't characterized by cleaner production so much as cleaner tone. Grace Under Pressure is about as '80s as you can get, but that album sounds a lot less "clean" and "clear" than most everything they'd done previously, barring their first couple albums. It's all an issue of tone and instrumentation, I think. They used different instruments, different amps, etc. Geddy always sounds like Geddy, yes, but the Wal does sound objectively different from the Ric or the Jazz, and it's not just engineering magic. If you sit down and play a Wal and a Ric side by side, you will still sound like you, but they are tonally and electronically just completely different animals. The instrumentation on everything from Grace Under Pressure through Presto is also typically more angular and '80s-ish, if you will, than the stuff they'd previously written. Moving Pictures and Signals saw them sort of combining their 70s prog and hard rock influences with new wave (Talking Heads, the Police, Peter Gabriel's solo output, etc.), and they just ran with it from there up until the '90s, really. On Counterparts you can really hear a big influence from Soundgarden and King's X, and a move back to instruments and equipment that translates more into '90s-type sounds. The production changed too, of course, but I still think emphasizing the "clarity" of the '80s recordings misconstrues the '70s recordings as somehow "raw" sounding, which they were clearly not. A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, and Permanent Waves are pretty much iconic examples of "clear" production in my mind.

It's also interesting to note that Geddy always says he loves the bottom end that his J-bass gets and that's why he uses it over the Ric. He used the J on "Tom Sawyer", "Limelight", "Witch Hunt", and "Vital Signs" (and I believe on "YYZ"), while the Ric was used on the "Red Barchetta" and "The Camera Eye" (interestingly enough my two favorite songs from the album, followed closely by "Vital Signs"). The J certainly sounds "heavier" to me, but it also sounds far less distinct. That might be a result of the effects he was using on it, who knows. Yet probably THE heaviest bass tone I've heard Geddy get is on "Subdivisions". And that was the Ric. The only song on that album not recorded with the Ric was Digital Man, and that time, it sounded less distinct AND less heavy than the Ric all over the album.

And that's enough of me going bass-nerd over Geddy's tone. Favorite albums in this order: Signals, A Farewell to Kings, Vapor Trails, Grace Under Pressure, Hemispheres. Grace gets on that list because "Between the Wheels" is possibly one of my favorite songs ever, and when they played it on their most recent tours when I saw them, I just about exploded with happy.

Have any of you listened to the remastered Vapor Trails tracks from the Retrospective 3 compilation? It's "One Little Victory" and "Earthshine". They sound phenomenal. I've always loved Vapor Trails, musically and lyrically, in spite of the horrific production, so this was like the greatest possible thing that could happen. The second they remaster that whole album, I'm buying it and a copy for everyone I know.

[johnallg]

I think the sterility and lack of emotion happens mostly when parts are recorded all over the nation or planet and "assembled" in the final mix. Anytime players are not in the same place at the same time the possibility of that happening goes way up. IMHO

[leftybass]

Rush are sort of why I play bass, and definitely why I bought a Ric, though I've since then found plenty of other reasons to love Rickenbacker basses.

Strangely enough, I always thought they had pretty damn "clean" production from 2112 onwards. A Farewell to Kings is my one of my "ideal" bass tones, but it's also an album I point people to when I want to explain how good, clean production can make a band sound just as lively and energetic (or more so) as anyone who claims high productions values = sterility/lack of emotion. Then again, my other favorite Rush album is Signals, which has a very "thick" sound that some might describe as muddy, but I have no problem with it as I can still discern the instruments and notes being played from each other. I think '80s Rush isn't characterized by cleaner production so much as cleaner tone. Grace Under Pressure is about as '80s as you can get, but that album sounds a lot less "clean" and "clear" than most everything they'd done previously, barring their first couple albums. It's all an issue of tone and instrumentation, I think. They used different instruments, different amps, etc. Geddy always sounds like Geddy, yes, but the Wal does sound objectively different from the Ric or the Jazz, and it's not just engineering magic. If you sit down and play a Wal and a Ric side by side, you will still sound like you, but they are tonally and electronically just completely different animals. The instrumentation on everything from Grace Under Pressure through Presto is also typically more angular and '80s-ish, if you will, than the stuff they'd previously written. Moving Pictures and Signals saw them sort of combining their 70s prog and hard rock influences with new wave (Talking Heads, the Police, Peter Gabriel's solo output, etc.), and they just ran with it from there up until the '90s, really. On Counterparts you can really hear a big influence from Soundgarden and King's X, and a move back to instruments and equipment that translates more into '90s-type sounds. The production changed too, of course, but I still think emphasizing the "clarity" of the '80s recordings misconstrues the '70s recordings as somehow "raw" sounding, which they were clearly not. A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, and Permanent Waves are pretty much iconic examples of "clear" production in my mind.

It's also interesting to note that Geddy always says he loves the bottom end that his J-bass gets and that's why he uses it over the Ric. He used the J on "Tom Sawyer", "Limelight", "Witch Hunt", and "Vital Signs" (and I believe on "YYZ"), while the Ric was used on the "Red Barchetta" and "The Camera Eye" (interestingly enough my two favorite songs from the album, followed closely by "Vital Signs"). The J certainly sounds "heavier" to me, but it also sounds far less distinct. That might be a result of the effects he was using on it, who knows. Yet probably THE heaviest bass tone I've heard Geddy get is on "Subdivisions". And that was the Ric. The only song on that album not recorded with the Ric was Digital Man, and that time, it sounded less distinct AND less heavy than the Ric all over the album.

And that's enough of me going bass-nerd over Geddy's tone. Favorite albums in this order: Signals, A Farewell to Kings, Vapor Trails, Grace Under Pressure, Hemispheres. Grace gets on that list because "Between the Wheels" is possibly one of my favorite songs ever, and when they played it on their most recent tours when I saw them, I just about exploded with happy.

Have any of you listened to the remastered Vapor Trails tracks from the Retrospective 3 compilation? It's "One Little Victory" and "Earthshine". They sound phenomenal. I've always loved Vapor Trails, musically and lyrically, in spite of the horrific production, so this was like the greatest possible thing that could happen. The second they remaster that whole album, I'm buying it and a copy for everyone I know.

This is a fine post, Bob. I'd have to throw 'Countdown' in there as well as a heavy Rickenbacker tone...

[Becky]

...the Wal does sound objectively different from the Ric or the Jazz, and it's not just engineering magic. If you sit down and play a Wal and a Ric side by side, you will still sound like you, but they are tonally and electronically just completely different animals.

How many Wal owners are there on here, beyond me? I string mine with the same gauges of Rotosounds as my 4003 but that's where the similarities end. Mine has an extremely focussed, precise sound, especially when running both pickups with the harmonic boost set near the top end. I find it almost prefers a staccato delivery to the 4003's legato. Perhaps that's something to do with the rigidity of the neck and the huge slab of its maple and mahogany body; the Rickenbacker is certainly the more physically flexible in the neck, and string bending comes somewhat easier.

"Between the Wheels" is possibly one of my favorite songs ever, and when they played it on their most recent tours when I saw them, I just about exploded with happy.

"Frozen in the fatal climb/But the wheels of time/Just pass you by..." I'm not the greatest fan of p/g on the whole (kinda dry-sounding I thought) but Between The Wheels is definitely one of my favourite songs to be singing.

[leftybass]

How many Wal owners are there on here, beyond me? I string mine with the same gauges of Rotosounds as my 4003 but that's where the similarities end. Mine has an extremely focussed, precise sound, especially when running both pickups with the harmonic boost set near the top end. I find it almost prefers a staccato delivery to the 4003's legato.

Present.

Save for a couple of basses, I use a .040-.095 roundwound set (GHS) on all of my gigging basses, Fenders/Wal/Rickenbackers/Spector.

At one time Geddy was using a really light set on the Wal, the 'Funkmaster' set by Superwound (which is Rotosound I think).

A Wal is a fantastic instrument, and their electronics are second to none IMHO, 'cept maybe certain Alembic basses out there.

As far as Wals in Rush music, I really dug that period.

What I don't particularly like about the present is the use of the SansAmp all of the time.....the last tour it sat in the mix better, but a real amp/cabinet setup would serve his sound better, IMO....

[bobcat]

...the Wal does sound objectively different from the Ric or the Jazz, and it's not just engineering magic. If you sit down and play a Wal and a Ric side by side, you will still sound like you, but they are tonally and electronically just completely different animals.

How many Wal owners are there on here, beyond me? I string mine with the same gauges of Rotosounds as my 4003 but that's where the similarities end. Mine has an extremely focussed, precise sound, especially when running both pickups with the harmonic boost set near the top end. I find it almost prefers a staccato delivery to the 4003's legato. Perhaps that's something to do with the rigidity of the neck and the huge slab of its maple and mahogany body; the Rickenbacker is certainly the more physically flexible in the neck, and string bending comes somewhat easier.

"Between the Wheels" is possibly one of my favorite songs ever, and when they played it on their most recent tours when I saw them, I just about exploded with happy.

"Frozen in the fatal climb/But the wheels of time/Just pass you by..." I'm not the greatest fan of p/g on the whole (kinda dry-sounding I thought) but Between The Wheels is definitely one of my favourite songs to be singing.

Haha, I wish I were a Wal owner. Not just because of Geddy either. Justin Chancellor of Tool and Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree are enormous influences/faves of mine notable for playing Wals, though these days Edwin uses Spectors in the studio. Still, one day I want a fretless 5-string Wal . . . I'll play "Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It is Recycled" for three days straight, probably.

Also, I always loved the guitar solo in "Between the Wheels". It's some of the only stereotypical '80s whammy-artificial-harmonics-everywhere soloing that doesn't sound dated to me. The lyrics are probably some of the best Peart ever wrote too (perfectly straddling the line between over-the-top literary pretentiousness and real-world emotional sentiment . . . which I think he missed completely on songs like "The Enemy Within" and "The Manhattan Project", which shouldn't be silly, but are). He strings together the national anthem, Bing Crosby, T.S. Eliot, and the Lost Generation. And it works. Gah!

[Mossman]

Speaking of guitar solos on g/p, how about the one on "Kid Gloves"? That solo makes me burst out in an embarrassingly uncontrollable fit of air guitar every time I hear it.

I've read it's one of Alex's top 5 favorite solos, too.

I recently picked up the remastered version of the first album, and I don't know if it's the remastering, or if it's just because I'm listening with fresh ears, having not listened to it for a long while, (most likely, a little of both) but I've gained a new appreciation for how good that album really is. It's easy to be dismissive about the debut, being that it's pretty straight-forward "bar-band" rock, and the production quality was a little lacking (plus; no Neil Peart!) but I had forgotten what a great, get-yer-head-bobbin, push-a-little-too-hard-on-the-gas-pedal, rock and roll album that was/is. Most people only think of "Working Man" when it comes to that album, but the other tracks aren't exactly filler... Sure, they're riff-driven, and the lyrics are banal in some spots, and downright corny and cliche in others, but you're too busy digging the hooks to notice... (Hey, Geddy never claimed to be word-smith) And I had totally forgotten the song "Here Again"... Pretty good for Canadian white boy blues... It inspired me to pick up the Rick and figure out the bass line... Nothing too tricky, but it's got feeling... A reminder that music doesn't have to be overly complicated to be good.

[72rick]

My first Rush Concert was Moving Pictures.
The only time I really faded from Rush was Hold Your Fire, but that's when I was devorced and very low.

When Presto was released I was married again and totally into it.

With Counterparts they reallly started their comeback to fundamental Rock.
Test For Echo, Vapor Trails and Snakes And Arrows are fantastic albums.

No-one esle has ever been able to; get, regain or retain my attention like RUSH.

They Are It!