![]() ![]() It was the volume changes that drove me mad. I didn't mind the sudden shift in musical styles or instrumentation. Just got time for one last song before you park your car and head into work? Too bad, it's "The Necromancer," and all you get to hear is the stupid slow-voice introduction. All predictability is out the window like so much baby-filled bath water. "Red Lenses," "Red Tide." and "Red Barchetta." Now go amaze your friends. And here's my favorite discovery: Rush have three songs that all start with the same color word. For example, what Rush song comes first alphabetically? That would be "Afterimage." What three letters don't start any Rush songs? Q, U, and Z. Then you calm down and remember that "Red Alert" is actually called "Distant Early Warning"Īlphabetical listening also leads to the discovery of fun trivia facts about your favorite band. You begin to doubt not only your own brain but the universe itself. So when you play all the tunes out of order, and a song that you know from years of experience should play NOW doesn't, it's jarring. It's what my brain knows is going to happen. Even though I know there's nothing wrong with my disc and I'm no longer living in my mom's basement, I fully expect that guitar break to literally break and go quiet for three seconds. To this day, I expect that clunky silence every time that part of the song comes along. While listening to a tape one day, I accidentally pressed record instead of play, which left a three second drop in sound permanently carved into "Middletown Dreams." Because I couldn't afford a CD of my own till years later, that damaged tape was all I had. When I first started listening to Rush half a lifetime ago, I copied my friend's CDs onto cassette tapes. No matter how familiar you are with the catalog, shifting it into a new light casts doubt on everything you thought you knew. Trying to guess the next song turns every listening experience into a game. I've been listening to Rush for twenty years now (why does that realization make my heart hurt?) but I still wasn't able to say exactly what song was next in the queue. With this listening style, you get all the excitement of experiencing an old favorite in a novel way but are able to sort of predict what song is coming next. But Rush have always obeyed the golden rule of art: if you make mistakes, at least make interesting mistakes. Do something 165 times, even something you're good at, and you fail once in a while. Is it blasphemous to admit that Rush have bad songs? I don't think so. Listening chronologically, you always know when a sub-par song is coming up and when your next favorite is due to play. Some things really should be wiped from memory. I've also been told that about whole swaths of the 70s. Or on the spine of the 8-track? I'm not all that familiar with what 8-tracks are or how they work, but I've been told by those of authority to just pretend they never existed. If you don't quite remember what song comes next, it's printed on the back cover. There are no surprises with this listening method. You hear heavy metal sink slowly into the morass of synthesizers and effects pedals then arise glorious again like a phoenix with a Stratocaster. The drummer and Geddy's voice both change for the better. Sometimes loud and furious, sometimes distant and aloof. What you get with each record is a cohesive style and sound that functions as a snapshot of the band as they were at that time. Listen to the songs as the band and god intended. It doesn't take an mp3 player for this, just pop in the CDs or put on the records or whatever you do to 8-tracks (punch them in?) in the order they were recorded and released. In Chronological Order (or Grand Designs) So what's the best way to enjoy almost forty years of mostly great music? How about. Not counting covers, Rush have recorded 165 songs, and I have listened to them all scores of times. Music in the Abstract: Three Ways to Listen to Rush by Michael Channing ![]()
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