MOVING PICTURES

Rush

Heavy Prog

4.38 | 3151 ratings

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fcoulter

Anyone can write a song in an odd time signature.

(What's an odd time signature? In classical music, 3/4, 4/4, and 6/8 are all very normal time signatures. In rock, though, anything other than 4/4 is damn strange.)

And most of the time, the odd time signature is a stunt. It's a way for the band to say "see how cool we are, we can write a piece in 9/8." (OK, that was a cheap shot. Sorry.)

It is much harder to write a popular song in an odd time signature and not have the audience notice. It is even harder to keep changing time signatures and have the changes be an integral part of the song, and still the audience just sits back and rocks out.

Recently I found myself (and my younger daughter who occassionally has dreams of being a drummer) counting our way through the album. There's a lot going on in the album that I hadn't noticed before. Very cool.

Just one example - in the first song, the ever-present "Tom Sawyer," wait for the move from 4 to 7. If you can keep a steady beat (and an amazing number of people can't), it's when your foot tapping is no longer on the beat.

Tom Sawyer is also the song I use to demonstrate to my children (currently being polluted by Brittney and her clones) that drums aren't meant to be heard, they are meant to be felt. Crank it up (and try not to blow out your speakers).

Another favorite of mine is "Witch Hunt," both for the textures that Rush invoke as well as the political message. Unfortunately, the Vigilantes never think of themselves as evil, but as doing Gods/Natures/the Peoples will.

I don't have all of Rush's albums, so I can't say for sure that this is their best. But it's a damn good album, and I'm glad I finally picked it up.

| 5/5 | 2006-4-23

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