The Rush appreciation thread

I was playing All The World's A Stage the other night (on cd). I remember hearing that there were a lot of overdubs on that album. Also, it sounds like it is taken from maybe only only two or three shows. I'll have to look into that.

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: I was playing All The World's A Stage the other night (on cd). I remember hearing that there were a lot of overdubs on that album. Also, it sounds like it is taken from maybe only only two or three shows. I'll have to look into that.

Minimal overdubbing on AtWaS, while Exit...Stage Left has a lot (Geddy calls it "overproduced").

verslibre wrote: Where did the post on The Bad Plus's cover of "Tom Sawyer" go?

I saw it. So it did show up as a post. Strange.

^
Loved it.

I don't dig much after Grace, but Presto is probably my fave of the post-Grace, so this was cool to see.

Catcher10 wrote: Some of those songs are very mellow, like Available Light. Presto has always been a decent play for me. It's got some really good writing and playing.....I think the problem for many, not so much on this site, is the fact that Presto is a very thin sounding album. Digital mastering during that time was krappy....... It needs some mustard on the drums and bass.

agreed... I like the songs on presto but its thin sounding. I had it on cassette and was the first Rush album I bought. I was dead set against early CD's back in the day and my sound engineers ears today confirm it (early ones like Gabriel's So etc ...they did get way better). Also Rush didnt work with Collins on that one and were working with a different set of elements from the that london studio to the engineers and producer. It isnt all mastering. Counterparts and test for echo both sound great. I havent listened to the remaster of Presto yet. Will do so now. Its an album I havent listened to in a long time.   Permanent Waves is my favorite Rush album... I like transition albums and I remember liking Presto.

Edited by Themistocles - May 29 2025 at 13:28

verslibre wrote: Catcher10 wrote: Some of those songs are very mellow, like Available Light. Presto has always been a decent play for me. It's got some really good writing and playing.....I think the problem for many, not so much on this site, is the fact that Presto is a very thin sounding album. Digital mastering during that time was krappy....... It needs some mustard on the drums and bass. I agree, though "Show Don't Tell" sounds pretty good and it's easily the best song on Presto, and one of their best post-HYF tunes, IMHO. I think Roll the Bones sounds worse, though!

I just listened to both and I agree Roll the Bones sounds worse than Presto but the both suffer the same problem of thin glass-like production... Presto has better songs overall.

The elements contributing to the glass-like sound of both albums are the reverb on Peart's snare, the very stinging transients on Lifeson's clean and chorsused guitars. Geddy's voice is always gonna cut and I think it sounds higher on those albums too. But really its the general transient information that feels shrill without as much girth say around 100-150hz. A ton of records at that time sounded like that.

Edited by Themistocles - Yesterday at 00:20

Catcher10 wrote: verslibre wrote: Catcher10 wrote: Some of those songs are very mellow, like Available Light. Presto has always been a decent play for me. It's got some really good writing and playing.....I think the problem for many, not so much on this site, is the fact that Presto is a very thin sounding album. Digital mastering during that time was krappy....... It needs some mustard on the drums and bass. I agree, though "Show Don't Tell" sounds pretty good and it's easily the best song on Presto, and one of their best post-HYF tunes, IMHO. I think Roll the Bones sounds worse, though! Ha!! Yup. I have all these on original CD when issued and are too thin. I also have the 2015 reissues that came out on LP and are remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Sean Magee he also cut the lacquers and they sound better to me, more robust and full. I don't know if the 2015 reissues also included CDs. IIRC all these 2015 reissues on LP sold out and the reseller prices are up there now...Rush did do a repress of Test For Echo. That one was going for $300 for the 2015 version on LP.

I think the original mix for Test for Echo is superior. I have it on CD. I liked the 90's style production its fat but has great transients. People Sl*g the variety of reverbs where each drum seems to have a different space but I like that when done right. Im a big fan of Andy Wallace's work... he and Albini are two of my pole stars (polar opposites too, I love Roy Thomas Baker too).

Themistocles wrote: Catcher10 wrote: verslibre wrote: Catcher10 wrote: Some of those songs are very mellow, like Available Light. Presto has always been a decent play for me. It's got some really good writing and playing.....I think the problem for many, not so much on this site, is the fact that Presto is a very thin sounding album. Digital mastering during that time was krappy....... It needs some mustard on the drums and bass. I agree, though "Show Don't Tell" sounds pretty good and it's easily the best song on Presto, and one of their best post-HYF tunes, IMHO. I think Roll the Bones sounds worse, though! Ha!! Yup. I have all these on original CD when issued and are too thin. I also have the 2015 reissues that came out on LP and are remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Sean Magee he also cut the lacquers and they sound better to me, more robust and full. I don't know if the 2015 reissues also included CDs. IIRC all these 2015 reissues on LP sold out and the reseller prices are up there now...Rush did do a repress of Test For Echo. That one was going for $300 for the 2015 version on LP. I think the original mix for Test for Echo is superior. I have it on CD. I liked the 90's style production its fat but has great transients. People Sl*g the variety of reverbs where each drum seems to have a different space but I like that when done right. Im a big fan of Andy Wallace's work... he and Albini are two of my pole stars (polar opposites too, I love Roy Thomas Baker too).

I too like the original TFE sound, RLudwig originally mastered it, albeit for digital in 1995-6. The 2015 reissue is nice and thick on the LP version, I have no complaints. I bought the 2025 reissue as well, this uses the same metal parts as the 2015 version. Still has a bit too much compression as some of the dynamics are sucked out, but overall its pretty good.

None of these newer albums recorded in the mid late 90s hold a candle to the 70s-80s recordings. Especially something like AFTK, Hemispheres and Moving Pictures. Dynamics in spades.....

Edited by Catcher10 - 15 hours 46 minutes ago at 16:18