This is from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, edited by Jon Pareles and Patricia Romanowski (New York: Rollin Stone Press / Summit Books, 1983), p. 485.
Back in the days before the Internet and Wikipedia, this was the way we would know the birthdays of the musicians in our favorite bands.
I used to read the entries in this book over and over again. Back in the day.
Is the 1983 Encyclopedia entry as obtuse as the Rush entry in the 1979 Record Guide?
Stay tuned for Part 2…
It’s getting serious now as I enter the final three albums in my 2014 top 20 countdown, the bronze, silver and gold positions. Needless to say that all three bands coming up have released fabulous albums, worthy of any accolade coming their way.
Remember, every post in this series can be accessed at the bottom of this post along with the full series’ from 2012 and 2013.
But enough of that, here’s Number 3 for 2014…
Sólstafir
‘Otta’
Season Of Mist
Iceland. In my opinion, one of the most magical countries on Earth and, given the size of the population, a musical powerhouse. When my brother passed away in 2008, my family and I started a search for a perfect resting place for some of his ashes. His love of rugged landscapes, mountains and the wilderness led us inexorably towards Iceland. None of us had visited before and when…
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This is from The Rolling Stone Record Guide, edited by Dave Marsh with John Swenson (Random House / Rolling Stone Press, 1979), p. 336.
The review was written by “A.N.” which stands for “Alan Niester” who we are told (p. xvi) “is a high school teacher in Toronto who writes for a variety of American and Canadian magazines.”
For those of you not familiar with the rating system, a square means zero, or “worthless” (p. xiii).
Sorry, Alan, the first Rush album I ever listened to was A Farewell to Kings … and it is a five-star tour de force of excellence. “Xanadu” and “Cygnus X-1” are mind-blowing and innovative. I remember someone had left the vinyl gatefold album in the high school band room; I saw it at the end of the day there and borrowed it overnight. I returned it the next day, my life having been changed forever!
Wow … it seems Alan really hated the music that some of his brighter students were listening to!
To quote Spinal Tap: Alan is currently residing in The “Where Are They Now?” File.
One of the interesting things to come out of Larry Harris’s 2009 book about Casablanca Records, And Party Every Day (Backbeat Books), is how close the label came to signing Rush. Harris, the company’s managing director, said he flew to Toronto in 1974 at the recommendation of a colleague to see if the band was a good fit for the label, which at the time was known mostly for its up-and-coming rock act, Kiss. Harris wasn’t that impressed with the band, especially with its looks, and took a pass, opening the door for Mercury to swoop in and snap them up. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Harris with Gene Simmons
Harris says he regrets not signing the band, but it’s probably a good thing he didn’t. Despite what it did for Kiss, Casablanca did not go on to become a major force in rock music; it went…
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Greg Spawton comments:
‘Prog is a prison’: Mr Fripp in Classic Rock. I prefer to think of it as a broad church.
As well as working with Phideaux, and doing his own thing, Johnny Unicorn also plays bass in a Seattle-based prog outfit called Autumn Electric. In his own words from a recent email…
As you may know, I play bass in the Seattle-based progressive rock band Autumn Electric. We’re putting together a sci-fi rock opera and a tour this March and April, and in order to improve the fan experience, we are performing the entire album live, with lights and effects and costume changes, and wherever possible, sharing the bill with like-minded bands in venues that don’t expect us to be background music. Since this is a costlier endeavor than we’ve done in the past, we’re raising money ahead of time via Kickstarter:
If you want to see this prog rock space opera made, please think about pledging. Even the smallest pledge will get you something physical in the mail. If you’re in the West, Southwest, South, Southeast, East, or Midwest, you may be on our tour route this Spring. I’ll let you know as soon as I know.
So if you’re keen, go and pledge!
Johnny’s latest album, Angels in the Oort Cloud, is bloody brilliant, by the way.
I don’t want to get in the habit of quoting myself (a sure sign of descent either into senility or sociopathism), but I wrote this about a month ago:
In a world of true justice, Flying Colors would be blaring from every car stereo tuned to album rock radio across North America. Not only does SECOND NATURE have the single best album cover of the year, but the album is absolutely riveting. It’s not quite prog, though, as with the best of AOR, it contains great prog elements. Everything fits perfectly here. The lyrics are solid, the vocals are superior. The final two songs—Peaceful Harbor and Cosmic Symphony (sort of a gospel prog)—alone are worth the entire album. But, the entire album is, thankfully, worth the entire album. For me, every time I listen to this album, I’m transported back to 1985. This would have sounded great next to Power Windows. And, unquestionably, Peaceful Harbor would easily outdo almost any contemporary worship song should churches look for some good new music.
It’s not strong enough. The more I listen to this wonderful album, the more I realize just how very prog and how very good it is. I think the first album–which I admire and listen to frequently (it’s also my oldest son’s favorite album, which doesn’t hurt!)–tainted my view on this new one too much. That is, I was too willing to dismiss SECOND NATURE as AOR. Really, really, really good AOR, but still AOR.
May I please revise what I wrote so definitively in 2014? Please? SECOND NATURE is way too complicated and deep for AOR.
For some reason, I’ve spent the last three days with SECOND NATURE as my sound track, especially as I prepare for the new semester. On Tuesday, I had the grand privilege of meeting a Facebook friend, Geddy Lee Israel. We had a wonderful time, but that’s a different story. As we said goodbye to one another under very sunny but crisp Colorado skies, we started talking about Flying Colors. When i told him I thought it was the best AOR album of the year, he corrected me–no, it’s prog. Straight up prog. He was right.
Now, I know that labels reek, but Geddy’s comment got me to thinking. What it allowed was for me to see this album for what it probably is rather than what I’d wanted or I’d assumed it would be.
Whether you already like the album or not, I’d encourage you to listen to it again–but, this time, with headphones on and the lyrics in front of you. Imagine a deeply spiritual Neil Peart or an equally reasonable Kansas–you might come close to the lyrics of Flying Colors. I really had no idea how beautifully written these lyrics are until my brief goodbye with Geddy. Holy Moses, these are gorgeous in every way. Deep, yet ethereal. Truly poetic.
I hope I’m not violating copyright, but let me just offer this. This is the best song on the album, Peaceful Harbor.
And, here are the lyrics.
Born into the wind
It makes its way
To the lost and the hollow
Life begins again
Sometimes we lead
Sometimes we follow
Where we do not know
No sky can hold
No end, no border
The wind will fill the sails
And push you through to peaceful harbor
Love, like Heaven’s wind
No eye can see
How it blows in the darkness
Fear may freeze our steps
Loss and regret, every scar turning scarlet
Help to set your course
Through sightless days and violent waters
Love will fill your sails
And bring you through, to peaceful harbor
Chase this rising wind
anchor released
No want of landing
All in deep despair
Come feel the air
In its full finale
And yes, the chase is on
I’ll look beyond
With the bedlam behind me
And i embrace the sky
My soul will cry
May your wind ever find meSource: Flying Colors – Peaceful Harbor Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Like “Dust in the Wind,” this is the kind of song that makes me wonder if. . . just if. . . a song really could change the world.
May peace reign in this world of sorrows.
I just found out on Facebook that THE GENTLE STORM–Arjen Lucassen’s collaboration with Anneke van Giersbergen–will be released on March 23, 2015.
A month or so ago, I wrote a very long, very personal review of Rob Freedman’s excellent book, Rush: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Excellence, entitled “The Saving Grace of Neil Peart.” In it, I offered almost nothing but praise for Freedman. But, I had two criticisms. The first was that he gave too much time and attention to Peart’s critics, and the second was that I felt Freedman should have discussed stoicism. There’s no need to go into the second criticism, but here’s what I wrote in the first:
As a lover of Rush, I have a few (very few) quibbles with Freedman’s take. Mostly, from my not so humble perspective, Freedman gives way too much space to such charlatans as Barry Miles of the English New Music Express who claimed Rush promoted neo-fascism in the late 1970s. Freedman, while disagreeing with Miles, bends over backwards defending Miles’s point of view, as it did carry immense weight in the 1970s and wounded the band deeply. From my perspective, there is no excuse for Miles. He maliciously manipulated and twisted the words of Peart—using his lyrics and a personal interview—which were as deeply anti-fascistic as one could possibly imagine (paeans to creativity and individualism) and caused unnecessary damage to the reputation of three men, two of whom who had parents who had survived the horrors of the twentieth-century ideologues, as noted above. Miles’s take on Rush is simply inexcusable and no amount of justification explains his wickedness and cthluthic insensibilities toward three great artists. Dante best understood where such “men” spent eternity.
So, reading back over this, maybe I owe two apologies to Freedman. First, what a goofy thing I wrote when I started my criticism with “As a lover of Rush. . .” Of course, I love Rush. But, then, so does Freedman!
Second, I’ve spent the last week reading every review of/article on Rush from 1974 to 1981—thanks to the Mighty Eric Hansen at http://2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/Transcripts.htm. And, now, having read every review in chronological order, I see exactly why Freedman gave as much attention to Peart’s critics as he did.
Rob, my apologies to you. You were and are absolutely correct in the manner you dealt with the criticisms.
To New Music Express and Rolling Stone: I lift my hands to you. And, each hand has one finger held high. Just in case this is too subtle for your soulless, corporate, tapioca conformist brains. . . it’s the middle one.
If U2 wasn’t one of the world’s most beloved bands it certainly is now.
Quite un-expectantly, the Irish rockers released the follow-up to No Line On the Horizon on Tuesday – an 11 song effort entitled Songs of Innocence on the heels of Apple’s latest and greatest technological achievements.
No wonder it took so long. Was that whole Bono has writer’s block rumor, among other reasons, for the long-anticipated album’s delay, simply a ruse to get people to stop talking about U2 and a record that was widely expected for release last year? Apparently, because the headlines of U2’s new album, available for free, nearly stole the headlines away from Apple. U2 performed live during Apple’s much hyped press conference announcing the new iPhone 6 and Apple Watch.
So, what’s even better than a free U2 album? A really good U2 album that is the quartet’s finest in more than…
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Progarchy 