Seven And Seven Is
Somehow, Love flew underneath my musical radar, so I'm only vaguely familiar with this tune. It's hella-bombastic though.
Shapes Of Things
More fun with the Yardbirds by way of Toronto
Crossroads
Hey! These guys liked Cream's Wheels Of Fire as much as I did. Who knew?! Geddy doesn't have the same blues swing in his voice that Clapton does, but he doesn't have to. Alex attempts his best Clapton imitation and manages to sound like, well, Alex.
One or two of the uber-fans brought up valid points: certainly a Led Zeppelin cover would have been fun. But maybe that would have pushed past their early teen years (around the mid-60's). I dunno. This was fun enough for me. Heck, I coulda used a little more.
Lighten up, Rushfans™.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
I think most "real" Rushfans™ "get" the intended fun of this album, but we just really want to hear more of Rush playing Rush! I read somewhere, can't remember where, that they deliberately skipped covering Zep because it's just so obvious - I mean, listen to that first album, they're clearly lifting most of their style.
I could have done without "For What It's Worth," however. Never liked that song, still don't like that song even covered by my favorite band.
I had been hoping they would include a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black," since they played a teaser of that at that big SARS festival. Next EP, I suppose. In 30 years.
2 - Mark Saleski
to be honest, i could have done without ALL of the Buffalo Springfield AND Yardbirds material.
also, their cover of "Bad Boy" woulda been cool.
Summertime Blues and The Seeker make the whole thing worth it (for me anyway)
3 - Sitting Bull
As a long-time Rush fan who wasn't real excited about the Feedback project, I am stunned by how much I love this album. Rush breathes new life into some tired 60s classics and sounds looser and more alive than they ever have. The song selection is perfectly matched to Geddy's voice and Lifeson ditches his typical tasteful restraint and gets to showcase his underrated chops and complete mastery of feedback and effects. The "garage-band sound" everyone is writing about is nothing new- Rush has been playing this way live on their last two tours. Don't know if I'm the stereotypical Rush fan Mark Seleski referenced in his review, since I love this album and I have indeed kissed a real girl. In fact, I was kissing his girl while he was trademarking "UberRushFan"...
4 - Andrew Ian Dodge
Cover albums by established acts are just lame. I am sorry to see that Rush succumbed to this trend. No doubt it was down to record company obligations.
5 - Tom Johnson
Easy to say, Marty, and generally I agree, but this is one that happens to kick much ass. Really, a blast to listen to, aside from the critical speed bump that "For What It's Worth" is - it's just too slow, too dark, too quiet amidst all this high-energy fun.
6 - Mark Saleski
No doubt it was down to record company obligations.
yea, well no amount of cynicism is going to stop me from enjoying the pure joy that is Summertime Blues and The Seeker.
plus, i heardly think Neil would have put together the liner note anecdotes just to lie about their intent.
7 - SFC SKi
According to Geddy in a Bass Player magazine interview, Rush wanted to do something fun in playing songs they had covered in the early days. I only wish they had played one or two of these songs last summer on tour.
8 - Tom Johnson
No doubt it was down to record company obligations.
Rush doesn't have any "record company obligations" anymore. They're long past those days. They pretty much do as they please. If the label wants something new, they'll just cobble together They wanted to put something together to mark their 30th anniversary, something that said something about where they came from. This does a great job of it. Only when "Crossroads" finishes I wish there was more to it than those 8 tracks. Fun stuff.
9 - Adam N
I am pretty hacked that the album is less than half an hour long. It would have been cheaper for me just to download each song at 80 cents a pop. However, the album has a very good sound. My favorite track on this album is Mr. Soul, which is slowed down quite a bit, is not sloppy like Young's version, and has a hint of secret touch in the beginning. As for Geddy's voice on this track, it was amazing. As goofy as it may sound, the voice had me convinced that Roger Waters could sing this tune. As for the rest of the album, the songs do sound as if they had new life breathed into them. Unfortunately, "For What It's Worth" was not worth being covered. i was pretty disappointed with this one. The timing of the voice and the guitars did not fit well, sort of like Metallica's haphazard cover of lynyrd skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone." Some songs you just can't change. In the end, I guess we will just have to wait for an album of original stuff!