Rush: Test For Echo

 

Rush: Test For Echo (1996)

Way back in 1996, I was just starting my senior year of high school, when this album was released. How was that 28 years ago? The 16th studio album from my favorite band, Rush. Through the years, this album has taken its unfair share of criticism, but I for one have always loved it.

There was an album premiere on the radio, and I believe they played the entire album, with interviews from all three band members. I can remember listening to that broadcast, and loving everything that I heard. It was clear that this album was much more melodic, and less heavy than the previous album, "Counterparts" (my favorite Rush album). There is so much to love with this album, and Geddy sings some of my favorite vocal melodies of the band's career on this one (particularly with "The Color of Right", and "Totem"). 

For my money, there's not a single dud on this album. Oh sure, "Dog Years" has some silly lyrics, but I have always loved their charm. And I'll admit that it took me far too long to really warm up to "Time And Motion", but after some time I learned to love it as well. And I must mention "Carve Away the Stone" here, as it is such a wonderful, and sadly forgotten tune in the Rush catalog.

This one may be a far cry from their more popular stuff, but to me "Test For Echo" was yet another home run. It may not be looked on as one of the favorites to many fans, but for me it finishes well above a couple of those albums that often get namechecked as the best. But... that's just my opinion. Whatever your opinion was, pop this one in, and give it another play. Who knows, maybe you'll enjoy more than you thought you would.

I also really enjoy this Neil Peart instructional DVD, where he goes through the entire "Test For Echo" album. It's a fantastic watch from the late, great Neil Peart.

David Gilmour: Luck And Strange

 

David Gilmour: Luck And Strange (2024)

I can't believe it's been so long (nine years!), but I'm finally hearing a new David Gilmour album, and I've gotta say, I'm liking it much more than "On An Island", and "Rattle That Lock". It's not that I didn't love those albums, but they lacked that certain power that I know David Gilmour for. 

The album kicks off with the short instrumental track, "Black Cat", a moody opening track that leads into the title cut. And the pure magic begins here. DG went back to some old sessions, and pulled out a performance from Pink Floyd (and frequent collaborator), Richard Wright. It sounds so good to have a performance from Wright again, and the tune is just fantastic. I got goosebumps playing it. The next track, "The Piper's Call" is another one that really shows the talent of David Gilmour. The track is heavy, and moody at times (would you want it any other way), with a fantastic guitar solo. This song is killer!

"A Single Spark" is a bit moody, and atmospheric, and almost feels like it would sit nicely on "The Division Bell". The vocal melody is just fantastic, and shows that David can still sing as well as he always could (at least in the studio). There's some really cool things going on in this song, and the keyboard performance is particularly cool, and of course that emotive guitar solo is phenomenal. Another great track. "Vita Brevis" is another short instrumental track, with some harp (?), some sweet sounding keys, and a quiet bit of guitar soundscape. Decent little track.

"Between Two Points" was released as a single, and features vocals from David's daughter, Romany (who has a beautiful voice). Musically it's a bit of a ballad, with acoustic guitar, some pretty orchestration, and another wonderful guitar solo. I will say that the tracks seems mixed a bit too loud, with some clipping, but otherwise it's a pretty good song. Not my favorite on the album, but I really enjoyed it. "Dark And Velvet Nights" starts heavy, and goes through a few peaks and valleys musically. This one is a very cool, hard rocking, bluesy track, and may end up one of my favorite tracks on the album. It definitely sounds like one hell of a jam, with a fantastic performance being turned in by every member of the band. Again, it feels like it could have been on "The Division Bell". 

"Sings" is a track that sounds like it could have been on one of the last two albums. At least to me it feels like it fits that same, moody atmosphere. It's a really cool track, even if it is a huge departure from the last track. Again, the vocals from David are phenomenal, and the keyboard work really makes the tune breathe. There's a sort of quiet interlude part here that I really enjoy as well. This one is a nice little tune. 

The album closes with "Scattered", and to say this one feels like a Pink Floyd song would be an understatement. To me, this tune evokes feelings of "Meddle" (particularly "Echoes", thanks to the keyboards), "Wish You Were Here", and "The Division Bell". This one may not be an all out rocker, but it may be my favorite track on the album. Musically, it's just so huge. There's a chaotic, musical interlude that gave me goosebumps. The tune ends off with what may be amongst David Gilmour's best guitar solos in his entire career, and a beautiful vocal outro. For my money, I wouldn't mind an entire album like this one track. What a great way to end one hell of a great album. I only hope David has another album in him, because this one is just phenomenal. 

Rush: Hold Your Fire

 

Rush: Hold Your Fire (1987)

Released on this day in 1987, "Hold Your Fire" would be Rush's twelfth studio album, and their final studio album for Mercury Records. This album would also be the first time that one of the band's studio albums featured more than eight tracks. With ten tracks to choose from, that's a lot of Rush for your buck!

The album kicks off with "Force Ten", a song with lyrics co-wrote by Neil Peart and Pye Dubois ("Tom Sawyer"). It's also a track that was written at the last minute, and thankfully so, as it's one of the best on an album full of great songs. From there we go to "Time Stand Still" which may be among the most beautiful songs the band had ever written, both musically, and lyrically. 

The keyboards are still pretty much everywhere here, but Alex definitely takes a strong step forward with the guitars, and turns in some of the tastiest licks in the catalog. Of particular note are the guitars in "Open Secrets", and "Prime Mover" (another personal favorite Rush track), and "Turn the Page" (which is among my top three favorite Lerxst guitar solos).

This album has taken a lot of crap over the years, from the direction of the band to outright hate of "Tai Shan" (a beautiful song that I adored). But for my money, from "Force Ten" to "High Water", this album will always be a top five Rush disc for me.

Genesis: Duke

Genesis: Duke (1980)

"Duke" is the tenth studio album from Genesis, and the album that I sort of briefly jump ship from. It's not that I don't like the album, it's just not one that I find myself going back to all that often. Though listening to it today, I can't imagine why. There is some really fantastic music on this album. 

By the time they got to "Duke", Genesis had become a three-piece in the studio, and it seems that maybe Phil had a little more control over the music, as there are hints of his solo material showing up here. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. In fact, "Misunderstanding" is a fantastic song, penned by Phil Collins. Still, there's enough of Tony and Mike here to make this album a definite Genesis disc.

The album kicks off with "Behind the Lines", "Duchess", and "Guide Vocal", an opening that may be a bit subdued, but really fantastic. In fact, these three tracks make up part of the story of Duke, though the band decided not to track them together, so as to allow for singles. Thus, "Turn It On Again", "Duke's Travels", and "Duke's End" were placed elsewhere on the album. Had they been sequence together, I feel the album would have finished much higher in my ranking of Genesis studio albums.

I must also mention "Alone Again", which I think may be at least among the most beautiful of Phil's vocals, throughout his entire career. How this one wasn't a bigger hit completely baffles me. Especially in a world where the band quite often pulled out "Illegal Alien" (at least in part).

I enjoy "Duke" whenever I do pull it out, but generally my tastes go elsewhere. Still, this is a great album, and one that could definitely use a bit more attention from time to time.

 

Ozzy Osbourne: Diary of A Madman

 

Ozzy Osbourne: Diary of A Madman

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the world's biggest Ozzy fan, though I would never deny his talent, or his incredible vocals. Since I felt in the mood to hear some Ozzy this morning, I sort of just closed my eyes and pointed at a CD, and pulled that one out.

"Diary of A Madman" was his second solo release, way back in 1981. If you said you'd never heard anything from this album, I would assume you're lying. This disc is full of hits, and forgotten classics. Of course "Over the Mountain", "Flying High Again", and the amazing title track are pretty well known, but for my money, I think that "Little Dolls" should have been a hit. The guitars alone on this track give me goosebumps every time. What a great tune that is. And since I'm a sucker for a power ballad, I gotta say what a great tune "Tonight" is as well.

I'm not sure where I would rank this one in the Ozzy catalog, as I'm not familiar enough with it all to rank anything, but I will say that every time I put this one on, I am highly entertained. This is a fantastic disc, and one that any rock or metal fan should have in their collection.

Dream Theater: Los Angeles, CA (1998)

 

Dream Theater: Los Angeles, CA (1998)

For some reason I was really in the mood for some live Dream Theater music today, and this fantastic show from the "Falling Into Infinity" tour really seemed like the right call. The setlist here is absolutely phenomenal, calling on all of their previous albums, and heavily on "Falling Into Infinity".

Unlike "Once In A LiveTime", this album is quite as polished as that one, as I'm sure you could tell from the "official bootleg" tag. However, the sound is still really good, and some of the material that didn't show up on the official release really makes this one something special. Of particular interest to me are live takes on the beautiful ballad, "Anna Lee", the b-side "Speak To Me", a fiery performance of "New Millenium", and some amazing covers of "Perfect Strangers", "The Trooper", "Where Eagles Dare", and "Killers". 

Even though this album wasn't officially released by a major record label, it's still a fantastic addition to any Dream Theater collection, and one that I pull out often enough to be happy that I picked it up all of those years ago. Check it out, and enjoy the Sherinian!

Rush: Roll the Bones

 

Rush: Roll the Bones (1991)

Released on this day back in 1991, this is the first album to come out after I became a die hard fan of the band. I was in the 7th grade, and after seeing the band on their PRESTO tour, I was excited for this one. After hearing both "Dreamline", and the title track on the radio I was more than ready to hear the rest of the album.

This one is in my top five favorite Rush albums, with songs like "Heresy", "You Bet Your Life", "Bravado", and "Face Up" high up in my favorite Rush song list. Though to be honest, there isn't a single song here that I don't love. And let's not forget the band's first instrumental track in a decade, "Where's My Thing (Part IV: Gangster of Boats Trilogy)" comes a mere ten years after "YYZ".

The tour was nothing short of phenomenal, with a really cool closing medley that consisted of "2112: Overture", "Finding My Way " (the last tour to ever feature that song!), "La Villa Strangiato", "Anthem", and "Red Barchetta". I'll never forget that show, as it was pure magic. 

Rush: 2112

 

Rush: 2112 (1976)

There are people that will argue with you all day about whether or not this is a concept album. It is not. Side A is a concept piece, but side B are completely unrelated to the story of "2112". Side A is a seven piece suite that tells the story of a world where music has been removed from society by some angry priests, who dwell in the Temples of Syrinx, until one man happens upon an acoustic guitar, and teaches himself how to play it. The priests immediately reject the instrument, and destroy it. The man goes on to have a dream of a better world, and decides to end his own life. The ending, to me, always sounded like the original habitants of the world return, and take the rule back from the priests. So, happy ending? You be the judge.

Side B is made up of five shorter tracks that have absolutely nothing to do with side A, but are all fantastic songs in the Rush catalog. From the foreign substance subject matter of "A Passage To Bangkok", to the rallying cry to believe in yourself of "Something For Nothing", there's not a dull track here. My personal favorite is the Alex Lifeson penned "Lessons", but "Tears", and "The Twilight Zone" are both fantastic as well. 

This is the album that gave Rush their freedom from label interference when making a new album, and the album that brought many more fans to a Rush show. For my money, though it doesn't finish in the top half of my favorite Rush albums, no album from my favorite band could ever be bad. 

Rob's Discography Marathon: The Tragically Hip

Hello, all, and welcome to discography marathon of Canda's own, The Tragically Hip. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know the entire history of the band. To be honest, I've only become a huge fan of the band over the last few years. As such, there may be facts that I get wrong. I apologize for this, and mean no disrespect to the band or fans. I'll be updating this as I listen to each studio album, and writing down some rather brief thoughts of each album. And as always, since this is my blog, the opinions here are obviously my own. Thanks, and welcome to the Great White North, with The Tragically Hip.

The Tragically Hip (EP) - 1987

We start our Tragically Hip marathon with this fantastic EP from 1987. With only seven tracks to choose from, I can't find a single track that I don't love here. The music is a bit less polished than what the band's future albums would sound like, but this album is full of fantastic melodies, and music. 

The band all sound phenomenal, and Gord's vocals are as good as they ever were. Only "Highway Girl" would make the greatest hits compilation, but for my money, "Last American Exit" should have made that set. What a melodic beauty that tune is. 

This may not be my favorite release from The Hip, but it's undeniable that this was album was the framework for an amazing career. 

Up To Here - 1989

Released in 1989, "Up To Here" is the full-length debut from this legendary Canadian band. For now I only have the original CD release, but an expanded anniversary release is coming in November, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. 

Looking at the track list of this album is almost like looking at a greatest hits compilation. Nearly every track here is a pretty well known tune. From the album opening trio of, "Blow At High Dough" (a track with so many varied versions, thanks to the improvisational skills of front man Gord Downie), "I'll Believe In You (Or I'll Be Leaving You Tonight)", and "New Orleans Is Sinking", to "She Didn't Know", "Boots Or Hearts", and "Trickle Down", I've heard many live version of these fantastical songs. 

In addition to those well-loved tracks, the album also has such amazing songs as "Opiated", "38 Years Old", and "Another Midnight". In my opinion there isn't one dull song on this album.

The Tragically Hip: Road Apples (Deluxe) - 1991

For their second album, The Tragically Hip went to New Orleans to craft what I find to be among the top few best albums from the band. Originally titled "Saskadelphia" as a play on city names from their endless touring, the band's label decided that the title was "too Canadian" (could there ever be such a thing?!), luckily the band had "Road Apples" up their sleeves. Leave it to a dumb record label exec to not know what that term really stands for. 

The music here is nothing short of brilliant. From start to finish, there is not one song that is better than the others. It's all fantastically written, and performed slices of brilliance. There are so many great moments here, both musically, and vocally. This is the album that actually finally pulled me into the world of The Hip. 

The version picture above is the deluxe edition, with a bonus live show, and an EP called "Saskadelphia" (they finally did it, boys!), which features six tunes that were previously unreleased, and recorded around the time of the album. Sadly no studio version of "Montreal" could be found, but the live version is pretty damned good, so we'll forgive them. 

Even though this album is in my favorite albums from The Tragically Hip, they have a lot of albums to go, and more fantastic songs than I could list in one post. It's all uphill from here, and what a great voyage it is!

Fully Completely (Deluxe) - 1992

After the brilliance of "Road Apples", The Tragically Hip followed it up with another flawless offering of heavy, melodic, and beautiful songs. This is yet another album that I can't find a single flaw in. "Fully Completely" has the distinction of being the first album with lyrics written solely by front-man Gord Downie.

This album is full of classic Hip songs, with "Courage", "Fully Completely", the hard rocking "At the Hundredth Meridian", the incredibly heavy "Fifty Mission Cap", the absolutely beautiful sounding "Wheat Kings", and "another monster, heavy tune, "The Wherewithal". There are also some amazing tunes that (as far as I know) weren't as big. "Pigeon Camera" is a particular favorite of mine, "We'll Go, Too", and "Eldorado" are all just as fantastic as the band's more beloved material.

I'm not sure where this one ranks for me, but as with most albums from The Tragically Hip, there isn't a single tune that I don't love here. Such a great album. This version also included an absolutely performance from September of 1992, that no fan should be without.

 

Day For Night - 1994

In a stroke of luck, I come to the "Day For Night" portion of my marathon on the release date for this magnificent album. In addition to being a huge album for the band, they also got to appear on Saturday Night Live for this album's touring cycle. That night they played album opener (and quite a somber-ish one for an album opener) "Grace, Too", a song which would probably make many fans' favorites list, and the fantastic "Nautical Disaster" (with an absolutely smoking outro).

"Day For Night" is another one of those albums that is full of amazing songs. In addition to the aforementioned tracks, the album is also home to the rocker "Greasy Jungle", with some amazing guitar work, and killer vocal melodies. "So Hard Done By" is another sort of medium paced tune that I just love (just listen to that guitar work!). "Yawning Or Snarling" is a more melodic rocker, a song I don't believe was a big hit, but it should have been. "Fire In the Hole" is another song that should have been huge. It's so big, and powerful. From the crunch of the guitars, to the pounding drums, this is one hell of a great rocker. "Thugs" has a bass line that I defy you to find something quite as perfect for a tune. "Titanic Terrarium" is one of those tunes that just has such a creepy sort of vibe, that I love so damn much. I also must mention "Scared", as it is such a beautiful song, and one of my all-time favorite Gord Downie vocal performances. The album closes with "Impossibilium" which is my favorite song on the album. A hard edged, melodic masterpiece, this is a song I would use to introduce folks to The Hip.

Hit after hit, great tune after another, "Day For Night" is some of the best music written by this band, or many others. This is the kind of stuff that should have been burning up the charts all around the world. This album is just that good! Definitely another home run from this stellar Canadian band.

John Wetton: An Extraordinary Life

 

John Wetton: An Extraordinary Life

I'm a big fan of John Wetton's. For my money, there were few vocalists that could outdo what this man could do, all while playing the bass guitar. I've been a big fan of Asia for years, and own all of the albums. I also have John's work with UK, King Crimson, and Icon. But for some reason I never owned any of his solo albums. That was rectified with this beautifully done box set. Flipping through the extensive liner notes, and included booklet and I can't help but be a bit sad that he's gone. 

As I listen through to these albums for the first time, it occurs to me that I'm listening to new to me music from one of my all-time favorite musicians. I don't know how I missed out on these albums for so long, but I'm so happy to be hearing it. There will never be a musician like John, and I'm happy to honor his memory by listening to his music. He'll always be missed, but never forgotten.

Kudos to everyone that was involved with this phenomenal box set. And Rest In Peace to John. Thanks for the music!

Rob's Top 100 Albums of All Time (75 - 50)

 Welcome back, my friends. I didn't want my last post to get too long here, so I thought I would start a second post for the next 25 albums on my top 100 favorite albums of all time list. You'll see more prog-rock sneak into this part of my list, but they're all great albums, and I'm having such a great time listening to them all, as I post these short blurbs about each album. No more talking, let's get to it!

#75 - Avantasia: The Scarecrow (2008)

To me, this is symphonic metal at its finest. "The Scarecrow" is the first part of Tobias Sammet's "Wicked Trilogy". To me, this album is just perfection. There are so many great guests here. Bob Catley (MAGNUM), Amanda Somerville, Alice Cooper, and MIchael Kiske (Helloween) to name a few. The music is melodic, and heavy, and very symphonic, and a wonderful ride from start to finish. The title track is more than 11 minutes of pure brilliance, just to name one favorite. The other two albums in this trilogy are fantastic as well, but this part is my favorite. 

#74 - Def Leppard: Adrenalize (1992)

This was the album that introduced me to Def Leppard. I'm sure I most likely heard some stuff on the radio, but this is where I really started to love the band. Of course "Let's Get Rocked" was all over the place, but I think "Tear It Down" and the ballad ("Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad") are my favorites here. The entire album just sounds so powerful, and in your face. You just can't help but love the melodies, and instrumentation.