Rush - Power Windows

Once again, I'm with Bails.  I got into Rush with Moving Pictures (and now my favorite Rush album is Hemispheres), but my grandma (R.I.P.) bought me my first real stereo and CD player around Thanksgiving of 1985 (in reward for graduating high school earlier that year) and went out and bought my first three CDs:  Misplaced Childhood, Perfect Strangers, and Power Windows.  Then I got to see Rush for the very first time on that tour, and "Manhattan Project" is indelibly burned into my brain.
 
I don't get all the hate for the keys-era Rush.  I admit Grace Under Pressure is (like Caress of Steel) a little to extreme in one direction for it ever to be my favorite, but Power Windows, Hold Your Fire (Prime Mover!!) and Presto are what cemented my love for this band.  Further, Presto is in my top five Rush albums and high on the list of favorite albums by any band, alltime.
 

Stadler


Once again, I'm with Bails.  I got into Rush with Moving Pictures (and now my favorite Rush album is Hemispheres), but my grandma (R.I.P.) bought me my first real stereo and CD player around Thanksgiving of 1985 (in reward for graduating high school earlier that year) and went out and bought my first three CDs:  Misplaced Childhood, Perfect Strangers, and Power Windows.  Then I got to see Rush for the very first time on that tour, and "Manhattan Project" is indelibly burned into my brain.

I don't get all the hate for the keys-era Rush.  I admit Grace Under Pressure is (like Caress of Steel) a little to extreme in one direction for it ever to be my favorite, but Power Windows, Hold Your Fire (Prime Mover!!) and Presto are what cemented my love for this band.  Further, Presto is in my top five Rush albums and high on the list of favorite albums by any band, alltime.

Yeah I don't really know either.  It still sounds like Rush to me.  My first Rush CD was The Spirit of Radio hits collection, and I was too uneducated at the time to really make a noted difference between like, say, "The Trees" and "The Big Money".  They both had the same three guys playing, cool sound effects, cool guitars, great basslines, keyboard parts, etc.  Its the same band.  The only thing seems to be that THEY'RE embarrassed or unhappy with the period as a whole.  But maybe I'm wrong.  I know they like a lot of the songs though.

Brick Glass:

I don't know about that. The remaster sounds pretty damn good to me.

 
 

I'll just quote myself from earlier in the thread.
 
If you are talking about the recently released version from the Sector 3 box, I can't comment on that yet as I don't have it.
 
My comments below were about the originally release on CD versus the 1997 Remaster.
 

I'd go with the original. (Actually I always do with Power Windows)
 
It's more balanced and you can really hear the low end smoke.
The remaster has a crisper high end, but the low end gets buried because of it. 
 

 
I'll probably end up with the Sector 3 Box at some point if only for the slightly different mixes on some of the Hold Your Fire songs...

might be my fave rush album. prob not the best but it's the most fun to listen to!

RocketSauce2112


Yeah I don't really know either.  It still sounds like Rush to me.  My first Rush CD was The Spirit of Radio hits collection, and I was too uneducated at the time to really make a noted difference between like, say, "The Trees" and "The Big Money".  They both had the same three guys playing, cool sound effects, cool guitars, great basslines, keyboard parts, etc.  Its the same band.  The only thing seems to be that THEY'RE embarrassed or unhappy with the period as a whole.  But maybe I'm wrong.  I know they like a lot of the songs though.

Sincere question:  why do so many people think they don't like the period?  I know from the documentary that Alex was not as artistically fulfilled when he was competing with a full complement of keyboards, but still.  Those songs get as much love as, say, the Rush - Hemispheres era.
 
I still think most bands wish they could put out an album as solid from top to bottom as Presto.

Stadler

RocketSauce2112


Yeah I don't really know either.  It still sounds like Rush to me.  My first Rush CD was The Spirit of Radio hits collection, and I was too uneducated at the time to really make a noted difference between like, say, "The Trees" and "The Big Money".  They both had the same three guys playing, cool sound effects, cool guitars, great basslines, keyboard parts, etc.  Its the same band.  The only thing seems to be that THEY'RE embarrassed or unhappy with the period as a whole.  But maybe I'm wrong.  I know they like a lot of the songs though.

Sincere question:  why do so many people think they don't like the period?  I know from the documentary that Alex was not as artistically fulfilled when he was competing with a full complement of keyboards, but still.  Those songs get as much love as, say, the Rush - Hemispheres era.

I still think most bands wish they could put out an album as solid from top to bottom as Presto.

 
When i said that they're embarrassed/unhappy with the period, i meant the 80s in general.  Like their hair and clothes and instruments.  I also have a sneaking suspicion about the part in The Boys in Brazil, when they're talking about making a setlist and Geddy says that there are a few songs that would come up and he'd think, "There's no way I can ever play that song again!"; I think he was probably talking about "In the Mood", "Closer to the Heart", and a few of the 80s songs like "Countdown" and "Kid Gloves".
 
And for some reason I never think of Presto as an "80s" release.  I tend to think of the Rush periods in sets of 4, separated by the live albums.  So you have:
hard rock rush: Rush-2112
prog rush: A Farewell to Kings-Moving Pictures
synth rush: Signals-Hold Your Fire
alt rock rush: Presto-Test for Echo
hard rock rush part deux: Vapor Trails-Clockwork Angels (i suppose.)

RocketSauce2112


  I tend to think of the Rush periods in sets of 4, separated by the live albums.  So you have:
hard rock rush: Rush-2112
prog rush: A Farewell to Kings-Moving Pictures
synth rush: Signals-Hold Your Fire
alt rock rush: Presto-Test for Echo
hard rock rush part deux: Vapor Trails-Clockwork Angels (i suppose.)

 
Works for me, RocketSauce.

From Contents Under Pressure published in 2004( page 120):
 
"That's one I particularly like," pipes Neil Peart with respect to Rush's album from 1985, Power Windows. Indeed Geddy goes further and calls the album his favorite of the entire '80s and '90s, followed by Roll The Bones and Test For Echo.
 
Neil....
"If you try to divorce yourself from musician to fan, I think as a fan I would particularly like those records (Power Windows and Hold Your Fire), just because they are such a feast to listen to  -- so much texture and so much variety and rhythmic exploration. To me, they remain very satisfying pieces of work to listen to. So I think that's about the highest tribute I can give it: they are something I would like as a fan...."
 
"Hold Your Fire is somehow a little more introvert in mood, both lyrically and musically. as much as they tend to feed off each other. That definately strikes me now just thinking about it.  Power Windows is more dynamic and extrovert, while Hold Your Fire is more textural and introvert, both lyricall and musically. But I like them equally in their two moods."

If I remember right, the biggest reason the band wanted to move away from the keys is they thought they were dominating the sound and preferred it when the bass, guitar and drums were the primary factor like it was in the early early days. I think Alex was the prime mover (nuggetz) in this regard though, however I have never had the impression that the keyboard era was embarrassing to them in any form.
 
Also this is the one era I really *miss* when it comes to Rush. There was a majestic tone to their music that just resonated with me and when Vapor Trails came out it seems that tone has been replaced with a louder guitar and a lot less layering.

^^^
The ending of Marathon, when they repeat the "From first to last..." section is just EPIC to me in the way you describe.  Majestic!!

How about the ending of Emotion Detector with the buildup, the epic chorus for the final time and the final line "Feelings run high"? I find that song to be just perfect. 

I know what I am listening to on the drive home today. I might get to listen to both PoW and HYF since we have some snow coming down right now...