I want to spend the rest of October playing songs that are thematically dark, scary, evil, what have you... sounds fun right? It all leads up to Halloween and its all in fun, so I think I have a couple topics that you may find interesting. Like this first one.
As far as I know Rush is the only Rock band to have recorded a tetralogy (Jon, please correct me here). But its essentially a series of 4 related songs, usually associated with opera. Now before you cite the Saga chapters, there's 8 of those so they don't qualify unless there's something called a double tetralogy (Jon would know). Now onto the topic of the month, and this week it's Fear!
"Fear" is a set of four songs by the band Rush. The composition consists of Part I: "The Enemy Within" (from 1984's Grace Under Pressure), Part II: "The Weapon" (from 1982's Signals), Part III: "Witch Hunt" (from 1981's Moving Pictures) and Part IV: "Freeze" (from 2002's Vapor Trails). Parts I, II, and III were released in reverse order, while Part IV was released a little more than 18 years after Part I. The songs do not follow a set storyline. Instead, they deal with topics relating to the emotion of fear.
In a 1994 interview, Neil Peart describes what inspired the "Fear" Series:
The idea for the trilogy (remember this was way before it became a tetralogy) was suggested by an older man telling that he didn't think life was ruled by love, or reason, or money, or the pursuit of happiness -- but by fear. This smart-but-cynical guy's position was that most people's actions are motivated by fear of being hungry, fear of being hurt, fear of being alone, fear of being robbed, etc., and that people don't make choices based on hope that something good will happen, but in fear that something bad will happen.
I reacted to this the way all of us tend to react to generalities: 'Well, I'm not like that!' But then I started thinking about it more, watching the way people around me behaved, and I soon realized that there was something to this viewpoint, So I sketched out the three (you forgot that this was way before it became a tetralogy didn't you?) 'theatres of fear,' as I saw them: how fear works inside us ("The Enemy Within"), how fear is used against us ("The Weapon"), and how fear feeds the mob mentality ("Witch Hunt").
As it happened, the last theme was easiest to deal with, so it was written first, and consequently appeared first on record, and the other two followed in reverse order for the same reason.
PLAYLIST --> http://www.podsnack.com/CA69EFD9E8C/av19sucu
Tags:
This looks very interesting. I'll have to set aside some time so I can really listen to the lyrics. I love darkness in songs.
I knew that but I was too drunk to make the connection when I posted this...
Hmmm............
Hmm.......
Hm.....
Nope, I got nothing. If I remember correctly, Wagner did a tetralogy, but that was many years ago and I guess it isn't "rock". Maybe it was for its time.
Never really paid attention to the songs having something in common. But, if you say they do and Rush says they do, then I guess they do. To have them in no semblance of an order is just craaaazy. Maybe that was their intention. They're Rush and they['re smart.
So, all these songs are evil so of course I like it. Because it's evil.
Just curious, why didn't you use "Freeze" off of the original recording? Or, better yet, include both of them here.
Hey, that would be an interesting list. Old version and then remixed versions. You heard it here first. You cannot say it was your idea. It's mine. MINE.
Interesting list this week, I kinda learned something new. I guess.
I loved Vapor Trails when it came out (One Little Victory is still a great track) but it was hard to listen to only because of the production/mix. The remixed edition fixed everything and the songs now shine as they should, therefore when I post a track from Vapor Trail I will default to the remixed version unless there is a valid reason to go back to the original. Didn't see it working that way for this list... Posting both is a great idea however!
Grace Under Pressure is one of my favorite RUSH-albums. Maybe only second to 2112. I even like this song, though they are doing their reggae-sound a bit, which I'm not that fond of. No, it's a great album. Distant Early Warning and Red Sector A are AWESOME, awesome tracks!! AWEsome!!!!
This song could easily had appeared on GUP. Signals is a bit harder for me to love, and I don't know why? It's not one of their worst albums, but not in top 5 either. This song is kind of the same way, not bad, pretty good in fact, but not among their best.
I think I posted this song years back, where you, among others, Scott, said that it was one of the weakest tracks from MP, or that you would had picked another track. It has always been among my favorites from MP. I've got a few live-DVD's where they do one or two great live-performances of this song.
Unlike you guys, I'm not that much a fan of RUSH's "after 1987"-albums, EXCEPT the newest one. That was an awesome "comeback" IMO. I don't hate it, since it's RUSH, and they are always better than 90% of the bands out there. I just don't think, the songs are that strong, including this one. Maybe someday, I see the light, if I get some time, and listen repeatingly to those albums. It certainly sounds better than 99.99% of the "new" music being released these days.
Quite cool bro. Unfortunately, I had to listen to this at work, which obviously means I can't get a one hundred percent uninterrupted listening experience. Still, I enjoyed it.
I liked all four of the songs. I didn't really get that "scary" feel from the songs themselves. So I looked up the lyrics. And they did have some scary stuff in them. I don't own Grace Under Pressure, which I think I need to remedy. I totally dig the outline of it above and I've always liked the song Distant Early Warning. The theme sounds fascinating, so I'm gonna put this one on my wish list. And it's only 4.99.
From the reading above, Vapor Trails really sounds pieced together. Does the finished album sound that way? I have it but I don't think I've ever listened to it.
I also thought about what four songs I would pick from my favorite band if I were trying to put together a scary playlist. Here goes:
1. Almost Human (Love Gun)
2. Not For The Innocent (Lick It Up)
3. God Of Thunder (Destroyer)
4. Unholy (Revenge)
Of course, they are all sung by Gene, but Paul did write GOT. Anyway, that's all I've got...
Forgot to say that Black Sabbath (the song) by Black Sabbath (the band) is probably the scariest song I've ever heard.
There are no birthdays today
Norma Jean Fox
(11/30/1945-9/7/2010)
© 2024 Created by RJhog (Admin). Powered by