Link to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpGJFL56_30&list=PLBFC6BD3AF940B013
Ok - folks - hitting the road today for Colorado. Feeling like a modern day man, rebel, traveler, individualist, which means it’s time for ... TOM SAWYER! That 1981 smash hit by hard prog rockers Rush from the transitional album Moving Pictures.
I used to love mimicking Geddy Lee, entertaining my junior high mates on bus rides to swim meets and on long camping trips in the boundary waters. Hitting that high register required singing completely from my upper throat, and I couldn't pull it off soon it after that. But the best part was I believed in the lyrics and I was delighted to find in a hard rock song that "love and life are deep/maybe as his skies are wide."
Falling for an intelligent hard rock band, also, finally gave me some social capital at an all-male military school, where a guy like me who loved Simon and Garfunkel, the Cars and Devo was just down-right weird. The rest of the boys were listening to Black Sabbath and Dio. And Rush!!
Tom Sawyer was written and recorded differently than their older material. The intent this time around was to make a leaner record that could be performed live as it sounded on vinyl by the three members of the band, without the aid of backing tapes. So, for instance, when you hear Alex Lifeson's guitar solo, you will notice that there is no rhythm guitar under it.
The rest of the album is just as excellent, mixing synthesizers with heavy guitar riffs, scintillating solos, and metronome-perfect drumming by Neil Peart, who also writes lyrics to every song. The lyrics alone are worth listening to. For proof, just closely listen to "Red Barchetta," which starts in mid-tempo story mood, spooling out a setting of a farm in the future where "Motor Laws" and "Eyes" inhibit any kind of a leisurely drive. Then the songs pace picks up like a car's motor roaring to life, and a litany of imagery ensues: "well-weathered leather, scented country air, sunlight on chrome." The song is so packed with excelled imagery that to this day, I have always pictured autumn leaves swirling up as he races down the country road... only to find (this morning as I was researching the song and re-listening) that that line is NOT in the song. But with imagery that good, other accompanying images naturally come to mind. The song finishes with a mini story of how he eludes a two-lane-side machine that is chasing him.
The rest of the album is just as good, every song a master piece. If you like intelligent lyrics and excellent instrumentation, you, too, might fall for some harder rock. And if you're already into the harder side, I'm guessing this is a staple for you, too.
Ok, I am committed to having an album each day as I travel to Colorado over the next week, but I am not sure how much time I will have to write. So bear with with me as the text might be a little sparser than usual :) Or ... enjoy the break from my musical blathering - Ha Ha!
And who can forget Geddy's cameo on Bob and Doug McKenzie's Great White North album!
ReplyDeleteOne of the funniest things to hear on the radio in the early 80s
ReplyDeleteSo Jack Black has expounded on the instrumentality of Rush and the technical precision of their music, but I struggle with the libertarian message embodied in their lyrics.
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