I Just Read About That…

[WATCHED: January 3, 2011] Classic Albums: Rush–2112 • Moving Pictures

Sarah got me this disc for Christmas.  Thank you, Sarah!

This DVD is from the Classic Albums series.  The series is shown on VH1 in the states and BBC (and other places) elsewhere).  There’s been about 35 episodes of the series, with Rush being one of the few bands to have two albums for the show (which is an honor, but which also cuts down on the content for each album by half…boo!).

The show is an hour, and there’s almost an hour of bonus footage on the DVD  (which die-hard fans will enjoy more than the actual show).

The main show itself looks at the creation of these two classic albums.  There are interviews with the band members as well as many people associated with the band (and a couple completely random musicians).  We get their manager Ray Daniels and the producer for these albums Terry Brown (his segments are my favorite because he gets behind the mixing console and plays around with the songs).  We also get Cliff Burnstein (the guy with the crazy hair) who was instrumental in getting Rush publicity.

Some other talking heads include David Fricke from Rolling Stone.  He talks in gushing terms about the band even though (as mentioned here, Rolling Stone has never been nice to the  band).  And we hear from Jim Ladd from KLOS radio in Los Angeles.   They both give some context and raves about the band.  And there’s even a few words from a Professor of History who says some words about Ayn Rand’s Anthem.

Finally, we get some thoughts from Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies (makes sense, he’s Canadian), George Stroumboulopoulos (what a great name!) who is a Canadian DJ (slightly more tenuous) and then Taylor Hawkins, drummer for the Foo Fighters (huh?).  Each talk about how the band was influential for them.

I haven’t compared to see if the footage is the same as the footage from Behind the Lighted Stage, but there is certainly some overlap.

But really what the show is about is watching and listening to the band talk about making these records.  There is some old footage from their concert videos, which is kind of a shame as most fans have seen it, but then again, it is edited for television.  For most fans, the exciting part is watching the band perform these songs in the studio.  I assume that they are miming along to the song (usually we hear the recorded version), but it’s still neat to see them playing the stuff up close.

In the show itself, after talking about their early days (very briefly, although the part about Neil joining is very funny), they jump to 2112.  And the talking heads discuss how the whole concept of individualism had a great impact it on music and the fans in 1976.  They also mention Ayn Rand and how critics latched onto that and called the band Nazis, among other things.  But we gloss over that pretty quickly to get to the music.

Terry Brown talks about recording the disc, and we see them play the intro.  Terry also talks about a few of the sections, with the most informative probably being Discovery.  But easily the most informative part is Neil’s explanation of the end of the song–he intended it as a happy ending, that the Solar Federation were the oppressive priests;  the people who have assumed control were like the cavalry.  Neat.

Throughout the show, Terry Brown sits at the mixing board singling out tracks, it’s just fantastic to hear one instrument out of a song you know so well.  And in “Passage to Bangkok” he plays us the “toke” that intros the guitar solo, something I’d never noticed before.  They also talk about “Twilight Zone” and he singles out the whispered vocals of the chorus.  It’s very cool.  It’s also fun to hear Geddy describe the verses as jaunty.

After covering just those three song, they jump to Moving Pictures. And they cover, really, only the first three songs.  They start with “Red Barchetta,” talk at length about “YYZ” (which of course is Y Y Zed) and naturally, “Tom Sawyer” (and what Geddy calls the “growly” bass pedal opening).

The interviews make it seem like the whole show was a LOT LOT longer, and I’d love to see it all.  I could listen to them talk about their songs all day.

And that’s why it’s great to have this bonus material.  Geddy talks about Hugh Syme creating the opening swirls of sound that became the intro to “2112”, and there’s talk of “Something for Nothing” which wasn’t covered at all in the show.  This song leads to a lengthy discussion about work ethic, and how hard they worked as kids.  It sounds funny coming from a band, but there ya go.

Perhaps the most interesting section is the one about their influences.  Some are obvious, but I found Neil’s raving about Keith Moon to be very revelatory.  He explains that Keith’s controlled chaos was ideal for him–playing crazily around the words (and that’s why he’s glad he write the lyrics because he knows where the words go).  He also gives a major shout out to Samuel R. Delaney, a sci-fi writer who I’m unfamiliar with but who I hope to read one of these days.  He recalls finding a copy of the novel Lord of the Flames (which is probably Captive of the Flames) in his London flat and being amazed at the concepts within.

This of course leads to a long chat about why he writes the kinds of lyrics he does.  And what Neil video would be complete without a little drum solo (it’s not the one that he plays on stage every day!)

There’s another bit about “Red Barchetta” in which Geddy points out that they don’t really know what chourses are.  The best part covers the origins of “YYZ.”  All fans know that YYZ is the airport code for Toronto, but I didn’t know that they got the notes from the signal the tower sends out when they were all in a plane that Alex was flying!  So, Alex was busy keeping them above ground and Neil got absorbed by the meter of the signal.  Cool.  There’s also some interesting detail about how the song itself is all about travel (especially travelling home) and that Alex’s solo has a kind of “exotic” sound to it.

Each guy talks about the other two, their habits and techniques (Alex is spontaneous, noodling all the time and not really remembering what he plays, while Geddy and Neil are very methodical).  I especially liked Geddy’s raves about Alex being an underrated guitarist (which is true) and how his subtle work really brings the songs to life.  (Especially the way his solos slide over the top of the two of them playing in the background).

And then comes two of the coolest moments of the DVD.  Terry Brown plays a “demo” version of “Tom Sawyer.”  The tempo is nearly twice as fast, with Geddy singing along much more quickly (he only plays a little of one verse, sadly). And then, when the band talks about the song more, they let the original recording run longer than on the record (which fades out); hear them all come to a crashing halt at the end–something I’ve never heard before.

Those two special treats, combined with all of the other studio stuff that Brown lets us in on is worth the price of the disc and makes it worthwhile for any fan of the band.  Non die-hard fans may get something out of it, if they like either of those albums, mostly for historical context, but really you need to really like the band to really enjoy the disc.