Southern Bread » music

Rush: Snakes and Arrows

Dave — Tue, 01 May 2007 12:35:00 +0000

Well it’s been 5 years since the last Rush album Vapor Trails was released so needless to say, I was excited about this new album. I’ve posted before about what Neil Peart said the theme of the album was going to be(lyric analysis in another post). In spite of that, I can’t help getting pumped whenever Rush releases new studio material. Especially these days when it’s so rare. I had heard the single Far Cry from the website and I wasn’t very impressed by it, but I’m rarely impressed by the single they release from each album. It usually ends up being my least favorite. I didn’t like One Little Victory either, but I liked most all the rest of Vapor Trails. Sadly, that isn’t the case with Snakes and Arrows.

There are plenty of Rush kool-aid drinkers out there that will listen to this album and proclaim it the album of the year, but in their hearts they know it’s not very fun to listen to. Notice, I didn’t say that the album was bad, because it’s not. When you have been around for 35 years and you are as talented as Geddy, Alex and Neil are, it’s almost impossible to put out a “bad” album. But that doesn’t mean that it’s interesting or fun to listen to though. Music can be good but boring at the same time, and that is what this album is to me. The quality is top notch, but the experience is lacking. The worst song from their first 15 studio albums is more fun to listen to than the best song from Snakes and Arrows.

So, enough chit-chat. Here’s the song breakdown:

1. Far Cry: Probably the most interesting non-instrumental on the album. You can’t beat the hemispheres-era breaks either. Driving intro and transitions, great syncopated riff in the chorus and the lead-in to the chorus. The music backing the verses is just generic and repetitive though.

2. Armor and Sword: This song is too slow. The transitions are nice and I like the guitar effects, but the vocals are really annoying. The doubling on Geddy’s vocals are starting to get on my nerves. I hope they stop that on the next album.

3. Workin’ Them Angels: I kind of like this song. It’s got some interesting parts that I wish they had expanded on. It reminds me of the song “Totem” from Test for Echo in a lot of ways.

4. The Larger Bowl: My gosh. This song is horrible. I’m sorry but this song sounds like it was written by a 5th grader. That’s all I can say about it.

5. Spindrift: Generic, generic, generic!!

6. The Main Monkey Business: This is my second favorite song on the album. It might not be as good as other memorable instrumentals of the past but it’s solid. It also gets extra kudo points just for being an instrumental in a world where rock instrumentals don’t exist anymore.

7. The Way the Wind Blows: Better than Spindrift, but again, the doubled vocals are really, really getting on my nerves.

8. Hope: My third favorite. Very satisfying acoustic piece. Sort of Natural Science-esque. Nicely done.

9. Faithless: This song has some cool moments. It sounds like an instant replay of half of the songs on Vapor Trails.

10. Bravest Face: Boring. It’s only redeeming quality is that it wasn’t the longest song on the album.

11. Good News First: Why does every song on this record have to be so sloooooooowwww. It’s almost over. Almost.

12. Malignant Narcissism: My favorite song on the album. Brings back memories of the instrumentals from Test for Echo. Lots of good stuff in here. And there’s even a couple of bass runs for good measure.

13. We Hold On: The bass and guitar duo toward the end is very cool but the rest of the song is lame. An appropriate note to go out on for this album.

All in all it was a dissapointing offering. They sucked me in and got my blood pumping with the Hemispheres sound in the title track and then failed to deliver. The “wall of sound” formula is starting to really get formulaic and old. It reminds me a lot of what happened on the Presto album. They brought a new sound with Power Windows, made it stale with Hold Your Fire and then flushed it down the toilet with Presto. Their current sound was fresh and new on Test for Echo, but it got a little stale with Vapor Trails. To me this album is worse than Presto though. There’s not a song on this album that could hold Chain Lighting’s jock strap.

Hymns You’ve Never Heard – Part II

Dave — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 13:04:00 +0000

*Part I

Here’s one that I heard John Macarthur quote after a sermon a few years ago. I have no idea what the music sounds like, but the lyrics should be a prayer in all of our hearts.

I Want a Principle Within

I want a principle within of watchful, godly fear;

A sensibility of sin, a pain to feel it near.

I want the first approach to feel of pride or wrong desire,

To catch the wandering of my will, and quench the kindling fire.

From Thee that I no more may stray, no more Thy goodness grieve,

Grant me the filial awe, I pray, the tender conscience give.

Quick as the apple of an eye, O God, my conscience make;

Awake my soul when sin is nigh, and keep it still awake.

Almighty God of truth and love, to me Thy power impart;

The mountain from my soul remove, the hardness from my heart.

O may the least omission pain my reawakened soul,

And drive me to that blood again, which makes the wounded whole.

–Charles Wesley(1749)

Download Notation

Hymns You’ve Never Heard – Part I

Dave — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:40:00 +0000

I always get real hymny around Christmas time, so I figured I post a few hymns that are obscure, yet really solid. Maybe you can talk your music minister into playing these as a nice change of pace amidst the Christmas carols. I’ll start it off with this really good but obscure hymn written by Josiah Conder. And lest you think he was a Presbyterian, he wasn’t. He was a Congregationalist. Enjoy!

My Lord, I Did Not Choose You

My Lord, I did not choose you, for that could never be;

my heart would still refuse you had you not chosen me.

You took the sin that stained me, you cleansed me, made me new;

for you, Lord, had ordained me that I should live in you.

Unless your grace had called me and taught my opening mind,

the world would have enthralled me, to heavenly glories blind.

My heart knows none above you; for you I long, I thirst,

and know that, if I love you, Lord, you have loved me first.

–Josiah Conder(1789-1855)

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Billy McLaughlin – Wintersongs & Traditionals

Dave — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:06:00 +0000

Are you in need of some absolutely top notch christmas music? You have heard me gush about Billy McLaughlin’s music before, and his album Wintersongs & Traditionals is no exception. The album has most of the classic Christmas tunes you’d expect, but he also put some of his original works on there. It makes for a great balance of old and new that keeps the whole thing interesting. His rendtition of Bach’s Cantata 140 (“Sleeper’s Awake”) is probably the best I’ve heard outside of Christopher Parkening. The only bad thing about this album is that it doesn’t contain his two-hand technique version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. That version is only found on the album Simple Gifts. You owe it to yourself to go get this album off of iTunes right now.

Wintersongs & Traditionals on iTunes: link
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen on iTunes: link

Three Rockin’ Albums You Forgot About

Dave — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 10:43:00 +0000

Here are three kickin albums that you might have forgotten about or haven’t heard since high-school/college. Go get them off iTunes and re-aquaint yourelf with what rock-n-roll is supposed to sound like. Back in the days before grunge killed the guitar solo.

The Cult, LOVE(1985) – iTunes Link

Favorite Songs:

She Sells Sanctuary
Rain
Nirvana
Brother Wolf Sister Moon

Billy Duffy is an incredible guitarist. This is one of those guitar albums like Boston where the riffs just get in your head and won’t let go. Ian Astbury has great pipes and it doesn’t bother me much that I can barely understand what he’s saying. I probably don’t want to know anyway. This album is definitely in my top-5 all time rock albums.

Drivin ’N Cryin, Fly Me Courageous(1991) – iTunes Link

Favorite Songs:

Fly Me Courageous
Build a Fire
Lost in the Shuffle
Around the Block Again

A great band out of Atlanta. The lead singer Kevn Kinney has a great voice. The band is aptly named because there music is so driving. The rythms just move along at such a pleasant pace. Like LOVE, it’s laden with awesome guitar riffs. This one was in my car at all times in high-school.

Alice In Chains, SAP(1992) – iTunes Link

Favorite Songs:

Brother
Got Me Wrong
Right Turn
Am I Inside

AIC’s breakout album Facelift rocked so hard that this little EP they put out went un-noticed for a while. It’s such a departure from their norm but it somehow captures the full range of their style. The love that fans showed for this album eventually sparked the Jar of Flies album later on. There are only 4 songs on it but they are definitely worth listening to.

3 Guitarists You’ve Never Heard

Dave — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 20:49:00 +0000

I love fingerstyle and classical guitar. It’s about all I listen to when I’m working. I find it hard to concentrate if the music I’m listening to has lyrics, so I stick with instrumental stuff. My criteria for a good fingerstyle guitarist is fairly simple, though very few pickers seem to meet it. Of course number one is that they have to be proficient with their instrument. Duh! Nobody wants to listen to crap. There are many great guitarists out there so that isn’t a very strict requirement.

Next, they have to write songs with a melody line that captures you. Not simply a catchy “hook”. It’s the kind of melody that lingers in your head for days. You can’t wait to get in the car so you can listen to it again. That narrows the field considerably. There are so many cookie cutter fingerstyle guitarists out there who just plough through their instrument without any compelling melody lines at all. I want a song to capture my attention and not let me go until the end, and then make me long to listen to it again.

Thirdly, the music can’t be overproduced. Pure fingerstyle is just delicious. Don’t start dropping any drums or anything like that in there and levening the whole lump. I don’t mind a little bit of that sprinkled into an album, but it has to be used sparingly and it can’t interfere with the guitar at all. Lastly, they have to be able to keep up these criteria for an entire album. There are a lot of guitarists who will hit a home run with a song every couple of albums, but the ones that can string an entire CD worth of great music together are rare. So without further ado, here are my top 3:

Billy McLaughlin – Site

Favorite Songs:

Country Wicklow Mystic
Looking For Good
While She Sleeps
Clockshop

Billy is just incredible. He writes the most beautiful guitar music I’ve ever heard, hands down. His tunes either groove or weep and you are at his mercy until he decides to let go. Whether it’s an original piece or a Christmas hymn that he has re-arranged to fit his unique two handed tapping style, it’s pure magic. You owe it to yourself to grab some of his songs off the web. Start with the ones I listed above and venture out from there. When it gets closer to Christmas purchase Billy’s album called “Wintersongs and Traditionals”. You will not be able to take it out of the CD player. Sadly, over the last couple of years Billy has developed a rare motor disease that has all but ended his guitar playing. Last I heard he was a music minister at an Lutheran church up North.

Stephen Bennett – Site

Favorite Songs:

Old Growth
Perestroika
Sea Rose Beach
Cornwall

Stephen’s music is very gentle, and very captivating. He uses a lot of syncopation, which is such a crucial part of good fingerstyle guitar music. His slow stuff is just as good as the quicker paced tunes. The first album you should pick up is “Harp Guitar”. It’s a fantastic album. If you don’t know what a harp guitar is, it looks like a guitar with 4 bass strings on the top above the sound hole. Just go to his site and look at the pictures. From what I understand he is one of very few people in the world that know how to play the harp guitar well, and it shows. He just recently made all his music available on iTunes so it is much easier to get now.

Pierre Bensusan – Site

Favorite Songs:

Nice Feeling
Santa Monica
Abbesse’s Lake
The Arched Back Woman

Wow! Something good has come out of France besides fries. Pierre is much better than fries though. He has been around for a very long time and it shows. His music is hard to describe. To call it jangly is accurate yet misses so much of the depth and emotion of the music. The harmony lines kind of roll out of the guitar; at times almost stepping on one another but without ever sounding sloppy. His songs bring you up and down, but in a smooth way that doesn’t overload your senses. It’s the kind of music where you just want to load up a pipe with your favorite tobacco, close your eyes and let Pierre do his thing. The first album I would get is called “Nice Feeling”. It’s a good collection of all of his best pieces over the years. Unfortunately it’s not available on iTunes but you can find it at Barnes and Noble usually.

Jeremy Soule – Soundtrack Guru

Dave — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 04:16:00 +0000

I like to listen to instrumental music while I work. It’s relaxing and there are no words to interfere with my thinking at a given moment. I am currently addicted to the soundtracks of Jeremy Soule. He writes soundtracks for video games, but trust me if you didn’t know what you were listening to you would never guess that the music was from a video game. Production budgets for games have become so big that the line is blurring between the movie and game industries. Jeremy Soule is a pioneer in bringing movie quality scores to the game market and if you love soundtracks/scores you owe it to yourself to check out his stuff. You can purchase mp3’s of his music through his Direct Song website. The first thing I would get would be the Guild Wars – Factions expansion set score. It is incredible. He also did the music for the upcoming game Prey for Xbox 360.