By Jman2112/The National Midnight Star
(ED NOTE: Read "Reader Rips" first)
Dave Good's review of Rush (Of Night, 9/19/02) was an inept effort trying to find attractive facts for fans and entice potential attendees of the trio's performance here Wednesday night at Coors Amphitheater. Instead, he proved he knows nothing about the music or the message. More important, though, is to get the facts correct before publishing them, especially since there are some of the top Rush fans and Rush websites in the world based right here in San Diego.
Please allow me to make some corrections. Good's first glowering error was his confusion of 1976's epic 20 minute, 34 second song "2112" of the same titled concept album with 1980's Permanent Waves' "Freewill" (all one word, please) at 5:23. I would like to know where the other 15:11 of "Freewill" is, because I'd love to hear it. It's a bitchin' song. Alas, the tune itself unfortunately represents Lyricist (not "songwriter") Neal Peart's beliefs that it is indeed Mr. Good's right to say or do what he wants when he wants. Initially one would think that Good is a fan…but he's not.
Good was kind enough to point out that the general public embraced the wildly popular 1981 album Moving Pictures. This news item/information is 21 years old. But in my opinion (freewill, of course), the band opens its current set with "Tom Sawyer" from that work to welcome fans and to also get that number out of the way (tongue in cheek) so they could get to work on more important things - such as their new material. And to some old material even guys like me haven't heard live in 20 years. Wow. Original members of a band formed in 1974 putting out new material in 2002 and touring for seven months and playing songs not heard in two decades. Now that's news.
Why Good would state he does not like accomplished bassist Geddy Lee's voice after Lee has assisted in 17 studio albums that have all gone gold or platinum (their work earning many more awards and accolades) and the success of Lee's solo "My Favorite Headache" is beyond my comprehension. Rush stands in the top five bands of all time in total album sales. His whining about pitch is just so much nagging hogwash and his cleverly disguised casual swipe at Judaism makes me want to puke.
His sexist remark about women not being able to tolerate Rush and his subsequent redeeming applause of Aimee Mann can be excused as individual, desperate grabs at more inept fact-finding and imbalance in his writing style. For those who want to know, Mann assisted on "Time Stand Still," off 1987's Hold Your Fire. I'm sure freelancer Marcia Manna, who reviewed the band in Night and Day appreciated Good's bashing as well. Just a freak coincidence?
Maybe he wanted to add something like the song "Mission" from HYF was recorded in San Diego at the Sports Arena and subsequently included in 1989's live compilation "A Show of Hands." That's just a little local Rush fact that I've never seen in print.
I can't quite decide whether Good was trying to be putridly antagonistic or just downright ignorant. But I can tell you that after traveling to see the opening two shows of the tour in Hartford, CT. on June 28 and Scranton, PA. on June 29 and planning on seeing Rush in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Irvine this week - it's not just a concert or a band, it's an experience and a commitment, both on the part of fans and the band.
Or maybe I'm the strange and ignorant one, at 37 years old, dumping all this time and money into being a "Rush Head" and maintaining my my Rush website at http://www.znet.com/~jman2112. It's one of the top three Rush websites on the net and gets 250,000 hits a month. I would have gladly helped him - or anyone else out.
Jman2112