QOTD

[geekchick]

Neil Peart may or may not be human:  Listen to this and fast-forward to the 3:52 mark. That sounds like the drum fill of some kind of advanced alien species. My theory: Neil Peart was sent here from another planet to kill us, but he discovered a drum set, joined Rush and totally forgot about it. So technically, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson saved the world. You're welcome, Rush haters.

- Peter Hartlaub, An open letter to my wife, who hates Rush

Comments

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

When John Scalzi posted this to his blog, I made a comment substantively similar to the following:

Clearly, Stanley Jordan is a killer space robot sent to Earth to make all human guitar players feel inferior. And as someone who has played guitar since the age of 8, went to college on a music scholarship, and has played music professionally, I have to say it's working.

[margoeve.livejournal.com]

BRILLIANT!

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

So can we appreciate that the band members are technically very skilled, and yet not enjoy the music? :D

[grum]

I do enjoy some of their music and still occasionally opine that their need to highlight their skills occasionally detracts from the music as a whole.

[just-the-ash.livejournal.com]

The music? Sure. What puts me off is the recycled Ayn Rand crap Neil puts in the lyrics, or used to: the extremely-obviously-titled "Anthem" and then, of course, "Trees," which Kurt Vonnegut did better as the short story "Harrison Bergeron," and which suffers from a massive logic flaw --

Now there's no more oak oppression
For they've passed a noble law
Now the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw

Okay, so now the trees are policing themselves and each other. Where the hell are they getting the axes, etc.? How do they hold them? What are these, frigging Ents? (Except Ents aren't normally that... hasty. Hoom.)

I like the music quite a lot. I just don't think the lyrics bear much close thinking about. (See also: misuse of "manic-depressive" in "Cinderella Man." Because bipolar disorder and being a visionary loner are exactly the same thing.)