Aaron sent me these photos too late to include in my video report. These were taken at Sonic Boom Music, and Pauper’s Pub.
Mmm, beer.
I’ve also compiled some of the photos of discs that I scored that day, from some of my review blogs.
And lastly, the video is below, in case you missed it!
One of the most popular stories of 2012 was the tale of “Aerodouche Dandy”. So, in light of that, how about a sequel?
RECORD STORE TALES Part 159: Dandydouche 2 – Dandy Deuce!
We had several CD players in our store that allowed our customers to listen to anything they wanted, before buying. It was a pretty cool innovation by the chain owner. Other stores had “listening posts” where you could listen to one of a select few new releases, but at the time nobody else would let you listen to anything you wanted in the store. As cool and helpeful as that sounds, it was also an invitation for abuse.
Many times, I’d put up to 50 discs on for somebody who purchased nothing, but we couldn’t cut them off. We couldn’t say no. You could spend over an hour serving a customer, retrieving discs and filing them when they were done, all for naught.
Record store guys have a sixth sense though. We’d pick up the signals. For example, when Kid Rock had a huge hit with “Picture” (a duet with Sheryl Crow), a lot of older people used to come in and listen to it, to see if they would like the rest of the Kid Rock CD. Predictably they didn’t, and it wasn’t out on Sheryl’s album yet. I knew they weren’t going to buy the Kid Rock CD, and most didn’t. That’s one example.
One thing Douchebag Dandy would do is purposely put the wrong CD in the player. I know of one instance where he substituted a lady’s chosen disc with Iron Bitchface. Iron Bitchface was a local “outsider music” project that Dandy hung out with. He had been known to jump onstage with them, and was always seen in public as a lookalike pairing with their singer, K-Rot.
Iron Bitchface was, by their own admission, people who could not play music. They created a lot of noise and recorded it, and split it up into tracks. I grabbed a T-shirt because I liked their logo, but it was completely unlistenable. In fact our store-play copy had a massive skip in it that nobody even noticed. That’s how bad it was.
Anyway, this time Dandy was working, a lady was in listening to every Harry Connick Jr. album we had, and not buying anything. After a dozen or so listens, Dandy swapped out her last CD for Iron Bitchface. She immediately took off her headphones. “I think the CD player is broken,” I’m told she said.
Dandy sauntered over to check. “Nope. It’s working fine.”
“Really? Whatever I’m hearing isn’t music!”
Dandy opened up the player. “Nope. This is the disc you picked out.”
“Well you can take it off, that’s nothing but garbage! Who could listen to that?” she said.
Dandy found this tremendously funny, and laughed and boasted about it after. Even though she wasn’t buying anything, that’s still just a douchebag move! Apropos for a Douchebag Dandy!
Enjoy. April 2013.
Thoughts? Sounds different, but still like Deep Purple. Lots of Don Airey in this clip.
DEF LEPPARD – “Acoustic Medley 2012” (iTunes single)
Def Leppard have released the second in their series of iTunes re-recordings. The first, a double single of “Pour Some Sugar”/”Rock of Ages”, was a pretty straight “forgery” (to use Joe Elliot’s phrase). The second, entitled “Acoustic Medley 2012” is exactly what it sounds like it would be. Apparently, Leppard were playing this medley live, and decided to commit a studio version to tape.
The songs in the medley are: “Where Does Love Go When It Dies”, “Now”, “When Love and Hate Collide”, “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad”, and “Two Steps Behind”. Total time: 7:32. The first two songs in the medley, I give Def Lep full points for. I’ve always been a sucker for the Slang album, so to hear something from Slang again, is just…wow. Maybe this is being done to pre-hype the Slang deluxe edition due 2013, eh?
“Now”, and the X album in general I’ve never been a huge fan of, as I made clear in my review. I give the band credit for putting “Now” back out there, since they rarely touch that album anymore. I’m all for obscure material being resurrected.
The other three tunes in the medley are a bit ho-hum, but taken as a whole it’s incredible how well they all work together. “Two Steps Behind” gets the majority of time in the medley, a song that I really never need to hear again. It’s pretty much identical to the standard version from the Retro-Active CD.
As mentioned, this is an iTunes-only release, but I’d love to see a physical product. Limited edition vinyl? I would buy that. Are you listening, Joe?
4/5 stars
A treat for you boys & girls today! A guest shot, a vintage concert review, and a significant one at that. Remember when Metallica was just an opening act for mediocre bands? Meat does. And he’s back to tell you the story. Enjoy the first guest shot of 2013, by Meat!
W.A.S.P. w/ METALLICA and ARMORED SAINT – January 19, 1985
By Meat
I was lucky at a young age to have the opportunity to see some great concerts. The first concert of my life was at The Center in the Square in Kitchener, Ontario. It was The Monks (remember “Drugs in my Pocket”?) and I went with my childhood friend, Scott Hunter, and his mother. I also saw the almighty Black Sabbath play the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, three days before my 12th birthday, on the Mob Rules tour on November 19, 1981. I saw Triumph on the Allied Forces tour play the Center in the Square, with my father not long after that. But really my early concert experiences were mostly, and most memorably, with the aforementioned Scott Hunter. I believe it was his uncle who had connections with a concert promotion at the time called CPI. He would leave free tickets at Will Call for us at Maple Leaf Gardens or wherever the show was. We saw the last Kiss tour with makeup at the time (Creatures of the Night tour) on January 14, 1983 with The Headpins opening. Also saw the first ever Kiss tour without makeup (Lick it Up tour) on March 15, 1984 with Accept as the opening act. As well as Motley Crue on the Shout at the Devil tour on June 10, 1984, at what is now the Ricoh Coliseum, also with Accept as support. Many of these shows are quite memorable and monumental, but none so much as the first time I saw Metallica live.
I remember the first time Scott and I heard Metallica. We would have a sleepover at his place every Friday night specifically because Toronto radio station Q107 had their “Midnight Metal Hour” on that night. We would have first heard Metallica (“Seek and Destroy”) either late 1982 or early 1983, before Kill ‘Em All was even released. Obviously it was an instant shot of Metal Up Our Ass! Kill ‘Em All was released on vinyl and cassette on July 25, 1983. I specifically remember (but not exactly when) walking into a record store downtown Kitchener called Records on Wheels and buying that album, Anthrax’s Fistful of Metal and Van Halen’s 1984 on vinyl, all during the same visit. I also remember buying Metallica’s second album, Ride the Lightning, the day it was released. Thanks to the World Wide Web, I know now that date was July 27, 1984. Starting grade ten that September, I was pushing Metallica on anyone that would be open to it at my high school. There were a very select few of us who were die-hards and would have Sony Walkmans stuck to our heads at every opportunity possible. Now I cannot recall if we got free tickets for this particular show, but I do remember how pumped I was when I knew I was gonna see Metallica live.
The bill was as follows: Armored Saint (with Anthrax’s John Bush on vocals), Metallica and W.A.S.P. Yes you read that right. Metallica was opening up for W.A.S.P. I do know that further along on the tour, Metallica and W.A.S.P. would trade headlining sets due to the obvious buzz around Metallica at the time. Here is a picture of an actual ticket stub of this show. Note the price ($15.00) and Armored Saint being spelled wrong on the ticket.
One thing I will add before I go on. Of all the concerts and bands I have seen multiple times live, it is kinda strange I only saw Metallica live twice ever. One of the reasons for this is quite obviously that after their album Load (otherwise known as Mighty Load of Shit), I never really had a great interest in seeing the band live again. But it is worthwhile noting that I have seen Metallica live twice and BOTH TIMES they were opening for someone else. (The second time being the strange bill of The Black Crowes / Warrant / Metallica / Aerosmith on June 29, 1990 at CNE Exhibition Stadium in Toronto) Again, note the ticket price for this. This was before The Eagles ruined ticket prices for all acts with the ridiculous prices for their shows. To quote “The Dude” I hate the fuckin’ Eagles.
So there we were, January 19th 1985 standing in line in front of the late great Toronto concert venue named The Concert Hall. It was freezing cold out, and windy too. So since this was a General Admission event, standing in line braving at least -15 Celsius weather, you can imagine how cold and bitchy people were. I recall the rush of metalheads being ushered quickly into the venue. The second I got in there I went straight for the merch booth and bought a Ride the Lightning tour shirt for me and a high school friend named Joe DeLeo. After that, like seemingly everybody, I had to take a wicked piss. After doing that, I was horrified when I tried to zip my probably really tight jeans back up, and couldn’t because my hands were numb from the cold. My embarrassed horror turned to laughter as I turned my head to see dozens of much older and much larger long-haired headbangers all having the same problem. Only in Canada I guess eh?
Sometime later, Armored Saint took the stage. I remember them being great and how loud it was in there. They were received well and that venue was filling up. While enjoying their set my buddy Scott gets my attention and points to the much-shorter person beside me. Immediately I recognized him as Russell Dwarf from the Toronto band Killer Dwarfs. Their name was very apropos considering this band consisted of nothing but short dudes with long hair. I can only imagine how this band got together. Wonder if an ad went out that said. “Metal musicians needed. Must not be over 5 foot 6 inches tall and have long hair”. I loved that first album. If you don’t know of them, here is their first single and video.
It was time for the Mighty Metallica. They started out with the first track off Ride The Lightning, the classic riff-monster “Fight Fire With Fire”. At this point I was probably about mid-way to the stage in a sea of metalheads. This was before the days of the “moshpit”. This was more of a Hair Swarm packed with long-haired sardines covered in denim and leather. It would have been about half-way through the show that I wormed my way to the front of the stage. This was no easy task as I am sure you can imagine, however being only 15 and much smaller than the masses (with the exception of the Killer Dwarfs of course), there I was literally feet from what would become the best-selling metal band of all-time. This brings me to a memory I will cherish forever. The seemingly monstrous Cliff Burton was right in front of me. I reached out and had in my hand, the bottom leg of his ragged bell-bottom jeans. He tried to kick me in the face, and thankfully missed. Can’t blame him either for trying to kick my head off, and honestly it was the first thing I thought of when said legend died in a bus accident a year and a half later in Sweden on September 27, 1986. R.I.P. Clifford Lee Burton. Check out this YouTube audio clip I found of Metallica playing “Seek and Destroy” from this exact show. Gotta love YouTube.
Check out this set list of the show the next night in Buffalo at some place called the Salty Dog Saloon. (I couldn’t find the Toronto set list online but I am sure it is identical)
Encores:
Which brings me to winding down this novel of a concert review. How could W.A.S.P. possibly follow Metallica? Well, I do remember chants of “you suck”. I remember that the front was nowhere near as packed as it was for Metallica. Maybe Blackie thought he could follow them by drinking fake blood out of a skull (which he did). Here is a quote from Mr. Blackie Lawless comparing separate tours with both Slayer and Metallica and musing about this particular tour.
Blackie: I’ll tell you what was worse – us and Metallica. It was our first or second U.S. tour. It was us, Metallica, and Armored Saint. When they (Slayer) went out with us, they were still an up n’ coming band, didn’t have a lot of fans, so there was a pocket of division every night. With Metallica, I kid you not, it was like an invisible line was drawn right down the middle of the room, and half was theirs and half was ours. It didn’t matter what we were doing on stage. It looked like two opposing armies. Sometimes we just stopped what we were doing and watched. It was a war.
I realize that the merit of music is subjective and it is all in the Ear Of The Beholder. But lets face it. W.A.S.P. really does kinda suck. Some good moments but really not much to speak of. During their set myself and others that with us were just kind of mulling about as most others were really. It was during this time that a guy we were with named Kevin B. (nicknamed Little Dude) said that he saw Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson leaving out a side door during their set. Now to give some perspective on this, this person was a known bull-shitter. None of us believed him. True story: Kevin years later had trans-gender surgery and now is known as Treva. But anyways, we shrugged this off as yet another lie from Little Dude. It was months later reading a Blackie Lawless interview in Circus magazine that I read this quote. “Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were actually at one of our shows in Toronto last year…. But they were not there to see us.” A classic example of the Little Dude who cried wolf.
Meat
RECORD STORE TALES Part 158: Shrink Wrap (A Video Tutorial)
One of the most comment questions we had at the Beat Goes On when selling new CDs in shrink wrap: “Can you open this for me?”
Part 43 of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!
IRON MAIDEN – The Final Frontier (2010, EMI)
Iron Maiden had a hell of an album to live up to when they recorded The Final Frontier. 2006’s A Matter of Life and Death was a total triumph, a complex driving metal masterpiece. Witness: Not one but two 5/5 star reviews here on LeBrain’s Blog alone.
The Final Frontier begins daringly, with an incredible piece of music unlike anything Maiden have ever attempted before. The rhythmic intro “Satellite 15…” begins sounding like an improvised piece, but knowing Steve Harris and Adrian Smith who wrote it, it was anything but. It has a looseness that sounds like improvisation, but then Nicko’s persistent drum patterns ground it. Bruce’s plaintive vocals speak of “drifting way off course now” and trying to contact Earth, without success. The piece is loaded with tension, which is released only as it breaks into the first actual song, “The Final Frontier”.
Continuing the lyrical theme, Steve writes of drifting through space, alone, unable to bid his family farewell. Musically this is anthemic Maiden as Steve and Adrian have been known to write before, with a catchy riff and chorus. Some of the guitar work is reminiscent of 1986’s Somewhere In Time. I find it daring to team such a catchy metal tune with an abstract intro like “Satellite 15…”
Without letting up for a second, the lead single “El Dorado” gallops through the speakers. And yes, it’s an actual vintage Maiden galloping start! Written by the triumvirate of Steve, Adrian, and Bruce (who have written so many classics in the past), “El Dorado” careens through multiple sections all tied together by the effortless playing of the band. Adrian’s catchy yet exotic solo is a highlight. It’s not an obvious single at almost 7 minutes long, but this length is necessary to contain all the different riffs and sections. None of them are extraneous; every bit of this song is as good as the last, although it sounds like Bruce is reaching for notes too high on the chorus.
The heaviness lets up briefly for the start of “Mother of Mercy”, a brief but epic sounding track that could have fit happily on the Brave New World CD. Yet it’s even more riff laden than anything on that album, continuing The Final Frontier‘s tendency to cram awesome guitar after awesome guitar into one song. It’s a mere five minutes long, written again by Steve and Adrian, with another catchy chorus delivered with power by Bruce. A song like this proves that Maiden can be brief yet still cram all of their power and talent into a catchy five minute number. The lyrics question the deadly combination of war and religion.
How much more epic can you get? None more epic than the chorus of “Coming Home”. A Smith/Dickinson/Harris epic, the lyrics reflect Bruce’s love of aviation within one of the best choruses they’ve ever written. By any other band this might be considered a “power ballad”, but at no point in its six minute length do I really consider it as such. This is surely one of the best songs on The Final Frontier. There’s even a bluesy guitar solo (probably Davey) to fit the melancholy mood of the song.
“The Alchemist” is the shortest song on the album, but the first that is a traditional fast Maiden scorcher. It has a solid Janick Gers riff (who co-wrote it with Bruce and Steve) and Bruce spits out the quick verses. Janick’s solo is his typical manic style, but as a song, this is the weakest on the album thus far. It’s not as memorable or impactful as the four previous, but a fast one is required to balance out the more progressive material elsewhere.
And speaking of more progressive material, “Isle of Avalon”, written by Steve and Adrian, takes us back into that territory. Nine minutes long, it is very different lyrically from anything Steve’s done before: Celtic legends and mythology and all that. And of course, it has multiple riffs, time changes and melodies to keep the listening entranced through the whole length. It’s an effortless listen despite its complexity, simply because it’s loaded with great guitar parts.
One of my favourite tunes is next: “Starblind”. It’s another Bruce/Steve/Adrian masterpiece, and not too brief at almost eight minutes long. It starts slow, but the main riff kicks in at 50 seconds. Be prepared to be pummeled! Bruce delivers an epic chorus, while the lyrics seem to be another condemnation of corrupt religious figures (a traditional Maiden topic). Nicko’s drum patterns are anything but simple; this is one more progressive Maiden masterpiece.
The heaviness of “Starblind” is replaced by the acoustic intro of “The Talisman”. Yet another eight minute epic track, “The Talisman” was written by Steve and Janick. 2 1/2 minutes in, you’re assaulted with the next in what seems like an endless stream of incredible Maiden riffs. Bruce wails away of a treacherous ocean journey. Steve has written some of his catchiest melodies yet, with plenty of twists and turns. Yet another classic.
“The Man Who Would Be King” also starts slow, before moving into a classic sounding Maiden guitar harmony riff. This one was written by Steve and Dave Murray. Again, it’s not brief: Over eight minutes of riffs, melodies and changes. Lyrically, it doesn’t seem to have any great connection to the book or movie, The Man Who Would Be King. Musically, it’s another complex amalgam of amazing parts acting as a whole. Songs like these, there is no way to fully appreciate them after just one listen. Even now I’m finding new appreciation for “The Man Who Would Be King”. It has some sections that sound more “vintage” Maiden than anything else on The Final Frontier, but they’re over in a blink and onto the next section! This is a hell of a song to digest, must like the rest of the album.
Finally, the end of your journey into The Final Frontier: the epic track “When The Wild Wind Blows”. This is my personal favourite song, ten minutes of non-stop drama. This is the Harris album epic; the song that lives up to the legacy set by previous epics such as “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”. Lyrically, it’s an end-0f-the-world scenario, as they huddle in their bunkers waiting for apocalypse from the sky. When the world doesn’t end, they are found dead anyway, having consumed poison. Once again, the song has many different sections, each one more powerful than the last, all wrapped in those trademark Maiden guitar melodies.
There is no denying that The Final Frontier is a challenging listen. It is also a rewarding listen, a complete journey with a start, middle and ending. Very few bands can manage an album like this fully 30 years into their recording careers. Maiden have managed to do so, and not only that, but with their strongest lineup intact strong as ever. With the production talents of Kevin Shirley, the band managed a crisp sound that strikes a balance between polished and live.
Melvyn Grant has returned to do the cover; easily his best cover with Iron Maiden. An alien Eddie searches a derelict alien vessel for some kind of key. I don’t get it, but I don’t care. I’m a sucker for the alien motif. Two of my favourite things combined at long last — Iron Maiden, and aliens!
For the first time ever, there are no B-sides to discuss. There was only one single, which was “El Dorado”. Dan Slessor from Kerrang! magazine sent me a promotional copy of the single, a really nice collectible in a 7″ sleeve (with even printed “wear marks” to make it look like a vinyl single is inside)! It can be seen below for your enjoyment. Disappointingly though, it is merely a CD-R, not an actual factory pressed CD. I guess the old days have finally passed. Why send out an expensive promo single when everybody else is simply sending electronic files?
Lastly, there was a deluxe “Mission Edition” of this album made available with interview footage conducted by Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen; unfortunately this content was not compatible in Canada so I never bought it. My copy did come with a cool Final Frontier sticker though.
5/5 stars
RECORD STORE TALES Part 157: The Year in Review
So here we are, the tail end of 2012. While I’m sure you’re just starting to get your drink on, we here at LeBrain’s Blog are tirelessly bringing you the rock even into the wee final hours. This is the time, traditionally, when we look at the past year!
We used to do Top Five of the Year lists at the record store, when we used to have our newsletter. Unfortunately I don’t have copies of any of those newsletters, not a one, which is a real shame since I poured my heart and soul into them as much as anybody else at the store. It would have been fun to look back 15 years and see what my top five of 1997 was. I do know for certain two albums that were on it: Accident of Birth by Bruce Dickinson, and The Colour and the Shape by Foo Fighters! The rest have been lost to the dusts of time.
Hey, if any of you guys are still speaking to me and have copies of the newsletter, lemme know eh? ;)
Back to the present for a moment:
What can I say about 2012? Before I even thought about doing my own blog, events were in motion that pushed me in that direction. My good buddy Craig Fee invited me down to 107.5 Dave FM for an entire week — Stump LeBrain Week! I spent a week on the air, with listeners trying to stump me. There were even a couple LeBrain Weeks and an entire month of LeBrainuary, where every single day’s 4 O’clock 4 Play quizzes were mined from my own brain’s knowledge. It was a blast, and left me hungry for more.
I’d always been writing Record Store Tales. The oldest ones were at least a decade old on my hard drive, but I had no idea what to do with them. I’d also been writing reviews — well over 800 of them on file before I launched — that very few people had seen. Craig said to me, “LeBrain, you need to get blogging this stuff. Write something every day. If you build it, they will come.”
So that’s what I did, and I thank you for reading.
Back to the Record Store Tales:
I published Part 1 on March 9 2012, the beginning of the story, called Run to the Hills. It was about the very first time I heard Iron Maiden, a date I’ll never forget. And thus LeBrain’s Blog and Record Store Tales were launched.
Some highlights from the early months that you may have missed if you’re fairly new here:
So, if you have nothing better to do on this New Year’s Eve, there’s a good waste of time for ya.
And now that we’re done with the preamble…let’s get down to business.
LeBRAIN’S TOP FIVE OF 2012
5. TENACIOUS D – Rize of the Fenix
KG and JB cannot be stopped. This album is the “Deth Starr” of rock, The D aim “To Be The Best”! Read LeBrain’s review of Rize of the Fenix here, including all bonus tracks.
4. THE DARKNESS – Hot Cakes
I will never stop loving this band. Welcome back. Read LeBrain’s review of Hot Cakes here.
3. RUSH – Clockwork Angels
My favourite Rush album since Counterparts, at least. Read LeBrain’s review of Clockwork Angels here.
2. VAN HALEN – A Different Kind of Truth
I’d never been more worried that a band would fuck up their big comeback. Thankfully, Van Halen did not. Read LeBrain’s review of A Different Kind of Truth here.
And finally…
1. KISS – Monster
You know this was gonna happen. Aside from the fact that I’m the biggest Kiss fan around, it’s a fucking great record. Read LeBrain’s review of Monster here.
Runner up: Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson – TAAB2 Thick As A Brick 2.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
RECORD STORE TALES Part 156: Value
The art of buying and selling used music mainly hinges on two factors: condition, and re-sell value.
Condition can be subjective. Is it slightly scratched? Heavily scratched? Do those minor marks from wiping the CD count as scratches? Our upper management tried to give us consistent guidelines to follow on condition. The customers didn’t always agree, but we tried to be consistent – not an easy task when you have dozens of buyers!
Value, on the other hand, could get very subjective. For example, let’s say the year is 1996. You went out and bought yourself a brand-spankin’ new copy of Live Through This, by Hole. You paid $23.99 for it at your local store. You played it a couple of times and didn’t like it, and they won’t take it back without the receipt. So, you come to see me with a mint condition copy, only played twice. You’re hoping for good money. You paid $23.99, maybe you’d like to cut your losses and get $10 back?
Well, it never worked that way. We’d never pay that much for a single regularly priced CD for many reasons:
These are all factors that came into play.
The next thing the customer would often say was this:
“I’m not looking for my money back, just another CD. Can I just trade this to you, one for one?”
Well, again, no. There’s no profit in that either. I’m just swapping your disc for my disc and not making a dime on the transaction. Essentially, I’d be doing you a favour and that’s all. And chances are, you’d want to trade it for something better than Live Through This!
One time, while having this very same discussion, I explained to a customer why I couldn’t pay him $10 for his CD. “Because that’s what we sell it for, I wouldn’t be making any money on it.” He shrugged and said, “That’s your problem, not mine.” No, it’s your problem, since I won’t be paying you $10 for your disc.
Another reason that people expected more money for a disc was rarity. If something was considered rare, yes, we would generally pay more. But who decides if something is rare?
I remember a guy holding up a copy of Big Game by White Lion, saying, “This CD is worth over $50!” Well, maybe somebody was asking $50 for it somewhere, and maybe somebody was willing to pay that. So yes, to those two people, it’s worth $50. But if you look, you could definitely find it for under $10, guaranteed. Even in 1996. All you had to do is hunt a little. I did, and I got my copy for under $8. It’s a title that was not in demand.
Some things that WERE considered rare:
The Traveling Wilburys – Volume I. We asked $50 for that one. It was out of print for many years. Out of print Bob Dylan is worth a lot more than out of print White Lion!
Metallica – Garage Days Re-Revisited. Also out of print. We asked $50 for that one too, until it was reissued as a part of Garage Inc. Reissues would usually kill the value of an our of print disc.
Some things that were NOT considered rare:
A lot of old soundtracks. Soundtracks were a tricky thing. You might be the only person in town that gives a crap about the Operation Dumbo Drop soundtrack for example. Maybe it’s out of print, and maybe you collect soundtracks, but maybe I already have a copy priced at $5 that has been sitting there half a decade!
We tried to be as fair as possible, but it’s not always easy to see when I’m giving you $4 for a CD that you paid $24 for. You can’t please all the people all the time. Still, it was better than a garage sale!
This one goes out to Rich from KamerTunesBlog, a great, informed site that you should check out.
I got the other two Sectors for Christmas, but this is an older review.
RUSH – Sector 2 (2011 box set, 5 CD + 1 DVD)
Damn you Rush. Damn you!
If it wasn’t for the fact that I liked their past 5.1 mixes so much, I wouldn’t have bought each of these albums again in this box set. And the fact that only one album (A Farewell To Kings) has been mixed in 5.1 really grinds my gears. Because you know more is coming. 2112, recently released as a part of Sector 1, in normal stereo, is now coming again in 5.1. It’s obvious Rush are going to continue to issue 5.1 mixes of their albums, in seemingly random order, which will probably make these box sets completely redundant in the future.
Rich Chycki did the 5.1 mix once again, and once again, it’s a pleasure to listen to. In particular I found “Cygnus X-1” to really benefit from the treatment. The swirly opening section made me feel as if I too was aboard the Rocinante, wheeling through the galaxies. The album sounds three dimensional, clear, shimmery. I’m very happy with the 5.1 mix.
Farewell is included on a standard stereo remastered CD, and also in stereo on the DVD. I have read online that there are flaws with the stereo mix of this DVD but I’ve never played it. I’m not that much of an audiophile that I would really care to, when I already have a CD.
The other CD’s included in the set, aside from A Farewell To Kings, are:
…all of which I have now bought more than once. In Moving Pictures‘ case, three times now, since they just issued that as a deluxe edition with a 5.1 surround blu-ray last year! (Reviewed here.) Bastards.
I’m not going to review each individual album in this set. That comprehensive task would require separate blog entries of their own. They’re all great, of course. Some (Moving Pictures) more so than others (Hemispheres) in my own personal opinion. And of course, within this box set you will get such classics as “Closer To The Heart”, “The Trees”, “The Spirit of Radio”, “Freewill”, “YYZ”, “Limelight”, and “Vital Signs”. In addition there are plenty of brilliant album tracks like “La Villa Strangiato” and “Natural Science”.
The box itself is attractive enough, and if you’re sucked into buying all three, then they all fit together on your shelf as one handsome library. But you already own some of these albums, if not all, don’t you? The bait is that 5.1 mix of Farewell. And it pisses me off that Rush would treat their fans in that way. Why not just remaster and re-release these albums on their own and in a box set?
The individual album packaging is nice enough too, mini record sleeve reproductions, with a nice booklet with lyrics and liner notes for the whole shebang, all taken from the albums. As far as the booklet goes, there’s no exclusive essays or other content that is new to me.
And as for the new remastering? I can’t tell the difference between this and the 1997 remasters. I can’t. Sorry. I’m sure an audiophile would call me an idiot for saying so.
I probably won’t buy Sectors 1 and 3, not unless the prices drop dramatically. I was able to re-gift my original Rush remasters off to other people, which is one way of dealing with the duplicates, but I’m not going to be getting rid of my deluxe Moving Pictures, since it has the blu-ray and a David Fricke essay. So I’ve got two copies of that, and people who collect 5.1 mixes and have Sector 1 will end up with two copies of 2112. Nice eh?
A Farewell To Kings 5.1 mix: 5/5 stars
Sector 2 box set: 1/5 stars
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