| Rush - Replay [3 DVD/CD Box Set] | ![Rush - Replay [3 DVD/CD Box Set]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41S8A-AGrsL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Actor: Rush
Studio: Island / Mercury
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.98
Buy New: $25.00
You Save: $14.98 (37%)
New (38) Used (13) Collectible (2) from $17.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  115 reviews
Sales Rank: 17961
Format: Ac-3, Box Set, Color, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dvd-video, Extra Tracks, Live, Original Recording Remastered, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.6 x 1.2
MPN: B000664950
UPC: 602498560853
EAN: 0602498560853
ASIN: B000FDFOX0
Theatrical Release Date: 1989
Release Date: June 13, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Rush gathers some of its previously released concert material on REPLAY. Included in the package is: EXIT...STAGE LEFT which was filmed at the Forum in Montreal Quebec; GRACE UNDER PRESSURE which was shot at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto Canada; and A SHOW OF HANDS from the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham England. An additional CD includes the soundtrack from GRACE UNDER PRESSURE.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS Rating: NR UPC: 602498560853 Manufacturer No: B000664950
Amazon.com
While Pink Floyd's widely popular Pulse ranked as one of the bestselling DVDs of 2006, Rush: Replay x 3 is a similarly praiseworthy treasure-trove that's geared more for long-time Rush fans with a working knowledge of the band's evolution. New fans and late-blooming converts are just as likely to enjoy this three-concert package (compiled from previously available VHS releases from the 1980s), but it's the die-hard devotees of Canada's premiere prog-rock power trio who'll get the most from this epic-scale, remastered DVD package. Particularly welcome here are the miniature reproductions of the official programs from each of the tours featured here: "Exit Stage Left" (1981), "Grace Under Pressure" (1984) and "A Show of Hands" (1987-88). With tour-diary notes by the band's illustrious percussionist and co-founder Neil Peart, and often humorous personnel profiles and equipment list by Peart, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and bassist/synth player and vocalist Geddy Lee, these handy booklets offer both tour-related nostalgia and successive glimpses into the band's creative process. Lavishly illustrated, they're also fascinating as visual records of the band's on-stage look, album designs, and related materials. As presented here (as opposed to earlier releases on VHS and laserdisc), the concerts are intended to complement the same live recordings (with some variations in playlists) that were previously released on CD, and the "Grace Under Pressure" CD, included here as a special-bonus fourth disc, is an all-new release exclusive to this package. If you own them all (and what self-respecting Rush fan wouldn't?), you'll have a near-complete collection of these pivotal performances. Both "Exit" (recorded at The Forum in Montreal, Quebec) and "Grace" (Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto) have been re-edited to an even hour apiece, while "A Show of Hands" (National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England) clocks in at 90 minutes. While they lack the visual splendor of Pulse, each concert offers an equal serving of highlights, notably "The Trees" and "Xanadu" (on "Exit"), "The Spirit of Radio" and the muscular medley of "YYZ/The Temples of Syrinx/Tom Sawyer/Vital Signs" (on "Grace"); and the stunning Alex Lifeson showcase "La Villa Strangiato" (on "A Show of Gands"). The latter also includes an obligatory and always-impressive Neil Peart drum solo (on "The Rhythm Method"), and while the original video source results in occasionally murkey image quality (as also happened with "Grace Under Pressure" director David Mallet on Pulse), there's no doubt that the 5.1-channel Dolby Digital remastering (supervised by Lifeson and Mike Fraser) represents a substantial improvement in overall sound, especially for those with DTS decoders. For those who think a little Rush goes a long way, Replay x 3 will probably qualify as overkill, but true fans will be ecstatic despite the absence of certain previously available material or any backstage features that would allow a more intimate glimpse of prog-rock's most enduring practitioners. What's not here is regrettable; what is here is fantastic. --Jeff Shannon
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 110 more reviews...
 Rush Replay Is Awesome! April 18, 2006
295 out of 312 found this review helpful
Rush Replay should be one of the best DVD concert releases of the Summer. (Technically very late Spring). This 3 DVD/1 CD box set will include the DVD versions of "Exit... Stage Left," "Grace Under Pressure," and "A Show of Hands." The CD in the box set is the unreleased soundtrack CD of the "Grace Under Pressure."
Before Rush Replay all three concerts were on VHS. These were extremely hard to get your hands on. Now, thanks to Alex Lifeson and Mike Fraser, you can enjoy these classic concerts in 5.1 surround sound and remastered visuals.
Exit... Stage Left:
The first DVD in Rush Replay is "Exit... Stage Left," which was filmed at The Forum in Montreal, Quebec. Anyone who owns the Exit... Stage Left CD knows how totally awesome the concert was. The CD and the DVD are radically different though. Lets look at the track listing of each.
Exit... Stage Left CD:
1. The Spirit of Radio (Not on DVD)
2. Red Barchetta
3. YYZ
4. A Passage To Bangkok (Not on DVD)
5. Closer To The Heart
6. Beneath, Between, and Behind (Not on DVD)
7. Jacob's Ladder (Not on DVD)
8. Broon's Bane (Not on DVD)
9. The Trees
10. Xanadu
11. Freewill
12. Tom Sawyer
13. La Villa Strangiato (Not on DVD)
Exit... Stage Left DVD
1. Limelight (Not on CD)
2. Tom Sawyer
3. The Trees
4. Instrumental (Not on CD)
5. Xanadu
6. Red Barchetta
7. Freewill
8. Closer To The Heart
9. YYZ
10. Finale: By-Tor and the Snow Dog/In The End/In The Mood/2112 Finale (Not on CD)
So in the end, the major songs missing on the DVD are, The Spirit of Radio, A Passage To Bangkok, and La Villa Strangiato. But in return, you get Limelight and the Finale.
Grace Under Pressure:
Out of the three concerts in Rush Replay, Grace Under Pressure is the only one without a live CD. (The CD as I mentioned earlier is part of Rush Replay). This DVD was filmed in 1984, at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada. Here is the DVD track listing:
1. The Spirit of Radio (A great song)
2. The Enemy Within "Part 1 of Fear"
3. The Weapon "Part 2 of Fear"
4. Witch Hunt "Part 3 of Fear"
5. New World Man
6. Distant Early Warning
7. Red Sector A
8. Closer To The Heart
9. Melody: YYZ/The Temples Of Syrinx/ Tom Sawyer
10. Vital Signs
11. Finale: Finding My Way/In The Mood
So Grace Under Pressure contains an unreleased version of The Spirit of Radio, the Fear trilogy, and two melodies. Also included in Rush Replay will be a CD with those ten songs.
A Show Of Hands:
Of the three DVDs, this is the longest one, nearing 85 minutes. It was filmed in late April 1988 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England. Unlike Exit... Stage Left, the A Show Of Hands DVD is similar to the CD version. Here is the A Show Of Hands DVD track listing:
1. The Big Money
2. Marathon
3. Turn The Page
4. Prime Mover
5. Manhattan Project
6. Closer To The Heart
7. Red Sector A
8. Force Ten
9. Mission
10. Territories
11. The Rhythm Method (Drum Solo)
12. The Spirit Of Radio
13. Tom Sawyer
14. Finale: 2112/La Villa Strangiato/In The Mood
So A Show Of Hands contains 8 songs from "Power Windows" and "Hold Your Fire." Closer To The Heart, Tom Sawyer, 2112, and In The Mood are on all 3 DVDs. Rush Replay also will also include mini reprints of the original tour booklets from the three concerts.
In the end, you get Exit... Stage Left, Grace Under Pressure, A Show Of Hands, the Grace Under Pressure CD, and three mini reprints of the tour booklets for a list price of $40. That's a great deal for three classic Rush concerts and a Rush concert CD soundtrack.
If you enjoy Rush Replay than you will also enjoy Rush In Rio and R30.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Note: This is my updated review as of June 13, 2006. The previous part was my review as of April 17, 2006, before Rush Replay had been released.
Rush Replay was released today and all I can say is, "It's excellent." It's been a long two months of waiting, but the waiting was rewarded.
First, let me talk about the Exit... Stage Left DVD. Limelight, Tom Sawyer, and The Trees start the DVD off, followed by Xanadu. Xanadu, on this DVD, is a classic. Because of advancements in technology, all Neil has to do nowadays is hit a MIDI trigger and the chime or bell sound is created. Here however, you get to see him running through the wind chimes, or hitting the bells. It's more realistic than he does on R30. Plus, both Alex and Geddy are using double necks, adding even more realistic sounds.
Another thing I missed to point out in April was that `Closer to the Heart' is different on the DVD than it is on the CD. Not much different, but a little.
The finale of `By-Tor/In The End/In The Mood/2112 Finale' is also a good melody.
For my mini-review of the Grace Under Pressure Tour, I'll start off with the Fear Trilogy live. This was the only tour, along with the Power Windows Warm-Up Tour, that featured the entire fear trilogy. Second, you get an awesome version of New World Man, instead of the Rush In Rio version. The YYZ/The Temples Of Syrinx/Tom Sawyer melody is approximately 9 minutes, 41 seconds long. The only song shortened in the melody is YYZ, which is cut down about a minute. Then you have Vital Signs, so, again, you don't have to listen to the Rush In Rio version.
The Grace Under Pressure Tour Soundtrack is the bonus CD. If you buy Replay at Best Buy, then you also get Limelight (Exit... Stage Left version), Closer To The Heart (Exit... Stage Left version), The Spirit Of Radio (A Show Of Hands verson), and Tom Sawyer (A Show Of Hands version) on the end of the soundtrack. (Note: When importing the bonus CD into your computer, the track listing, artist, album name, etc. will not come up, so be prepared to type them in.)
My notes for A Show Of Hands are as followed, Manhattan Project and Force Ten are awesome. I had been waiting to see Manhattan Project live for a long time. Later in the DVD are The Spirit Of Radio and Tom Sawyer, along with a 2112/La Villa Strangiato/In The Mood finale. Most of the A Show Of Hands DVD is excellent.
Also, all three tour books are great. The best on is the Hold Your Fire tour book with Neil's story "Fireworks (The making of Hold Your Fire)".
In the end, Rush Replay is just what I expected back in April, awesome. Everything from the remastered visuals to the remastered audio is excellent. Rush Replay is highly recommended for any classic rock fan.
For Rush Fans June 19, 2006
33 out of 40 found this review helpful
These DVDs are a gift, and an opportunity to see RUSH in concert during these time periods. U2 has released concerts from Under A Blood Red Sky to the Vertigo tour, and it's nice to see and hear the evolution of the band, as well as some of what has not changed. I'm shocked that many Rush fans have complained about this collection. This is an opportunity to watch these three concerts in conjuction with other newer DVD releases, allowing you to witness the evolution of Rush, and see a variety of songs and variations of certain titles. This is a bad thing? Many here seem to regret that these were ever released. I'm happy that the actual fans of Rush, however, have expressed joy and interest with this release. As a fan, I cannot wait to hear their next CD, and see them in concert again. I am anxious to witness it all, with my fellow fans, and not these complainers here on Amazon...
 ABSOLUTELY HORRID AUDIO QUALITY; CLASSIC RUSH TERRY BROWN MIX DESTROYED! June 14, 2006
17 out of 27 found this review helpful
First, I gave this 3 stars because of the simple fact that it contains Rush live in 1981. But...
All those VERY familiar with the "Exit Stage Left" original VHS and Laserdisc, especially BASS players, view the opening bass tone of "Limelight" as Geddy's holy grail Rickenbacker sound. The slamming thick distorted midrange presence on the VHS version of this video is PERFECTION. Guess what???? IT'S GONE.
Whenever you see "Audio produced by Alex Lifeson" on the cover, RUN. The audio of this concert (and "Grace Under Pressure" as well) is absolutely abysmal. Reverb has been added, the midrange bite of the bass guitar is GONE, and the entire mix is so completely digitally distorted and clipped from normalization that it is nearly UNLISTENABLE. Don't believe me??? Set your audio options to "PCM Stereo" and turn your tv down to about 1 or 2, so that your tv volume is whisper quiet. Then, listen to the sound of this dvd at that super soft volume. WHAT YOU HEAR IS COMPLETE DIGITAL OVERLOAD SIZZLY CLIPPING. IT SOUNDS ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!!!!! Nevermind the added reverb, increased sub-bass, and decreased midrange. Strangely, these DVD's have the EXACT same digital clipping as Vapor Trails, Rush in Rio (unlistenable), Feedback, and R30!!!! What the h*** is going on? Who in their right mind would purposely mix these things to sound COMPLETELY distorted, with NO definition between instruments, in a mish-mosh of Pro-Tools sounding distortion and noise????? THIS IS ABSOLUTE TREASON TO DESTROY A GREAT TERRY BROWN MIX OF A CLASSIC LIVE RECORDING LIKE THIS. The 5.1 mix is just as bad, even more "empty" sounding, with Geddy's vocals sounding like they are in a separate room. Even less bass guitar midrange on the 5.1 mix. But, its the absolutely overloaded digital clipping distortion and added 90's reverb that totally absolutely inexcusably destroy these classic recordings!!!!!
Even the "Grace Under Pressure" dvd and cd sound horrendous. Reverb has been added, there is WAY too much sub-bass, the bass guitar disappears, and there are digital compression artifacts such as ringing evidenced a LOT. Also, some of the vocals are different; I'm assuming on the original release Geddy "touched up" his vocals in the studio, and who ever remixed (ie, RUINED) this new version wasn't even familiar enough with the original to notice the different vocal tracks. Compare tracks such as the end of "Distant Early Warning" and "Vital Signs" to hear the differences. I have an original version of this recorded off the radio in 1987 to reel to reel...and its thick, punchy, dry, and "in your face" sounding...like a REAL band in your LIVING ROOM...NOT AT THE OTHER END OF A TUNNEL OR THE BACK OF A STADIUM!!!!!!!!
Also, why does the snare drum all of the sudden on all these old recordings NOW sound like Neil's new paper thin raspy digitally reverbed snare of the last 5 years??????? Absurd.
The audio portion of at least the "Exit Stage Left" disc borders on idiocy nearly to the extent of the re-recordings/remixing of Ozzy's "Blizzard of Ozz", "Diary of a Madman", and "Bark at the Moon".
Alex Lifeson, while a fun and credible guitarist, absolutely SUCKS at audio engineering.
I wholeheartedly HATE the destruction of one of the best sounding live Rush shows in history. The original VHS sound of the opening of "Limelight" is aural bliss at its most emotional. Now its gone.
Some people have NO clue. And I'm P***ED.
OK, I need to clear a few things up. I'm still saddened and disheartened by the destruction of ESL, and discouraged by some people who are ignorant to the fact of how horrendous these concerts are mixed. Its so simple to hear when doing a comparison...but, first things first.
I never said to NOT get Replay. Yes, its good and cheap, its packaged decently (although I hate the discarding of the original artwork on the box, but hey....the powers that be that produced this couldn't give a F* about that) and overall, just for the sake that it is early Rush, its worth it. Especially for those too lazy to find good original copies of the original versions. So, please stop bumping and repeating the facts that it is a good deal. I agree.
I just tried to rewatch these DVD's today. I could stomach GUP, but the immense full bandwidth distortion is appalling. I honestly don't like mixes like the original "Show of Hands" due to the late 80's style of massive reverb and an overall 'emptiness" but what amazes me about the DVD is the fact that they were able to make it about 100 times WORSE. I mean, although I LOVE Geddy's (original) recorded Rick tone, I always liked the snappy twangy in your face Wal tone as well. Well, needless to say, on SoH it is GONE as well. How can you bury something so effectively? I mean, its HARD to create a mishmosh of noise out of an originally clear recording (even if it was reverby and empty). I nearly couldn't stand it. Neil does a drum roll, and you can't make out what he's doing. The bass parts to "Time Stand Still" and "Territories" used to slam in your face. Now they are a rumbly reverby hard to hear mess. I hate it. Not to mention the intense cluttered buzzing distortion on EVERYTHING. I won't watch this DVD again.
Then, I tried to watch ESL again. I couldn't stand it. So distorted, only a faint distant whisper of Geddy's Rick, immense distortion, and the worst snare sound I've heard from ANYTHING in the 80's. Listen to "Red Barchetta" on Chronicles if you don't have an original ESL VHS tape...beautiful, thick, punchy, in your face dry snare drum. It sounds like a DRUM. Then, listen to the new version. The snare sounds like its off down a hall through a tunnel by itself. Its all thin and crispy. When Neil does the roll right after "adrenaline surge" you cannot even HEAR what he's doing; the sound of the rolls on the snare are simply covered up with mud. HOW CAN ANYONE PREFER THIS???? This concert sounds almost as bad as RIO...like I told someone who emailed me, I honestly believe that Rush in person right now in 2006 probably sounds MUCH closer to the Rush of 1980 than we think due to forced confusion imposed on us by the horrible recent recordings of the band. I mean, if they can take a masterpiece like ESL and make it sound as bad as RIO...what's to stop us from assuming that standing on stage with Rush when they filmed R30 didn't sound 100 times better than the DVD??? If they can make ESL sound terrible then the master tapes of RIO's raw tracks can be made to sound great. Of course, not by Alex.
And also, don't give me this crap of "They didn't have good audio technology then." This is such a misinformed idiotic cop-out that when someone says it you can instantly realize that you can't give them any credible debate. The originals sound great (well, maybe not SoH as it was mixed in an era when reverb was "in" but its still not an injustice) and no one ever complained about the sound of the ESL or GUP videos. EVERY recording of Rush through 1984 sounds better than ANYTHING they did after recording wise. So don't go on the rants about the technology being better. Sure, its EASIER now....easier to F* up. But, like someone else posted, it was HARD to make a recording sound bad in the 70's and early 80's.
And to those telling me to "lighten up"...there have only been about 10 major emotional moving musical moments in my life that I will go to my grave with. When I think of my handful of favorite bands and "moments", the opening of "Limelight" with that Rick tone has always been one of them. To have it viciously murdered with no respect or realization of the genius of the original sound of the recording, only to be replaced with what most here agree is a TERRIBLE sounding recording/mixing style (RIO and Vapor Trails "Wall of Mud" style) just kills me. And then to have Rush fans SUPPORT it, well, it just makes me real sad.
Rush is a great band; let's just hope the videos are not "fake letterboxed" since ... April 26, 2006
14 out of 25 found this review helpful
... "Grace Under Pressure Tour" was originally shot on videotape, which would make a widescreen version now "fake." These are great concert films -?the audio CD of "Grace" will be great, too. I would rather have pan-and-scan video for these, however, than "fake letterbox" that crops much of the original image (see "Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii" DVD for example.)
Check out the awesome sample of these remasters on Rush's official Web site. Click on the "Rush Replay 3" box, and it shows you samples from all three concert films. They look like they've been cleaned up a lot, especially "Exit Stage Left." Can't wait for June to roll around. Any word if these guys will tour again in 2007? Their "Vapor Trails" show in San Antonio/Selma, Texas, was incredible, all three hours of it!!
Peace
 TRAVESTY! BROON'S ESL MIX/GED'S RICK TONE RUINED!!, REPLAYS ESL AUDIO TRACKS ABSOLUTELY SUCK June 14, 2006
13 out of 27 found this review helpful
Ged's tone on Limelight (especially during the guitar solo as well) has been my ultimate benchmark tone for YEARS....just a perfect combination of midrange, distortion, attack, "singy-ness" and thickness...and while its still recognizable, its definitely been toned down. Its buried, with more 40hz added, the midrange attack has been softened, reverb has been added, the digital clipping extra loud maxed out volume squashes everything, and surprisingly Alex's guitar tone is bordering on the mushiness associated with Rio and R30. Its gotta be HARD to purposely destroy such a great sounding recording.
I always preferred the hard, "in your face" sound of the VHS ESL to the original CD's since the CD, while great, was a bit sterile. The VHS was more substantial, similar to All the World's A Stage. But, no more.
At least we know for sure now who is resposible for the murky muddy mixes of Rush's output for the last several years...Alex. People hold him up to be a god and praise his audio work ONLY because "Alex did it", but people with open minds will realize that the best aspects of the sound of the original Terry Brown classic mix have been digitized, reverb-ized, 90's-ized, and absolutely murdered.
Well, I don't mean to imply that it sounds AS BAD as say, Rush in Rio, but the characteristics are absolutely there, the most prominent being the mud and the sizzly digital clipping. Even my mom (I'm visiting her as she recently had a stroke) said while walking past the TV, "That doesn't sound too good, its all jumbled up...there's no clarity." Which further illustrates the point, since ALL Terry Brown Rush mixes are notable for the absolute clarity and definition of all instruments, lack of mud, "in your face" dryness, 70's thickness, and of course not the slightest hint of digital clipping Pro-Tools distortion.
I mean c'mon...if most people here found out that say, "Hemispheres" was going to be remastered, they would absolutely cry "HERESY!!!!!!!" But, if they found out that Alex was remastering it, suddenly you'd read posts such as, "The new mix is great...Alex did a great job...you can hear everything better...the new mix rocks" just because ALEX did it (ie, ruined it).
YOU DON'T F*** WITH CLASSIC RECORDINGS MADE BY ONE OF THE BEST ENGINEERS OF ALL TIME. BTW, the Grace Under Pressure video was the last mix that Broon did for Rush. Guess it wasn't good enough for old Alex. Would you trust Ringo to remaster George Martin's work on Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper's??? I think not. They tried that by ridding "Let It Be" of Phil Spector's mix and re-releasing "Let It Be...Naked" and it totally sucked. But of course there are the idiots out there who love it because they are subliminally told to by their lack of their own ability to articulate, judge, and observe.
The video quality of ESL is not good. Not nearly as good as an original VHS copy. It is FULL of artifacts due to the DVD format trying to compress a subpar original. The problem with the DVD format is that when you try to encode a "grainy" analog signal without first cleaning up the analog source, the DVD compression algorithms "don't know" what to do as they can't differentiate the graininess, which leads to mosquito noise and blocking wherever the original exhibited the slightest bit of grain. VHS resolution by its very nature however hides this, and the grain is not noticed...for analog graininess merely shows up as smears, whereas the DVD format transfers the "smeariness" to digital blocks. But, its VERY bad on ESL...some pictures actually turn cartoonish, similar to "Max Headroom" from the early 80's. If you have a DVD recorder and have ever set it to record at any setting longer than 2 hours, then you have an exact idea of what this DVD looks like. I'm absolutely sure that if you had an original good condition VHS of this show and recorded it at XP or SP onto a stand-alone DVD recorder you'd get absolutely 100 percent better video AND audio quality (due to the original mix and the ability to record uncompressed PCM in XP mode on DVD recorders). As a matter of fact, I will do this with my original copy and get rid of this remaster because I hate it with a passion. Everything I loved about the original has obviously been discarded, and the sad part is that those responsible for the production of this DVD don't even know what those qualities were that made the original a classic milestone.
I'm not implying NOT to get the DVD set...get it.
If you think my point is a TAD overblown, that is understandable due to some peoples lack of perception detail and furthermore some people's mentality that they just don't care. BUT, if you can't HEAR my point (as it is painfully obvious at first listen) then please post an intelligent response rather than, "Alex's mix rocks" or "I love the new audio mix" as it clearly illustrates a lack of appreciation or realization of the genious of the audio SOUND of Rush's recordings through 1982.
My point is to capture and PRESERVE the ORIGINAL tone, whether I "liked" it or not. I, personally, like the flatter, less distorted tone of the original; while not Alex's "best" tone (subjective) as it is a bit processed, it was what it was, and fits the era perfectly. I find it unacceptable to all of the sudden have a more modern guitar sound inserted in such an old classic recording. While I'm not saying that the guitar sound on ESL is NEARLY as much of a downstep as everything else in the mix, I believe its the added digital clipping overload sizzle that makes the guitar sound more buzzy. For instance, if someone prefers the sound of say, a Peavey 5150 guitar amp from a death metal band in the late 90's (I don't personally, but it has its PLACE for some types of music) that does NOT mean you should digitally remix Alex's guitar from 1981 through said Peavey 5150 amp because you "like its tone better".
Recordings of the 70's were notable because they captured the original sound of actual bands, even while thickening and fattening up the overall mix during mastering and mixing. It was difficult to actually ruin stuff no matter how flat the final outcome might have been from some bands. But, you could ALWAYS tell what the original guitaritsts' or bassists' tones SOUNDED like as if you were actually there. Nowadays, the idea of preserving the original tones of the instruments and amps has been thrown out the window (hell, Geddy doesn't even USE an amp anymore) since everything is recorded, altered, and usually, destroyed by someone who hasn't a clue with a computer.
I think Alex honestly can't HEAR the digital sizzling clipping. Once again see my original post to point it out to yourself if you THINK you can't hear it. Like Vapor Trails, it is as LOUD or LOUDER than the music itself.
Another thing...the cymbals are so massively digitally overloaded that they are indistinct and completely overpowering.
Or, try this...take your SPDIF digital output from your DVD player and run it into a standalone minidisc deck (too bad those never really caught on) or a CD recorder and look at the input levels...even with settings at unity gain (0 db) they are PEGGED at "overload" with NO variation whatsoever. (At my parents' house one of the DVD players digital output feeds the MD recorder directly.) You have to back off nearly 10 dB (!!!!) before the "overload" indicator goes out. My portable 12volt TV/DVD combo in my travel trailer won't even PLAY the Replay, R30, or Rio discs because of the massive overloading....the speakers start to actually RATTLE at ANY volume because of the inherent digital clipping; it just can't handle it for some reason.
But, to the original point regarding Alex's guitar sound. I HATE his tone since Vapor Trails. Listen to his tone on "Limelight" on Rio. You cannot GET any worse than that. Sounds like a completely blown up Crate amp with holes in the speakers with the cabinet turned toward a giant wall of pillowcases filled with wet flour. Alex used to be the master of definition with complex chords played with tons of distortion while still being distinct. He is now the polar opposite. So, while I prefer a more ATWAS type of "in your face" full, thick guitar tone, I wouldn't want ESL to be remixed with that tone because my overall point is to PRESERVE THE ORIGINAL TONE with the UTMOST CLARITY.
I wholeheartedly disagree with you that losing Geddy's BEST Rick tone and Neils classic warm snare sound is acceptable to get a more modern subjectively "better" guitar tone.
The sound of these DVD's completely exemplifies my thinking of modern recording techniques and the destruction of the art form of thick/punchy/fat/dry/realistic recordings. But, more and more bands (even if you don't like the bands or music) are getting the SOUND of the recordings better in regards to dryness and LACK of emptiness such as QOTSA's "Songs For The Deaf" or Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me" (a different type of music, but recorded GREAT), or The Mars Volta's "Francis the Mute". These recordings are at least dry and "in your face", even if you hate the music. At least a minor step in the right direction.
|
|
|
