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speaker-0: In 1981, Rush walked into a studio in the frozen woods of Quebec and somehow emerged with one of the most perfect sides of rock music ever recorded. Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ, Limelight. Mac, you know what we call that where I come from? That's not called a greatest hits record. You know what we call
speaker-1: What's that?
speaker-0: Side one. Three musicians, no weak link. Neil Pert, The GOAT, Getty Lee doing about four jobs all at the same time, Alex Lifeson quietly making the case that he might be the most underrated guitar in rock history. This Mac is the album that took Rush from prog rock royalty to legitimate superstars. So grab a drink, turn it up, and settle in. This is Rush Moving Pictures. On classic rock tails.
speaker-1: Welcome to Classic Rock Tales, the podcast where legendary albums, expertly paired drinks, unforgettable stories, and booze-fueled debate come together. Here are the bourbon brothers, Doc and Mac Rock Tales.
speaker-0: So I turned to my brother Mac Rocktails, a man whose mind is for rent to any god or government. But Mac, my brother, give us the lighter notes on this one.
speaker-1: Ha ha. For rent. It's been empty for months. I'm pretty sure the homeless has ⁓ dropped in and just
speaker-0: That's your best work. Just get to the liner notes.
speaker-1: Moving Pictures is from the rock and roll prog rock Hall of Fame band out of Toronto, Canada, Rush. This album was released in February of 1981 and runs a very short seven tracks, but a lengthy 40 minutes long, and included Tom Sawyer and Limelight, Rolling Stone. So Rolling Stone's back. We don't have to go to all music this week. Very easy to find a Rolling Stone review on this one. So, what do you think they gave Rush on this week?
speaker-0: Here I so here's the thing. I think there definitely is a floor because that whole prog rock thing was tricky. There was like 20% of prog rock bands that got respect, but I think 80% did not. Prog is tricky, and then Rush is tricky because they're such elite musicians. That I could talk myself into like 4.5. So I think there's a big, wide gap on rush. I'm gonna say. Four point five. I'm gonna go all the way to the top of my range. Four point five, Mac.
speaker-1: You should have exactly where you're thinking you're going, which was four stars, saying with moving pictures. Yeah, it's good. The group sculpts a more tuneful, AOR-friendly approach without forsaking its trademarks, middle brow, philosophizing, and flashy instrumental trappings. Rolling Stone actually even named this number three hundred and seventy-nine of their top.
speaker-0: Job Doc.
speaker-1: 500 albums of all time. So right around this album, right in front or right in front of this one was Leonard Skinner. Pronounced Leonard Skinnard. Your favorite album name, ⁓ that would be Dookie by Green Day.
speaker-0: Dookie?
speaker-1: So 379. So albums sold. I'm assuming you did not own this one. I did not. I did not. I still do not own this one. But
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how many do you think this one sold? One? Eighty one.
speaker-0: Eighty one. Five point six
speaker-1: Wow, good job, Doc. 5.5 million making this their best selling album.
speaker-0: This night.
speaker-1: ⁓ it's so good. Great start. This was the seventh best selling album of nineteen eighty one. Albums to outperform this one included Phil Collins, Face Value, which ⁓ yeah, which included In the Air Tonight. One of your all time bangers, ⁓ men at work, business as usual. Nothing, huh? All right. Not and A C D C for those about to rock.
speaker-0: Introduced sort of Rush and who they are there, but let's dig in just a bit. Rush was a successful band. They had made a platinum record. On the other hand, they're up until this point, their highest charting album was a farewell to kings at 33. So their biggest album went to number 33. But then they released Permanent Waves with the song Spirit of the Radio. They rocket up the charts to number four. Mac, they go out on what is their first ever profitable tour. Can you imagine going through all the agony of a tour to then owe money at the end? Life is good. Life is looking up. And then they said, Yeah, we don't want to make permanent waves again. Rather than go back out on another tour where they could have made some money. They went to Canada and they hunkered down during a frigid Canadian winter to record moving pictures. So much so, Mac, these wacky Canadians, for the song Witch Hunt. There's like mob noises in it. Rush wanted to make it feel threatening and cinematic and shit. So to create the Did you see this story? ⁓ it's so great.
speaker-1: Did not.
speaker-0: To make the angry crowd noises, Getty, Alex, and Neil went outside in the studio parking lot in the freezing Canadian winter and just recorded themselves shouting like a mob. Getty, he tells stories about it because he's like, it was so fucking ridiculous. You know, we've got three grown men standing outside in the parking lot in the middle of winter. Again, you got those three famously like intelligent, elite musicians. Standing out in the snow screaming into microphones, man. This is your Canadian friends.
speaker-1: Well, but it worked.
speaker-0: That led them to this album, which changed it all. But I'm starting to get thirsty. You get thirsty.
speaker-1: I am really past thirsty at this point.
speaker-0: Let's get drinking. So here on Classic Rock Tales, one of our like foundational principles, Mac, that we believe that for every album there is a perfect cocktail to accompany that album. You don't really maximize your listening pleasure. So Mac, Rush, moving pictures. Ooh, this is this could be a a hard one. Not an obvious answer with this one so much. But your cocktail tonight will be one that you shoot, you sip, or you have in a solo cup.
speaker-1: Not at all. I tell you, you mentioned it. This is not an easy week for this album because it is so unique of an album. I went back and forth with like three or four different drinks, but I've landed the perfect one. It is Sip.
speaker-0: So what you're sipping more to the sweet side, sour side, spicy side, smokesy side, any other side.
speaker-1: Sophisticated side.
speaker-0: So Mac Rocktails is sipping something sophisticated that would pair with moving pictures. Any seasonality or speciality to consider?
speaker-1: So funny part is is I did not know the story that you just went through about the winter, but this felt like a winter album. feels like it should be special, but I don't know why. So I'm going to say winter and I'm going to put it in the special category as we talk more about this album.
speaker-0: I am going to guess a fine Canadian whiskey.
speaker-1: Ho ho look at you.
speaker-0: That's all I got. Like Canadian Club? I don't know.
speaker-1: Wow. Usually the last couple of weeks you have been on it. Yes. Like you have nailed the drink. So I am very, very impressed that you were able to pick out the Canadian whiskey because you know what? I have a drink with Canadian whiskey. I have the Canadian Rusty Nail.
speaker-0: Canadian rusty nail, also known as tetanus. So tell the tell the kids what's in that, Mac.
speaker-1: It is two ounces of Crown Royal, Canadian whiskey, three ounces of drambuy, a large ice cube and a lemon peel. It was popular throughout the late 70s, early 80s. It's complex, it's layered, it's actually pretty good.
speaker-0: I know I should know what Drambue is, but what the hell's Drambue again? What's it taste like?
speaker-1: Three different things. So it is aged scotch whiskey, honey, and some herbs and spices. It's a very sweet kind of honey flavor to it. Okay. ⁓ and it's just blends really well with the Canadian whiskey.
speaker-0: All right, that's not bad. That's not bad. It's not as good as mine, but it's not bad. Thinking about this album, and it's like this Prague Rock album from these wacky Canadians. You know, this album's sort of electric. It's bright. It's weird. What compare with that? Back tonight, I bring you the limelight. What's in a limelight, you might ask? The limelight. It's one and a quarter ounce of absinthe. ⁓ pff
speaker-1: Yes, I do. Three Trying to get rid of it?
speaker-0: Three quarters ounce fresh lemon juice half ounce of simple syrup.
speaker-1: Ha ha. Peach Snops?
speaker-0: You take all of that, you shake it up, strain it over ice into a glass, and then top it with ginger ale. So it is it's got an electric green sort of look to it. It is the limelight. Again, it's a little herbal.
speaker-1: Little
speaker-0: Little citrus is a little sweet, little weird. That's what this is, Matt. It's a little weird. It's the limelight.
speaker-1: Yeah, it's not a bad choice if it's you know green, limelight, ⁓ a little weird. That's that's this album. I I'm good with that. I I actually like both of our drinks tonight. We run.
speaker-0: Yes. Breakthrough album Moving Pictures. The High Point. So many choices this week. One of the things ⁓ that I stumbled across, Mac, I
know how much you love you a good live album. You know how many live albums Rush has?
speaker-1: A lot. I saw their whole album list and it's let me guess. Fourteen. Yeah, it it was a lot.
speaker-0: Sixteen. Live albums. ⁓ I saw that. I could have said that. the album cover. Cause get, you know, those wacky Canadians, Mac, do you realize that the album cover contains three separate like inside jokes?
speaker-1: And they spent lots of money on that too. I don't know what the jokes are. You'd have to explain that. But I do know that they spent thousands of dollars on that on that shop.
speaker-0: There are three hidden jokes. One workers on the album cover that the workers are literally moving pictures. And then you have other people on there are looking at it and being emotionally moved by the pictures that are being moved. And then there's yet another one back, a film crew making a moving picture of the whole event. So it was three very intentional inside jokes. It cost ninety five hundred bucks in nineteen eighty one. The label's like big ninety five hundred bucks for this weirdo picture. So Russia's like, all right, and Rush paid for it themselves back. How you like that?
speaker-1: And what's the equation of what it is today? It's probably like fifty K, right? Probably. For a band that was ⁓ looking for their breakout. Spending that kind of money was real money out of their pocket.
speaker-0: Came away with as the high point isn't a song. It's just the absolute musicianship. As you listen to this album, I found myself just listening to like the drums and just sort of focusing in on the it's like, holy shit, these drums are amazing. I don't know that this song is particularly amazing, but the drums are amazing here. And then you do the same thing with the bass, and it's like, holy shit. It's clear that these three gents are each in their own way elite. Neil Purt, possibly the GOAT of all drummers. You've got Getty Lee not only singing, not only playing bass, but also playing keyboards, and at times doing all three on the same song.
speaker-1: Is that hard to do?
speaker-0: Alex on guitar, man, he's really, really good. The musicianship on here is so elite. I think it's that was more impressive to me again than any one song. Is this the best three-piece band ever from a talent perspective? Where where I came was it's like, ⁓ the the police were all really talented. Uh-huh. Kind of same for Nirvana. Is it Rush Police Nirvana? But I don't know where I'm going with this back. I'm just rambling. The musicianship on this album at times was stuck.
speaker-1: One of the joys of doing this show is you listen to the album numerous times throughout the week. And the first time you take it for what it is. But by the time you get to number two, number three, number four times through the album, you really pick up the music. And this one, it almost started to drown out the actual lyrics to the song because you start to dive into the to the noises that are coming out of this band. And it's amazing that's a three-piece band because there's so much going on in this. You can easily say this is a six-piece, seven-piece band, and then you find that it's three and you go, holy shit, how did they do that?
speaker-0: in the sixties, you know, famous producer Phil Specter was the wall of sound guy. There's some wall of sound shit happening on this rush album. Yeah, exactly. Are there 10 guys playing on here? It's like, no, it's still still just
speaker-1: Week. Keep in mind this is nineteen eighty one. This isn't twenty twenty-one, where you've got so much computer going into this that can mix all of these different sounds to make it sound as one band. These are three guys in nineteen eighty one making this happen, which is amazing by itself.
speaker-0: Which is amazing. Give me a high point, mother.
speaker-1: There are plenty of great moments on moving pictures, but the high point for me is limelight. It's the song that has everything that makes Rush great. It's a memorable riff, incredible musicianship, the lyrics that actually have something to say. What pushes it over the top is Getty Lee's vocal performance. His voice carries both the power and vulnerability of the song. It is Outstanding. Forty years later, Limelight remains one of their most memorable songs of all time. And it's just super well done from from start to finish. So Limelight is my high point.
speaker-0: I think this is probably as good a time ⁓ as any for a game Max not expecting. I
speaker-1: Love games, I'm not expecting
speaker-0: I know you're a big rock and roll Hall of Fame guy. I know that you know, after waiting fifteen years to become eligible, enduring years of people asking why they weren't in, finally getting inducted. The link I sent you, Rush lead guitarist Alex Lifeson walks to the microphone for the biggest acceptance speech of his career, and for two solid minutes says nothing but blah, blah, blah. And he says it a different he's trying to communicate all of this stuff. As it turns out, Getty Lee and Neil Pert had absolutely no idea he was going to do it. Pert in particular in that video looked like he's about ready to strangle him.
speaker-1: Ha ha ha.
speaker-0: That took me down this whole rabbit hole on Hall of Fame induction. So game Mac's not expecting. Mac, you have something to write with, don't ya?
speaker-1: Can I write blah blah blah blah blah? You cannot.
speaker-0: So I want you to write down just six bullet points here. Bullet point one, botto. two, Grohl and Hawkins. three Jagger four Letterman five Springsteen six Stite Bono, Grollen Hawkins, Jagger, Letterman, Springsteen, and Stipe. Do you know what those seven people have in common? ⁓
speaker-1: ⁓ no, I do not.
speaker-0: They have done the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech for another band. Okay. So, lead it, which leads us to the game, Mac's not expecting. So, Mac, what I'm gonna do is I'm going to give you the name of a band, and you
have to tell me who on your list you think did their rock and roll Hall of Fame induction speech. Ready, Mac? Who inducted the Beatles?
speaker-1: gonna say McDagger.
speaker-0: Jaggered, well done, Mac. So that's how this game's gonna work. Your list of six choices there. I'm gonna give you a band. You just tell me who inducted him. Number two. Nirvana.
speaker-1: Ooh. I'm going to say
speaker-0: Ayyyy
speaker-1: Yeah. I'm going to say Bono.
speaker-0: Sadly, that's incorrect. Every once in a while, Mac, we talk about wish you could live bet this podcast and and the results on this podcast. What odds do you think you could have gotten for Michael Stipe as the induction speech for Nirvana?
speaker-1: Wow. That would have been the last one. The the absolute last one.
speaker-0: True story. Michael Stein? Pearl Jam Who do you think gave the induction speech for Pearl Jam?
speaker-1: I'm going to say I'm going to say letterman.
speaker-0: Well done, sir. David Letterman gave the induction speech for Pearl Jam, because of course he did. Who else?
speaker-1: Jam and I I think those guys are a little crazy. So that that makes sense, I think. What about when you
speaker-0: You two went in, who did their speech?
speaker-1: ⁓ boy. ⁓ I'm gonna say Springstink.
speaker-0: You're killing this game, Mac. Yeah. Killing it. All right? Queen.
speaker-1: So Jagger Jagger Letterman Springsteen Stipe. I'm going to say Roland Hawkins. Well ⁓ Matt, you're-
speaker-0: kill in this game. Are you throwing a perfect game? I think you're throwing a perfect game.
speaker-1: No, no, no, no. I will tell you, because I remember it, Bono, which is the last one on our list, he inducted Springsteen.
speaker-0: Springsteen wasn't gonna be one of the choices now, was it? The last one of the six. Who inducted Rush?
speaker-1: Okay. Well, I'm going to say Bano.
speaker-0: Sorry, wah wah.
speaker-1: Then I'd say Grollen Hawkins.
speaker-0: No, too late. Sorry. No. Rush was also inducted by Prol and Hawkins. I mean they do Queen, they do Rush. Why I I mean evidently they did good the first time.
speaker-1: Why not? Dave Grohl does everything. Last true.
speaker-0: Well, Mac, that was that's pretty well done though. Rush though in the rock and roll hall of fame, Brian Adams still not. A low point on the settlement for you, my brother.
speaker-1: So you're the audience is probably going to kill me. You're probably going to kill me. I could complain that seven tracks just isn't enough for Rush. I could even say the fact that the younger me, the 1981 me, completely overlooked.
speaker-0: You sound so stupid.
speaker-1: And toss this album aside. I I had no interest as a kid. None whatsoever. But my low point on this album is the camera eye.
speaker-0: Is that good?
speaker-1: Before the Rush faithful start to sharpen their pitchforks and come after me, a song that's 11 minutes long, come on. It feels like the band decided that they're going to do a group project and everybody's going to get a turn twice to show their talents. It just seems overindulgent. It just is too much. 11 minutes for a song. I'm going to hard pass this one.
speaker-0: Yeah. You know what? When you have three songs on one side of your album, ⁓ there might be a long one in there.
speaker-1: Yeah, not ⁓ did not enjoy it. I mean, I I respect the musicianship, but at the end of the day, it's it just felt like it was a my turn song.
speaker-0: Agree more. ⁓ and I will ultimately take that baton from you and run with it a little bit. But first, you know, my low point. You had limelight as a highlight. I had limelight as a low light, but in a very specific way. In a very specific way, though. So the you know, Neil Pert writes, you know, pretty much all of the Rush lyrics. So Limelight is Neil Pert saying being famous sucks. And man, that's always been a pet peeve for me. If you're a celebrity, if you're a musician, if you're an at if you're somebody who's worked your entire life. Be famous. I I don't want to hear from you later when it's inconvenient. I just don't. How do you like that Mac?
speaker-1: It's actually a very, very fair point. You know, it you you cry when you have to pay at the end of your tour because you you know, your tour lost money. But then when you hit it big, you complain that you're you're popular and famous. Yeah, it's it's time to go sit your ass down.
speaker-0: My take of the week back, it sort of again gets it your, is it my turn sort of thing? So my take of the week, what I realized this week, Rush is a band that you listen to in the car. And if you're in traffic, you might be air drumming or air guitaring, but you're probably not singing along at the top of your lung. It's an airdrum band. And I think the police comparison is a really good one here. They're both three piece bands with elite musicianship. But the thing, you know, you with these elite musicians are all the the flourishes and almost the showing off is it in service of the song? Is it like to make the song tighter and and better and more memorable? Or are the flourishes sort of the object of the exercise? So it's like think of the police. The song Message in a Bottle, you got some elite musicianship on that song, but it's still a tight rock and roll song. And the elite musicianship is to craft a better song. Whereas the song Synchronicity, remember that back
speaker-1: Do very well.
speaker-0: It's an impressive feat of musicianship, but it's a my turn song. My problem with Rush this week is there was a lot of impressive feats of music musicianship. But it didn't feel like it was in service of the song. It just felt like the flourishes were the point rather than a great song being the point. What do you think about that, Mac?
speaker-1: Take. It's not the wrong take. I mean, at the end of the week, and I I mentioned it earlier, I remember the music more than I do the lyrics. And no matter what song it was from this week, I remember the drum, I remember the guitar, I
remember the bass and all the different sounds in the song. I don't remember the lyrics. And I don't think this week was about the actual lyrics. I think it was all about the music.
speaker-0: Necessarily talking about the lyrics. What I'm talking about is how catchy is the song? How much does the song hook me? I mean, I respect Tom Sawyer, I respect Limelight. Neither is gonna be on the top 100 songs I'm taking into space. That close.
speaker-1: And that's fair. That's completely fair. That's exactly how I felt all week long. Like I I respect it, but I wasn't blown away by the week by any means. I I I liked the musicianship quite a bit. And it was it was fine.
speaker-0: I'm repeating or we're repeating exactly what we said about the doors. Yeah, you know what, you hear the talent? I I'm certainly not buying it on vinyl. I I'm not buying this album on vinyl. You know, the ⁓ this album we'll talk about whether it holds up or not, but you know, it's fine. You know, on to Cleveland.
speaker-1: Well, you know, this seems like a good point to ⁓ go ahead and and place a question that Doc was not expecting into the show.
speaker-0: Take your best shot.
speaker-1: ⁓ I'm going to. So for our new listeners, the doc is actually a doctor.
speaker-0: Yes.
speaker-1: And this game is going to be super easy for the doctor. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ this is. So in the past, you came up with a game called the name game. ⁓ So I'm going to use the name game, but we're going to call this one the verb edition.
speaker-0: ⁓ Erethra. ⁓ the name game.
speaker-1: So I have a list of twelve rock bands and artists that are named after a verb. Let's see if you can name six of the get out of here. So let's do it. I'm gonna give you a one easy one. Who are we talking about this week? Shh Rush to move quickly. Verb number one. Okay.
speaker-0: Rush. But walk the moon.
speaker-1: I I don't have that one, but I will give you credit for it.
speaker-0: As you should Drive and cryin'.
speaker-1: Wow. All right. I will also give you credit for that one. But ⁓ my Jesus. We will not be covering driving and crying on any episode many times.
speaker-0: Jesus Christ.
speaker-1: Were you looking at your vital collection and you found driving and crying?
speaker-0: ⁓ I'm like, okay, what's a a B verb? ⁓ shit. ⁓ C verb. Damn it. Journey?
speaker-1: Journey. Journey means to travel. Very good.
speaker-0: ⁓ crushing this game. ⁓
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: Rolling Stones.
speaker-1: I will give you credit for that one.
speaker-0: Yeah, be because you could literally be rolling stones as the verb. This game five kill it. One more.
speaker-1: Yes, you can. We just did an emergency episode.
speaker-0: Train. ⁓ train is a verb. There you go.
speaker-1: Uh-huh. To teach or prepare. I also had and would have accepted Kiss. ⁓ I would have accepted live or live.
speaker-0: Live would be.
speaker-1: Tool, Triumph, Living Color, Counting Crows, Imagine Dragons, or a bonus answer, I would have accepted Jeff Healy Band as a herb because it means to not see well in Spanish. Wow Spanish. And that was the name game.
speaker-0: No, not at all.
speaker-1: Very good. ⁓
speaker-0: Who's the MVP of Rush, would you say?
speaker-1: The the easy answer is Getty Lee. Super easy. That's that's the MVP.
speaker-0: Well i i by easy you mean wrong. I think we know what we have here. ⁓
speaker-1: Well, we've got a bar fight.
speaker-0: says the MVP of Rush is one Getty Lee. I say Heshaw it is in fact clearly goat drummer Neil Purt. Go ahead, Mac. Why don't you throw the first punch in our bar fight?
speaker-1: So I'm going to to throw a couple of things at Jeff. So one, his bass playing, Detty Lee, is practically a lead instrument. He on Tomps
speaker-0: Agree.
speaker-1: Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, the bass is constantly moving and adding another layer to the song. Number two, the distinctive vocals for Getty Lee for this band, you the minute you hear him sing, you know exactly who this band is. It's very similar to the fact when, you know, Axel Rose sings or Brian Johnson sings, you know exactly who the band is. without even knowing the song. Number three, wait.
speaker-0: Wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on. Cause you've said this in past podcasts too. Like when you hear it, you know whose voice that is. Yeah. I know Vince Neal's voice when I hear it. And it's always dog shit. Come on.
speaker-1: Yeah, we apologize to the
speaker-0: We do not. Vince knows what he did.
speaker-1: Yeah. Love it or hate it, nobody sounds like Getty Lee. His high distinctive vocals just give Rush a unique identity. Number three, ⁓ or number. I I gotta win this bar fight. He's doing two fucking jobs at once. Come on. Yes. He's singing, he's got bass, he's
speaker-0: Still going. Still going. Jesus. No, not a chance.
speaker-1: doing all of the keyboard stuff when he's needed. He's doing an absurd amount of work for the band. And then finally, he makes prog rock accessible. ⁓ yeah.
speaker-0: A man named Getty from Canada?
speaker-1: Moving pictures really and I talked about it earlier. This is a sophisticated album. Getty is the central point of this entire album, and that's why he's the MVP of this. Getty Lee is the MVP hands down.
speaker-0: Je vous le dis. months ago on Classic Rock Tales or Podcast Injured Reserve.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: When you were talking, I rolled my eyes so hard, I think I may have sprained one of them.
speaker-1: Ha ha ha.
speaker-0: ⁓ my God. Again. Hey everybody. Doc Rocktails here. I just want to talk to you directly. Ignore Mac. Act like he's not even sitting there in the corner acting weird. Distinctive doesn't always mean good. Distinctive doesn't always mean good. Getty Lee's voice is nasal. It's high. It's piercing. ⁓ it's instantly identifiable. But Getty Lee has one of those voices where, ⁓ you couldn't be more right. In three seconds, you know exactly who it is. And then you got about thirty seconds to determine whether you want to keep listening.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: His voice his voice is if Rush were actually limited, I think it's Getty's voice that is limiting. ⁓ the the Why do people know Rush? ⁓ because Neil Purt. They know Rush because of the drums. And I think you even hear it in the mix. There were times this week where it's like the thing I'm hearing clearly, most distinctly on this song is the drums. I mean, I feel like the drums were even out front of the lead guitar at times, ⁓ or the lead vocals at times. It and you just don't hear that. Neil Peart is such a virtuoso that I feel like I mean, he's clearly the MVP. Let's but here's how I would encourage you to think about Getty's Getty Lee's voice back. Mrs. Doc recently started buying these dog poop bags that are lavender scented.
speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ good.
speaker-0: You know, initially it's like, ⁓ yeah, these are Lavender Center, but you what realised back?
speaker-1: They're still carrying shit.
speaker-0: When I clean up after my dog, it smells like lavender and dog shit.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: In i in this example, in this case, Mac, Russia's musicianship is the lavender. You know what that makes Getty's voice? Yes.
speaker-1: So I will tell you and I'm going to mic drop this one right now. this bar fight with a clear left hook. So reband Neil, Alex, Getty, you know, they're out touring right now. ⁓ wait, one of 'em's not touring right now.
speaker-0: ⁓ yeah. Okay. Best of blood. Yeah. WHA
speaker-1: If Getty wasn't out there, Rush would be over because nobody would go see it. It'd be a cover band. Getty's voice is the reason why Rush is able to go back out on the road. No disrespect to Neil. I think drums are amazing. But you know what? They're still going out on the road and they're still performing to sell out crowds. Neil's not there.
speaker-0: Getty Lee i is an elite bass player, but so what? No, no one cares about the bass player. His main job singing, his voice isn't good. Distinctive doesn't mean good. His voice is bad. He limited
speaker-1: Yeah. The bar fight. The bar fight is who's the MVP. Yeah, it matters if you like the voice. The voice is what makes the band.
speaker-0: The voice is what limited the band. The drums make the band. Come on. ⁓ Done with you.
speaker-1: Man, alright.
speaker-0: Does this album hold up for you?
speaker-1: It it's a top five hundred album of all time for Rolling Stone. I I would say, yes, it does. It passes all of our nonsense tests, but I will tell you, I respected and enjoyed listening to the soundscape that Rush put together, but I'm not returning to it. I'm not coming back to this album again. It it was it was fine for a week. It passes, but I didn't I didn't love it. I liked it just fine.
speaker-0: Do you ever go to a super duper fancy restaurant and the food becomes more about art or presentation than actually taste? That's sort of what this album was for me. And you know, Mac, I I like burger, good ⁓ like spaghetti and meatballs. I don't know all the flourishes. This album to me is nothing but flourishes. Does it hold up especially, you know, three three three equals nine? We don't have nine, but yeah, I I don't wanna be the guy that says, ⁓ yeah, this album doesn't hold up when side A is four really good.
speaker-1: Make a
speaker-0: Classic rock songs. Yeah, there was no point this week where I fell in love with this. Prague is always going to be tough for me. I think there are ten to twenty percent o of the bands that I like, but you know, I I I'm not a big prog guy and there's a lot o a lot about this album that was prog.
speaker-1: Me a little bit to get into this album. And just like you, I respected it. I just didn't love it. We
speaker-0: Did the Doors album recently, I feel like my summation is the exact same one it was for the Doors. It was like, I hear the talent. At no point did I fall in love with it, at no point did it hook me all the way. But, you know, I'm not gonna say it doesn't hold up because you do hear the genius, you do hear the musicianship. There's no hundred songs I'm taking to space on on either of the two albums for me.
speaker-1: No. I'll I'll pass on both as well.
speaker-0: Well Mac, what the kids say when they called
speaker-1: Well, they called on a rotary phone and ⁓ it was Mike in Milwaukee. So, guys, congrats on the show and hitting over a hundred episodes. I was one of the few that was with you early on, and the evolution of the show is unbelievable. Love the bar fight segment. Great ad. If you two walked into a bar and found a jukebox.
speaker-0: ⁓ Mike?
speaker-1: with every album you've covered on classic rock tales, but you can only play one complete album for the rest of the night. Which album are you picking and which one are you unplugging from the walls so nobody else can hear it again?
speaker-0: The the the album that popped into my head was Maroon Five Songs About J in the hundred episodes we've done, I'm gonna say that there's been five albums that either I was just not really aware of or got wrong. There's like, ⁓ my God, this is amazing. That was definitely one for me.
speaker-1: Ow. I I'm really shocked by that one. So I I think for me, the one that pops into my head first is probably Mellencamp's Rain on the Scarecrow, which is a really good album, or Brian Adams Reckless, also very good. I know both of them pretty well, but going back and listening, I'm like, man, this is really good. Really, really good.
speaker-0: See, that album is just Scarecrow, but yes, an amazing, amazing album.
speaker-1: And which one are you unplugging? And I betcha we've got the same one.
speaker-0: So many choices. I'm gonna go Doctor Feel Good.
speaker-1: Wow.
speaker-0: No, no, I'm not just messing with you, Mac. you know, number one on the list is Phil Collins No Jacket required. I know that that is true. But yeah, I'll go with that one, Mac. What about you?
speaker-1: Yeah, I I think that one's ⁓ the one that definitely was not enjoyable. The other one that
we've talked about before is probably Imagine Dragons, Night Vision. Probably probably probably not all that great. I'd say those two. It was fun, but not very good.
speaker-0: What's Mr. Mac Rocktails into in the here and now?
speaker-1: I recently went to see ACDC and the Pretty Reckless. ⁓ Yeah. First, I'm in Atlanta. Going to Mercedes-Benz Dome. I had some, you know, reservations about going to see a concert in that building again. I I went there before to see a concert. And one of the things that I just really could not stand is the echo. There's nothing to kind of dampen the noise and get the echo out. The
speaker-0: ⁓ yeah.
speaker-1: Pretty Reckless came out and I enjoyed them just fine. I liked it just fine. Taylor Momsen tried really, really hard to interact with the crowd, and the crowd was like, meh, and all right, bring ACDC out. So I kind of felt bad for her, but in general, she did a great job. ACDC came out, and for guys in their mid 70s, holy shit. These guys came out big time. And they were so damn good. And I enjoyed it so much. That's the way a concert should be. Sound issues aside, like when I went to go see Train, bare naked ladies just took away my enjoyment of seeing Train. Going to see AC DC, the Pretty Reckless, great opening band got out of the way. A C D C came out and they just killed it. It was really, really good. So well done, A C D C.
speaker-0: Job AC DC. There's nothing worse than when the sound is bad or echoey. I saw the Rolling Stones 10 years ago, maybe, at FedEx in DC. One of my friends had bought the tickets for, you know, a group of people who were going. We were literally on like the side of the stage. And the audio was hitting like the back wall and then bouncing over. It was It was a nightmare, but so close to time for me, Mac. Where I am, the last week, it has just gotten a lot of rain. So ⁓ that means I bring you movies, Mac. That there's a movie out that ⁓ charming and delightful Mrs. Doc and I went to called ⁓ Spa Weekend. It's did you ever see Girl
speaker-1: I did.
speaker-0: It's just like girls' trip. It's sort of the same level of humor, the same level of laughs. Yeah, it's fine. It's exactly what I thought it would be. When it's streaming, if it's a Tuesday night, you want to watch something, you get a couple couple giggles out of it, but you're not gonna have to think too hard. That's not bad. One of the things I gotta point out, Mac. Remember how I said ⁓ famous people bitching about their plight makes me crazy? Another thing that makes me crazy is when you have beautiful people, gorgeous people, who then disfigure their face with plastic surgery.
speaker-1: ⁓ Who did that?
speaker-0: Spa weekend features the formerly charming and delightful, I thought, Anna Ferris.
speaker-1: ⁓ boy.
speaker-0: I haven't seen I haven't seen Anaferris in a while. Did something to her mouth where her top lip is very ducky? She can't talk the same way. Every time she spoke, I winced. It was so hard to watch. It's like, why are people doing this? I don't understand. Spa weekend, I said, it's Tuesday night, it's on Netflix. You want to sit with your significant other?
speaker-1: ⁓
speaker-0: giggle a little bit, but maybe you're on your phones a little bit too. It's the sh it's the movie for you. But much better, Mac, was the movie The Dog Stars.
speaker-1: Love the book.
speaker-0: The movie is an unexpected gem. That's what I would call it, Mac. And full disclosure, it's like they made a movie with all the actors I don't really like. So that Jacob Alordi guy never been a huge fan. Margaret Qually? What's ⁓ the Groden? Josh, thank you. ⁓ Josh Groden and Guy Pierce ⁓
speaker-1: And it's Josh Grolin, right? Grollin.
speaker-0: Brolin. Yes, thank you.
speaker-1: hasn't gotten great r didn't get great reviews.
speaker-0: It's not getting great reviews. It's it's not even getting great rotten the Rotten Tomato audience is like a 70, which is low. Here's what I'll tell you. I was completely unfamiliar with it walking into the theater. It's smart. It's gorgeous. People are complaining online that they thought it was slow. I didn't I didn't think it was slow. Really, really good.
speaker-1: The the book is great. I it's a it's an A plus book for me. And it's written in a very unusual way. So it's it's kinda like ⁓ he wrote the book, Peter Heller, without a lot of punctuation to it. So it kind of just is a free flow. Here's all the words on the page and you just kind of have to follow along. It's really good. It was a very, very good book. Very interested in the movie, but then I saw the reviews and I'm like, maybe I'll wait. But I'm glad you said it's good.
speaker-0: I thought it was good. You know, he's talking about the the Anthony Bourdain movie, the Tony movie, and how they shot it on like Martha's Vineyard. And it was just a gorgeous movie to like spend two hours with. This one is the same way. You know, Jacob Alordi is a a pilot of a shitty little plane, and there's just lots of shots of the mountains and being outside and everything. Gorgeous movie. Mac, I'm rambling. ⁓ my God, what This limelight drink? I'm on like my ninth one Mac. What's going on? Get us out of here.
speaker-1: You're in you're in trouble. See ya. See ya.