Theme of the week: Raymond Scott’s Powerhouse. It’s everywhere.
Good grief, but this is a long song.
Brief aside:
I’m not a Rush fan. I’m not a Rush hater, either. They’re a band that I’ve got to be in the mood to listen to, otherwise it just sounds like a bunch of self-indulgent wankery and then I put on my Captain Cranky cape and it’s game over, man.
This is a long song, but gosh, it sure rips up the speakers.
Back to the Powerhouse nods, though. I’ve picked two live recordings, spaced thirty-ish years apart. Yes, for a ±10 minute song, I’ve given y’all two to listen to and ponder.
First, from their R30 tour (2004?), Powerhouse gets a little more airtime than in the 1978 performance. There’s an upfront quote of it @ 3:48-4:09, the bass (Geddy Lee) uses it as the backing for part of Alex Lifeson’s guitar solo/rant @ 5:52-7:12, and then it’s upfront again right before the end.
Another aside:
If you were to do a YouTube search for La Villa Strangiato Rant, you’d see just how fucking tight these guys are as musicians. And how bizarrely insane Alex Lifeson can be, on stage. I guess 30+ years of playing together will do that for a group, eh?
Second, from a 1978 performance, Powerhouse only has a tiny little howdy-do, squeezed in there @ 6:12-6:34. Yup, 22 whole seconds. So why am I including this recording? Am I a sadistic bastard? Do I think you have nothing better to do than stare at this page for more than 20 minutes? Is my moon occulting your musical point-of-view?
Well, yes. Heh.
Remember last week’s theme about the evolution/convolution of a song? Okay, okay, I didn’t think so. But that’s why. One band (this time), one song, almost thirty years of time between the two recordings.
Be curious, if nothing else. Though it may get you in trouble, if’n you’re not careful.
La Villa Strangiato, 2004
La Villa Strangiato, 1978
One last thing. Max also chose La Villa Strangiato as his song of the day a while back. Go see what he had to say, why don’cha?
- BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
- « “Fraulein” – Devo
- » “Powerhouse” – Raymond Scott Quintette
- BROWSE / IN Song of the Day
- « “Fraulein” – Devo
- » “Powerhouse” – Raymond Scott Quintette
COMMENTS / ONE COMMENT
Albatross added these pithy words on Feb 19 09 at 11:15 amI didn’t say much about it. That was the Sunday entry for when I did a Rush week, and my Sunday entries are often brief. I posted links to both the studio version and the Rush in Rio version, both of which have been pulled.
Alex Lifeson is completely certifiable.
Oh, hey, found the studio version on last.fm.
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