William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

From: Signals ; Year: 1982; Genre: Progressive Rock I'm in the mood for some Rush from the early '80s this morning. I noted that I had not picked this song, which is part of Neil Peart's "Fear Series." It was originally a trilogy made up of three songs over from consecutive albums in the early '80s starting with Moving Pictures and ending on Signal ; Neil Peart added to it with a fourth part on their late 1990s album Vapour Trails . The Weapon is mostly a synth driven piece similar to what would be heard from Rush in the subsequent years during the mid to later part of the decade. Still, it's not a bad song though; definitely a classic from the band. Hear The Weapon on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Genesis - Abacab My song pick two years ago today: Savatage - Handful of Rain My song pick three years ago today: Emerson, Lake & Palmer - The Barbarian My song pick four years ago today: Charlie Parker - Summertime My song ...

From: Vapor Trails ( Remixed ); Year: 2013 (2002); Genre: Progressive Rock They finally got around to fixing the mess that was the album Vapor Trails . Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad album, but the mixing and mastering of the original left it a clippy and distorted mess. Since the overwhelming positive reception of the remasters of Earthshine and One Little Victory it made it kind of a nobrainer. Anyway, as you know or might not know this was Neil Peart's continuation of his original ' Fear Trilogy ' (now called ' Fear Series ') and more or less follows along the same lines both lyrically and musically. Hear the new remastered version of Freeze on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Chris Isaak - Wicked Game My song pick two years ago today: Dion - Abraham, Martin and John My song pick three years ago today: Joachim Witt - Wem Gehört Das Sternenlicht My song pick four years ago today: Cab Calloway & The Harlemaniacs - The Ree...

From: Grace Under Pressure ; Year: 1984; Genre: Progressive Rock Late last night I had the song Afterimage running through my mind, so instead of getting sleep I put on Grace Under Pressure (with headphones on of course; I didn't want to wake anyone  up in the house) and pulled out my guitar to play along resting my chin against it to get the vibration on my notes. It seem like every time I put this album on for one song it seems as if I end up playing the whole record; last night was no different. I thought I would go ahead and pick one off of this album today, but just like yesterday's pick, I've all but every song off of it. I think I have yet to pick Kid Gloves , and I'll have to check but I believe I haven't picked Distant Early Warning .... I don't know why, but I've always been drawn to this record ever since I first dropped the needle; it's just a great album in my opinion. Anyway, The Enemy Within is among the heavier tracks on the d...

Halloween kind of snuck up on me this year, so I figured that I needed a good song with Halloweenish theme; this one fits today somewhat. This one is Part III of Neil Peart's Fear Series : The Witch Hunt . This deals mostly with the mob mentality of how irrational fear fostered by the leaders of the mob can drive them to almost any end; i.e. a witch hunt. Here is the studio version on YouTube. Here is a live performance from the Grace Under Pressure Tour on YouTube. +