There I was in the Spring of 1981 , on the way to a Forensics (Dramatic Duo) tournament at Southfield High School (MI)… I was in the back seat of a nice car, with my beloved Eng teacher/coach and my team mate in the front seats and I started singing this song, Jacob’s Ladder! …which I had recently heard LIVE, from the 4th row, Center, at Joe Louis Arena - Detroit!
I think this is one of their best compositions. It flows from beginning to end, paints great images, and feels almost like a classical music composition, building up to a huge grand finale. It's sublime!
When listening to this song I always close my eyes and imagine the clouds. The music takes me on a journey like no other. It always brings tears to my eyes.
The beam of light that appears through the clouds is called Jacob's Ladder. Rush's last album Clockwork Angels came out in 2012 and it is one of their best albums. I would suggest Caravan from the Time Machine Tour. It will rock your socks off. Also, The Garden live from the Clockwork Angels tour. The Garden is the last song on the album and it is absolutely beautiful! Cheers
It's generational in the sense you'll not find recent generations exercising the patience or discipline to perfecting a craft as much as these guys did
That is one of the amazing things of Rush all there live songs are pretty close to the originals, with all the little bells and whistles from the original present
I've been a Rush fan for 46 years. Love this Jacob's Ladder mind blowing performance in every way by Prog Rock master musicians. Natural Science on the Test for Echo tour 1997 Live will always be my favorite Rush song to hear Love. It blew me away all 5 times I saw Rush in concert. I can't for you to check it out. ❤🔥
Fun watching you two allowing the music to flow through you and around you and just riding the wave. Interesting contrast to your earlier 1st Rush Listens. Love you two on your journey! Have fun and rock on.
The only time they actually played this song live prior to the R40 tour was on the Permanent Waves tour in 1980, supporting the album from which it came. So quite a span in between from 1980 to 2015.
From ‘Immortal Beloved’ - “It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer. The listener has no choice. It is like hypnotism.” I think Rush succeeded.
Great reaction. It's fun to watch open minded people discover the greatness of Rush. It's been 48 years for me, and they've brought more to my life than any other entertainment entity. Music is more than just entertainment, it touches our spirit in ways even language cannot. I've heard these songs many thousands of times in my life. But listening along with you to this exceptional recording and watching your reaction, I realized Jacobs Ladder may be my favorite Rush song--not Natural Science, The Garden, Hemispheres or La Villa Stangiato, which have been my faves down through the years. This song has everything I love about the Rush sound, and it's good and heavy. I saw Rush live 36 times, so you can imagine I have some memories of their shows. They were the best rock band in the history of rock bands. No bullshit. No big egos. No celebrity shenanigans. Just three lucky guys who found perfect chemistry and treated each other with love and respect for 40+ years, giving the world a deep catalog of some of the finest rock music ever recorded. A legacy of greatness. Rush will live forever, like Mozart, Beethoven, or Miles Davis.
You were ln luck to hear this classic song live at the R40 live concert., the last time that Rush played this song was 1980 when they recorded the Exit Stage Left album live , not studio version. This was a treat for most of us die hard Rush fans! 0:040:04
You need to see the Best Live Performance of all time RUSH - Xanadu - Live In Montreal 1981 (2021 HD Remaster 60fps) Alex Lifeson - 6 string guitar, 12 string guitar, pedal synthesizer, volume pedal; Geddy Lee - Vocals, bass guitar, 6 string guitar, foot pedal synthesizer, electric piano/synthesizer; Neil Peart - Lyrics, Drums, orchestra bells, tubular bells, wind chimes, crotales, timbales, timpani, gong, temple blocks, bell tree, triangle, and melodic cowbells. Based on Kubla Khan (Xanadu) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Coleridge composed his poem, ‘Kubla Khan’, in a state of semi-conscious trance either in the autumn of 1797 or the spring of 1798 and published in 1816. The whole poem is pervaded by an atmosphere of dream and remains in the form of a vision. The vision embodied in Kubla Khan was inspired by the perusal of the travel book, Purchas His Pilgrimage. Coleridge had taken a dose of opium as an anodyne, and his eyes closed upon the line in the book, “At Zanadu Kubla Khan built a pleasure palace.” But this opened his creative vision, and the poem of about 200 lines was composed in this state of waking dream. On being fully awake, he wrote the poem down. The theme of the poem is unimportant. It describes the palace built by Kubla Khan, the grandson of Chengis Khan, the great rule of central Asia. ua-cam.com/video/2byjJkN_nVY/v-deo.html
Pretty deep cut here guys, and a wonderfully atmospheric song that sits somewhere outside Rush as "usual" ( if there is such a thing) work from this period. Glad you are enjoying the rush rabbit hole .
Thanks for reacting to Jacob's Ladder. I was just thinking the other day that none of the zillion reaction channels react to this one. You guys got my sub just because you did this one. Cheers.
Of course now that I watched your reaction youtube is finally showing me several other reactions to this song. Where the hell were they and why didn't they show up until I watched yours? You'd think the algorithm would have clued in years ago.
If you think Rush has a distinct, dated sound and were surprised by the "dark" phantasy aspect of this song, you reallllllly need to expand your Rush catalog! Hemispheres: Book II - is one of their tightest, and best epic length Prog Rock songs IMO. It was basically their "mic drop" moment on the whole super length concept album craze during the 70's, and they transitioned to the shorter format, radio friendly songs immediately afterwards featuring Spirit of Radio. Red Sector A - the lyrical and emotional content of this song will blow your mind and dwarf basically every single other song you've ever heard. Make sure you have them ready to read along to! Ghost of a Chance - to prove that Rush was still very much around throughout the 80 into the 90's, and features what I consider one of the smoothest transitions in history. Cold Fire - Bet you didn't know was was alive and well, participating in the Grunge Rock era, did ya?! Far Cry - and yeah, Rush was still going strong with new content into their late career in the 2000's, unlike every other "Classic Rock" band that came out in their period.
Hi John & Lulu, I only saw them once but it was Amazing. One Great videos I've seen is Yes with Getty Lee on Bass at the 2012 Hall of Fame induction of Yes and they did Roundabout
Part of what was driving you crazy is the fact that they are the masters of time. Time signatures, that is. They switch up time signatures frequently during Jacob's Ladder. Go back and listen again and count the beats in the measures. You will find the following time signatures: 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 7/4, and 9/4. They composed the music so well that unless you are looking for it, you do not really notice the time signature changes. I am enjoying your reactions.
Tool made a career out of sounding like this one song. Whether they admit it or not...the resemblance is right there for everyone to see. Rush just did it a full decade before Tool did. I love both bands dearly, however, Rush's influence far outweighs Tools. Both very unique bands that have a ton of similarities with each other... Rush is the godfather of progressive metal for a reason.
For all intents and purposes Rush disbanded after the R40 tour. Neil retired from drumming to spend time with his wife and daughter. (His first wife and daughter died in 1997/1998.) Unfortunately within a couple of years Neil was diagnosed with brain cancer and died in January 2020.
There are no bad Rush songs. This is evidenced by their whole catalog of music and lyrics. They are ahead of their time and our time, and hopefully the world is catching up.
For those who would like to understand the roots and archelogical setting of this song, as NEP most certainly read the account and drew inspiration from it, even though he penned a more “ naturalistic explanation” for the Biblical account in Genesis: m.ua-cam.com/video/3qlfi6doRJI/v-deo.html
The 'original' live version from Exit Stage Left was far less polished. So Rush doing this song again a few decades later as they mellowed out a bit makes for an interesting comparison.
I loved the rawness of Alex’s guitar sound on it on ESL version. Epic! Was so happy to have finally caught this live on this tour, waited since ‘84 to see it! Never missed a show and didn’t think they’d ever pull it out of the vault again, but they did and so glad for it. It’s one of my fav’s from Rush in a long catalog of fav’s!
It's called Progressive Rock. Great musicianship. Serious chops. Meaningful lyrics. In other words, its NOT Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa or some rap crapola.
LOVE the reaction!! :) Maybe check out NEIL PEART Buddy Rich HONOR??? :) ♥ “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” ~ Romans 15:13
One of my favorite songs but not one of my favorite live performances, this one is way to soft and laid back, this song has great dynamics but not with this version. Again awesome song pretty lame performance even for Rush.
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There I was in the Spring of 1981 , on the way to a Forensics (Dramatic Duo) tournament at Southfield High School (MI)… I was in the back seat of a nice car, with my beloved Eng teacher/coach and my team mate in the front seats and I started singing this song, Jacob’s Ladder! …which I had recently heard LIVE, from the 4th row, Center, at Joe Louis Arena - Detroit!
Jacob’s Ladder is a song that had not been played live is some time. It is a favorite among the 40 year rush fans.
Seeing this live was incredible. Got to see them for first and last time for R40.
I think this is one of their best compositions. It flows from beginning to end, paints great images, and feels almost like a classical music composition, building up to a huge grand finale. It's sublime!
Wow, just wow, i've never seen that video before❤ you guys rock, do more Rush reaction videos please. God Bless 🙏
When listening to this song I always close my eyes and imagine the clouds. The music takes me on a journey like no other. It always brings tears to my eyes.
The beam of light that appears through the clouds is called Jacob's Ladder.
Rush's last album Clockwork Angels came out in 2012 and it is one of their best albums.
I would suggest Caravan from the Time Machine Tour. It will rock your socks off.
Also, The Garden live from the Clockwork Angels tour. The Garden is the last song on the album and it is absolutely beautiful!
Cheers
It's generational in the sense you'll not find recent generations exercising the patience or discipline to perfecting a craft as much as these guys did
I have a band for you to try. JINJER
RUSH LIVE IS UNFORGETTABLE.
That is one of the amazing things of Rush all there live songs are pretty close to the originals, with all the little bells and whistles from the original present
I was lucky to see this band21 times,& they rocked it every time" WORLDS GREATEST 3PIECE ORCHESTRA" R.I.P. NEIL PEART. SOUNDS LIKE THE ALBUM LIVE.😊
I've been a Rush fan for 46 years. Love this Jacob's Ladder mind blowing performance in every way by Prog Rock master musicians. Natural Science on the Test for Echo tour 1997 Live will always be my favorite Rush song to hear Love. It blew me away all 5 times I saw Rush in concert. I can't for you to check it out. ❤🔥
Thanks. I sometimes think this song is the definition of prog rock.
Thunderheads, Lightning and a battle in the heavens. This song captures this gigantic force of nature perfectly.
I'm sorry for you not having seen RUSH live. RUSH The greatest rock band that ever was or ever will be.
I'd love to be out in the middle of nowhere during a lightning storm having this song cranked up to the heavens.
Fck yes
Fun watching you two allowing the music to flow through you and around you and just riding the wave. Interesting contrast to your earlier 1st Rush Listens. Love you two on your journey! Have fun and rock on.
The clouds prepare for battle is so funny and cool.
Loved rush with as little tech as possible. Just straightforward musicianship doing what no one ever did B4.
The only time they actually played this song live prior to the R40 tour was on the Permanent Waves tour in 1980, supporting the album from which it came. So quite a span in between from 1980 to 2015.
R40 was such a great show...keep in mind they were all in their 60's and never missed a beat during this tour.
From ‘Immortal Beloved’ - “It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer. The listener has no choice. It is like hypnotism.”
I think Rush succeeded.
Great reaction. It's fun to watch open minded people discover the greatness of Rush. It's been 48 years for me, and they've brought more to my life than any other entertainment entity. Music is more than just entertainment, it touches our spirit in ways even language cannot.
I've heard these songs many thousands of times in my life. But listening along with you to this exceptional recording and watching your reaction, I realized Jacobs Ladder may be my favorite Rush song--not Natural Science, The Garden, Hemispheres or La Villa Stangiato, which have been my faves down through the years. This song has everything I love about the Rush sound, and it's good and heavy. I saw Rush live 36 times, so you can imagine I have some memories of their shows. They were the best rock band in the history of rock bands. No bullshit. No big egos. No celebrity shenanigans. Just three lucky guys who found perfect chemistry and treated each other with love and respect for 40+ years, giving the world a deep catalog of some of the finest rock music ever recorded. A legacy of greatness. Rush will live forever, like Mozart, Beethoven, or Miles Davis.
Great choice going with R40. You struck gold! My favorite years for Rush "live videos" 1981 and 2002.
Rush is one of the 3 greatest bands of all time (fact, not opinion), so I'm glad that you guys don't stop it a bunch of times.
Great Rush..Epic
You were ln luck to hear this classic song live at the R40 live concert., the last time that Rush played this song was 1980 when they recorded the Exit Stage Left album live , not studio version. This was a treat for most of us die hard Rush fans! 0:04 0:04
You need to see the Best Live Performance of all time
RUSH - Xanadu - Live In Montreal 1981 (2021 HD Remaster 60fps)
Alex Lifeson - 6 string guitar, 12 string guitar, pedal synthesizer, volume pedal;
Geddy Lee - Vocals, bass guitar, 6 string guitar, foot pedal synthesizer, electric piano/synthesizer;
Neil Peart - Lyrics, Drums, orchestra bells, tubular bells, wind chimes, crotales, timbales, timpani, gong, temple blocks, bell tree, triangle, and melodic cowbells.
Based on Kubla Khan (Xanadu) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Coleridge composed his poem, ‘Kubla Khan’, in a state of semi-conscious trance either in the autumn of 1797 or the spring of 1798 and published in 1816. The whole poem is pervaded by an atmosphere of dream and remains in the form of a vision. The vision embodied in Kubla Khan was inspired by the perusal of the travel book, Purchas His Pilgrimage. Coleridge had taken a dose of opium as an anodyne, and his eyes closed upon the line in the book, “At Zanadu Kubla Khan built a pleasure palace.” But this opened his creative vision, and the poem of about 200 lines was composed in this state of waking dream. On being fully awake, he wrote the poem down. The theme of the poem is unimportant. It describes the palace built by Kubla Khan, the grandson of Chengis Khan, the great rule of central Asia.
ua-cam.com/video/2byjJkN_nVY/v-deo.html
Stairway to heaven...Jacob's Ladder...up we go...
Thankyou John And Lulu for covering this video. Lulu being new to progressive rock and enjoying it is a good sign. Cheers Guys.
This ...n ...cam...eye...my fave ❤
Pretty deep cut here guys, and a wonderfully atmospheric song that sits somewhere outside Rush as "usual" ( if there is such a thing) work from this period. Glad you are enjoying the rush rabbit hole .
It’s all about the foot pedal synthesizer-BASS you feel more than hear🤯🤘🖖✌️🎸🥁🎤🎹
Thanks for reacting to Jacob's Ladder. I was just thinking the other day that none of the zillion reaction channels react to this one. You guys got my sub just because you did this one. Cheers.
Of course now that I watched your reaction youtube is finally showing me several other reactions to this song. Where the hell were they and why didn't they show up until I watched yours? You'd think the algorithm would have clued in years ago.
If you think Rush has a distinct, dated sound and were surprised by the "dark" phantasy aspect of this song, you reallllllly need to expand your Rush catalog!
Hemispheres: Book II - is one of their tightest, and best epic length Prog Rock songs IMO. It was basically their "mic drop" moment on the whole super length concept album craze during the 70's, and they transitioned to the shorter format, radio friendly songs immediately afterwards featuring Spirit of Radio.
Red Sector A - the lyrical and emotional content of this song will blow your mind and dwarf basically every single other song you've ever heard. Make sure you have them ready to read along to!
Ghost of a Chance - to prove that Rush was still very much around throughout the 80 into the 90's, and features what I consider one of the smoothest transitions in history.
Cold Fire - Bet you didn't know was was alive and well, participating in the Grunge Rock era, did ya?!
Far Cry - and yeah, Rush was still going strong with new content into their late career in the 2000's, unlike every other "Classic Rock" band that came out in their period.
My fav version of this song!
Wish you both could have seen them live. Nice review.
Perfection, what else.
Love ❤ Rush.🤘
Hi John & Lulu, I only saw them once but it was Amazing. One Great videos I've seen is Yes with Getty Lee on Bass at the 2012 Hall of Fame induction of Yes and they did Roundabout
I forgot to say RIP Neil Peart 9/12/1953 thru 1/7/2020🙏
Cool review!!!!! Great job!!!!
Part of what was driving you crazy is the fact that they are the masters of time. Time signatures, that is. They switch up time signatures frequently during Jacob's Ladder. Go back and listen again and count the beats in the measures. You will find the following time signatures: 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 7/4, and 9/4. They composed the music so well that unless you are looking for it, you do not really notice the time signature changes. I am enjoying your reactions.
This was at the end of their career! Check out Xanadu from 1981 exit stage left tour!
Great video absolutely love Rush subscribed cheers 🍺🍺🍺
Once you get to know it. You're playing along in your mind if not on your instrument too❤
Check out Rush's Working Man live in Cleveland and Rush's YYZ live in Rio
You also realize he's playing his keyboards and singing at the same time just what is playing the bass and singing I mean that takes talent.
Tool made a career out of sounding like this one song. Whether they admit it or not...the resemblance is right there for everyone to see. Rush just did it a full decade before Tool did. I love both bands dearly, however, Rush's influence far outweighs Tools. Both very unique bands that have a ton of similarities with each other... Rush is the godfather of progressive metal for a reason.
RUSH was Canada's best export ;-)
Rush live is almost always identical to the studio album
Clearly the greatest song about a random meteorological phenomenon ever written. 🤔
For all intents and purposes Rush disbanded after the R40 tour. Neil retired from drumming to spend time with his wife and daughter. (His first wife and daughter died in 1997/1998.) Unfortunately within a couple of years Neil was diagnosed with brain cancer and died in January 2020.
There are no bad Rush songs. This is evidenced by their whole catalog of music and lyrics. They are ahead of their time and our time, and hopefully the world is catching up.
Tai Shan. Even the Rush hated that one lol.
Wow a recent version beautiful
Glad you actually checked out the meaning. Was based on Jacob's Ladder, trying to attain higher spiritualism.
Love the studio version of this song but this performance was great despite some of the subtlety being lost in the stadium setting..
Ok now. YYZ (Live in Rio), La villa Stangiato, Red Barchetta (Live Exit Stage Left), Subdivisions
🏆🏆🏆🏆!
A very unique song that I don't listen to very often but when I do I enjoy it. Request from 2112 something for nothing.
Just 3 killer musicians
👍👍👍👍👍
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For those who would like to understand the roots and archelogical setting of this song, as NEP most certainly read the account and drew inspiration from it, even though he penned a more “ naturalistic explanation” for the Biblical account in Genesis:
m.ua-cam.com/video/3qlfi6doRJI/v-deo.html
The 'original' live version from Exit Stage Left was far less polished. So Rush doing this song again a few decades later as they mellowed out a bit makes for an interesting comparison.
I loved the rawness of Alex’s guitar sound on it on ESL version. Epic!
Was so happy to have finally caught this live on this tour, waited since ‘84 to see it! Never missed a show and didn’t think they’d ever pull it out of the vault again, but they did and so glad for it. It’s one of my fav’s from Rush in a long catalog of fav’s!
Suck an unique song, thanks. More Rush please! Journey, what do you think Jacob’s Ladder is? Path of angels to earth! Maybe! 😊
The song demonstrates the waste of war.
Check Neil play a tribute to Buddy Rich. Older version. 😊😮
A trip...
Rest in peace Neil Peart the reason why I drum today!
It's called Progressive Rock. Great musicianship. Serious chops. Meaningful lyrics. In other words, its NOT Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa or some rap crapola.
Missing Neil Peart RIP.
The song is about a thunderstorm. Anyway, the studio version is much better, as are all their songs. This is Rush's "Kashmir".
LOVE the reaction!! :) Maybe check out NEIL PEART Buddy Rich HONOR??? :) ♥ “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” ~ Romans 15:13
7/4 1/3 tricky
If you never seen them live before, it's my sad duty to report you'll never see them live period. Sucks for you.
Nice job trying to sell this song. There’s nothing special about it.
This song is so rush
One of my favorite songs but not one of my favorite live performances, this one is way to soft and laid back, this song has great dynamics but not with this version. Again awesome song pretty lame performance even for Rush.