Tag: Rush

The History of Rush — Part 1

On By Time LordIn Progarchy1 Comment

Read all about the early years of Rush. A sample:

Alex Lifeson: It was at junior high, in that ‘getting to know you’ stage, that Geddy and I got heavily into music.

Geddy Lee: We wanted to be rebellious, to break away from our families, like all kids want to do. And we both had a really deep passion for music and wanting to play it. Almost every day we’d go to his parents’ place after school and we’d jam for two hours.

Alex Lifeson: For a long time we were in different bands, but we always jammed together. We loved to learn all those great Cream songs, play along to the record player, and play them better and better and better. It was really a lot of fun. It was just the two of us – no drummer. The good old days! We’d either play along with the record, or we would both plug into Ged’s amp and just play, him on bass, me on guitar. We were beginning to look at music more seriously and really trying to figure out what the musicians were playing, how the bands worked. And we loved to play. We just couldn’t get away from it.

Geddy Lee: The first time I ever got high was with Alex. He was just a terrific pothead, and a terrible influence on me. We went to the local public school grounds to smoke some pot. At that time I was playing in another band, and after I got high with Al, I went over to the guy in my band’s house for rehearsal. But I was a little too high to be very functional, and this guy was really mad at me. He was very straight and he was really upset with me. He was threatening to tell my mother that I was high. That was a bummer!

Behind Rush R40

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock3 Comments
r40 rush
Actually 41, but who’s counting!

There’s a wonderful look at the “behind the scenes” of Rush’s 40th anniversary tour last year by Derk Hagedorn.  The article is actually six months old, but I just found it now.

From Jack White and Bruce Hornsby to Van Halen, Shakira and Jane’s Addiction, Brad Madix has mixed for a huge number of top artists over his impressive career, winning a number of Parnelli Awards, a Grammy nomination, and other industry accolades along the way. Together with business partner Greg Price, Brad also founded Diablo Digital Inc., a company that specializes in providing turn-key live recording systems for tours, festivals and installations. Most recently Brad was behind a VENUE | Profile at FOH for Rush’s R40 Live Tour, which commemorated the band’s 40th anniversary and featured songs from every era of their extensive catalog. I spoke with Brad shortly after the tour about the unique challenges he faced mixing the R40 Live Tour as well as his initial impressions of the new VENUE | S6L system.

Go here to read the full article.

 

Politics in Rock: U2 and Rush

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock3 Comments
u2 war album cover
1983.  One of the most political rock albums of all time.  And, thank God.

I want to thank Bryan, Craig, and Nick for such a civilized discussion regarding politics and art.  I also want to thank the many commentators who joined in.

I only have a personal, autobiographical, inward-looking comment.  I grew up in an extremely anti-war, pro-Catholic, libertarian household.  I’m deeply thankful to my mom, my aunts, my maternal grandmother, and the Dominican nuns for teaching me that EVERY SINGLE HUMAN LIFE (regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, skin tone, etc.) matters.

Life is precious, and the good life is even more so.

Continue reading “Politics in Rock: U2 and Rush” →

Album Review: Oktopus — Worlds Apart ★★★★★ @OktopusUK

On By Time LordIn Progarchy1 Comment

Not long ago I gave Oktopus a hard time over their name change, but now it’s time for me to report back on their new album after listening to it for a week solid. After enjoying tremendously the album’s stunning debut single, “Eyes Open,” I soon ordered a physical CD copy of Oktopus’ new album, World Apart, because the “Eyes Open” song was so awesome that I couldn’t stop listening to it.

Continue reading “Album Review: Oktopus — Worlds Apart ★★★★★ @OktopusUK” →

To celebrate 40th anniversary of 2112, Rush will release full comic-book suite

On By Time LordIn progressive rockLeave a comment

http://cache.vevo.com/assets/html/embed.html?video=USUV71600543

http://cache.vevo.com/assets/html/embed.html?video=USUV71600819

Rolling Stone says:

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Rush‘s prog-epic masterpiece 2112. To celebrate, the band is releasing a digital comic book telling the story of the LP’s titular rock opera. It begins with the “Overture,” which Rolling Stone is hosting exclusively. The entire 20-plus-minute suite, will then be available on Rush.com 21 hours and 12 minutes from the time of this post (Saturday at approximately 6 a.m. PST) and will be available for fans to watch for free until Monday at 6 a.m. PST.

2113: Peartian Imaginings

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock2 Comments
2113
ECW, 2016.

When it comes to edifying entertainment, three things top my personal list of favorites: listening to Rush and other progressive rock; reading the works of Kevin J. Anderson; and delving deeply into the nuances and permutations of various science-fiction mythologies.

But, greedily, I must ask: what if I can have all three at once?

What if science-fiction mastermind Kevin J. Anderson created massive worlds—exploring every great idea and every nook and cranny of an imagined universe—set to the vast sound and lyricscapes of Rush and Neil Peart?

clockwork livesGloriously, Anderson has done just this, authoring and co-authoring a number of short stories, novels, and graphic novels set in the Rush universe.  There’s nothing Anderson has written that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend with great enthusiasm, but he is at his absolute best when working with Neil Peart and with the worlds imagined by Rush as a band.  His Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives certainly represent some of the very best fantasies I have ever read, and I have read quite a few!  As I’ve noted in other reviews, Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives are each complex and compelling Chestertonian and Tolkienian faery tales.

Now, through the excellent and rather perfectionist Canadian press, ECW, Anderson and John McFetridge have edited a wide-ranging collection of stories, 2113, each tale inspired by a various Rush song.  Sometimes the influence is direct and obvious, but, just as often, the influence is indirect and sideways.  Anderson and McFetridge have clearly encouraged a range of expression.  If a theme emerges, it is, naturally, the story of the individual human person, endowed with integrity and will, fighting against the conformism of governments, societies, and corporations.

[Without giving too much away, let me note that Anderson brilliantly connects the world of 2112 to the world of Clockwork Angels in the final paragraph of his own rather Walter-Miller-esque short story, “2113.”]

While most of the tales are new, two come from that time before time, before Peart had joined Rush: Fritz Leiber’s 1967 “Gonna Roll the Bones,” and Richard Foster’s 1973 “A Nice Morning Drive.”  It is not only wise, but handy to have these tales included in this collection.

An “advanced reading copy” arrived at Progarchy HQ yesterday afternoon, and yours truly has been gloriously devouring it.  It is a satisfying, humbling, and inspiring book.

But, then. . . what else would I expect.  Rush?  Science fiction?  Short stories?  Alternate universes?  Neil Peart?  ECW?  Kevin J. Anderson?  Well, of course, it’s perfect.  You definitely need to add this thing of perfection to your own collection.

2113 comes out officially on April 12, 2016, and can be ordered from ECW and from Amazon.

***

Bradley J. Birzer is editor of progarchy.com and author of Neil Peart: Cultural (RE)Percussions (2015).

 

 

Professor Peart and the Crash of 2010…

On By Kevin WilliamsIn progressive rock1 Comment

…in which Bubba talks about a rather scary incident he had while on the Time Machine tour.

Oh, and he drops a rather big hint in the last sentence about his future touring plans.

Don’t hold your breath, Rush fans.

man_alive

Click here to read on.

Andy Tillison Solo News: Durch

On By bradbirzerIn Andy Tillison, art rock, progressive rockLeave a comment

[This (below the graphic) from Sally Collyer–the wonderful and incredible Sally Collyer, progarchy’s previous PROG HUMAN OF THE YEAR.  I will admit, I’m secretly hoping that Andy’s new album, DURCH, is really a tribute of some kind to Geddy Lee–BB]

durch
Anglo-Germanic code for Dirk?

NEW MUSIC NEWS from Andy Tillison – you can still pre-order DURCH from www.thetangent.org and get an hour’s worth of new music from the album emailed to you personally by Andy ~ see Andy’s message below, he will be sending out the new tracks tomorrow evening (Thursday).

Just a bit of “DURCH” Info here… tomorrow I will be writing to everyone who pre-ordered the album with news of its status – (don’t worry. we’re late but not that far off!). Everyone who’s bought the album so far will have music to listen to – around an hour’s worth of this album which has turned out very different to that foreseen… My apologies for lack of presence here on FB of late, this is a personal choice – to make me concentrate on work!!

If you have ordered DURCH please check the email you used to place the order tomorrow evening. If you haven’t received a mail from me by Thursday, then please PM me here on Facebook.


On a different note (a lot of different notes) I have been asked by Progzilla to do a Keith Emerson tribute broadcast which I have of course graciously accepted. News of that shortly.


Very best to all
Andy

Coming Out of the Closet: Big Big Train as #1

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock6 Comments
IMG_0003
Rust never sleeps. It remains alive in song.

After years of struggle and some serious denial, I’ve finally come out of the closet.

BBT is my favorite band.

There, I wrote it.

Had you asked me two weeks ago, I would not have hesitated: Talk Talk, followed closely by Rush.  Then, I might’ve said something akin to “Of new bands, my favorite is Big Big Train.”

Change doesn’t always come easily to me, especially when it involves issues of loyalty.  I’m not even sure how many years it took me to realize I liked Talk Talk better than Rush, and, of course, the “like” was incremental.  If Rush is at 100, then Talk Talk is at 101.

Big Big Train, however, is now 102.

I suspected this the other day as I listened to THE UNDERFALL YARD for who knows how many times.  Well, actually, I do know how many times.  One can readily find years of stats accumulated on and by iTunes.  Yes, unquestionably, Big Big Train ranks higher than either Talk Talk or Rush in terms of numbers of plays.

It’s not just perception on my part, it’s actual fact.