All The World's A Stage Update

As we anticipate the release of Rush's Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland, I have given the site a facelift to celebrate the upcoming 35th Anniversary of Rush's first live album, All The World's A Stage, released on September 29th, 1976.

"With 2112, we felt we had reached a first plateau. We had realized the goals we set for ourselves before the second album. Musically, it looked like a logical place to do a live album. We had four albums' worth of material honed down into a live show. And the record company was hot for a live album." - Neil Peart, Circus Magazine, November 25, 1976

"All the World's a Stage, where you opened up the cover and, wow, there were three pages of pictures of us in action on stage...." - Geddy Lee, Sounds, November 1981

"North Stars: Canada’s Top 10 Guitarists" - Gibson

Alex Lifeson tops the list of Gibson's "North Stars: Canada’s Top 10 Guitarists":

1. Alex Lifeson: It must be hard being Alex Lifeson sometimes. Despite the fame and money, imagine having to match the drum and bass skills of Neil Peart and Geddy Lee for 37 years? Lifeson has done it, though. An undeniably great riff writer, he is also one of rock’s most idiosyncratic soloists, blending strong melodies with neo-jazz flurries across a Rush catalog that has leapt from Zep-esque slammers to acoustic ballads, from reggae-inflected pop to instrumental prog rock. An advocate of blending raw tone with technology (see the Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess), Lifeson remains one of rock guitar's relentless explorers of new sounds. And Rush have even become cool again. "I think that younger bands look at us as perhaps a model that you can do it your way. You can play the music that you want to play," Lifeson recently told Crawdaddy.com. "You can find your audience, you can grow." Lifeson continues to do so. - Gibson.com, July 28, 2011

Recording Session featuring Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, Danny Carey and Les Claypool

UPDATE: Last week Neil Peart made available a clip of this jam session on his website; dubbed "Count Drumula", the musicians, Danny Carey and Les Claypool, Stewart Copeland and Neil Peart are billing themselves as CCCP.  No news yet if this was a one time occurance or if more will follow...stay tuned.
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According to today's Tool newsletter, Neil Peart recently was part of a recording session with fellow drummers Danny Carey and Stuart Copeland as well as bassist Les Claypool:

"...recently DANNY got together for a drumming/recording session with NEIL PEART (RUSH) and STEWART COPELAND (THE POLICE). LES CLAYPOOL was also involved, but I'm not sure as to what capacity. Whether or not these guys will get together again, or anything will come from the initial 'session', I really don't know." - Toolband.com, April 29, 2011 - Thanks to Ed at Rushisaband for the headsup!

The Modern Guitar Rigs: The Tone Fanatic's Guide to Integrating Amps and Effects

Alex Lifeson is one of the artists featured in The Modern Guitar Rigs: The Tone Fanatic's Guide to Integrating Amps and Effects released this month by Hal Leonard Publishing.

Showing players how to take their sound beyond traditional tones and into the future, in this book Scott Kahn (editor in chief of Musicplayers.com) explores topics of interest to guitarists looking to build pro-level rigs whether they're playing clubs at the indie band level, getting set for a major tour, heading into the studio to record a new CD, or just searching for ultimate tone. The Modern Guitar Rig explores advanced topics including:

• Rack gear: Multi-effects and dedicated signal processors, switching systems, foot controllers, wireless systems, and more
• Amp setups: Rack-mounted tube preamps and power amps, stereo rigs, wet/dry/wet and other configurations
• Guitar options: Piezoelectric pickups and splitting guitar signals to multiple amps
• Tools for recording tube amps: power attenuators, dummy load simulators, direct recording options
• Virtual guitar rigs and modeled guitar amps in the studio and on stage Each section and chapter addresses a different set of tools while delivering rich detail, supported by scores of illustrations, and describing a range of popular products for the contemporary guitarist. Kahn also looks at the guitar rigs of pro players and analyzes how their rigs are wired, configured, and controlled.

Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

"Drummer Neil Peart's body is finely tuned instrument" - Los Angeles Times

In today's Los Angeles Times is the story "Drummer Neil Peart's body is finely tuned instrument".  Writer James S. Fell visited with Peart backstage before this month's Vancouver show to discuss the fine art of fitness:

"Drummer Neil Peart's body is finely tuned instrument" - Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2011

Cue Simpsons-Comic-Book-Store-Guy voice: Best. Band. Ever!

If you're a good drummer, it's a physically demanding job. To be the greatest, you must follow a training regimen that goes beyond the lighted stage.

A recent reader's poll in Rolling Stone magazine proclaimed my fellow Canadian Neil Peart of Rush to be the greatest living drummer, and I, many drum magazines and TV's "Family Guy" agree. Accordingly, I endeavored to snag an interview with a man who rarely gives interviews. I wanted to discover how a rocker — a career not known for promoting health or longevity — can keep his body a skin-smashing machine after 37 years in the same rock trio giving calorie-combusting concert performances that would blow the lumbar discs and ventricles of lesser men.

Steel Assassin Cover "Red Sector A" for New Album

"We are currently in the recording studio, recording our brand new album, WWII: Metal Of Honor. As you might gather from the title, all the brand new songs deal with battles / events surrounding WWII.

"In addition to the eight brand new original tunes on the record, we will also be covering the RUSH song, 'Red Sector A'. As of this message, we have the drums recorded, and we'll be going in periodically to add the bass, guitars, vocals.

"The record should be released this fall. High Roller Records will release a vinyl version. We are in negotiations with some labels for the CD version."- Bassist Phil Grasso, Bravewords.com, July 20, 2011 Thanks to Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Rush Tops Rolling Stone Readers Poll: The Best Prog Rock Bands of All Time

UPDATE: Even if Rolling Stone's writers can't get it right, at least their readers have a clue...  From today's Rollingstone.com:

Readers Poll: The Best Prog Rock Bands of All Time: "You chose Tool, Genesis, King Crimson...and a certain trio from Canada"

1. Rush: "Well, this poll wasn't even close. Rush won in a landslide – but this couldn't come as any surprise. The Canadian trio have perhaps the most intense and enthusiastic fan community in all of rock. The band deserves such commitment. While most of their peers have fallen apart due to greed or laziness, Rush has maintained the same line-up since 1975 and their concerts are as spellbinding as they ever were. It's also beyond dispute that Neil Peart is the greatest drummer on the planet. They just wrapped up an epic tour where they played Moving Pictures straight through, and are working on a new album. Here's hoping that they bust out 2112 the next time out. It's the only way to top that last tour." - Rollingstone.com, July 20, 2011 Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

From today's Rollingstone.com:

"Last week, we asked Rolling Stone readers to name their favorite dancing musicians of all time – and we compiled the votes into a top 10 list.  Our question for you this week is: What is the best prog rock band of all time?  You can vote here, on facebook.com/rollingstone or on Twitter with the #weekendrock hashtag." - Rollingstone.com, July 15, 2011 Thanks to Rushfanforever for the headsup!

Roll The Bones 24 KT Gold Disk By Audio Fidelity Now Available

As previously announced, Audio Fidelity's 24 karat gold remastered reissue of Roll The Bones hits store shelves July 19th.  This is sure to become a collectors item, so it you haven't done so already, click here to order.

"Roll The Bones," Rush's fourteenth studio album, released in 1991, is a fantastic blend of tempos, ideas, and musical explorations. The album marks further transition from the band's 1980s style to their sound in the 1990s - it still has Rush's dark mystique but it is a more pop-oriented album.  There are four popular radio staples, "Bravado," "Ghost Of A Chance," "Roll the Bones" and "Dreamline" with the former reaching #1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart, while "Where's My Thing" was Grammy nominated for Best Rock Instrumental.  The band reunited with producer Rupert Hine for his second Rush album and Roll the Bones became their first US Top 5 album since 1981 peaking at #3 on the Billboard Top 200. The album also won the Canadian band that country's 1992 Juno Award for best album cover design.  The album excels in the songwriting and the musicianship is first-rate: Geddy Lee's bass playing and vocals, Alex Lifeson's guitar work and Neil Peart continues his journey for the perfect drum sound.  Rush has been around for many years, and has gone though many musical phases, always willing to try new things  and to experiment musically, lyrically, and technologically. Roll The Bones lives up to its name, Rush took some chances... and still made a great record." - AudioFidelity.net

Roll The Bones is the first gold release by Audio Fidelity, with additional Rush gold releases are expected to follow in the near future.  Rush's previous gold releases, 2112, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures and Signals were released by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, who announced in 2008:

"After literally months of examination and discussions with the artists, due to the age and fragility of most of original first-generation analog masters to classic Rush titles, we've had to cancel plans to release the titles we had planned. They have deemed that the original masters should not be used for any future re-mastering, and we have to respect that decision. We apparently lucked out big-time with Permanent Waves as it was in pristine condition. Sorry for the bad news but we're not feeling so hot about it ourselves. I believe another indie label is now looking into releasing some Rush titles in the future but mastered from copy tapes." - Michael Grantham, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, March 2008

Rush ICON Enhanced 2CD Now Available

The "enhanced" version of Rush ICON is also now available.  Hitting shelves July 19th, ICON is now a 2CD set, the first disc is the same as last year's ICON release, and a second disk has been added to include live versions of various songs culled from All The World's A Stage, Exit Stage Left, Grace Under Pressure Live and A Show of Hands.  Buy now!

• Disc 1: Working Man; Fly Be Night; The Necromancer; The Twilight Zone; Closer To the Heart; Circumstances; Freewill; Limelight; The Analog Kid; Red Sector A; Marathon; Force Ten
• Disc 2: Bastille Day Live; 2112 Live; The Spirit of Radio Live; Tom Sawyer Live; La Villa Strangiato Live; Closer To the Heart Live; New World Man Live; Vital Signs Live; The Big Money Live; Mystic Rhythms Live; Time Stand Still Live

"In August 2010, as part of the launch of its successful ICON Series, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) released the single disc, 12-song collection Rush ICON featuring tracks from their first 12 Mercury studio albums. With songs including "Working Man" off their 1974 debut, the title track of 1975's Fly By Night, "Closer To The Heart" from 1977's A Farewell To Kings, "Freewill" from 1980's Permanent Waves, the hit "Limelight" from 1981's quadruple platinum-selling album Moving Pictures and "Red Sector A" from their 1984 release Grace Under, Rush ICON is now available as part of this specially priced, two-disc set. Disc 2 of Rush: Icon 2 is the first-ever compilation of highlights from the band's four Mercury live albums. Kicking off disc two is the hard-hitting classic "Bastille Day" and their opus "2112 Overture/Temples of Syrinx" from the 1976 platinum-selling All The World's A Stage which marked their first Top 40 album in the U.S.  Also included are live recordings of the No. 4 hit single "The Spirit Of The Radio," "La Villa Strangiato" and the Top 10 hit "Tom Sawyer," taken from 1981's Exit…Stage Left which reached Top 10 on the Billboard 200.   Also included are live versions of the No. 4 hit "The Big Money," "Mystic Rhythms" and "Time Stands Still," taken from 1989's Top 50 live album A Show of Hands, and "Closer To The Heart," "New World Man" and "Vital Signs" taken from Grace Under Pressure Tour 1984." - Rush: Icon 2 Compilation to Include Highlights From Their Four Mercury Live Albums, PRNewswire.com, July 18, 2011

Neil Peart's "News Weather and Sports" - July 2011

Neil Peart has updated his website with the July 2011 edition of News, Weather and Sports.  In "The Frying Pan and the Freezer", Neil recounts biking through Big Bend National Park in Texas on the hottest ride he had ever taken, 112 degrees, making a "Civil Rights" tour through Alabama, looping down the Mississippi, then west to the coast and then north into the Pacific Northwest for the final show of the Time Machine Tour at The Gorge:

"Added to the forty-four shows and more than 23,000 miles of motorcycling from summer 2010, my bandmates and I had now performed a total of eighty-one shows, before almost one million people. With riding partners Michael and Brutus, I had ridden 36,729 motorcycle miles, covering North America, South America, and Europe."

In conclusion, Neil thanks the roadcrew, their families back home, and briefly touches on the thrill of a sublime performance:

"...these days an exceptional night is often apparent in our improvised sections-Geddy on his bass in the outro of 'Leave That Thing Alone,' Alex in the frenetic solo section of 'Working Man,' and for me, the first half of my solo. When the three of us are at the top of our individual games, we are able to elevate the whole to a sublime synergy."

"Limelight" makes Guitar World's "100 Greatest Classic Rock Guitar Songs"

The August 2011 issue of Guitar World includes their list of the 100 Greatest Classic Rock Guitar Songs of All Time", "complete with stories from the bands that made them". Coming in at #25 is:

"Limelight"
Artist: Rush (Moving Pictures, 1980 [sic])
Recorded: Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec: October-November 1980
Guitarist: Alex Lifeson
Gear: Stratocaster with Bill Lawrence L-5000 in the bridge and a Floyd Rose vibrato, Marshall 4140 Club & Country Combo
Background: "'Limelight' is about being under the microscopic scrutiny of the public, and the need for privacy-trying to separate the two and not always being successful at it," guitarist Alex Lifeson says. "Because we've never been a high-profile band, we've managed to retain a lot of our privacy. But we've had to work at it."  For the recording, Lifeson used a modified Strat with a heavier and denser body. "We set up a couple of amps outside of the studio as well as inside," he recalls, "so we got a nice long repeat from the sound echoing in the surrounding mountains. The approach on that solo was tro try to make it as fluid as possible. There was a lot of bending with lots of long delay repeats and reverb, so notes falling off would overlap with notes coming up. I spent a fair amount of time on that to get the character, but once we locked in on the sound, it came easily." Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

Space Shuttle Songs: The Music Astronauts Wake Up To

Marking the final launch of NASA's historic Shuttle Program, Spinner Canada counts down their top ten wake-up songs. Coming in at #1 is "Countdown":

"Canada brought more to the Shuttle Program than the Canadarm, and it came in the form of a Rush song. The iconic Canuck prog-rockers' 1982 single 'Countdown' was wholly inspired by Columbia's first trip in 1981, the first of the Shuttle Program. The song even samples audio from this launch and was played to wake up the crew on Columbia's 27th flight in 2002, on the day the shuttle landed back on Earth for the last time. So it's a pretty perfect pick to complete our wake-up song countdown as NASA's space shuttle program enters T-Minus Zero." - Spinner.ca, June 8, 2011 Thanks to Rushfanforever for the headsup!

Rush Makes The Guinness Book of World Records

Rush is included in the 2011 edition of The Guinness Book of World Records Gamer's Edition for the "Longest Song Featured In A Rhythm Game:

Holder: "2112" (Rush, 1976)
The prize for the longest commercially released song to be featured in a rhythm game goes to veteran Canadian rockers Rush, whose 20-min 23-sec 1976 track "2112" features as the final number in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (Activision, 2010). - Thanks To RushIsABand for the headsup!

Alex Lifeson To Record With Andrew Cole

Toronto born musician Andrew Cole is currently working on his follow-up to last year's Why We Wonder.  Cole is working with Tom Cochrane on two new songs slated for release this fall, which will include a guest appearance by Alex Lifeson, as well as members of Jane's Addiction and Paul McCartney's band:

"Nobody knows about that, it's the first time I've said it. We wanted to get it out for the summer, but they're all on tour; it was really hard to get everyone," said Cole. "To have all these people on one song is strange because you don't know how it’s going to work out. It could be absolutely brilliant or could be a disaster." - InsideHalton.com, June 30, 2011

Chill Magazine's 144 reasons to be a proud Canadian

Celebrating Canada Day on July 1st, the latest issue of Canada's Chill magazine includes 144 reasons to be a proud Canadian.  Coming in at #21 is Rush:

"This Canadian rock and roll trio is known for its complex compositions, its lyrical mastership and being on the cover of issue 43 of Chill Magazine." - Chill, July/August 2011 Thanks to Frank Panacci for the headsup!