Hitting bookstores today in the UK is PROG issue #93, featuring Rush on the cover to celebrate the release of the 40th Anniversary Edition of Hemispheres:
"The new issue of Prog is on sale today. It's been 40 years since Rush last recorded a side-long prog rock epic. And that was on the Hemispheres
album. With a brand new box set of the album due out, we sat down with
Geddy Lee to discuss the making of the album at Rockfield Studios in
Wales and its impact on the band's career. We also talk about Geddy's
new Big Beautiful Book Of Bass and there's a chance to win your own signed copy too!" - Loudersound.com
Sports commentator Ann Liguouri will be interviewing Alex Lifeson on her SportsInnerview show tomorrow/Saturday morning from 9-10 AM EST on 883WPPB.org.
The long expected 40th Anniversary Edition of Hemispheres is now available. Hitting store shelves November 16th, the new edition features new album art by Hugh Syme, and includes a second disk featuring the complete "Live At Pinkpop Festival, Netherlands/1979" as well as "2112" from the 1978 Tucson Arizona show. Unlike the 2112 and A Farewell to Kings releases, there are no cover songs from other artists included.
"The Super Deluxe Edition includes two CDs, one exclusive Blu-ray disc, and three high-quality 180-gram black vinyl LPs. The set encompasses the Abbey Road Studios 2015 remastered edition of the album for the first time on CD, along with previously unreleased and newly restored bonus content consisting of the band’s masterful June 1979 Pinkpop Festival performance in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the Pinkpop recording engineer failed to capture the first several minutes of “2112,” so an amazing, unreleased performance of the song during the Hemispheres tour from Tucson, Arizona in November 1978 appears here in its place. The third bonus disc contains audio from the album newly mixed from the original multitracks in 5.1 surround sound on a Blu-ray disc, along with four bonus videos: three shot in 1978 as promo videos, and one of “La Villa Strangiato,” originally shot at Pinkpop with newly restored stereo audio.The Super Deluxe Edition of Hemispheres-40th Anniversary will also include several exclusive items, including a 40-page hardcover book with unreleased photos and new artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme; an extensive, 11,000+-word essay by Rob Bowman; The Words & The Pictures, a replica of the band’s rare 1979 UK tour program; a 24x24-inch wall poster of the newly created Syme art; a Pinkpop Festival replica ticket; a Pinkpop Festival replica cloth VIP sticky pass; and a replica 1978 “Rush” Hemispheres iron-on patch.
“Hemispheres was one of our most challenging and demanding records to make,” says Alex Lifeson. “From its inception in a Wales farmhouse where it was written over a 4 week span,” Lifeson continues, “to the very difficult mixing sessions in two London recording studios, it stands as a key transitional album in Rush’s long recording history.”
Hemispheres, Rush’s sixth studio album, was originally released in October 1978, and it built upon the adventurous sonic template the band established on its acclaimed 1977 effort, A Farewell To Kings. The album’s first track, “Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres,” encompassed the entirety of Side 1 on the original release and was the logical, heady continuation of the epic album-ending Kings track, “Cygnus X-1.” Side 2 commenced with the hard-driving commentary on English culture “Circumstances,” followed by the socially aware and environmentally conscious FM radio hit “The Trees,” and concluded with the instrumental tour de force and longtime concert favorite, “La Villa Strangiato.”
Drummer Marco Minnemann has revealed on his Facebook page that he’s working on a new project with Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson when he teased "Working on a new collaborative release together with Rush’s Alex Lifeson. Watch this space for more details to follow soon."
Minnemann is best-known for his solo career and work with The Aristocrats, Steven Wilson and The Mute Gods. The pair worked together previously on Minnemann’s 2017 album Borrego, which also featured Joe Satriani.
During a recent SiriusXM Town Hall (see below), the members of KISS were asked to name some of the best bands that opened for them:
Eric Singer: "I thought RUSH was the best. I saw RUSH open for KISS. I thought they were the coolest opening band. That was the 'Fly By Night' tour— early '75. KISS had 'Hotter Than Hell' out and RUSH had just gotten Neil Peart and they had 'Fly By Night'."
Paul Stanley: "I think for us, RUSH was most exciting. When we first had them playing with us in Canada and John Rutsey was still the drummer. The first album was so… It was HUMBLE PIE, it was ZEPPELIN. They obviously found their footing in something they wanted to do later on. They were always great."
The new December issue of the UK's Classic Rock magazine hits newsstands on November 13th, and includes a new, lengthy interview with Geddy Lee where he discusses a variety of topics including Geddy's Big Beautiful Book Of Bass currently set for release December 18th.
The magazine is currently available at issuu.com, and has been transcribed by Cygnus-X1.net and is available here. - Thanks to RushFanForever and John Patuto for the the headsup!
Rush was referenced yet again on Family Guy, during last night's episode, "Regarding Carter." After Brian references the time that Peter was, "the only one not wearing black jeans at a Rush concert", we see the following concert scene flashback unfold:
Peter: Play "Tom Sawyer"!
Geddy: We already did. And what are you wearing?!
Peter: What? These are my concert khakis.
Geddy: Beat him! Beat him in 6/8th time! And don't let him escape to the completely unoccupied ladies' room!
Peter: (getting pummeled and begging on the ground ) Uh... No. Please! Uncles who voted for Gary Johnson! Leave me alone!
