HomePopmatters' "25 Best Progressive Rock Songs of All Time"
Popmatters has posted their list of "The 25 Best Progressive Rock Songs of All Time", featuring songs recorded between 1969 and 1979. "2112" comes in at #6, "Natural Science" falls at #18 and "Cygnus X-1, Book II: Hemispheres" falls at #22. For the complete list including samples and song bios visit PopMatters.com. - Thanks to John @ Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!
Vintage Guitar's "Top 50 Guitar Songs"
The May 2011 issue includes the Top 50 Guitar Songs of the 70's; on the list is "Working Man" at #48.
The current issue (June 2011) includes the Top 50 Guitar Songs of the 80's; included on that list is "Tom Saywer" at #20 and "Limelight" at #27 (both coming in behind Joan Jett...).
To vote for the Top 50 Guitar Songs of the 90's, click here. Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!
Happy Victoria Day!
Happy Victoria Day Canada! Commemorating Queen Victoria's birthday, Neil wrote about this holiday in "Lakeside Park" where "everyone would gather, on the twenty fourth of May..." (beginning in 1977, the holiday was officially recognized as the Monday on or before May 24th). If you're outside Canada and would like to celebrate on May 24th, drop by Lakeside Park Day, a Rush fansite which includes tips for a successful Lakeside Park Day!
Def Leppard's Joe Elliot On "All The World's A Stage"
The first topic of discussion, Elliot states "Notoriously the live album had much better versions than the studio record," and cites live albums by Peter Frampton, Thin Lizzy, UFO, KISS, Rush and Cheap Trick as examples. "For people in our generation, they absolutely were career breakers...Rush broke England on All The World's A Stage, and for us growing up as kids in England, these albums started people's careers off, then you'd go back and get the studio albums, and you'd listen to them and go 'oh dear, they're not as good as the live albums'". To be fair, however, he does conclude with "I think it's what you hear first is what you get used to." You can listen to the interview here.
Rush Featured In "Premier Guitar" June Issue
Moving Pictures 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
CHART UPDATE: Moving Pictures is currently #181 on the Billboard Top 200; with a showing of 75 weeks on the chart!Newly remixed in 5.1 surround sound, the Moving Pictures - Deluxe Edition is now available. Available as either a two disk CD/DVD or CD/Blu-Ray edition, the package includes an extensive gallery including previously unreleased photos from the original recording sessions, new liner notes by renowned music journalist David Fricke and 30th anniversary artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme. Check out the all new trailer for the Moving Pictures Deluxe Edition here.
Included in the reissue package is an extensive gallery with previously unreleased photos from the original recording sessions as well as new new liner notes by renowned music journalist David Fricke. The liner notes essay is now available on the Moving Pictures liner notes page, and 27 new images have been added to the Rush Album Art Gallery. - I would like to thank John at Cygnus-X1.net for proving the transcript and images!
Rush Autographed Gibson Guitar Auction Raises $3,050 for Autism
Prior to the event, the center held an online silent auction which included a 2011 Les Paul Studio guitar donated by Gibson, signed by Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart at the Hamilton show last month. Although not yet reflected on the website, the winning bid was $3,050. For more information click here for Geneva's website (autism.net). - Thanks to John Carere for the headsup!
Geddy Lee on Black Sea Station's "Transylvania Avenue"
Update, "March of the Shikker" is now available at Jewcy.com: "Geddy had a little time on his hands, so he decided to get back to his roots and jam with some of North America’s finest purveyors of Klezmer and Rumanian music, Black Sea Station. On this track, that’s Geddy speaking in Yiddish. Not exactly 'rocking' in the sense we’re used to, but it’s Geddy Lee. The man is a living god. He can do what he wants." - Jewcy.com, May 18, 2011
"Classic Rock Presents Prog #16" - Rush Transcripts Online
One of the key topics of discussion is performing "The Camera Eye" live after so long:
"'I don't think we would ever have played...'Camera Eye' if we hadn't decided to play the whole record,' admits Lee. 'We would never had rediscovered the enjoyment of playing a song like that, while we thought we'd never be able to pull off again! I was really gritting my teeth before we set out to learn that song. Alex and I were sitting in my studio at home and we were listening to it, saying "Oh my god, it goes on forever! What the hell were we thinking?" So we very judiciously eliminated a minute and a half of its 12 minutes. But little did we know how difficult it would be to learn a 12-minute song that suddenly became a 10-and-a-half minute song, because the edits were so subtle that they were harder for us to learn. It really would have been easier to just play the whole dame thing! Ha ha!'" - Geddy Lee, Classic Rock Presents Prog #16
Geddy Lee Loves Stewart Lee
"Stewart Lee is one of the funniest men alive. This is not up for debate, this is fact. One man who acknowledges as such is his namesake and Rush bassist, Geddy Lee. Don’t take our word for it, listen to him: 'My wife and I come to London a lot and we go to a couple of the comedy places, and one time we saw Stewart Lee. He’s fantastic. So funny. You have to spend a lot of time immersed in British culture to understand all of his jokes. For instance, I’d never seen this British show Top Gear and then I went to see one of Stewart Lee’s performances and he was absolutely destroying these people. I was laughing but I didn’t know what I was laughing about! Then my wife and I returned quickly to Canada and watched Top Gear on BBC World or whatever, and then it all made sense! If he could expand his razor wit onto a global level I think he could be incredibly popular, but I get the feeling he’s happy to keep making you Brits laugh. He did a great bit about the Cafe Nero places in London and I can’t walk past one of those without laughing now. Everyone should know that Stewart Lee is truly brilliant.'" - MetalHammer.com, May 13, 2011 - Thanks to John @ Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!
Gibson.com's "Three's Company: The Top Top Rock Trios"
Gibson.com has added a new feature to their website titled "Three's Company: The Top Top Rock Trios". Rush comes in at #3 behind their early influences The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream:
Via regular reinvention, perseverance and undeniable musicality, Rush have reached legend status. It's a weird set-up: drummer Neil Peart writes the lyrics; Geddy Lee has a "unique voice" and manages to play bass/synths/footpedals and sing it all simultaneously. Alex Lifeson continues to chop out riffs and solos that all bear his unique signature. Rush remain a band no one would ever have invented, yet they remain huge after 37 years together. Even Rush instrumentals can send a crowd ballistic..." - Gibson.com, May 13, 2011
Rush On Southpark
During Wednesday's episode, "Royal Pudding" (season 15, episode 3), after the Princess of Canada is abducted during the Royal Canadian wedding, the citizens of Canada become extremely depressed and suicidal. A massive candlelight vigil is held led by Rush. The band is shown on stage performing Elton John's "Candle In The Wind" (sung as "flower breaking wind") until the song is abruptly ended with Alex's suicide! You can see the episode here. - Thanks to Frank Ray for the headsup!
Moving Pictures Contest - Win The Entire Rush CD Catalog
Rush has a new contest where you can win the ENTIRE Rush CD catalog, including the new Moving Pictures Deluxe Edition, as well as an autographed Moving Pictures lithograph and a tour program from the original 1981 tour. Click here for details.
Neil Peart Drums - Session Drummer 3
"YYZ", one of Spin Magazine's "30 Greatest Instrumental Songs Ever"
Rush, "YYZ" (1981): "With Moving Pictures, Geddy Lee and Co. proved they were mightily virtuosic, historically nerdy (rendering the letters "Y-Y-Z" in Morse Code via various musical arrangements), and capable of damn catchy melodies. Then, of course, there's the drum solo." - Spin.com, May 6, 2011 Thanks to John @ Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!
Alex Lifeson talks "Moving Pictures": track-by-track
"'It was a beautiful time,' says guitarist Alex Lifeson, recalling the summer of 1980, when he and his Rush mates (singer-bassist Geddy Lee and drummer-lyricist Neil Peart) rented a house in Stony Lake, Ontario and wrote their eighth album, Moving Pictures, together. 'We'd spend the weeks working, and on weekends we'd drive back to Toronto. Rehearsing, figuring out arrangements – everything just flowed. Electricity was in the air.'...In 2011, the whole of Moving Pictures is being celebrated by Rush on stage – they've been playing the album in its entirety since last year - and on a just-issued special edition Blu-ray CD+DVD package, which renders its seven wondrous cuts with a level of sound clarity that Lifeson calls 'mind-blowing. Richard Chycki, who remixed the album, knew he was working with a part of history, and he did an amazing job. He didn't change the record, just expanded on it. When I heard what he did for first time, I couldn't believe it. It was impeccable. It was Moving Pictures in a 3-D box!'Alex Lifeson walks us through Moving Pictures track-by-track. 'It's a very optimistic album,' he says. 'There's a brightness about it, which I think is why people respond to it so much. Playing it live every night is interesting – The Camera Eye, which we hadn't performed in a long time because it's pretty difficult, has now become one of our favorite songs. The bottom line is, we're very proud of Moving Pictures. Thirty years later, it still feels magical.' - Click here for more from MusicRadar.com, May 9, 2011
Rush Influences Alternative Rock Band Trail Of Dead
"My mom got me into Rush. It's one of those relationships with a band that [I've] been listening to since I was a kid. I respect their longevity. But I also kind of relate to [drummer] Neil Peart, the way he had these literary aspirations with their music. I relate to that in a big way." - Conrad Keely, Trail Of Dead, Baltimore Sun, May 5, 2011
Alex Lifeson Names Pete Townshend The "Greatest Songwriter In Rock"
"The Who were always a major influence on everything that Rush ever did, from the very start. While I'd never question the Beatles' right to be regarded as the greatest songwriters in history, nonetheless what Townshend did with the Who made more of a mark on us. What he's generated is an amazing body of work, with songs so diverse yet also connected by the fact that we're dealing with a man who wasn't ever afraid to give us a glimpse into his world, his thought process, (and) the way he dealt with his problems...(He) made me aware that it was OK to for a great musician to prove he wasn't infallible. That's great quality we've never forgotten in Rush...It's so hard to choose just one song to represent what he's all about. The choice would come down to 'Pictures Of Lily,' 'I Can't Explain,' or 'Run, Run, Run.' They're all so different, yet also have that unmistakable strand of Townshend running through them." - Alex Lifeson, Classic Rock, May 2011 - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!
Dave Clark & The Woodshed Orchestra's "Geddy Lee"
"The Woodshed Orchestra is an ecstatic soul-filled communal multi-headed celebration emancipation experience. The Woodshed will take you higher and make you feel the love you need to succeed. Yes it will. The Woodshed will light up your tree, push all the right buttons, stroke your ego till you come to your senses and start to sing and dance with visions of sugar plum love making times dancing in your mind that seem so real to the taste, touch and feel that you'll shout in happiness and cry tears of joy for being alive." - The Woodshed Orchestra
"Rush And Philosophy" Book Now Available
Rush And Philosophy, by long time Rush and philosophy author Durrell Bowman and co-editor Jim Berti is now shipping. The 288 page paperback book is an anthology of articles and synopses on the topic of Rush and Philosophy. The book's introduction, "Listen to My Music, and Hear What It Can Do" by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman, as well as a complete listing of the book's contents is now available on Bowman's website. - Thanks to Mark Stench, RushIsABand and John at Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!"Rush and Philosophy is a fascinating look at the music and lyrics of the band, setting out to address thought-provoking questions. For example, elements of philosophical thinking from the likes of Jean Paul-Sartre, Ayn Rand, and Plato can be found in Peart’s lyrics; does this make Peart a disciple of philosophy? In what ways has technology influenced the band through the decades? Can there be too much technology for a power-trio? Can listening to Rush’s music and lyrics lead listeners to think more clearly, responsibly, and happily? Is the band’s music a 'pleasant distraction' from the singing of Geddy Lee? In what ways is Rush Canadian? How can a band that has been referred to as 'right-wing' also criticize big government, religion, and imperialism?Bowman and Berti first announced they were putting together an anthology of articles and synopses on the topic of Rush And Philosophy back in June 2009.
"Rush and Philosophy is written by an assortment of philosophers and scholars with eclectic and diverse backgrounds who love Rush’s music and who 'get' the meaning and importance of it. They discuss Rush with the enthusiasm of fans and the seriousness of college professors. The book will be a must-read for the many fans who have long known that Rush deserves as much respect as the ideas, concepts, and puzzles about human existence they write and compose music about."
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