Battlescar LIVE (ft Alex Lifeson w/ Kim Mitchell of MAX WEBSTER)

will be checking it later, and a song I haven't heard in decades. But I enjoyed, and have a bootleg of.

Max Webster, an untapped band for my ears.

Rush fans must watch this.

Marco Minneman + Alex Lifeson Project

Whose on bass and will their be vocals?

Some mention of Geddy in the comments. I hope if that happens, the Rush with Marco instead of Neil comparisons don't go far.

Facebook




Working on a new collaborative release together with Rush’s Alex Lifeson. Watch this space for more details to follow soon.
(Artwork by Tom Colbie)

Yes Rock Hall; Incl Geddy w/ Yes live!

Here's some clips, 2 of these videos may include some of the same speeches, etc.

Anyway, the Geddy filling in for Chris thing that was announced and then recanted, was true, although I wonder if the Yes guys wanted to keep it a secret, etc.

Wakeman kind of stole the spotlight.


With this year's Rock Hall class now done, I may want to go into another who should get in next entry, time allowing/permitting of course.

WatchMojo did a ROCK (and Metal) video of that very thing

Random Artist Feature: Rush

8/10/16 6:25AM

Part 3. I should make a part 4 and finally wrap this one up soon, but I can't be sure if that will be next week or more so, down the road as I don't have any of those albums on vinyl. I may just wait until I do, although Snakes and Arrows I wouldn't plan on it.



Power Windows
Hold Your Fire
Force Ten 12"
A Show of Hands
Presto
Vapor Trails (Remix)

7/19/16 8:02PM

Permanent Waves

Moving Pictures

Exit...Stage Left

Signals

New World Man/Vital Signs (live) 7"

The Spirit of Radio "7

New World Man/Vital Signs (live) 12"

Grace Under Pressure

Distant Early Warning/Between the Wheels 12"

16 mins unfortunately, and Part 3 came out longer. Unsure if I want to remake that 1. 

There is a lot to talk about Rush though and the fact I have a bunch of additional pieces besides just the standard studio albums.

6/28/16 4:49PM


Again, Part 1 of this new retro prog favorites, etc.

Alex Lifeson interview about the future of Rush (in 2016 and Beyond)

RS story



This is not really news, except for it being more or less official now. Altough the quotes from Alex in that are more or less what he's said in interviews over the last 6 months about Neil and the R40 tour being difficult/painful for him.

And there's not an actual quote from Alex, at least that I can tell, that says they are never going to ever tour again.

It just has this quote

"We had such a great time on the tour," Lifeson tells Rolling Stone. "And it was really nice to go through all the material in reverse chronology, and I think our fans really enjoyed it. I think that no matter how long it would have been, it would have been too short. Neil was prepared to commit to 30 dates and he told us that right from the very beginning. He didn't even want to do the tour, to be honest with you. It's been increasingly difficult for him, but he committed to the tour and we got through it. As far as he was concerned, that was the end of touring."

But anyway, this has been more or less the belief long before the R40 tour even. I imagine they will still play the 1-offs or special shows at some point. Or Geddy and Alex will end up doing some shows either together or alone perhaps down the road.

And they may put out more recordings at least.

For me personally, I saw them I count 8? times, so I can't complain.

Nerf Herder - The Girl Who Listened to Rush

http://exclaim.ca/music/article/nerf_herder-the_girl_who_listened_to_rush

This is a song from geeky pop/punk band from California, Nerf Herder from their upcoming record Rockingham, which is released on March 11th.



This is pretty much gold although on Sound Opinions last week with Geddy and Alex the lack of Female Rush fans was addressed. And at the end of the current week's episode of Sound Opinions, some female Rush fans called in of course.

Neil Peart Retiring from drumming

Link
Link 2
Link 3
http://neilpeartnews.andrewolson.com/2015/12/neil-peart-talks-about-retirement-in.html

 In a new interview with Drumhead Magazine (via Jambase),  “… Lately Olivia has been introducing me to new friends at school as ‘My dad– He’s a retired drummer.’ True to say–funny to hear. And it does not pain me to realize that, like all athletes, there comes a time to… take yourself out of the game. I would rather set it aside then face the predicament described in our song ‘Losing It’ (‘Sadder still to watch it die, than never to have known it’).”



I'm not sure how detailed I want to get with this, and actually how much I ultimately believe he is going completely Cold Turkey for the rest of his life ala Bill Bruford.

He may and Rush may finally be done in every capacity, but then again he may eventually want to do something with music and even Rush again, even if it's just a 1-off or in the studio at least. And that may be 5 or more years from now.

And Rush or at least Geddy and Alex I suspect will still do something musically, even just from what they said during this recent QandA they did with of all people, Michael Moore.



But obviously they will be done at some point as age and time does catch up with them. I actually kind of worried about this back when I 1st became a fan in the early 90's. So in a way, I've been anticipating the end of Rush for like 25 years.

And when the tragedies struck Neil in the late 90's, I kind of figured they were likely done for good, but what happened? they came back and made 3 albums and went on like a dozen tours.

So, only time will really tell.

Some talk/hope is if Geddy and Alex go out and play live, they'll ask some other friends to join them, perhaps Mike Portnoy would be one of them? Although I kind of wonder if the Foo Fighters guys would be involved as well (or instead) given how much they talk about them. Taylor Hawkins I guess could also be someone who'd play drums with them.

But if/when it could happen, it certainly would not be Rush if anyone went out with them live on a tour or 1-off. But they would likely play some Rush tunes at least.

Rush - Clockwork Angels (2012)

Go stream the full "Headlong Flight" at this rollingstone.com link

digging the instrumental element, the vocals? jury=is=still-out. I'm not sure how good the vocal melodies Geddy comes up with in recent years ever become. Snakes and Arrows suffered from the same issue.

That being said, I am still optimistic after hearing this. The riffs are ballsy, which I dig no matter.

4/11/12 8:45AM

June 12th is now the release date.

Artwork, track list and a teaser for the song/single "Headlong Flight."

I guess there's a reference to "Bastille Day" (I haven't heard this yet)



1 Caravan
2 BU2B
3 Clockwork Angels
4 The Anarchist
5 Carnies
6 Halo Effect
7 Seven Cities of Gold
8 The Wreckers
9 Headlong Flight
10 BU2B2
11 Wish Them Well
12 The Garden

Billboard story

Rush will return this summer with "Clockwork Angels," the iconic prog-rock band revealed on Wednesday. The new album, due June 12, will be the trio's first studio effort since 2007's "Snakes & Arrows" and their debut for Anthem/Roadrunner Records.

For the new set, the band turned again to "Snakes & Arrows" co-producer Nick Raskulinecz and recorded in Nashville and Toronto. The conceptual set will trace a protagonist's journey through a world of steampunk, alchemy and an exotic carnival; drummer and lyricist Neil Peart is also penning a novelization of the album with prolific author Kevin J. Anderson

Between albums, Rush has kept busy with a series of tours, documenting their most recent dates with the "Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland" live album and DVD last November. (They also made an appearance as the object of Paul Rudd and Jason Segel's sonic affection in the 2009 film "I Love You, Man.")

The band is sharing an advanced taste of the music with a hard-riffing album trailer based on the "Clockwork" cover art.


2/20/12 1:07AM

As posted/linked here, the album is expected to come in May. Some stuff about it being loosely a concept, and stuff like the title track being a multi-part piece, has been posted before elsewhere, but still worth reading about/adding.

Am I expecting a prog masterpiece? no, not really. But I must admit, having liked "BU2B" and "Caravan" enough, I'm a little more intrigued by this, than I was hearing ":Far Cry" from Snakes and Arrows especially, a few years ago.

But as always, we'll see. I am kind of curious about the tour to support this record regardless.

Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage Thursday 6/10 in Minneapolis!

6/11/10 1:36AM
So I just got back a bit ago.

Fun night. Very entertaining film.

The people interviewed and the depth of early footage are probably what stands out most from seeing it. The cast of people includes: Gene Simmons, Jack Black, Trent Reznor, Billy Corgan, Vinnie Paul, Sebastian Bach, Kirk Hammett, 1 of the guys from The Foo Fighters (not Dave Grohl thankfully) and 1 of the guys from Death Cab For Cutie. Of course Portnoy was in there, but actually he wasn't shown all that much. Not nearly as much as I figured/hoped. Perhaps more of his discussion will be included in the DVD.

Other industry people: Terry Brown, Ray Danniels, Kevin Shirley. Others I'm blanking on right now. And neat to see Ged, Alex and Neil's family. Plus among the early footage, a clip of Alex talking about not wanting to go to school. Vintage Alex Lifeson at 17 years old. It was kind of surreal to see that.

Some of the sarcastic comments and jokes, both in their lives today and going back really made this without many if any boring moments.

In fact, I'd say having seen the other 2 (known) documentaries Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen have made, I'd say this is their best in terms of flow, entertainment value, and focus. This was on RUSH and nothing else really.

That being said, and being a meticulous music fan and Rush fan specifically, I can't avoid citing at least off the top of my head, what was not included in this film.

-Nothing about 1991's "Roll the Bones." No music, nothing about how on the title track, they tried a rap. And (some-of) their fans turned on them. Was this lack of mention of that due to the positive, uncritical nature of the film? Maybe, or was it not researched? Less significant? I guess the dvd may add something to that. But that album was as significant a record to me, since really it was their 1st less than par (at the time) record going back to pre-Caress of Steel period.

-No mention of "Take Off" with Geddy recording/performing with Doug and Bob Mackenzie. Sam Dunn is from Toronto. Surely he knows about that. I also hoped to hear about them appearing (or being offered to appear) on SCTV, but that has always been a mild curiosity of mine, with no mention over the years, it's probably unlikely.

-Nothing about Alex's run-in with the Law a few years back in Florida. It made headlines of course, but obviously not the positive kind the band want to see. Still it's a bit surprising it wasn't even briefly mentioned. On the DVD maybe.

-Nothing about the biography "Rush Visions" which I brought to the movie tonight.
-Nothing about the solo projects
-Nothing even about how they got their name.

-They show footage from South Park (and they had 1 of the creators from SP talk about Rush), yet no mention (like on the "I Love You Man" dvd commentary) of the Freaks and Geeks with Rush and Neil Peart.

-No Guitar, Bass or Drum magazine polls/articles or even interviews from the editors.

-The way they talked about the 80's albums and the synths changing them. Making them less of a "rock band" and less of a "power trio." This has been a small issue I've had with many in their fan base over the years. I personally find the 80's Rush albums to be among their best work of their career. And I'm mostly referring to the Grace Under Pressure-Presto records. I would put those 4 albums up against the 2112-Signals records any day. Yeah, those mid-late 80's albums didn't lend them any really big *hits* like "Tom Sawyer" or even "Subdivisions," but the writing and textures really seemed to work on those albums. And they frequently get forgotten or overlooked. I also think among the 70's progressive rock groups still making music in the 80's, Rush were the only one who really effectively implemented the new 80's music elements into their sound. Yes, Genesis, Tull, Kansas, and yes, even Crimson, frankly have pretty much forgettable catalogs from the 1980's. Rush is the one group who managed to survive and make memorable and significant records past the heyday of progressive rock. And I have felt for a long time, the 80's Rush is a sadly unknown, uncredited, and overlooked mass of good music. And only a small portion of the really dedicated fans appreciate it. I actually would go for them someday doing a tour of songs JUST from that period. It won't happen, but maybe even a tribute band would consider that someday.

-The way Caress of Steel and the whole progressive rock period is portrayed; the fact they said they were done with music like Hemispheres on Permanent Waves, yet PW's includes 2 semi-epics in "Natural Science" and "Jacob's Ladder." Caress of Steel still remains an under-rated gem in their catalog. "The Necromancer" and "The Fountain of Lamneth" are both excellent and often overlooked, even by the progressive rock fans. At the same time, the way they make the post-Hemispheres period having so many "songs" that radio could play, yet on Hemispheres, A Farewell to Kings, 2112 and even Caress of Steel, they still include a number of shorter songs that were just as mature in ways and refined as normal-length rock and roll songs, it almost came across as a double standard way of looking at their history, just because they had more commercial success with the songs after Hemispheres.

Well, given my present situation, I'm gonna call this done for now. I am looking forward to seeing the DVD. There were a ton of laugh-out-loud moments. Jack Black was good, although given how much time they gave him and how little Portnoy, I was not as thrilled with that. The guys themselves, Geddy and Alex namely, were quite quote-able (of course I can't pass along any of those at this hour unfortunately). Just remembering, 1 scene with a waitress in a restaurant and Alex going "whoa, that's Geddy!" and the waitress then asking for Geddy's autograph for more than 1 person. And Geddy tries to have Alex sign too, but the waitress doesn't ask Alex for his autograph, lol. Also 1 story they told about taking the others tests in school. It was cool to see them, in their own personal element, telling stories. Something very rarely seen (Rush in Rio documentary?). It was also interesting to see some interviews with the late John Rutsey.


6/5/10 10:41PM

Thursday June 10th 9PM @ The Riverview Theater in South Minneapolis.

event link



I have my ticket purchased. $9 including fees. What I don't get is why they wouldn't screen it more than just the 1 time that evening/day or next week?..










as for the new single "Caravan" it's pretty good. Geddy's vocals still aren't as good as they used to be. But Alex's solo is one of the better things he's come up with in awhile.