Rush: Classic or Dud?

Good article by Annie Zaleski here; includes quotes from Donna Halper, who, w/r/t the discussion above re Cleveland breaking Rush in the US, was the music director who added them to rotation in the city, kickstarting it all.

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/11/795555335/remembering-neil-peart-a-monster-drummer-with-a-poets-heart

Meantime, Hank Shteamer with some deep (and very good) music nerdery.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/neil-peart-rush-drumming-tribute-936430/

was thinking about the "middlebrow" tag of Peart, and while yes in one sense that is true, watching the documentary again I realized that, of course, the guy didn't have an education beyond high school and working at his dad's farm store. then he joined the circus and left for the rest of his life....but despite that he really tried, he read books on tour, he educated himself and evolved and grew as he got older.

how many people in his position do that? a lot of old rock stars are basically giant fucking idiots when asked to step outside of their own mythology or musical history. Peart cared, he wanted to be a grown up and stake out some kind of normal life that wasn't dependent on being the drummer for Rush

Springsteen did very much the same, I think. Self-educated, but made an effort to self-educate more.

That RS appreciation of his composition prowess is exactly what I was alluding to earlier, particularly "Subdivisions" (which could be the band's best song). This line particularly:

But it was in the early Eighties, as Rush started to master more concise song forms, that the full extent of Peart’s mastery really became apparent.

I didn't know many Rush fans growing up, and was never a fan myself. And btw I grew up in Willowdale, the Toronto suburb where Rush was formed. But everyone was in awe of Peart. How could you not appreciate the skill, even the athleticism in what he was doing. RIP to a true wizard.

I never thought about it much, but now that I am, I don't think I knew any Rush fans growing up, either! My friends were more Sonic Youth fans or Cure fans, tbh. But even as a Rush fan I was listening to Naked City and Fishbone and stuff, which were also ... solitary pursuits in 9th grade and beyond. But there must have been others.

I'm old enough to have seen a lot of Signals T-shirts in the halls of my junior high. They weren't the kids I hung out with, but they were definitely present.

what was confusing was seeing kids with COUNTERPARTS t-shirts

I'm old enough to have seen a lot of Signals T-shirts in the halls of my junior high. They weren't the kids I hung out with, but they were definitely present.

Yeah, that was my introduction to the band as well -- same period of time, upstate New York, one classmate had said shirt and wore it regularly enough that it stuck in my brain. I didn't actually hear anything by them until "New World Man" ended up in some sports program on TV I caught around the mid-80s.

Re: self-education -- Robert Smith's like that as well. Didn't do university and has famously said it was precisely because "Killing An Arab" aka their redaction of Camus's The Stranger was their initial mark that their fans assumed he was a total literary type and started suggesting and recommending books and poets and etc -- which he then followed up on and has continued to do to the present day.

Hoo boy I was rudely introduced to Rush fandom in the summer between 8th and 9th grade at band camp. It was my first year and the drummers discovered my dad shared his name w a Rush song (not Red Barchetta but that would have been cool) and didn't let me forget it for years. Diehard Peart fans were the most zealous music fans I had ever encountered in my life up to that point.

Lol band camp sounds about right. In college, I would sometimes see at the university orchestra perform, and their percussionist was this gawky dude with a long ponytail who always made sure his Rush shirt was peeking out from underneath his formal wear. Conform or be cast out!!

Lots of good tribute tweets collected here:

https://twitter.com/rushisaband

It really does say a lot that there are tributes from both Brian Wilson *and* Gene Simmons.

I didn’t hear Rush or know about them until I met my husband in the late 90’s/early 00’s

I remembered yesterday that I was aware of Neil as a kid despite not knowing that Rush existed. I had this big book of jokes Mum bought me from a discount store, published in England. I read that thing cover to cover a billion times. At few of the jokes in the “music” chapter had Neil Peart punchlines. I had no idea who he was, but gleaned that he must be a good drummer *shrug* lol

Also: I had Temples of Syrinx on a mixtape Mr Veg gave me back in the 90’s - I freakin loved it but for some reason didn’t seek out more (which is weird bc i usually do if it’s a band i havent heard of)
When I moved to the US, Mr Veg would play ‘Red Barchetta’ or ‘Tom Sawyer’ here & there, or put on Moving Pictures but initially I found it very weird & sort of, alienating? i couldn’t find a way in. I didnt even compute that it was the same band as Temples of Syrinx for some reason! (weird)
Then we got into Rockband and it all kinda came together for me: hearing Limelight for the first time while trying to sing it & i was all OH SHIT THIS SONG RULES and then we did Tom Sawyer & I was like aaaaahhh i get it now & i have been on board ever since

My favorite era is still the 70’s stuff though, 2112 for sure my go-to... just because it’s so cool & heavy sounding, and i love all that weird epic shit so much.

I havent’t dug into post Signals albums very deeply but I think I will explore that stuff a bit now

Set one of the Clockwork Angels tour video is such an awesome smorgasbord of 80s Rush. I was super hyped they played stuff like Geand Designs and The Body Electric. Their post 2000 tours were very generous about bringing back tons of obscure deep cuts.

I saw that tour and totally forgot how good the setlist was for an '80s Rush fan.

VG you have some fantastic listening ahead re the post signals records

Power Windows is among my favourite Rush albums and I waited years to see so much Power Windows material live. And sadly by the time it happened, Geddy Lee had lost his voice. On the Clockwork Angels tour he looked like he was painfully struggling to get the words out.

Incidentally my father, who took up the drums after hearing 2112 upon its release (and, sadly, died an untimely death from cancer like his lifelong idol) noted as we left a concert on the Vapor Trails tour that Neil Peart’s skills had clearly slipped a bit due to age – the drummer was almost exactly 50 years old at the time. As a non-drummer I didn’t notice anything and the drums on the following tours and albums sounded great, but did the drumming community overall know that Neil was no longer banging the tubs quite like a young man, but simply not say it due to politeness?

As a drummer myself, I never noticed him slipping at all, not an inch. (Geddy, fwiw, got better!) If anything Alex might have slipped a bit, but not much! They did "The Analog Kid" on that "Clockwork" tour, and that solo is nuts, especially given he was struggling with arthritis in his fingers.

xpost that's cool to hear about Robert Smith, Ned, also saw Lol Tolhurst tweet about Peart yesterday

I saw the last tour and he had slipped a tiny bit, though only relative to his own past, still better than any rock drummer you could find

mostly though you could see how hard he was pushing himself and at times he looked to be grimacing in pain

one of those tweets reminded me… Manic Street Preachers have 0 profile in the U.S. (maybe they have one in Canada?). Yet that is the UK band of the last 20-25 years big-upping Neil… acts like Suede or the various exponents of the Albarn-verse or lord knows Radiohead don't dare fuck with Rush…

Otherwise I don't know why you guys are saying that encomia is coming from varied sources…that thread is mostly coming from professional rawk/metal people who are nominally defensive that G/B/D is no longer dominant… it ain't like Camilla Cabelo or Angel Olsen is piping up

man I remember as recently as 2009 or 2010 mentioning that I loved Power Windows and Signals best and getting "LOL ok poseur" scowls from people who considered themselves fans. I was never more than a casual fan, but when I borrowed Chronicles in early '92 from the brother of a friend it was obvious the band had gotten their shit together by 1979-1980.

I guess I grew up thinking of Moving Pictures as "the" record, but every Rush fan I knew loved all the eras

but the early shit is great, man Hemispheres did my head in today

Big Money, Manhattan Project and Marathon are all part of the Rush canon

Moving Pictures is probably my favorite, but Power Windows comes close.

Geddy definitely sounded more yelpy and warbly in later tours, but he held his own. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, it seemed like they picked their set lists to avoid songs that tested his upper register, but they started bringing those back around Test For Echo, sometimes to mixed results.

I only noticed a difference with Neil on the last tour where it seemed like there were fewer songs with really intense and complicated drum parts.

acts like Suede or the various exponents of the Albarn-verse or lord knows Radiohead don't dare fuck with Rush…

I thought Muse are fans?

Rush sounded a bit like Muse in their later days tbh, esp on Vapour Trails.

Paul Anka posted to the tribute thread btw!

man I remember as recently as 2009 or 2010 mentioning that I loved Power Windows and Signals best and getting "LOL ok poseur" scowls from people who considered themselves fans.

I have a good friend who is really into prog and metal and therefore Rush. Weirdly, he'll rep for "Grace Under Pressure" as absolutely classic (correct), so he's got no problem with synths, but he inexplicably dismisses "Power Windows" (incorrect).

mostly though you could see how hard he was pushing himself and at times he looked to be grimacing in pain

Did you see the second doc? He was suffering from some leg/foot injury/infection from riding his bike in the rain (iirc), and he apparently literally was in pretty severe pain almost every night.

I used to read Modern Drummer and I would see Peart mentioned by all sorts of interesting folks, from Matt Cameron (makes sense) to David Lovering (more of a surprise but also makes sense, because ... he's a drummer).

I rewatched the 2010 doc last night - such a great watch, captures so much of their spark. I really love how much live footage they include - in a weird way it reminded me of Pearl Jam Twenty, somehow capturing some of the inner life & emotional connection of the bandmembers and the live footage going towards explaining their longevity somewhat.

I like Grace Under Pressure a lot more than Power Windows fwiw. Even the former isn't totally consistent for me but "Distant Early Warning"/"Red Sector A"/"Body Electric" are all fantastic. DEW is as good as anything in their catalogue imo.

otm

Distant Early Warning is a wonderful fuckin' tune.

that Clockwork Angels tour actually exposed me to the 80s material I hadn't previously gotten into, which was nice.

40th anniversary tour, Christ they went deep in that setlist.

The only Rush album I’ve listened to is A Show of Hands bc I got it from Columbia House in 9th gr so I could know what the hubbub was about at band camp. Generally, I liked it! Not enough to spend money on more albums but I enjoyed what I heard. Subdivisions was obvious fave. Be cool or be cast out!!

The cover of that album though? So uncool.

I know the radio hits too. I remember thinking a live album would give me a taste of what people liked about Rush so I could be conversant in the unlikely event anyone wanted to talk w me about the music rather than clowning me about my dad.

Different Stages is probably my favorite live album. I have particular affection for it because I was at the show where they taped 2112. Also that tour was particularly mindblowing for me because I never thought I'd hear full versions of 2112 and Natural Science live.

Yeah, Different Stages is great - gives a good appreciation for multiple eras

I also love the way some of those older tracks sound with the huge modern instrument tones and production. Like, I think that version of 2112 is better than the original. It sounds massive!

I love A Show of Hands I definitely think that would be a good place to start

Big Money, Manhattan Project and Marathon are all part of the Rush canon

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 11 January 2020 23:52 (yesterday) link

Power Windows might be their greatest collection of songs as songs. I was listening to it last night and stuff like Emotion Detector, which might be considered filler or a deep cut, just kills.

That part of Manhattan Project where everything drops out for a second at "the pilot of Enola Gay" is a top 5 moment in their catalog for me. Shivers.

I'm listening to Different Stages for the first time right now - I only need so many Rush live albums - and honestly, weirdly, imo a lot of the songs sound kind of slack? Geddys voice sounds good though.

xpost yeah love that part esp when Geddy goes up a register for "Flying out of the SHOCK-wave!" that killed

Peart's lyrics in the 80s are almost always on point.

exhibit A: Red Sector A

that sparse chorus combined with those lyrics is positively terrifying

The way Lifeson slices into those icy chords on songs like that is so good. I think Grace Under Pressure and Power Windows may be peak Alex albums.

nothing was cooler than them jumping into, I think Cygnus X-1 on the 40th anniversary tour, and the guy behind me let out an excited "REALLY??!!!!" a la Nelson Muntz at Andy Williams.