Rush: Classic or Dud?

And oh shit, apparently Alex just guested on a Tool song in Toronto the other night?

my wife watched the Rush doc and really liked it. She doesn't like the band, but did gain a newfound respect for them.

^^^

Nice interview with Geddy transcribed here:

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/mojo-01.2024.php

Nice, thanks for the link!

Meanwhile, the other day I learned that one of Neil's biggest inspirations for his drum technique on "Animate" were Lush and Curve. Colour me pleasantly surprised!

Great Geddy interview. Love that guy. Sort of surprised about the coke revelations.

It just goes to show that apparently *every* musician was doing coke, to some extent. Even Geddy Lee. I was kinda shocked at the revelation a few years ago that Mike Rutherford was a big coke abuser. (Whereas Phil was largely a teetotaler).

yeah it seems like it's pretty much impossible to comprehend how prevalent coke was in the entertainment biz in the 80s

As soon as the first Zeppelin LP dropped we all bought it and thought, What is this? It had a kinda Humble Pie vibe

Geddy has his chronology a little mixed up, the first Humble Pie album came out seven months after Zeppelin's debut.

It's touching to see how moved he is discussing Neil and Alex.

(Whereas Phil was largely a teetotaler).

Maybe with coke but he was apparently hitting the weed pretty heavily back in the day, plus his notorious problems with alcohol.

Imagine getting high with Tony Banks

cool he can be insufferable at a higher tempo

I think Phil's drinking problem came much, much later, like after he had (first) retired and had too much time and money.

I found the Curve/Lush quote btw!

For the opening track, 'Animate,' for instance, I used a basic R&B rhythm that I played back in my early days, coupled with that hypnotic effect that a lot of the British bands of the turn of the 90's had - bands like Curve and Lush. The middle section of the tune is the result of the impact African music has had on me, although it wasn't a specific African rhythm. I hear a section of a tune, and immediately I have to make choices, and many times those world influences I talked about earlier will come into play and contribute to my parts.

I can ... kind of hear it? Fwiw, I remember seeing Curve with Steve Monti and his playing made a big impression on me.

the biggest Rush fan I know is also a big Curve fan, so this makes lots of sense to me

The Geddy book is *great.*

Yeah I need to get that. Too much backlog!

The Lush/Curve detail above, I like that. (I'm kinda not surprised at a Curve/Rush fan continuum, Dean Garcia being such a studio hound in the best sense.)

I'm going to publish my suspicion that there will be some musical project to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first album.

Seconding Josh, Geddy's book is a wonderful read. Re-listening to everything but now picturing the studios and cast of characters. He uses the pet nicknames for his band-mates throughout, and they change constantly from year to year!

Hearing Tom Sawyer/Limelight/Spirit on the school bus blasted from a boombox in the back seats where the cool kids sat. Journey sounded futuristic but Rush was on a whole other level. Subdivisions sealed the deal. Classic forever.