[Kevin Gibson]

One of my absolute favorite bands (all the way up to Moving Pictures, then I lost interest when they decided to become The Police).

I recently watched a documentary on them and then read some more, but this little tid bit about one of their famous instrumentals was interesting.

In it's original form, the song La Villa Strangiato took them 40 days to record because they were determined to do it in one take. This was longer than the entire album of Fly By Night. In the end, they gave up and recorded the song in 3 takes. Since then, I don't believe it has ever been played in one take in its original form.

http://www.playlist.com/searchbeta/trac ... iato/all/1

This is just something I always loved about Rush, they really pushed the envelope of their own abilities. Ask any musician and they'll tell you much of their music is a B-Otch to play.

Once upon a time, I used to bang on the drums. I worked week after week to learn to play Tom Sawyer and finally pulled it off. I knew better than to try to play La Villa Strangiato…that one is deceptive; sounds easy and kinda is, until you get about half way through you're completely lost.

 

[SpecialEd]

Personally, I believe Neil Peart to be the standout musician in RUSH. It is uncommon to find a drummer who is also the primary lyricist too.

 

[Richard Jefferies]

{Life lesson applied}

Many years ago (early to mid 70's,) on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. I saw a video of Neil (perhaps wrong name) Palmer of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer still taking drum lessons after he was very well into a career as a professional musician. No matter how much you know, or how good you are, there is still more to learn and more to master.

{/Here endeth the life lesson.}

It is uncommon to find a drummer who is also the primary lyricist too.

Very much so...less uncommon than finding a bass player with the same talents. Electric bass is a percussion/rhythm instrument also...)

 

[SpecialEd]

{Life lesson applied}

Many years ago (early to mid 70's,) on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. I saw a video of Neil (perhaps wrong name) Palmer of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer

Carl Palmer... one of the greats. Not always so "accessible" to the average person but an incredible talent.

 

[Richard Jefferies]

Carl Palmer... one of the greats. Not always so "accessible" to the average person but an incredible talent.

Thank you, SE. Old Timer's Disease srikes again!
Indeed, a truly incredible talent! In the video I saw, he was working on mastering the kettle drums.

 

[Kevin Gibson]

Yeah, Peart is the standout in Rush, but Leifson and Lee are excellent musicians as well. All of them were serious about constantly pushing their musicianship to the next level; which probably climaxed with the Hemispheres album.

 

[TommyGunn]

WHAT! This ISN'T about Rush Limbaugh?? !! ?? !! ?? :neer: :neer: :shame: :shame: :rotflmao: :cryinlaugh:

 

[Avyctes]

Go see'em live if you haven't yet. Saw'em couple years ago on the Snakes and Arrows tour. Amazing.

 

[Kevin Gibson]

Go see'em live if you haven't yet. Saw'em couple years ago on the Snakes and Arrows tour. Amazing.

Only saw them live once, Moving Pictures tour back in like '81 or therebouts. They put on a hell of a show. I've seen video from the Snakes & Arrows tour and looks like that was a very good show.

 

[Avyctes]

Kevin, it was everything I'd always heard a Rush concert was and then some. Just a pure amazing concert. It's always so impressive when you see them play complex music that not everyone in the world could pull off, and do so seemingly effortlessly. They played a broad spectrum of songs, lots of talking to the fans, plus guitar solos and a drum solo.

By the way, I was about just as impressed with Queensrÿche when I saw them open for Metallica in the late 80's. Geoff Tate is incredible live.

Did a search (since I couldn't remember) to see exactly what all they played...
Show was Sept. 2, 2007 - Columbus, OH at the Germain Amphitheater...

First Set
1. Limelight
2. Digital Man
3. Entre Nous
4. Mission
5. Freewill
6. The Main Monkey Business
7. The Larger Bowl
8. Secret Touch
9. Circumstances
10. Between The Wheels
11. Dreamline

Second Set
12. Far Cry
13. Workin' Them Angels
14. Armor And Sword
15. Spindrift
16. The Way The Wind Blows
17. Subdivisions
18. Natural Science
19. Witch Hunt
20. Malignant Narcissism
21. Drum Solo
22. Hope
23. Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochran cover)
24. The Spirit Of Radio
25. Tom Sawyer

Encore:
26. One Little Victory
27. A Passage To Bangkok
28. YYZ

 

[Kevin Gibson]

Oh how I’d love to see them do Natural Science live; I love that song. I was an “Old Rush” fan and stopped buying when they changed their sound because what they changed to wasn’t what I wanted to hear from Rush. Now 25 years later, my taste in music has matured to the point that I’m going back and listening to their “post-Moving Pictures” music and I really like it. When they got too dependent on synthesizers I thought Alex Leifson’s brilliant guitar got lost in the shuffle; turns out I was wrong. Now that I’ve given them a chance, I see that the music remained just as good, but very different. Subdivisions is a great example of their “post-Moving Pictures” music. Subdivisions really has it all… All the music lines are still somewhat complex and clever, but not at the expense of a great song. The lyrics are just brilliant, striking a chord with most everyone at some level or another. Since Rush fans tend to be a bit nerdy, I think Subdivisions reached deep and touched the soul of most of their fans.

So now, I’m playing catch up and I’ll be adding the rest of their music to my collection because I’m once again a Rush fan.

Oh and here’s the coolest part, my kids are loving Rush. My 7 year old son thinks Tom Sawyer is THE hard rock song, and my 11 year old daughter thinks Neil Peart is the best drummer to have ever picked up a pair of drum sticks. She says if Jesus were to take up drums, he’d hire Neil as his teacher. I catch her on Youtube looking for video of Peart solos; pretty cool.

 

[Avyctes]

Kewl. My 13yo son is a drummer, I need to introduce him to Neil. Now if I could get my wife past her Rush distaste. She can't stand the vocals, says they're too high.