Rush Album by Album, Song By Song

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Jan 11, 2020.

  1. Eleventh Earl of Mar

    Eleventh Earl of Mar Somehow got them all this far.

    Location:
    New York
    You mad man. This should be fun though - there's a lot to talk about with where the band went over time.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  2. ytserush

    ytserush Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast US

    I was really fascinated by this stuff in the 80's because it had been so unavailable save for these early live gigs. It is much better live than I imagine a studio version might have been. These songs also fit the context of a band in transition from playing in bars and forging a career which I think is pretty cool.

    Perhaps to support my point that the first single is largely forgettable, either song seems to have never surfaced on any live recordings that I'm aware of when the first album came out. They seemed to feel the new material was much stronger.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    G'day mate. I am certainly no authority, and the beginning and the ending of this thread, will be somewhat like the second half of the Joe Jackson thread. A voyage of discovery for a band I really like but up until very recently haven't had all their albums.
    I am itching to get to the stuff I know and love, but am really very interested in the stuff I have as yet had no chance to listen to.
    Fortunately the guys on the forum are very knowledgeable and I hope for some very enlightening posts along the way.
     
    team2, ytserush and Geee! like this.
  4. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I dance on the fringes of sanity, with a smile and nod to the world :)
     
  5. ytserush

    ytserush Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast US

    The Joe Jackson thread just moves to fast for me. Really enjoy it all but don't have the last one yet.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  6. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I'm sorry mate. I roll one a day to keep folks interested, but I understand time constraints. There is always Sunday for catching up, while I am sitting in my little surround castle :)
     
    ytserush likes this.
  7. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Last but certainly not least. The guy that kept me interested in Rush, even back when I struggled with the vocals.
    He only comes into play on the second album, but I think it would be fair to say that Peart is to Rush, what Bonham was to Zeppelin. Completely different types of drummers, but for me, my favourite ingredient in the recipe that the band cooked up.

    Neil Peart OC (Officer of The Order Of Canada)
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Neil Ellwood Peart, September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020, was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario.
    Peart drew most of his inspiration from Keith Moon, Ginger Baker and John Bonham, and as time passed he grew to emulate guys like Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa.
    He became a friend and pupil of Freddie Gruber and during this time started incorporating jazz and swing elements into his playing.
    Neil was the primary lyricist of the band, and incorporated fantasy, science fiction and philosophy into his writing. He later started to incorporate humanitarian and libertarian themes also.
    He has written seven books focussing on his travels and personal stories.
    At eighteen he moved to London to try and further his career as a musician, but although he played in bands and got session work also, he ended up supporting himself by selling jewellery in a shop called The Great Frog on Carnaby Street.
    While in London Peart discovered the writings of Ayn Rand, and she had a big influence on some of his writing, but after eighteen months of dead end gigs he returned to Canada.
    When he returned he played drums in a St. Catherine's band called Hush, but shortly afterwards a mutual acquaintance convinced him to audition for Rush.

    His future bandmates describe his arrival that day as somewhat humorous, as he arrived in shorts, driving a battered old Ford Pinto with his drums stored in trashcans. Peart felt the entire audition was a complete disaster. While Lee and Peart hit it off on a personal level (both sharing similar tastes in books and music), Lifeson had a less favourable impression of Peart. After some discussion, Lee and Lifeson accepted Peart's maniacal British style of drumming, reminiscent of The Who's Keith Moon.
    Peart officially joined the band on July 29, 1974, two weeks before the group's first US tour.
    In 1992, Peart was invited by Buddy Rich's daughter, Cathy Rich, to play at the Buddy Rich Memorial Scholarship Concert in New York City. Peart accepted and performed for the first time with the Buddy Rich Big Band. Peart remarked that he had little time to rehearse, and noted that he was embarrassed to find the band played a different arrangement of the song than the one he had learned. Feeling that his performance left much to be desired, Peart decided to produce and play on two Buddy Rich tribute albums titled Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich in 1994 and 1997 in order to regain his aplomb.
    While producing the first Buddy Rich tribute album, Peart was struck by the tremendous improvement in ex-Journey drummer Steve Smith's playing, and asked him his "secret." Smith responded he had been studying with drum teacher Freddie Gruber.
    On December 7, 2015, Peart announced his retirement from music in an interview with Drumhead Magazine, though bandmate Geddy Lee insisted Peart was quoted out of context, and suggested Peart was "simply taking a break". However, in January 2018, bandmate Alex Lifeson confirmed that Rush was retiring due to Peart's health issues.

    Peart received the following awards in the Modern Drummer magazine reader's poll:
    • Hall of Fame: 1983
    • Best Rock Drummer*: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 2006, 2008
    • Best Multi-Percussionist*: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986
    • Best Percussion Instrumentalist: 1982
    • Most Promising New Drummer: 1980
    • Best All Around: 1986
    • 1986 Honor Roll: Rock Drummer, Multi-Percussion
    (* – As a member of the Honor Roll in these categories, he is no longer eligible for votes in the above categories.)
    Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2007:
    • Drummer of the Year
    • Best Progressive Rock Drummer
    • Best Live Performer
    • Best DVD (Anatomy Of A Drum Solo)
    • Best Drumming Album (Snakes & Arrows)
    Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2008:
    • Drummer of the Year
    • Best Progressive Rock Drummer (Runner-Up)
    • Best Mainstream Pop Drummer (Runner-Up)
    • Best Live Drumming Performer
    Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2009:
    • Drummer Of The Year
    • Best Progressive Rock Drummer
    Peart received the following awards from DRUM! magazine for 2010:
    • Drummer of the Year
    • Best Live Performer (Runner-Up)
    • Best Progressive Rock Drummer (Runner-Up)

     
  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  9. Ron2112

    Ron2112 Forum Resident

    About 10 years ago, Alex noted that he had found a box of stuff which might contain live recordings of bar gigs. Nothing came of it though. And I seem to recall Ian Grandy, on one of the FB groups he's on, saying that those sets were about a half-half mixture of cover and original songs.
     
  10. Ron2112

    Ron2112 Forum Resident

    Ha! This is going to get looooong. I've got a playlist on my iPod that contains EVERYTHING they've released live, plus bootleg material for live songs/tours not represented by official releases, all arranged chronologically. It's up to a lean 820+ songs......
     
    moomaloo, robcar, Oliver and 4 others like this.
  11. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I'm just looking at covering the generally available body of work lol
    But by all means, when we have gone through that, you are welcome to take over with a special deep dig of extras for the hardcore fans that will hunt out boots after that :)
     
  12. ytserush

    ytserush Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast US

    That's 100 percent on me. I envision a ton of catching up in my future.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  13. ytserush

    ytserush Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast US
    I remember hearing that too and since it was Alex I figured I'd believe it if it ever happened.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  14. ytserush

    ytserush Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast US

    Me too, but mine is organized on some shelves.

    I'd imagine you're a bit more current with the boot section than I am, however.
     
    Oliver and mark winstanley like this.
  15. Ron2112

    Ron2112 Forum Resident

    The last couple years have been slow as far a new shows being unearthed. Only thing if real note that I’d recommend is the Northampton, PA 3/10/75 soundboard recording. And perhaps Hawaii 1984. If you have those, you’re good.
     
  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    So just a quick run down of how things will roll here, so we're all on the same page.

    Probably on Wednesday I will post the first album. The point being there, would be to talk about the album as a whole. When you found it. What you thought about it then. What you think about it now. Any interesting anecdotes about the album you may have etc etc.
    The day after, I'll post a song a day for a more direct look at the songs themselves. Obviously feel free to say whatever you feel to be relevant about the individual songs, what they mean to you and all that kind of stuff.

    On Sundays we have an off day.Which will work for folks who need to catch up to where we are and all that kind of stuff. Sundays I do my surround thread, and if there is a Rush album involved I will link it here for anyone who may be interested in commenting on that.

    Prior to Wednesday - Feel free to post your thoughts about the band in general. - If you are aware of any pre-debut album tracks, please feel free to post them.
    If there are particularly a lot of them, I will delay the posting of the album, so that folks can have a chance to check them out.

    I try as much as possible to feel where we are at, but normally these things flow fairly smoothly.
     
    robcar and DiabloG like this.
  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  18. tinnox

    tinnox Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Looking forward to this thread. I appreciate you tackling their discography. Thank you Mark.
     
    Oliver and mark winstanley like this.
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    You're welcome mate. Looking forward to your thoughts and input :cheers:
     
    tinnox likes this.
  20. ceddy10165

    ceddy10165 My life was saved by rock n roll

    Location:
    Avon, CT
    I’ve been working on a playlist like this for years and still haven’t finished. Going through all of the recorded material for the post-comeback era is overwhelming. I had not heard of the 1975 and 1984 recordings until now.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  21. ceddy10165

    ceddy10165 My life was saved by rock n roll

    Location:
    Avon, CT
  22. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Cheers mate.
    11 unreleased singles is rather unusual isn't it?
    Anyway, so long as I can find them to share, I will roll through those prior to starting the album.
    Greatly appreciated sir, thank you.
     
  23. Ron2112

    Ron2112 Forum Resident

    This is an interesting list. Have always wondered about "Run Willie Run." It's not a Rush original -- it's a Southern folk song (a kind reference, for lack of a better word) that dates back to 1851, originally titled "Run, N----- Run" about a runaway slave. This early version was recorded by a few early blues artists in the mid-late 1920's.

    The "Run Willie Run" version was recorded with updated lyrics by Dee Miller in 1969, and it's this version that is associated with Alex.

    There's a clip from the Come On Children film with Alex playing it on acoustic and another kid from the house singing, but who knows if it's a song Rush ever actually covered, or if it got included in their song list simply by virtue of being in the movie. (In 12 Years a Slave, one of the white overseers leads the slaves in a rendition of the original, and while it's not an easy scene to watch, its absolutely the same melody).

     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2020
    ceddy10165 and mark winstanley like this.
  24. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I did a song by song for A Farewell to Kings awhile back. You're welcome to use that when you get there.
     
    Oliver and mark winstanley like this.
  25. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Cheers mate
    I'll certainly have a look.
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine