viernes, 10 de enero de 2020

Neil Peart Died



It is with broken hearts and the deepest sadness that we must share the terrible news that on Tuesday our friend, soul brother and band mate of over 45 years, Neil, has lost his incredibly brave three and a half year battle with brain cancer (Glioblastoma). We ask that friends, fans, and media alike understandably respect the family’s need for privacy and peace at this extremely painful and difficult time. Those wishing to express their condolences can choose a cancer research group or charity of their choice and make a donation in Neil Peart’s name. Rest in peace brother.   Neil Peart   September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020

lunes, 31 de diciembre de 2018

Rush’s ‘Hemispheres’ Reissue Celebrates Band’s Prog-Era Peak

As Geddy Lee put it in a recent Rolling Stone interview, Rush’s Hemispheres signified “the end of a thing.” That thing was the band’s high-prog period, marked by grandiose, album-side–filling tracks. This phase lasted just three short years but produced some of the greatest-ever examples of the style. If 1976’s 2112 was the band’s fiery eureka moment, Hemispheres — Rush’s sixth LP, released in October 1978 — was a mature masterpiece.
This expanded 40th anniversary reissue keeps the focus on the album itself, included on both CD and LP, while adding illuminating context in the form of a contemporary live set, a new 5.1 surround-sound mix on Blu-ray, extensive liner notes featuring new band interviews and candid session photos, and replicas of a tour-program and other memorabilia from the period. The whole thing comes packaged in a fresh design by longtime Rush collaborator and original Hemispheres co–art director Hugh Syme that riffs on the album’s quintessentially over-the-top cover art showing a nude man standing atop a giant brain.

Much as with 2112, the album’s centerpiece is its multipart Side One suite, “Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres,” a sequel to the final track from 1977’s A Farewell to Kings. “Book I” left off with a poor space traveler getting sucked into a black hole; here, improbably, he emerges as a “God of Balance,” mediating between Apollo and Dionysus in a struggle for the soul of mankind. As overblown as drummer Neil Peart’s narrative might seem on paper, the musical accompaniment is some of the most tasteful and well-paced of Rush’s early career: Moody melodic passages break up the song’s mathy breakdowns, triumphant verses and ecstatic shredding from guitaristAlex Lifeson, and acoustic coda “The Sphere (A Kind of Dream)” brings the whole thing to a beautifully serene close. Given how well the piece flows, it’s downright shocking to consider, that it came together last minute, with the band still writing music and lyrics during the actual session — a scenario recounted in depth in Rob Bowman’s liner notes. “It was the most unprepared we’d ever been for an album,” Lee confesses.
Part of Hemispheres‘ greatness lies in its consistency; there’s no drop-off whatsoever once the title opus ends. “Circumstances” compresses the band’s trademark anthemic prog into a dazzlingly dense four minutes; “The Trees” tells a fable-like story of intolerance, with an environmentalist twist; and “La Villa Strangiato,” an episodic instrumental inspired by Lifeson’s dreams, puts the band’s legendary chops and rhythmic daredevilry on glorious display. (“It was definitely, ‘Fuck the heavy concept, let’s have some fun,'” Lee says of the inspiration behind the latter piece, which, as Bowman points out, quotes a 1937 Raymond Scott theme used in Looney Tunes cartoons.)

The audio on the set — a 2015 Abbey Road remaster that appears on CD for the first time here — is top-notch, though not necessarily a significant improvement on past editions, since Hemispheres was always one of the band’s most crisp, full-sounding Seventies sets.
The live material, drawn mostly from the band’s appearance at Holland’s Pinkpop Festival in June 1979, has an appealing scrappiness that complements the album’s airtight virtuosity. And it’s fascinating to hear proggier material like Farewell‘s “Xanadu” and a stunningly intense “La Villa” — also seen in the package’s bonus video footage, much of which fans will recognize from the excellent 2010 doc Beyond the Lighted Stage — alongside straight-ahead rockers like “In the Mood,” from Rush’s self-titled 1974 debut. As for as the Hemispheres title suite itself, the Pinkpop set features only a brief version of “The Sphere.” A live rendition of the title suite, which the band played on tour in 1978, would have been fascinating to hear; still, the set does tack on an barnstorming complete version of earlier epic “2112” from a November 1978 Phoenix, Arizona, show. (As Lee told Rolling Stone, all of Hemispheres was written in “an awkward key,” making these songs a serious challenge to pull off live.)

After Hemispheres, Rush would make a major directional shift, streamlining their songs and toning down their albums’ geeky conceptual sprawl — and finding an enthusiastic mainstream audience in the process. But as this reissue drives home, Hemisphereswasn’t just “the end of a thing” for Lee, Lifeson and Peart; it was also an early-period peak for a group that still had many to come.

jueves, 26 de enero de 2017

SUPPORT THE TEAM ROCK STAFF

We are so saddened to hear the news of the sudden and abrupt demise of Classic Rock Magazine, Prog Magazine, Metal Hammer, Team Rock Radio, Team Rock online, as well as the Prog Awards and the Classic Rock Awards brands. We are thinking of the very talented and passionate staff that lived to bring the music of so many artists to their fans. We’ve met some amazing people through our interviews over the years with writers like Phil Wilding, Jerry Ewing, and Paul Elliott just to name a few. Props to Ben Ward who started a donation page to help the 73 staffers that are now without a job or wages just before the holidays. 
Lean More...
http://www.rush.com/support-the-team-rock-staff/

jueves, 7 de julio de 2016

TOM SAWYER MEGAMIX

“This month marks the 35th anniversary of one of Rush’s most well-known albums, Moving Pictures. You know, the one with “Tom Sawyer,” “YYZ,” and “Limelight” on it. To celebrate Adam Jones edited together all of Rush’s performance videos from 2003 to present-day to make a “Tom Sawyer Megamix“. Inspired by Rush’s 1998 video for “Closer To The Heart,” from the band’s Different Stages live release, the mix covers everything from 2003’s Rush In Rio tour to the band’s most recent, and perhaps last, tour, R40—all of which can be found on the R40 Collector’s Boxed set released in November 2014, and the new R40 Live released in November 2015.” – The AV Club


martes, 28 de julio de 2015

REVIEW: RUSH BLASTS THROUGH 40 GLORIOUS YEARS IN EPIC PORTLAND SHOW


The Oregonian/Oregon Live’s David Greenwald posted a review of Rush’s R40 Live performance at Portland’s Moda Center on July 21st.

“People love Rush, probably because Rush is a spectacular rock band. The holy trinity—guitarist Alex Lifeson, drummer/lyricist Neil Peart and bassist/keyboardist/singer Geddy Lee—has played together for 40 years now, and the group’s anniversary tour is a time-machine trip from 2012’s “Clockwork Angels” all the way back to 1974’s Led Zeppelin-influenced, self-titled debut. There are few bands who could play that wide a catalog without slipping into embarrassments better left out of print, but Rush’s evolution — from hard rock to intricate prog to capable ’80s synth-rock and back to a straight-ahead power trio — has led to one of rock’s sturdiest catalogs.”

http://www.rush.com/review-rush-blasts-through-40-glorious-years-in-epic-portland-show/