... A little over 8 years ago, my father passed away after 2 very difficult years of failing health. Both his kidneys ceased to operate and he was on dialysis for over 2 years. Many times, he was nearly lost during his dialysis and it was heartbreaking to watch his demise, and that's why this is especially important to me....
UPDATE - 10/30@11:07AM:Here's an interview (transcribed by Eric from the Power Windows site) with Geddy Lee from the November 21, 1981 issue of Sounds magazine conducted by Geoff Barton where Geddy discusses the Exit ... Stage Left album.
Today is the 30th anniversary of the release of Rush's 2nd live album Exit ... Stage Left. The album was recorded on June 10-11, 1980 at The Apollo in Glasgow, Scotland; and March 27, 1981 at The Forum in Montreal on the Moving Pictures tour. A companion video - Rush's first concert video - was released the following year on VHS and Laserdisc. The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA on November 9, 1987 and peaked at #10 on the Billboard album charts. Also released on October 29th were Hemispheres in 1978 and Power Windows in 1985. All three albums will be available as part of the Sector Box Sets due to release on November 21st. In celebration of the anniversary here's video of the By-Tor/In The End/In The Mood/2112 medley from the Exit ... Stage Left concert video (NOTE: these tracks only appeared on the video, not the album):
Friday, October 28, 2011
Geddy Lee talks Clockwork Angels, 2012 tour in new Rolling Stone interview
Rolling Stone magazine has posted a new interview with Geddy Lee where Geddy talks about the recent Time Machine Tour, the Rush documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage and the status of their upcoming Clockwork Angels album:
... We're almost finished writing [the album]. We wound the machine back up about three weeks ago. After a sluggish start, we've had a very fruitful couple of weeks in terms of writing. I'm very pleased with the direction that the material has taken. And I think we have one or two more songs that we'd like to write, and then we'll start recording in earnest. Hopefully we'll have all of the recording done before Christmas. Then we'll mix it some time in the next year, and then get it out. ... I hope it'll be out by the spring anyway. ... I think [the sound is] a little different than Snakes and Arrows. It's not finished so it's hard to say exactly what it will sound like in totality, but I think that the direction of "Caravan" and "BU2B" sort of points in the direction that we're going....
Geddy also remarks on touring in support of the album:
... there will be a tour. I can't tell you exactly when. Maybe the summer or maybe the fall. We need some time to organize all that, but we have started to do that at the same time. But yes, there will be a follow-up tour to support the record. ...
Great news for Rush fans. Things seem to definitely be on track.
Rush's Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video was released to theaters in the US and Chile (3 theaters in Santiago) this past Wednesday night. If you missed it the first time around, several theaters in the US will have encore screenings in the coming days/weeks. The UK premiere will occur this coming Tuesday, November 1st. According to Canadian movie magazine Tribute, there will be NO Canadian theatrical screenings at all unfortunately (thanks Rayzer2112). For a complete list of theaters and showtimes go to www.rushtimemachinepremiere.com.
The Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland DVD/Blu-ray will release on November 8th along with the CD companion and a vinyl-only package containing just the live tracks from the Moving Pictures album titled Moving Pictures: Live 2011. On Wednesday Rolling Stone magazine posted the entire Tom Sawyer clip from the DVD including the Real History of Rush intro to their website at this link. They also included a short interview with Geddy Lee where he talks about why the band picked Cleveland for the filming, and his feelings on the added pressure of performing in front of the cameras:
Rush played their 1980 album Moving Pictures every night on their 2010-2011 Time Machine tour, so it was a little tough to pick one show to film for a DVD release. "We realized that we've recorded almost all of our DVDs abroad," Rush frontman Geddy Lee tells Rolling Stone. "And we had never done one in America, and we noticed we were doing Cleveland on the last leg of the tour. We though it was an appropriate choice seeing as Cleveland's such an important town in our history. It was the first city that was ever warm to us. We thought it would be kind of apropos to come full circle and do that particular show there."
Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland is in stores now. Lee admits that he feels a little extra pressure at shows when the cameras are rolling. "You always get a little bit of a tight ass when you're doing a recording," he says. "Even though we've done I don't know how many of these things by now, you want it to be perfect. And of course it rarely is perfect, but you just hope for a good show and we certainly felt we did a good show that night. The crowd really inspired us to want to work as hard as we could. But you can say you're a veteran, but when the red light comes on, you do tighten up a little bit." ...
Although there still hasn't been any official announcement, it looks like the blu-ray version of the video will be getting an exclusive November 8th release at Best Buy in the US, with it not becoming available at other US retailers until 6 weeks later on December 20th. It's still not completely clear whether the exclusive offer applies to the Rush Backstage Club, but as of right now they are still claiming that they will release the Blu-ray on November 8th. The Best Buy offer will also include an XL RASH t-shirt with any purchase of the blu-ray. A few weeks backRoadrunner Records released 7 live cuts from the Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland CD to radio. The 7 tracks were The Spirit of Radio, Workin' Them Angels, Faithless, Tom Sawyer, Limelight, Caravan and Working Man. The edited, 2-hour VH1 Classic TV version of the film will be shown on Palladia starting on Saturday, November 5th. You can watch the official trailer at this link. Reviews of the DVD are starting to come out including this one from the Buffalo News, and this one from RIAB reader Todd Garbarini (RushSignals1982). Todd also wrote one of the early reviews of the Rush documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage last year which you can check out here, along with an interview with the filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen at this link.
... "It was early 2010, just as the band was planning our Time Machine tour for that summer. I suggested to the Hudson boys that we could film my rehearsals, and discuss my preparations, then later film an entire show, with dedicated drum cameras. That could be a vehicle for a lot of worthwhile information things I had learned after 36 years of touring with Rush but it would also be a good way to look at the past. ...
Neil Peart along with his riding partner and good friend Brutus have put together some of their favorite images and excerpts from Neil's latest book - Far and Away: A Prize Every Time - for a 2012 wall calendar. The calendar released last week and can now be purchased at Bubbawares.com. On a related note, Brazilian motorcycle magazine Duas Rodas (Two Wheels) contains a 9-page article on Peart's travels in South America last year, based on The Power of Magical Thinking - the last chapter of Far and Away. For the details along with a teaser visit this link.
MusicRadar.com posted a brief article this past Monday where they spoke with Alex Lifeson about Rush's very first studio release - the 1973 Moon Records Not Fade Away / Can't Fight It single. You can read Alex's take on both tracks in this post and read the MusicRadar.com article here. You can listen to Not Fade Away on YouTube at this link and You Can't Fight It at this link.
The The Kidney Foundation of Canada's A Brush of Hope charity auction kicked off last week and will run through the weekend. Alex Lifeson is once again one of the many Canadian celebrities donating paintings to the auction this year and you can check out and/or bid on Alex's painting at this link. The painting is 8" X 16", acrylic on stretched canvas and named Sun Dance. As of this post, bidding on Alex's painting is up to $4,305. To view all the paintings up for auction just go to eBay.ca.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star is a website which creates and sells lullaby versions of songs by various pop and rock artists including Rush. All are available on both Amazon and iTunes. The Rush songs given the lullaby treatment are The Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer, Closer to the Heart, Freewill, Limelight, Working Man, Fly By Night, The Trees, Red Barchetta, Subdivisions and YYZ. You can purchase each track for $0.99 or the entire mp3 album for $7.99 on Amazon or on iTunes.
It's been nearly 2 years now since UK-based digital artist Graham Whieldon launched his website of Rush-inspired fine art digital paintings at macrographs.com. When he first launched the site he had only one completed painting for sale; a print inspired by Rush's epic song The Fountain of Lamneth from their Caress of Steel album. He also had a Red Barchetta-inspired print in the works that was only recently completed and is now also available for sale.
... I wanted to paint the car not during the chase but after, in it's quiet, rural setting. This painting is about the heady smell of old oil and dust and leather and the memory of the chase in the droning lazy scent of a late country afternoon, a brief snapshot of a calm place between the lyrics. I can hear muted water running in the kitchen somewhere off to the left and the comforting chime of unintelligible words as somebody washes up for dinner, full of excitement and spent adrenaline and tales to be told. ...
Think back to 1981 when MTV was in its infantile stages and seemed to be starved for content to broadcast. I may be wrong but I am pretty sure almost every song from Rush's 'Exit Stage Left' concert video were extracted and a different song was played every hour. Being 9-years-old at the time and seeing three guys play the likes of 'Red Barchetta (one of my favorite songs of all time), 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Limelight' on my television hourly instantly catapulted them to the status of "Godlike" in my eyes. This is possibly the most perfect album in my collection. Sonically, lyrically and thematically 'Moving Pictures' had it all for a 9 year old kid seeking guidance in the world and now at age 39 it remains, in my opinion, one of the best albums ever released.
Speaking of Rush live releases, tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the release of Rush's 2nd live album Exit ... Stage Left. The album was recorded on June 10-11, 1980 at The Apollo in Glasgow, Scotland; and March 27, 1981 at The Forum in Montreal on the Moving Pictures tour. A companion video - Rush's first concert video - was released the following year on VHS and Laserdisc. How fitting that we should be discussing Rush's first concert video - filmed on their Moving Pictures tour - just days before the release of their latest concert video, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of that same album. Also released on October 29th were Hemispheres in 1978 and Power Windows in 1985. All three albums will be available as part of the Sector Box Sets due to release on November 21st.
I hope everyone is enjoying my annual RIAB Halloween theme. I have to thank the talented Eric from the Power Windows site for providing the Rush Starman pumpkin image. Several other readers provided the Halloween-themed Rush pics in the image rotator including Kurt K, hermy and lamb saag. That's it for this week. Have a great weekend and a Happy Halloween!
Lullaby versions of popular Rush songs available online
Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star is a website which creates and sells lullaby versions of songs by various pop and rock artists including Rush. All are available on both Amazon and iTunes. The Rush songs given the lullaby treatment are The Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer, Closer to the Heart, Freewill, Limelight, Working Man, Fly By Night, The Trees, Red Barchetta, Subdivisions and YYZ. You can purchase each track for $0.99 or the entire mp3 album for $7.99 on Amazon or on iTunes. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Rush's Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video US theatrical premiere tonight
UPDATE - 10/27@5:00PM: Here's a review of the Time Machine DVD from longtime RIAB reader Todd Garbarini (RushSignals1982). Todd also wrote one of the early reviews of the Rush documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage last year which you can check out here, along with an interview with the filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen at this link.
UPDATE - 10/27@2:16PM: Reader Rayzer2112 contacted Canadian movie magazine Tribute and was told that there would be NO Canadian theatrical dates for Time Machine at all. No reasoning was given. :(
UPDATE - 10/26@1:14PM: Rolling Stone magazine just posted the entire Tom Sawyer clip from the DVD including the Real History of Rush intro to their website at this link (thanks Power Windows):
Rush played their 1980 album Moving Pictures every night on their 2010-2011 Time Machine tour, so it was a little tough to pick one show to film for a DVD release. "We realized that we've recorded almost all of our DVDs abroad," Rush frontman Geddy Lee tells Rolling Stone. "And we had never done one in America, and we noticed we were doing Cleveland on the last leg of the tour. We though it was an appropriate choice seeing as Cleveland's such an important town in our history. It was the first city that was ever warm to us. We thought it would be kind of apropos to come full circle and do that particular show there."
Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland is in stores now. Lee admits that he feels a little extra pressure at shows when the cameras are rolling. "You always get a little bit of a tight ass when you're doing a recording," he says. "Even though we've done I don't know how many of these things by now, you want it to be perfect. And of course it rarely is perfect, but you just hope for a good show and we certainly felt we did a good show that night. The crowd really inspired us to want to work as hard as we could. But you can say you're a veteran, but when the red light comes on, you do tighten up a little bit." ...
UPDATE - 10/28@9:53AM: Here are scans of the Neil Peart feature in the magazine. The magazine feature is only 2 pages and doesn't contain much in the way of content other than a preview blurb and a couple of comments from Neil. The online piece at MusicRadar.com has much more meat to it. Thanks to Eric at Power Windows for the scans.
... "It was early 2010, just as the band was planning our Time Machine tour for that summer. I suggested to the Hudson boys that we could film my rehearsals, and discuss my preparations, then later film an entire show, with dedicated drum cameras. That could be a vehicle for a lot of worthwhile information things I had learned after 36 years of touring with Rush but it would also be a good way to look at the past. ...
Back in 1973, way before they were full-time, totally awesome stadium and arena-fillers, Rush, then comprised of Lifeson, Geddy Lee and the band's original drummer, John Rutsey (Neil Peart joined in 1974), issued a single on their own Moon Records label. The A side was a cover of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away and the B side was a Lee/Rutsey original called You Can't Fight It.
Alex Lifeson on Not Fade Away:
"Man, we were very young when we did this! We were playing the clubs and didn't know better. Because we were having such a hard time getting a deal, our management thought that maybe something a little more accessible, possibly something already known, would be the way to go.
"Not Fade Away is something we'd been playing live, but we did it really heavy. We rocked it out, sort of the way Led Zeppelin might have. It was powerful and very full. We had a good time with it.
"By the time we recorded it, though, we lightened it up a little to make it more palatable for radio. This is the version that was to be our debut album, but we ended up dropping it and it rerecorded some of the other songs.
"Everything was done so quickly, and it didn't really come out the way we wanted it to. But you know, we were 18, 19 years old. In our minds, we'd arrived. We'd made a record, which meant...we were recording artists."
You can listen to Not Fade Away on YouTube at this link. Here's Alex on the single's b-side; You Can't Fight It:
"Geddy and John Rutsey wrote this one. I think it came about in 1971, something like that. It was also supposed to be on our first album, but we dropped it, too. I think we took off three or four songs that were going to be on the album.
"You Can't Fight It was a fun tune to play, though, especially in the bars late at night. We would never play it early in our show; we'd always do it in the second set or the last set when everybody was feeling pretty spirited, in both senses of the word. [laughs]
"As to why we picked this song over some of our other originals, I think the reason was because it was short. You had to be under three minutes to get on the radio in 1973, and You Can't Fight It fit. Like Not Fade Away, I thought this recording was a little tame. I thought so then, and I've always thought so. But it's what we did at the time."
You can listen to You Can't Fight It on YouTube below or at this link.
It's been nearly 2 years now since UK-based digital artist Graham Whieldon launched his website of Rush-inspired fine art digital paintings at macrographs.com. When he first launched the site he had only one completed painting for sale; a print inspired by Rush's epic song The Fountain of Lamneth from their Caress of Steel album. He also had a Red Barchetta-inspired print in the works that was only recently completed and is now also available for sale.
... I wanted to paint the car not during the chase but after, in it's quiet, rural setting. This painting is about the heady smell of old oil and dust and leather and the memory of the chase in the droning lazy scent of a late country afternoon, a brief snapshot of a calm place between the lyrics. I can hear muted water running in the kitchen somewhere off to the left and the comforting chime of unintelligible words as somebody washes up for dinner, full of excitement and spent adrenaline and tales to be told. ...
... Moving Pictures is, without any question, not only Rush's masterpiece, but one of those rare albums that epitomizes an era. It represents both a culmination and a progression: the peak of the band's development as well as the blueprint for Rush's subsequent work. More, it is a template of sorts for the way rock albums were made in the early '80s. ...
... Moving Pictures is, in every regard, a "quantum leap forward" where new wave meets hard rock; the rarest of albums where all elements mesh together. Looking back, this postmodern period piece endures as a reflection of how intriguing music had begun to seem and sound at the beginning of the '80s. Rush would capitalize on this artistic momentum and continue to craft significant albums that helped define the sound of a decade.
UPDATE - 10/24@3:49PM: The full episode is now online at this link (thanks philradz). The Top 5 starts at about the 5-minute mark.
For the second time in the last 3 weeks, Rush made That Metal Show's TMS Top 5 list. This week's list was Top Instrumentals and Rush's La Villa Strangiato topped the list at #1. Eddie Trunk also pushed for YYZ but the 3 hosts ultimately decided to place La Villa in the top spot. The full episode should be up online at the VH1 Classic website sometime tomorrow. Thanks to Bob M for the heads up and DaveTinNY for the screenshot.
Rush sound engineer Rich Chyckiposted to his blog earlier this week updating us on the various projects he has in the works including some news regarding the recording of Rush's upcoming Clockwork Angels album:
... Currently, Rush, producer Nick Raskulinecz and myself are reconvening to complete the recording of Rush's next studio album Clockwork Angels. Sorry, no timeline for completion yet ...
It's great to get confirmation that the recording is finally underway. The band plans to release the album on their new label Roadrunner Records sometime in the first of half of 2012 with a supporting tour to follow.
... Based on the strong feedback from the Moving Pictures 5.1 remix, Universal Records had asked me to remix Fly By Night, A Farewell To Kings and Signals in surround to be included in their 'Sector' series of box set releases currently underway. Like Moving Pictures, all the multitrack masters I worked with were transferred from the original analog tapes at 96 kHz/24 bit resolution and this quality was maintained right down to the finished master. Listeners are in for a revelation of new detail for these releases. ...
The 3 6-disc Sector box sets will release on November 21st and span Rush's entire 15-album Mercury Records recording career. Each set contains five of their 15 Mercury albums in chronological order, all transferred to high resolution 96kHz/24-bit along with one album from each set in 5.1; Sector 1 contains Fly By Night in 5.1, Sector 2 has A Farewell to Kings in 5.1, and Sector 3 includes Signals in 5.1. Each album is packaged in a replica vinyl mini-jacket of the original album release. Each set also includes an exclusive booklet packed with unpublished photos, original album lyrics and credits with all three box sets forming a Rush CD road case. The official press release for the Sector box sets came out on Wednesday and MusicTAP's post on the subject included this comment from Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits website, which will be of particular interest to all of the audiophiles out there:
Just a heads-up: Universal Music just confirmed to me that these box sets will be CD sets (music in 44.1/16) with only one album upgraded to DVD lossless per set. (They were apparently remastered in 96/24 then downconverted for CD. However, all 15 albums are going to be available as full 96/24 downloads at HDTracks.com for about $18 each. I'm trying to talk them into discounts for ordering multiple albums at once.
Sabian is introducing four new cymbals at next year's NAMM show - and they want you to choose which metals they unveil.
From 17 October you can head over to www.CymbalVOTE.com and take your pick from the 12 new cymbal models Sabian has created as part of the Players' Choice scheme. At the site you'll be able to see Sabian artists such as Mike Portnoy, Dave Weckl, Neil Peart, Terry Bozzio, Dave Elitch and Stefanie Eulinberg playing the cymbals.
One cymbal will be eliminated each week until only four remain and these four will be unveiled at NAMM.
For more information, please visit www.CymbalVOTE.com.
The The Kidney Foundation of Canada's A Brush of Hope charity auction kicked off yesterday and will run through October 30th. Alex Lifeson is once again one of the many Canadian celebrities donating paintings to the auction this year and you can check out and/or bid on Alex's painting at this link. The painting is 8" X 16", acrylic on stretched canvas and named Sun Dance. Paul at The Canadian Music Scene posted a touching letter from Alex earlier this month explaining why this charity is so important to him:
... A little over 8 years ago, my father passed away after 2 very difficult years of failing health. Both his kidneys ceased to operate and he was on dialysis for over 2 years. Many times, he was nearly lost during his dialysis and it was heartbreaking to watch his demise, and that's why this is especially important to me. ...
If you are in the Prince Edward Island or New Brunswick area you can view all of the art pieces at various local exhibitions as listed in this press release over the next couple of weeks. To view all the paintings up for auction just go to eBay.ca.
Neil Peart along with his riding partner and good friend Brutus have put together some of their favorite images and excerpts from Neil's latest book - Far and Away: A Prize Every Time - for a 2012 wall calendar. The calendar released earlier this week and can now be purchased at Bubbawares.com. Here's the description posted at the website:
Bubba's Bar 'n' Grill Presents the FAR AND AWAY Calendar for 2012
Bubba and his sidekick Brutus have put together some of their favorite images and excerpts from the book FAR AND AWAY: A Prize Every Time, by their friend and best customer, Neil Peart. (Among regulars, that book is affectionately known as "F 'n' A.")
From Yellowstone National Park to the winter woods of Quebec to the highways of North America, South America, and Europe, each month offers a scenic escape and some words to ponder.
Order now, in time for the Pagan Midwinter Festival!
Reader Kelly M let me know about a Neil Peart mention in game 6 of Major League Baseball's NLCS game 6 last week. In the top of the 3rd inning the announcers begin talking about the show and the studio booth and one of them says ... it looks like a drum kit- like a Neil Peart drum kit up there. Like at a rock concert....
Lox, salami and eggs all scrambled together with onions and served with rye toast, latkes & apple sauce just the way he likes it. Closer to the heart? You betcha
Unigirl Canada's Caitlin Alexander received a personal lesson on how to make The Geddy from owner Zane Caplansky. You can check out the video below or at this link.
I've made a few updates to the site recently. I've added a home page news rotator to call out all of the most important Rush news items of the day, I improved the integration of the Google search engine into the site, and also shifted some items around. I plan on making more updates over the coming months. I'd like to thank everyone who has graciously donated to the site in recent weeks. If you'd like to make a donation yourself, you'll get a free RUSH IS A BAND bumper sticker as a thank you gift. That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Rush Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland Blu-ray Best Buy exclusive offer?
Since late August the listed release date for Rush's upcoming Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video has been given as November 8th. However, about a month ago some retailers including Amazon and Barnes & Noble began listing the release date for just the blu-ray version as December 20th - 6 weeks later than November 8th. But both Best Buy and the Rush Backstage Club kept their blu-ray release date listed as November 8th, causing a lot of confusion among fans pre-ordering the blu-ray. Although there has been no official announcement yet, I've learned that this is due to the fact that the blu-ray version will only be available at Best Buy stores in the US for the first 6 weeks of release. Best Buy will also be including an XL RASH t-shirt with any purchase of the blu-ray. A similar exclusive Best Buy offer was in place for the blu-ray release of the Moving Pictures 5.1 Deluxe Edition earlier this year, although that offer was only for 4 weeks. It's still not clear how this pertains to the Rush Backstage Club's release of the blu-ray - if at all. They may be exempt because they are an international seller and/or because they are Rush's official merchandiser. Indeed, a couple of readers emailed the Rush Backstage Club specifically about how any exclusive offer would affect the release date and were told unequivocally that the blu-ray pre-orders would release on November 8th. Hopefully there will be some kind of official announcement coming soon.
... Once again, it is that time of year when I sit down to paint for the Kidney Foundation's fundraiser, A Brush Of Hope. I and many others take the time to dabble with our acrylics in the hope that you will find something you just have to have, and bid for it on eBay from October 20th to the 30th. Of course, I'm hoping you just have to have mine!
A little over 8 years ago, my father passed away after 2 very difficult years of failing health. Both his kidneys ceased to operate and he was on dialysis for over 2 years. Many times, he was nearly lost during his dialysis and it was heartbreaking to watch his demise, and that's why this is especially important to me.
Below, are the links to the Foundation site where you can view my painting as well as many others. Please keep the end of October in mind, bid furiously, and help to find a cure for kidney disease.
If you are in the Prince Edward Island or New Brunswick area you can view all of the art pieces at various local exhibitions as listed in this press release over the next couple of weeks. To view all the paintings up for auction just go to eBay.ca.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Theaters and showtimes for UK theatrical showing of Rush's Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert now online
UPDATE - 10/26@10:57AM: Note that the film will also be premiering in Chile tonight. Theaters and showtimes at www.rushtimemachinepremiere.com. No word on any Canadian dates yet.
Sabian is introducing four new cymbals at next year's NAMM show - and they want you to choose which metals they unveil.
From 17 October you can head over to www.CymbalVOTE.com and take your pick from the 12 new cymbal models Sabian has created as part of the Players' Choice scheme. At the site you'll be able to see Sabian artists such as Mike Portnoy, Dave Weckl, Neil Peart, Terry Bozzio, Dave Elitch and Stefanie Eulinberg playing the cymbals.
One cymbal will be eliminated each week until only four remain and these four will be unveiled at NAMM.
For more information, please visit www.CymbalVOTE.com.
I'd mentioned in my Friday updates post a couple of weeks back that Neil Peart would be the feature of a cover story in the December issue of Modern Drummer magazine. The cover of the issue was released via the Modern Drummer newsletter this morning and features an image of Neil from the Time Machine tour with the subheading Rush's Neil Peart: The Modern Drummer interview. It will hit newsstands in a couple of weeks on November 1st. I'm assuming that the interview/story will focus on Neil's recently-released instructional DVD Taking Center Stage. You can read the Modern Drummer review of Taking Center Stage at this link.
Vote for Geddy Lee's bassline from Rush's YYZ as the greatest bassline of all time in MusicRadar.com poll
Voting is now open for MusicRadar.com's poll to determine the greatest bassline of all time. Geddy Lee's bassline from Rush's YYZ is one of the 25 in the running so go vote for Rush! Vote early and vote often. As of this post Geddy is in the lead with close to 12% of the vote.
Lox, salami and eggs all scrambled together with onions and served with rye toast, latkes & apple sauce just the way he likes it. Closer to the heart? You betcha
Unigirl Canada's Campus Cuisine recently featured Caplansky's Deli and received a personal lesson on how to make The Geddy from owner Zane Caplansky. You can check out the video below or at this link.
Just a heads-up: Universal Music just confirmed to me that these box sets will be CD sets (music in 44.1/16) with only one album upgraded to DVD lossless per set. (They were apparently remastered in 96/24 then downconverted for CD. However, all 15 albums are going to be available as full 96/24 downloads at HDTracks.com for about $18 each. I'm trying to talk them into discounts for ordering multiple albums at once.
Rush sound engineer Rich Chyckiposted to his blog earlier this evening updating us on the various projects he has in the works including some news regarding the recording of Rush's upcoming Clockwork Angels album:
... Currently, Rush, producer Nick Raskulinecz and myself are reconvening to complete the recording of Rush's next studio album Clockwork Angels. Sorry, no timeline for completion yet ...
It good to hear that things are finally underway. The band plans to release the album on their new label Roadrunner Records sometime in the first of half of 2012 with a supporting tour to follow.
... Based on the strong feedback from the Moving Pictures 5.1 remix, Universal Records had asked me to remix Fly By Night, A Farewell To Kings and Signals in surround to be included in their 'Sector' series of box set releases currently underway. Like Moving Pictures, all the multitrack masters I worked with were transferred from the original analog tapes at 96 kHz/24 bit resolution and this quality was maintained right down to the finished master. Listeners are in for a revelation of new detail for these releases. ...
The 3 6-disc Sector box sets will release on November 21st and span Rush's entire 15-album Mercury Records recording career. Each set contains five of their 15 Mercury albums in chronological order, all transferred to high resolution 96kHz/24-bit along with one album from each set in 5.1; Sector 1 contains Fly By Night in 5.1, Sector 2 has A Farewell to Kings in 5.1, and Sector 3 includes Signals in 5.1. Each album is packaged in a replica vinyl mini-jacket of the original album release. Each set also includes an exclusive booklet packed with unpublished photos, original album lyrics and credits with all three box sets forming a Rush CD road case. You can read Rich's entire blog post at this link.
UPDATE - 10/20@3:10PM: It seems that the original version of the video was taken down so I'm doing the same with my rotated version in respect to their privacy (thanks double-agent).
UPDATE - 10/17@10:45AM: I went ahead and uploaded a rotated version of the video at this link and swapped out the embedded version below as well.
John at Cygnus-X1.net dug up this gem of a video which was uploaded to YouTube a couple of weeks ago. It looks like it was taken by Alex's son Justin and shows Alex playing an acoustic version of 2112 around a campfire while several people sing (badly) in the background. The only downside is that the vertical orientation of the video causes you to have to tilt your head to watch it! You can watch it below or at this link.
The Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland DVD will release on November 8th although there's still some question as to when the Blu-ray will release with some retailers listing the date as November 8th and others listing a December 20th release. The CD companion to the Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video will release on November 8th along with a package containing only the live tracks from the Moving Pictures album titled Moving Pictures: Live 2011, available only in vinyl or digital formats. Last FridayRoadrunner Records released 7 live cuts from the Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland CD to radio. The 7 tracks are The Spirit of Radio, Workin' Them Angels, Faithless, Tom Sawyer, Limelight, Caravan and Working Man. So if you are willing and able, start calling your local rock radio stations and request the tracks. Hopefully we'll see them get some heavy rotation.
It is coming along fantastic, we have recorded two songs already and we released them last year and then the band went on tour. But we are currently in preproduction right now so that we can finish the rest of the record which we will start recording again in mid October.
It's now mid-October, so hopefully Rush has started recording or will start soon! The band plans to release the album on their new label Roadrunner Records sometime in the first of half of 2012 with a supporting tour to follow.
Neil Peart's Taking Center Stage instructional DVD officially releases today. It had already been available for the past week or so through Guitar Center stores and should also be available through other retailers in the upcoming week. Some Guitar Center locations will match any price listed by another retailer, and they are also offering 35 minutes of additional exclusive downloadable content with an in-store purchase (not sure if the same offer applies to online purchases). Guitar Center is also running a contest where they are giving away 20 copies of the DVD along with one Ultimate Neil Peart Prize Package. For all the details and to enter go to this link. For a complete tracklist and product images check out this post, and here's a review of the DVD from Modern Drummer. There are also several preview videos and other content available at TakingCenterStage.net.
On November 21st Rush will be releasing three separate six-disc Sector box sets which together spans their entire 15-album Mercury Records recording career. Each set contains five of their 15 Mercury albums in chronological order, all transferred to high resolution 96kHz/24-bit along with one album from each set in 5.1; Sector 1 contains Fly By Night in 5.1, Sector 2 has A Farewell to Kings in 5.1, and Sector 3 includes Signals in 5.1. Each album is packaged in a replica vinyl mini-jacket of the original album release. Each set also includes an exclusive booklet packed with unpublished photos, original album lyrics and credits with all three box sets forming a Rush CD road case. Thanks to Metal Tim at BW&BK I now have a low-res image of the box sets which I included above. In light of this news I thought I'd launch a new poll asking everyone which of the 3 Rush albums to be released in 5.1 are you most excited about hearing; Fly by Night, A Farewell to Kings, or Signals. Take the poll and let us know. For all the results from past rushisaband.com polls, view the poll archive.
This is the true story of Rush from humble Canadian beginnings through to international super stardom. Featuring a masterful and comprehensive text packed with great photographs of the band this unique production also includes four documentary DVDs packed with candid audio interviews with the band members compared and contrasted with the views of a leading team of music journalists, insiders and musicologists.
This uncensored and independent title has not been viewed or approved by the band or its management and is completely free to tell the unvarnished story of Rush as it really happened. The contents of this amazing book and DVD combination are completely essential reading and viewing for Rush fans everywhere.
There were several Rush-related references and discussions on the most recent episode of VH1 Classic's That Metal Show with Eddie Trunk. Eddie wore a t-shirt with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame logo which read Rock and Roll Hall of Shame & Disgrace, and had a list of snubbed bands on the back including Rush. Then the category in the That Metal Show's Top 5 was Hard Rock Drummers where Neil ended up at #3 behind John Bonham at #2. During the discussion they went back and forth on how to pronounce Peart. They feigned difficulty in selecting the top spot and then Mike Portnoy himself - who was later interviewed on the episode - stepped out from backstage and put himself as #1 on the final board. When they spoke later with Mike, he placed Neil at #2 behind Bonham for his personal list of top 5 hard rock drummers. Then for The Throwdown they pitted the 2 Rush albums Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures against eachother. Permanent Waves ended up winning 3-2, and there was a lot of great discussion on the albums between the 3 hosts and the 2 guests - Portnoy and John Sykes. You can watch the full episode online at this link or on YouTube at this location.
From Iron Maiden's Steve Harris to Primus' Les Claypool, countless bass players have been inspired by Geddy Lee's style and technique on the instrument. Moreover, Lee's trademark tenor is a prime factor in what has made Rush one of rock's most instantly recognizable bands. "There was a time when fast playing and fretboard pyrotechnics were important to me ...," Geddy once said, in an interview with GlobalBass.com. "[But now] I am moved more by melodies, song structure and evocative textures."
Speaking of Geddy, MusicRadar.com is compiling nominations for their next poll where they aim to determine the greatest bassline of all time. Just go to this link to nominate your favorite Geddy Lee bassline.
Legendary audio engineer, producer, and musician Alan Parsons was recently interviewed for Wired.com's GeekDad (thanks Asif K). At one point the interviewer lists off some geek bands of the late '70s and early '80s and Parsons responds:
... The only other band you mention that I have even heard of is Rush. My wife also, and she's 16 years younger than me. My taste is classic rock, or perhaps what was then known as progressive rock, i.e. Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Mike Oldfield, Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, Zeppelin and, of course, Rush. ...
Lifeson controls his effects through the Axe-FX Ultra with an Axess Electronics FX1 MIDI Footcontroller. The Wah and Volume pedals control a rackmount Cry Baby.
Reader highwater let me know that in the Sports section of today's edition of USA Today there is a regular college football preview feature called Front Seven that picks out 7 upcoming games to watch. The headlines for each game profiled this week are Rush songs: Limelight, Distant Early Warning, Subdivisions, Freewill, Fly By Night, New World Man, and Working Man.
... Astill says one of his prized possessions in a custom-made pinball machine featuring the band Rush. He said the game was built for Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson. The machine includes a jukebox featuring all of Rush's hits. ...
We received the very sad news this past Wednesday that legendary jazz drummer and drum teacher Freddie Gruberhad passed away at the age of 84. In addition to being an accomplished jazz drummer, Freddie was a highly respected and successful drum teacher. He counted drumming greats such as Neil Peart, Steve Smith and Dave Weckl among his students. Last year Zildjian presented Freddie with a lifetime achievement award at the NAMM show. Neil Peart became a pupil of Gruber back in 1994 after being referred to him by fellow drummer and Gruber student Steve Smith while producing the first Buddy Rich tribute album. Gruber was responsible for much of Neil's reinvention of his drumming style in the mid-90s. Neil wrote a very touching obituary for Freddie that was posted to the Hudson Music website Wednesday:
... As a man, Freddie Gruber was loved and appreciated during his lifetime, and as a teacher, he was respected and revered - not least because he had guided so many of his students into finding their own voices on the drums.
All of those musicians will continue to pass along that fundamental and immortal language of human life, to listeners and to younger drummers, and thus Freddie's place in that divine continuum will continue to resonate forever.
He will be missed, but he is not gone. -Neil Peart
UPDATE - 10/13@5:19PM: For those of you unable to view the VH1 video link, here's the entire episode up on YouTube (thanks carlos t). I'm assuming this will get pulled eventually so watch it while you can.
There were several Rush-related references and discussions on the most recent episode of VH1 Classic's That Metal Show with Eddie Trunk. Eddie work a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame shirt which instead read Rock and Roll Hall of Shame & Disgrace, and had a list of snubbed bands on the back including Rush. Then the category in the That Metal Show's Top 5 was Hard Rock Drummers where Neil ended up at #3 behind John Bonham at #2. During the discussion they went back and forth on how to pronounce Peart. They feigned difficulty in selecting the top spot and then Mike Portnoy himself - who was later interviewed on the episode - stepped out from backstage and put himself as #1 on the final board. When they spoke later with Mike, he placed Neil at #2 behind Bonham for his personal list of top 5 hard rock drummers. Then for The Throwdown they pitted the 2 Rush albums Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures against eachother. Permanent Waves ended up winning 3-2, and there was a lot of great discussion on the albums between the 3 hosts and the 2 guests - Portnoy and John Sykes. You can watch the full episode online at this link. Thanks to Power Windows for the heads up.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Rush Changing Hemispheres book plus 4-DVD set now available for pre-order in the US
This is the true story of Rush from humble Canadian beginnings through to international super stardom. Featuring a masterful and comprehensive text packed with great photographs of the band this unique production also includes four documentary DVDs packed with candid audio interviews with the band members compared and contrasted with the views of a leading team of music journalists, insiders and musicologists.
This uncensored and independent title has not been viewed or approved by the band or its management and is completely free to tell the unvarnished story of Rush as it really happened. The contents of this amazing book and DVD combination are completely essential reading and viewing for Rush fans everywhere.
UPDATE - 10/13@11:03AM: Here's an obituary for Freddie written by Neil Peart that was posted to the Hudson Music website yesterday.
... As a man, Freddie Gruber was loved and appreciated during his lifetime, and as a teacher, he was respected and revered - not least because he had guided so many of his students into finding their own voices on the drums.
All of those musicians will continue to pass along that fundamental and immortal language of human life, to listeners and to younger drummers, and thus Freddie's place in that divine continuum will continue to resonate forever.
He will be missed, but he is not gone. -Neil Peart
----- snip -----
Legendary jazz drummer and drum teacher Freddie Gruberpassed away yesterday at the age of 84. In addition to being an accomplished jazz drummer, Freddie was a highly respected and successful drum teacher. He counted drumming greats such as Neil Peart, Steve Smith and Dave Weckl among his students. Last year Zildjian presented Freddie with a lifetime achievement award at the NAMM show. Neil Peart became a pupil of Gruber back in 1994 after being referred to him by fellow drummer and Gruber student Steve Smith while producing the first Buddy Rich tribute album. Gruber was responsible for much of Neil's reinvention of his drumming style in the mid-90s. Here's a scene from the Rush documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage where Neil and Freddie are interviewed together:
Monday, October 10, 2011
Theatrical showing of Rush's Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland will be the entire concert
UPDATE - 10/13@10:30AM:Here's an image of the official theatrical movie poster. Nothing surprising here - just the DVD/Blu-ray cover with some text about the film release. Many thanks to Greg N for getting me this.
WANT MORE RUSH? SO DO WE...WE WILL BE SHOWING THE CONCERT IN ITS ENTIRETY ON OCT. 26TH!! TIX NOW AVAIL...
That sounds like as good a confirmation that the entire concert will be shown as we are likely to get. Indeed, after checking, a few theaters now have a running time of 160 minutes listed rather than the 2 hour runtime, although most still have the 2 hour runtime listed. Hopefully those will be corrected soon. For a regularly-updated list of theaters and showtimes go to www.rushtimemachinepremiere.com. The Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland DVD will release on November 8th although there's still some question as to when the Blu-ray will release with some retailers listing the date as November 8th and others listing a December 20th release. The CD companion to the Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video will release on November 8th along with a package containing only the live tracks from the Moving Pictures album titled Moving Pictures: Live 2011, available only in vinyl or digital formats. Here's the film's official trailer:
... Participants and faculty alike were stunned and reacted quite emotionally when Neil Peart, of the legendary renowned Canadian rock group "Rush", took center stage at the camp's closing session. It was an honor for KoSA Founder, Aldo Mazza, to have Neil accept an invitation to come to KoSA and join Aldo for a publicly candid interview on various topics. Neil also took a few questions from KoSA participants. For a postscript, Aldo, and KoSA Artist Faculty members Marcus Santos, Michael Wimberly and Memo Acevedo joined Neil on a drum kit and djembe ensemble improvisation, with Neil moving to djembe for the finale of a once-in-a-lifetime, spontaneous percussion performance. ...
Neil wrote up a short piece describing the experience that was recently posted to the KoSA website's home page:
SO MANY SMILES AT KOSA by Neil Peart
Almost 20 years ago, I met Aldo Mazza backstage at a Rush concert in Montreal. We kept in touch, and in the early '90s, Aldo invited me to a Toronto performance by his masterly percussion quartet, Répercussion. I was amazed and delighted by their virtuosity, and Aldo and I discussed working together sometime on a percussion project. We never managed to make that happen, but Aldo also extended an open invitation to attend the percussion camp he organized every summer in Vermont. Finally, in July 2011, the stars aligned, and I was able to accept that invitation. And I'm glad I did-my experience at KoSA 16 in Castleton, Vermont, left me with the overall glow, "What a happy place!"
Everyone I met backstage seemed friendly and enthusiastic, happy to be there, and when Aldo and I spoke in front of about 100 attendees, the mood was positive, bright, and infectious. I noticed a lot of smiling faces in the crowd. Of course, it was because we all shared the same passion-the brotherhood of the drum-and we were all equally inspired and elevated by that relationship. Over our headset microphones, Aldo and I discussed a few topics from our own experience, and took some good questions from the audience. Then I nudged Aldo and said, "Can we play the drums now?" He laughed and said, "Yes-but first there's something we must do." He called out his wife, Jolan, and together they presented me with a Lifetime Achievement plaque, engraved with words that touched me deeply-kind of choked me up, really.
Then I stepped back to a little drumset, and joined a "faculty drum ensemble," with Aldo playing djembe (he is annoyingly expert on all percussion instruments), Memo Acevedo playing bell, Marcus Santos on Dun Dun and bell, and Michael Wimberly on djembe. After an enjoyable interchange, I moved out front to join in on djembe-at which I am inexpert, but enthusiastic. (At the earlier soundcheck, Aldo had warned me not to hit so hard-I would hurt my hands. That's never stopped me before, on hand drums or with sticks and pedals-when I'm whacking the snare and bass drum as hard as I can.)
At the end of that spirited convocation on our various instruments, Aldo played the agreed-upon figure for the conclusion, and we all came down together on the final flam. At that, we all burst out laughing-with the pure pleasure of sharing that conversation together, and ending so tightly. My smile lasted all the way home, and warms me yet.
UPDATE - 10/11@12:34PM: Reader hermy took some photos of the packaging. There's an outer sleeve along with the DVD case itself.
UPDATE - 10/9@3:35PM: Guitar Center is also running a contest where they are giving away 20 copies of the DVD along with one Ultimate Neil Peart Prize Package. For all the details and to enter go to this link (thanks RushFanForever).
I mentioned in my Friday Rush updates post that Neil Peart's Taking Center Stage instructional DVD had already begun shipping to retailers this past week. And several readers have confirmed that Guitar Center stores actually have the DVD in stock. No other retailer seems to have it in stock as of this post. Reports also claim that if you buy the DVD in-store at a Guitar Center they will match any price found on the internet, including the low price of $23.94 currently offered at CD Universe - you need only bring in a printout of the competitor's listing (call your local Guitar Center to confirm this). In addition to that, Guitar Center is offering 35 minutes of additional exclusive downloadable content with in-store purchases (not sure if the same offer applies to online purchase). The Rush Forum member drbirdsong purchased a copy along with the downloadable content and posted the tracklist along with a short review:
Disc 1 Opening Titles Preparation For The Tour Choosing The Set List "The Spirit Of Radio" Drum Rehearsal Creating A New Solo Drum Rehearsal: Solo Improv "Love For Sale" Performance Explanation Of Big Band Section
Show Day 1 P.M. Drum Set-Up 5 P.M. Soundcheck 7 P.M. Pre-Warm-Up Discussion In Bubba Gump Room 7:30 P.M. Warm-Up
The Show The Spirit Of Radio Time Stand Still Presto Stick It Out Workin' Them Angels Leave That Thing Alone! Faithless BU2B Free Will
Disc 2 Marathon Subdivisions Tom Sawyer Red Barchetta YYZ Limelight The Camera Eye Witch Hunt Vital Signs Caravan Moto Perpetuo (Drum Solo) Closer To The Heart 2112: Overture / The Temples Of Syrinx Far Cry La Villa Strangiato Working Man Closing Remarks And Credits
Disc 3 The Story Of "Caravan" "Bravado" Discussion And Performancs Snakes & Arrows Tour: "Natural Science" Snakes & Arrows Tour: "The Trees" Interview With Lorne "Gump" Wheaton Interview With Louie From DW Photo Gallery PDF eBook About Hudson Music's Teacher Integration Program About Hudson Music Public Service Information
The downloadable bonus content from the Guitar Center website Snakes & Arrows Tour: "Digital Man" In Studio Performance Of "Far Cry" Interview In Studio Performance Of "Subdivisions" Snakes & Arrows Tour: "The Main Monkey Business"
There is no way to just watch a straight performance here. Each song is introduced and parts of the song are explained and demonstrated and then there is a live performance. Another important thing to remember is that the drums are very up front in the mix. The guitar, bass and vocals are quite low in some cases. You can see Alex and Geddy a bit, but the cameras are on Neil. If you just want to see the concert with the whole band I would recommend waiting for the Time Machine DVD. If you liked Neil's other DVDs then this is more more more and it sounds awesome.
Neil is interviewed and discusses all this against the gorgeous back drop of Death Valley and in the studio. The Snakes & Arrows songs are also drum cameras only. IT LOOKS GREAT. I can't wait to watch the whole thing.
There are also several preview videos and other content available at TakingCenterStage.net. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.
Reader Mark S is the Operations Manager for a group of 15 radio stations (including 3 rock stations) across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He informed me today that Roadrunner Records has released 7 live cuts from Rush's upcoming Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland CD to radio. The 7 tracks are The Spirit of Radio, Workin' Them Angels, Faithless, Tom Sawyer, Limelight, Caravan and Working Man. So if you are willing and able, start calling your local rock radio stations and request the tracks. Hopefully we'll see them get some heavy rotation. The CD companion to the Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video will release on November 8th along with a package containing only the live tracks from the Moving Pictures album titled Moving Pictures: Live 2011, available only in vinyl or digital formats. Roadrunner Records posted the official trailer for the Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video to their YouTube channel earlier this week at this location. The DVD will release on November 8th although there's still some question as to when the Blu-ray will release with some retailers listing the date as November 8th and others listing a December 20th release. We received our first glimpse of the film last week when VH1 Classic aired a 2-hour edited version of the concert as the showcase of their Rush Hashanah celebration. The 2-hour cut of the film will also be getting a theatrical release beginning October 26th. For theaters and showtimes go to www.rushtimemachinepremiere.com.
UPDATE - 10/7@5:53PM: As I'd mentioned below, several folks have already gotten their hands on a copy of Neil Peart's Taking Center Stage instructional DVD. In one part of the DVD where Neil discusses the setlist, it's revealed that an early draft of the setlist did indeed include Jacob's Ladder but the song was ultimately removed from the final setlist (obviously). In this YouTube clip Neil explains why (thanks Power Windows).
Roadrunner Records posted the official trailer for Rush's upcoming Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video to their YouTube channel earlier this week. You can check out the 1 minute trailer at this location. The trailer states at the end that both the DVD and Blu-ray will be available on November 8th, although Amazon still has the Blu-ray listed as releasing on December 20th, as does Barnes & Noble. Best Buy and the Rush Backstage Club still have it listed as November 8th. I'm hoping the December 20th date is wrong, but in my experience Amazon is usually one step ahead of the game when it comes to release dates. We received our first glimpse of the film last week when VH1 Classic aired an edited version of the concert as the showcase of their Rush Hashanah celebration. They left out about 8 tracks in order to fit the concert into a 2-and-a-half hour time slot, which yielded a running time close to 2 hours after commercials. They also included the Real History of Rush intro and intermission videos along with a new outro video featuring the 3 guys as their Gershon's characters playing a polka-ized version of Closer to the Heart. The entire show had been posted to YouTube shortly after airing but has since been pulled due to copyright. The film will also be getting a theatrical release beginning October 26th and it looks like the theatrical cut will be the same as was shown on VH1 Classic. For theaters and showtimes go to www.rushtimemachinepremiere.com. They periodically update the list of cities/theaters, so check back if your city hasn't been included yet. The CD companion to the concert video will also be released on November 8th, along with a package containing only the live tracks from the Moving Pictures album titled Moving Pictures: Live 2011, available only in vinyl or digital formats. Both the Time Machine 2-CD set and the Moving Pictures: Live 2011 vinyl release are now available for pre-order at Amazon.com (CD, Moving Pictures: Live 2011 vinyl).
On November 21st, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) celebrates the legacy of Canadian rock trio Rush with the release of three separate six-disc box sets which together spans their entire historic Mercury Records recording career. Each 'Sector' contains five of their 15 Mercury albums in chronological order, all transferred to high resolution 96kHz/24-bit and digitally remastered for optimal quality. In addition, each volume includes an exclusive booklet packed with unpublished photos, original album lyrics and credits, and features one album from each set specially remixed on DVD in high resolution 96kHz/24-bit, 5.1 surround sound and stereo, compatible with both DVD-Audio players and DVD-Video players. Each album is packaged in a replica vinyl mini-jacket of the original album release with all three box sets forming a Rush CD road case.
SECTOR 1: Rush - All The World's A Stage, and on DVD in 5.1, Fly By Night
SECTOR 2: A Farewell To Kings - Exit Stage Left, and on DVD in 5.1, A Farewell To Kings
SECTOR 3: Signals - A Show Of Hands, and on DVD in 5.1, Signals
So we get Fly by Night, A Farewell to Kings and Signals in 5.1, all 15 albums digitally remastered in high resolution 96kHz/24-bit audio, each album packaged in a replica vinyl mini-jacket, and new liner notes. This was a lot more than I had expected. All 3 box sets are available for pre-order at Amazon for $45.02 (Sector 1, Sector 2, Sector 3). As if Rush fans didn't need even more swag for the Holidays! With these, the Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video, the Time Machine 2-CD set, the Moving Pictures: Live 2011 vinyl release, the Far and Away wall calendar, and Neil's Taking Center Stage instructional DVD, our stockings will be stuffed to the gills!
Speaking of Neil's DVD, earlier this week Neil Peart updated the website for his upcoming Taking Center Stage instructional DVD with the third and final preview video that had been promised when the site first launched. In this 2 minute, 20 second video Neil discusses and performs Rush's Time Stand Still. You can check it out below or at this link. There's also this 4-and-a-half minute video where Neil discusses the intricacies of playing Rush's Limelight live; this video where Neil talks about how he and his bandmates went about choosing the setlist for the Time Machine Tour; and this video trailer for the DVD. In addition to the preview videos the site features a large photo gallery of behind-the-scenes pictures from the DVD filming, an informational page, and a four-part series of articles on the making of the DVD from lead editor and co-producer Joe Bergamini. The release date for Taking Center Stage: A Lifetime of Live Performance continues to shift around. It had originally been scheduled with a release date of October 14th, was then delayed until November 8th, and we are now once again looking at a mid-October release. Earlier this week John at Cygnus-X1.net spoke with a representative from Hudson Music and was informed that the DVD actually starting shipping to retailers this past week and that the official release date is now October 15th. Indeed, a few readers have reported that the DVD is already available at Guitar Center stores for $39.99, although they will match any price on the internet if you bring in a printout of the competitor's listing (thanks double-agent). Amazon has it listed on their normal Tuesday-only release schedule for October 18th but it's quite possible that they will ship them earlier than that. Sabian is running a promotion where they are giving away a free copy of the DVD with any purchase of a Paragon cymbal. You can get all the details at this link.
Speaking of Neil Peart, Neil along with his riding partner and good friend Brutus have put together some of their favorite images and excerpts from Neil's latest book - Far and Away: A Prize Every Time - for a 2012 wall calendar. Brutus tweeted the following about the calendar on Wednesday:
Bubba and I working with Hugh Syme to create a 2012 calendar based on Bubba's Far And Away..AKA Fn A..Just about ready and it looks bootiful
Sabian is introducing four new cymbals at next year's NAMM show - and they want you to choose which metals they unveil.
From 17 October you can head over to www.CymbalVOTE.com and take your pick from the 12 new cymbal models Sabian has created as part of the Players' Choice scheme. At the site you'll be able to see Sabian artists such as Mike Portnoy, Dave Weckl, Neil Peart, Terry Bozzio, Dave Elitch and Stefanie Eulinberg playing the cymbals.
One cymbal will be eliminated each week until only four remain and these four will be unveiled at NAMM.
And continuing with even more Neil Peart news - reader bscsmkr let me know that the current issue of Modern Drummer magazine (November, 2011) makes mention that their upcoming issue will feature a Neil Peart cover story.
... Once again, it is that time of year when I sit down to paint for the Kidney Foundation's fundraiser, A Brush Of Hope. I and many others take the time to dabble with our acrylics in the hope that you will find something you just have to have, and bid for it on eBay from October 20th to the 30th. Of course, I'm hoping you just have to have mine!
A little over 8 years ago, my father passed away after 2 very difficult years of failing health. Both his kidneys ceased to operate and he was on dialysis for over 2 years. Many times, he was nearly lost during his dialysis and it was heartbreaking to watch his demise, and that's why this is especially important to me. ...
... Thanks very much for your support. -- Alex
Speaking of Alex Lifeson, Lerxst was the featured guitarist on syndicated radio show Chop Shop Classic last week. They spoke a bit about Alex and played Closer to the Heart and Subdivisions.
Speaking of Rush conventions, the 2011 Midwest Rush TabCon will take place next weekend (October 14-16) at St. Francis High School's Little Theater in St. Francis, WI. For more information be sure to visit the Rush TabCon website and to view videos of past performances, check out the Rush TabCon page on YouTube.
Rocksmith is an upcoming music video game from Ubisoft slated for release on October 18th that is similar to Guitar Hero and Rock Band but allows the player to plug in an actual electric guitar to use with the game. Unfortunately there are no Rush tracks included with the game, but the author of this article at The Gaming Vault thinks there should be:
Well, duh. As the ultimate trio, Rush would be an incredible addition to the Rocksmith lineup, not only being one of the most legendary progressive bands to ever exist, but being absolute masters of their respective instruments. Again, this is one of those DLC artists that would absolutely thrive with bass support in the game, as Geddy Lee is such a viciously awesome bassist. Plus, who wouldn't want to play like Alex Lifeson? Come on.
Classic Rush songs like "Spirit of Radio" would provide challenge for both guitarists and bassists alike, as would "Freewill" from the same album. Still others that would require just a bit less musicianship than these two listed, "Red Barchetta" would be another good one, having a relatively simple bass part with a fun guitar part as well.
HoustonRushFan let me know that another Canadian power trio - Triumph - was on Rockline Radio last week to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Allied Forces. In one regular feature on the show, a guest will leave a recorded question for a future guest. In Triumph's case, it was Alice Cooper asking the band if they would consider touring with Rush. The answer to the question was a simple no but the ensuing conversation is very amusing. You can listen to it online at this link - it's about one minute into the third clip.
Ready Player One is a new, critically-acclaimed sci-fi book from author, self-described seventies/eighties protonerd and Rush fan Ernest Cline. Ready Player One makes reference to several bands/songs of the '70s/'80s including Rush, and he even made a soundtrack for the book which contains 2 Rush songs; Temples of Syrinx and Subdivisions. Cline has been doing the book tour circuit traveling from place to place in his souped up Delorean - the ECTO88 - which contains many rare '80s pop-culture artifacts. He gives us a tour of the car in this video that was recently posted at kut.org (thanks RushFanForever). At about the 1:15 mark of the vid, he shows off the cassette tape collection in the car which consists of only Rush tapes. You can check out a screencap here. This is the same tape collection from the film Fanboys which Ernie Cline co-wrote. More info on the tape collection here.
This past week the satirical online newspaper The Onion has been playing up a story on how an asteroid will soon hit the Earth, destroying all mankind. Reader Mattybro sent me this video snippet from their coverage of the event where they report how Congress was bankrolling an epic prog-rock album to commemorate the event called Death of a Dark Star: Chaos Unbound featuring members of Dream Theater, Rush and King Crimson. You can check out the video at this link. Funny stuff. :)
UPDATE - 10/13@4:17PM:Here's a low-res promotional image of the box sets courtesy Metal Tim at BW&BK.
Last week we learned via 3 mysterious listings at Amazon.com that Rush will be releasing a set of 3, 5-CD box sets on November 21st named Sector 1, Sector 2 and Sector 3 respectively.
Little was known about these releases until just recently when Eric at Power Windows got his hands on the Universal Music Group's Distribution infosheet:
On November 21st, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) celebrates the legacy of Canadian rock trio Rush with the release of three separate six-disc box sets which together spans their entire historic Mercury Records recording career. Each 'Sector' contains five of their 15 Mercury albums in chronological order, all transferred to high resolution 96kHz/24-bit and digitally remastered for optimal quality. In addition, each volume includes an exclusive booklet packed with unpublished photos, original album lyrics and credits, and features one album from each set specially remixed on DVD in high resolution 96kHz/24-bit, 5.1 surround sound and stereo, compatible with both DVD-Audio players and DVD-Video players. Each album is packaged in a replica vinyl mini-jacket of the original album release with all three box sets forming a Rush CD road case.
SECTOR 1: Rush - All The World's A Stage, and on DVD in 5.1, Fly By Night
SECTOR 2: A Farewell To Kings - Exit Stage Left, and on DVD in 5.1, A Farewell To Kings
SECTOR 3: Signals - A Show Of Hands, and on DVD in 5.1, Signals
So while we won't be getting all 15 albums mixed in 5.1, we will be getting 3 of them! Not to mention the fact that all 15 will be digitally remastered in high resolution 96kHz/24-bit audio. The packaging sounds very cool too. This was much more than I had expected. All 3 box sets are available for pre-order at Amazon for $45.02 (Sector 1, Sector 2, Sector 3).
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Neil Peart Far and Away 2012 calendar now available for pre-order
Bubba's Bar 'n' Grill Presents the FAR AND AWAY Calendar for 2012
Bubba and his sidekick Brutus have put together some of their favorite images and excerpts from the book FAR AND AWAY: A Prize Every Time, by their friend and best customer, Neil Peart. (Among regulars, that book is affectionately known as "F 'n' A.")
From Yellowstone National Park to the winter woods of Quebec to the highways of North America, South America, and Europe, each month offers a scenic escape and some words to ponder.
Order now, in time for the Pagan Midwinter Festival!
UPDATE - 10/5@11:23AM: The Rounder Records YouTube channel just tagged the video trailer as private so it's no longer accessible. Perhaps they posted it prematurely or posted the wrong version? Hopefully everyone got a chance to see it before it was taken down.
Rounder RecordsRoadrunner Records has posted the official trailer for their upcoming Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video to their YouTube channel (thanks Jasper). You can check out the 1 minute trailer below or at this location. The trailer states at the end that both the DVD and Blu-ray will be available on November 8th, although Amazon still has the Blu-ray listed as releasing on December 20th. I'm hoping Amazon is wrong, but in my experience they are usually one step ahead of the game when it comes to release dates. All other retailers still have it listed as November 8th. We received our first glimpse of the film last week when VH1 Classic aired an edited version of the concert as the showcase of their Rush Hashanah celebration. They left out about 8 tracks in order to fit the concert into a 2-and-a-half hour time slot, which yielded a running time close to 2 hours after commercials. They also included the Real History of Rush intro and intermission videos along with a new outro video featuring the 3 guys as their Gershon's characters playing a polka-ized version of Closer to the Heart. If you missed it on TV, the entire show was posted to YouTube in 10 parts with part 1 at this link (just follow the links in the YouTube descriptions to get the other parts). The film will also be getting a theatrical release beginning October 26th and it looks like the theatrical cut will be the same as was shown on VH1 Classic. For theaters and showtimes go to www.rushtimemachinepremiere.com. The CD companion to the concert video will also be released on November 8th, along with a package containing only the live tracks from the Moving Pictures album titled Moving Pictures: Live 2011, available only in vinyl or digital formats. Both the Time Machine 2-CD set and the Moving Pictures: Live 2011 vinyl release are now available for pre-order at Amazon.com (CD, Moving Pictures: Live 2011 vinyl).
UPDATE - 10/7@10:03AM: Paul at The Canadian Music Scene posted a touching letter from Alex explaining why this charity is so important to him:
... Once again, it is that time of year when I sit down to paint for the Kidney Foundation's fundraiser, A Brush Of Hope. I and many others take the time to dabble with our acrylics in the hope that you will find something you just have to have, and bid for it on eBay from October 20th to the 30th. Of course, I'm hoping you just have to have mine!
A little over 8 years ago, my father passed away after 2 very difficult years of failing health. Both his kidneys ceased to operate and he was on dialysis for over 2 years. Many times, he was nearly lost during his dialysis and it was heartbreaking to watch his demise, and that's why this is especially important to me.
Below, are the links to the Foundation site where you can view my painting as well as many others. Please keep the end of October in mind, bid furiously, and help to find a cure for kidney disease.
Alex Lifeson will once again be participating in The Kidney Foundation of Canada's A Brush of Hope project. Alex Lifeson along with dozens of other Canadian celebrities have donated paintings to be auctioned off to raise money for the charity. Alex couldn't participate last year due to the Time Machine Tour, but had participated every year prior to that. The paintings will be auctioned off on eBay.ca between October 20th and 30th. From the website:
A Brush of Hope is celebrating its 6th year with some of the most beautiful and inspirational masterpieces yet!
Mike Myers (Shrek, Austin Powers), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Kurt Browning, Jill Barber and Steven Sabados (Steven & Chris) are just a few of the celebrities who have taken up brushes and paints to create small masterpieces to help the estimated 2.6 million Canadians who either have kidney disease or are at risk.
If you're looking for a truly unique gift for that hard to buy for person or if you'd like to have a unique conversation piece for your home or office, this auction is for you!
To bid on these one-of-a-kind, hand crafted works:
* Go to eBay.ca between October 20th and 30th (auction begins about 4:00 pm Atlantic Time on Oct 20) * Type "kidney foundation" into the search field * Bid away!
Visit our page on Facebook and invite your friends to join in the bidding! ...
UPDATE - 10/7@5:54PM: As I'd mentioned below, several folks have already gotten their hands on a copy the DVD. In one part where Neil discusses the setlist, it's revealed that an early draft of the setlist did indeed include Jacob's Ladder but the song was ultimately removed from the final setlist (obviously). In this YouTube clip Neil explains why (thanks Power Windows).
UPDATE - 10/7@11:25AM: More on Guitar Center selling the DVD; they promise to match any price on the internet if you bring in a printout of the competitor's listing, and if you buy from them you'll get a dowload code for an additional 30-some minutes of Guitar Center extra footage (thanks double-agent).
UPDATE - 10/7@10:13AM: A few readers have reported that the DVD is already available at Guitar Center stores for $39.99.
UPDATE - 10/5@9:26AM:Amazon now has the release date listed as Tuesday, October 18th (thanks DigitalMan93), which is more in line with what the Hudson Music rep had said.
UPDATE - 10/3@3:22PM: John over at Cygnus-X1.net spoke with a representative from Hudson Music and was informed that the DVD will actually be shipping to retailers this week and that the official release date is now October 15th, not November 8th. Some retailers may begin selling it early too. Good news!
UPDATE - 10/3@1:54PM:Sabian is running a promotion where they are giving away a free copy of the DVD with any purchase of a Paragon cymbal. You can get all the details at this link.
The Kidney Foundation of Canada's A Brush of Hope charity auction ended yesterday and Alex Lifeson's 8" X 16", acrylic on stretched canvas Sun Dance painting ended up being sold for an astonishing $7,000. Paul at The Canadian Music Scene posted a touching letter from Alex earlier this month explaining why this charity is so important to him:
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