Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / [EP 380] Rush 1984–2015: The Synth Era, Reinvention & Final Chapter with Richard James

Transcript

[EP 380] Rush 1984–2015: The Synth Era, Reinvention & Final Chapter with Richard James · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

0:00
Speaker 1: I think they would get bored if they made the
0:02
Speaker 1: same album twice. I think Eddy said, we're always looking
0:05
Speaker 1: for the better rush or the best rush. So what
0:08
Speaker 1: if we've done next time we need to do something different,
0:11
Speaker 1: or if it's not immediately the next time, there will
0:14
Speaker 1: be evolution, there will be change, will still be the
0:17
Speaker 1: three of us. But we're not sitting back and being cautious.
0:21
Speaker 1: We're taking things head on and for better or worse,
0:24
Speaker 1: you'll like it or you don't. We'll like it because
0:26
Speaker 1: we'll release it.
0:28
Speaker 2: We're totally bomed rock and roll.
0:31
Speaker 1: I mean, I leave you you're reading Little Hands says
0:33
Speaker 1: it's time to roll. I totally booked.
0:42
Speaker 2: Welcome back to book Down Rock, the podcast for those
0:44
Speaker 2: about to read in rock Americ senach before we get started.
0:48
Speaker 2: If you would like to support the podcast, get episodes
0:51
Speaker 2: commercial free, sign up for the Backstage Pass from Patreon
0:55
Speaker 2: just five dollars a month. The link is in the
0:57
Speaker 2: show notes where you can go to book Down. I
0:58
Speaker 2: can't Right. Our guest, our first time guest to the show,
1:02
Speaker 2: Richard James. He is the author of Rush nineteen eighty
1:05
Speaker 2: four to twenty fifteen. Every album, every song is part
1:10
Speaker 2: of Sonic Bond's on Track series, which I'm a huge
1:13
Speaker 2: fan of. Welcome to the podcast, Richard.
1:15
Speaker 1: Thank you, Eric. Nice to see you.
1:17
Speaker 2: Trying to fit all of Rush's catalog into one book.
1:22
Speaker 2: That that was you were saying before we started. That
1:24
Speaker 2: was the initial concept. We talk about why it eventually,
1:29
Speaker 2: you know, we led to but split it into two
1:31
Speaker 2: and then I'll and then also what makes nineteen eighty
1:34
Speaker 2: four the true beginning of the new Rush era?
1:38
Speaker 1: It's a labor of love, without a doubt. Of course,
1:41
Speaker 1: I'm a huge Rush fan, and the original plan to
1:46
Speaker 1: do one book was to try and get every facet
1:49
Speaker 1: of Russi's albums into one book with a total of
1:53
Speaker 1: about sixty to sixty five thousand words. It just wasn't
1:57
Speaker 1: doable to give the album credit where they're due and
2:02
Speaker 1: the vast majority of the medi an awful lot of credit,
2:05
Speaker 1: and to be critical of the ones where I feel
2:08
Speaker 1: it didn't really work for me. So the idea chatting
2:12
Speaker 1: it through with the publishers was to divide into two,
2:16
Speaker 1: and the natural breakpoint seemed to be finishing the first
2:22
Speaker 1: volume with Signals, which is of course the last time
2:27
Speaker 1: Terry Brown was involved until incredibly recently when Grace under
2:32
Speaker 1: Pressure was revamped and given the Terry Brown remix. So
2:39
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two with Signals was the end of the
2:43
Speaker 1: first book, a year off in effect, and nineteen eighty
2:47
Speaker 1: four Grace under Pressure the first time round is the
2:51
Speaker 1: first proper chapter of the second volume.
2:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, so people can pick up that first edition. It
2:56
Speaker 2: was trying to find what year that came out? Was
2:57
Speaker 2: that a few years then two years ago, two years
3:00
Speaker 2: ago in nineteen seventy three to nineteen eighty two, So
3:04
Speaker 2: pick up that copy if you haven't yet. This era
3:08
Speaker 2: you describe it as one of constant reinvention. The shift
3:11
Speaker 2: towards keyboards in the early to mid eighties divided fans.
3:15
Speaker 2: Do you think that criticism was fair or misunderstood?
3:19
Speaker 1: Oh, when you write a book, inevitably it's your opinions.
3:25
Speaker 1: I've got a very good friend of mine, also a
3:27
Speaker 1: massive Rush fan, who I sent all of my drafts
3:33
Speaker 1: up to and said what do you think? And he
3:34
Speaker 1: would come back saying, yeah, like that, No, really don't
3:38
Speaker 1: like that. So it's kind of two people wrote the
3:40
Speaker 1: book and we share the same general view that much
3:46
Speaker 1: of the mid eighties output. They sound like with the
3:51
Speaker 1: exception of obviously Getty's voice, Alex's always inventive guitar work,
3:58
Speaker 1: and Pierce was peerless drumming. Rather just don't sound like
4:04
Speaker 1: the same band. That isn't the problem, the progress, the
4:08
Speaker 1: different instruments, the desire to write new styles of competition composition,
4:17
Speaker 1: and completely behind. I just don't think some of that
4:21
Speaker 1: material is very good. Some of it is. When they're
4:26
Speaker 1: good in the Syntheia, they're still good. But parts of
4:31
Speaker 1: it I felt when I was listening to the albums
4:35
Speaker 1: again and writing the reviews, I found my mind wandering,
4:39
Speaker 1: and I just I wanted to note that because it
4:42
Speaker 1: didn't hold me and Rush music, whatever they're doing, it
4:49
Speaker 1: shouldn't be boring, and to me, it just lacked some
4:56
Speaker 1: flair and some real compositional original ideas this and it
5:02
Speaker 1: seemed like they were trying to occasionally sound like other
5:06
Speaker 1: bands of the time in the general shortening and sort
5:12
Speaker 1: of the almost pop song nature of some of the synthea.
5:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder how much of that has to do
5:18
Speaker 2: with the departure of Terry Brown. Grace under Pressure is
5:21
Speaker 2: that first album you cover. How much did the lack
5:24
Speaker 2: of a producer a strong producer impact the final product there.
5:28
Speaker 1: That was something that came to the fore reading up
5:31
Speaker 1: about Grace under pressure with Peter Henderson at the Helm,
5:35
Speaker 1: and he wasn't the first choice, but he proved to
5:38
Speaker 1: be the man who delivered the goods in the end.
5:43
Speaker 1: There's a quote some in the book from Geddy saying
5:47
Speaker 1: he couldn't make a decision, and that's what you need
5:50
Speaker 1: in a producer. Somebody says, yeah, that's really good, or
5:53
Speaker 1: let's not do that, let's think about that, or Alex,
5:57
Speaker 1: you played something there, love it. That kind of guide
6:00
Speaker 1: cohesive force. At the end of the first volume, where
6:08
Speaker 1: Brown and the band parted ways, Terry Brown's thoughts are
6:15
Speaker 1: that he didn't like the direction the band were intent
6:18
Speaker 1: on pursuing, and he didn't Whilst he wasn't against keyboards,
6:23
Speaker 1: he was against keyboards taking over to the extent that
6:28
Speaker 1: they did. Signals is a mostly fantastic album, but it
6:35
Speaker 1: would be stronger if the guitar was more prominent. Subdivisions
6:42
Speaker 1: brilliant opener, but it's swamped with the synths, and if
6:47
Speaker 1: they'd have just readjusted the balance and made it much
6:51
Speaker 1: more guitar centric, I think it never been a much
6:57
Speaker 1: better album as a result.
7:00
Speaker 2: Board was a collaborative decision or was it one particular
7:02
Speaker 2: member that really backed that idea of the heavy sense?
7:07
Speaker 1: Geddy was definitely into it in a big way. Neil
7:12
Speaker 1: getting into the electronic percussion saw the potential for broadening
7:17
Speaker 1: the sound of the band beyond the kind of power
7:19
Speaker 1: trio with the occasional synth in the background, to really
7:22
Speaker 1: expanding the sonic universe that they could create. I think
7:26
Speaker 1: they saw it as a great opportunity to make something
7:33
Speaker 1: completely original while still being the small trio that they were.
7:39
Speaker 1: Annix went along for a ride for the ride, but
7:43
Speaker 1: with less enthusiasm. There's a couple of quotes where I
7:47
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, or words
7:49
Speaker 1: to that effect. In my band, you know where does
7:54
Speaker 1: the guitar live in this song? And you think, yeah, okay,
7:59
Speaker 1: good because the synths can do so much and they
8:04
Speaker 1: do an awful lot where I think if they were
8:08
Speaker 1: held back a bit and that the songs were allowed
8:12
Speaker 1: to breathe more, then I think we'd have stronger, stronger
8:16
Speaker 1: sounding albums.
8:18
Speaker 2: Was getting into a particular artist that inspired him. What
8:22
Speaker 2: was he listening to at that time that really pushed
8:24
Speaker 2: him forward into that direction.
8:26
Speaker 1: I don't know of any specifics, but my impression was
8:32
Speaker 1: they were keen to embrace all new technologies.
8:36
Speaker 2: And it was everywhere. I mean, if you listen to
8:38
Speaker 2: the radio for five minutes, you're going to hear something
8:40
Speaker 2: with synthesizers.
8:42
Speaker 1: So with the reggae and the Police, the English band
8:47
Speaker 1: of the Police influences coming through in to an extent
8:51
Speaker 1: in Vital Signs, that's the kind of start of it.
8:54
Speaker 1: But New World Man and Chemistry I think also got
9:00
Speaker 1: the reggae pop scar kind of feel coming in, and
9:08
Speaker 1: they were those styles were prominent and popular, so that
9:14
Speaker 1: there's a couple of quotes from the guys where I said,
9:16
Speaker 1: rush has always been a sponge or a mirror. We
9:19
Speaker 1: absorb what we hear and we like and we add
9:24
Speaker 1: it into the Rush sound. There's no one definitive Rush.
9:27
Speaker 1: There's lots of Rushes and we like them all and
9:33
Speaker 1: I'm not criticizing them at all, for we're a interest.
9:38
Speaker 1: It's not the instrumentation to say it's songs that aren't
9:42
Speaker 1: very exciting or don't really hit home in the way
9:47
Speaker 1: that Take an example, Power Windows, Big Money, Brilliant, Grand Designs,
9:53
Speaker 1: another great song, Manhattan Project, superb Marathon. All of that
9:57
Speaker 1: first side is a good composition, they really are. The
10:02
Speaker 1: second side it just I just find it dull, and
10:10
Speaker 1: I tried to. Obviously, books go through various stages of editing,
10:15
Speaker 1: and I have a tendency to put in the occasional
10:21
Speaker 1: joke or the occasional criticism, which does not make the
10:24
Speaker 1: final print. Which is fair enough, you know, you write
10:28
Speaker 1: what you're right, and then the editor's got the sole control.
10:33
Speaker 1: But I found it really difficult, especially with the second
10:36
Speaker 1: side of Power Windows and some of the tracks on
10:39
Speaker 1: Hold Your Fire, to find positive things to say. I
10:45
Speaker 1: did find some, but not to the extent that you
10:48
Speaker 1: find them. Like the first side of Power Windows. I mean,
10:52
Speaker 1: the Big Money is such an opener, so good, but
10:57
Speaker 1: then the second half of the album, I can't remember
11:01
Speaker 1: how the songs go and it shouldn't be like that.
11:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, hard to believe for you know, if you're growing
11:09
Speaker 2: up listening to Russ, you know.
11:11
Speaker 1: Yeah and Afraid Mystic Rhythms. It just it could have
11:17
Speaker 1: been so everything could have been so much better on
11:18
Speaker 1: parts of that album and other other songs within that
11:22
Speaker 1: Late Ages era. I'm gonna get a lot of CHRISTI
11:25
Speaker 1: for it. You know, I hate the ape, I hate
11:28
Speaker 1: the synth era. I don't hate anything about Rush. I
11:34
Speaker 1: even like the first album when they were being man
11:38
Speaker 1: Zeppelin with bits of Rush. There's a lot to admire
11:41
Speaker 1: in every album. But I think there was a dip
11:44
Speaker 1: in the kind of not in the integrity, but the
11:48
Speaker 1: compositional flare. I don't think they what was present on
11:53
Speaker 1: Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves seemed to go. They seem
11:57
Speaker 1: to not flat line but cruise and dip.
12:01
Speaker 2: But there were those moments though, Like you mentioned, Alex's
12:04
Speaker 2: talking about where do I fit the song Distant Early
12:07
Speaker 2: Warning going back to Grace under Pressure, Yeah, that's the
12:09
Speaker 2: standard track, and you mentioned the track has a better
12:12
Speaker 2: balance between the guitars and synths, just the moment where
12:15
Speaker 2: they figure out how to blend those elements.
12:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, Grace under Pressure sonically sounds much better than Signals
12:23
Speaker 1: because the synths are taken. They're still there, but that
12:26
Speaker 1: it's it's a much better blend. The guitar is dominant,
12:32
Speaker 1: and the synths are there and adding to the textures
12:35
Speaker 1: of it all, but they're not dominating in the way
12:39
Speaker 1: that they don't Signals. So it's it's a better sound,
12:41
Speaker 1: but it's a it's quite a clinical sound, whereas Terry
12:45
Speaker 1: Brown's work always brought a warmth and a spaciousness to
12:52
Speaker 1: the to the overall sound which grace underpressure to me,
12:58
Speaker 1: and I haven't got the very recent remix. It sounds
13:05
Speaker 1: two sterile, It lacks, it doesn't sound not on fire enough,
13:12
Speaker 1: which is I'm reaching forwards here without necessary thinking it
13:17
Speaker 1: completely through.
13:18
Speaker 2: But they always had their moments though, and they had
13:20
Speaker 2: that one song that was going to carry each album.
13:22
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there is no bad album at all. And
13:31
Speaker 1: as we get into the nineties and the guitar returns
13:35
Speaker 1: to the to the center of the sound stage more,
13:39
Speaker 1: it's still it really does kick. It's great stuff, and
13:43
Speaker 1: every album has got at least two or three cracking tracks,
13:49
Speaker 1: and that sustained over a forty years plus career.
13:55
Speaker 2: That's my older brother had chronicles. So that was my
13:59
Speaker 2: first exposure to the the complete Yes Rush up until
14:02
Speaker 2: that point late eighties, and all of those songs, they're
14:06
Speaker 2: perfect for a best of or a compilation.
14:10
Speaker 1: Yes, And to be able to go to any Rush
14:15
Speaker 1: album and find at least three really good songs, pick
14:20
Speaker 1: any from twenty whatever, it was great. There's I'd say,
14:26
Speaker 1: it's just there aren't enough really good attention holding songs
14:34
Speaker 1: for me in the mid to late eighties.
14:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, you could go back to the seventies and you
14:40
Speaker 2: have a different opinion on that. I would think there's
14:42
Speaker 2: complete albums where you can just start to finish.
14:45
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, twenty one twelve.
14:47
Speaker 2: Would you say, I mean, what's the what's the most
14:49
Speaker 2: complete album for you? I mean twenty one to twelve
14:52
Speaker 2: is considered. I mean that just recently, what hit the
14:55
Speaker 2: fifty year anniverse? Remark? Yeah, I mean, but some would
14:59
Speaker 2: some would say that there's a few, maybe one or
15:01
Speaker 2: two on there. Good now.
15:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, Side two of twenty one twelve is very varied.
15:08
Speaker 1: I don't really care for tears. Twilight Zone is quirky. Yeah,
15:15
Speaker 1: in a well that's yeah, quite a good song, I think.
15:21
Speaker 1: But then you put it up against Overture and Temples
15:24
Speaker 1: the Rings, and you think, I know which I prefer
15:28
Speaker 1: the album I can listen to. And yeah, it's always
15:33
Speaker 1: a stage of what age? But as you growgup does
15:37
Speaker 1: one album particularly hit you? And for me it's Farewell to.
15:42
Speaker 2: Kings, Okay, farewell to Kings, and I can.
15:46
Speaker 1: Listen to all of that because it like every album
15:49
Speaker 1: of everyone's got an album like this, it takes you
15:52
Speaker 1: right back to a specific time. And I wore that
15:55
Speaker 1: record out several times. That doesn't mean I want them
16:00
Speaker 1: to keep making Farewell to Kings and they didn't. And Hemispheres,
16:06
Speaker 1: permanent waves, moving pictures. Obviously, it starts to come apart
16:12
Speaker 1: a bit in Signals, not because I don't like scar
16:15
Speaker 1: or reggae, it's not the main preference, but it's the
16:19
Speaker 1: way that the music changed really quite abruptly, like they
16:22
Speaker 1: were trying to become the Police with a different vocalist
16:27
Speaker 1: and a better drama, and then with the synths, the
16:34
Speaker 1: change and the pull of the compositional influences, it seems
16:38
Speaker 1: to weaken their unique position.
16:40
Speaker 2: To me, I'm with you. I'm always supportive of any
16:43
Speaker 2: of my favorite bands or artists. And there are things
16:47
Speaker 2: that I'm going to like, there's things that I'm not
16:48
Speaker 2: going to like, but I'm always supportive of an artist.
16:52
Speaker 2: They have to do, yeah, they have to do with
16:55
Speaker 2: their what their creative ambitions are telling them to do.
17:00
Speaker 2: Because anybody who's creative, you can't you can't hold them
17:03
Speaker 2: back from that. And they can learn from it. They
17:07
Speaker 2: they get it out of their system. If if it works, great,
17:10
Speaker 2: if it doesn't, move on to the next. But they're
17:12
Speaker 2: not a lot a lot of fans aren't that way.
17:14
Speaker 2: A lot of fans are kind of selfish in a way, like, yeah,
17:17
Speaker 2: but what about me. I want you to make the
17:18
Speaker 2: music for me. This is what I want. Yes, you
17:21
Speaker 2: know you're not giving me my rush, you know, but
17:24
Speaker 2: it's you have. It's a fifty to fifty thing. They're
17:26
Speaker 2: they're thinking about their fans, but they also have to.
17:29
Speaker 1: They got yourself. You can if you're not writing music
17:33
Speaker 1: that you passionately believe in, then that's gonna shine down
17:38
Speaker 1: the thing. Sure, there is a quote somewhere in the
17:40
Speaker 1: book about well I certainly read whether I'll put it
17:44
Speaker 1: in Alex, I think it was Alex said it would
17:48
Speaker 1: have been so easy to make moving pictures too, so
17:51
Speaker 1: we definitely weren't going to do that. And you think, right,
17:55
Speaker 1: So the biggest album you've all, the biggest, most successful
17:59
Speaker 1: to break through album that in effect made sure that
18:03
Speaker 1: they were rock royalty from then on. Right, So we've
18:07
Speaker 1: done that, Let's do something else. Let's do it. Let's
18:10
Speaker 1: get some synse, let's do a song about the space shuttle,
18:14
Speaker 1: and you think, oh okay, different and analog, Man's subdivisions,
18:24
Speaker 1: new World Man, great stuff, Losing It, wonderful song. The
18:29
Speaker 1: lyrics are so well put forward. You just got the
18:35
Speaker 1: two characters and a very very simple structure for Rush.
18:41
Speaker 1: It's a ballad, but boy does it hit home. Oh yeah,
18:46
Speaker 1: everything on that is right.
18:49
Speaker 2: But then you get countdown count down? Yeah, a video
18:54
Speaker 2: form that too.
18:55
Speaker 1: Oh I haven't seen. I believe there was a video
18:57
Speaker 1: for v Yeah, and you kind of yeah, great, you're
19:01
Speaker 1: writing something about man's striving and success and you're present
19:07
Speaker 1: at a unique event and you want to commemorate it
19:10
Speaker 1: and present it. But I just don't think he's a
19:14
Speaker 1: good song.
19:17
Speaker 2: Yeah. We were talking about power Windows there briefly. You
19:23
Speaker 2: mentioned Big Money. That's the big track on there. Peter Collins,
19:26
Speaker 2: I mean, was he what are your thoughts on him?
19:28
Speaker 2: Did he push them too far into the synth driven
19:31
Speaker 2: direction or was he the right producer for Russia at
19:33
Speaker 2: that moment.
19:35
Speaker 1: After the struggle they had with Grace under pressure, I
19:39
Speaker 1: think they wanted somebody who would come in and say, right,
19:42
Speaker 1: we're doing this a decision makers, someone who's got a
19:45
Speaker 1: vision somebody. I'm sure there's quite somebod who says, right,
19:50
Speaker 1: I'm not interested in what you were. I can make
19:52
Speaker 1: you sound better than you've ever sounded before, any think, right,
19:57
Speaker 1: So all we have to do is write, play the songs.
20:00
Speaker 1: The struggle of mix recording and mixing, sequencing, that's not
20:05
Speaker 1: our problem anymore. So we can go and do what
20:07
Speaker 1: we want to do, and then we approve what you do.
20:12
Speaker 1: So I think there was a huge influence there. And
20:15
Speaker 1: what I find really interesting, you've got power windows and
20:19
Speaker 1: hold your fire, which is center pieces of the synth thera,
20:24
Speaker 1: and then he comes back and you've got test for echo,
20:29
Speaker 1: which is something I really like, test for echo, And
20:34
Speaker 1: yet many fans just it's a kind of a low point.
20:39
Speaker 1: I think. No, that and counterparts, same producer, but you
20:45
Speaker 1: wouldn't believe it from the sounds that he conjured up
20:47
Speaker 1: in the eighties, or that the sound colors the textures
20:53
Speaker 1: that they use. Then they were pretty much a back
20:57
Speaker 1: to basics three piece rock band in the nineties, so
21:00
Speaker 1: it was very good at pushing them into the direction
21:06
Speaker 1: that they wanted to go in. By the nineties, it
21:09
Speaker 1: was Yeah, the sins are a bit. Yeah, we need
21:13
Speaker 1: to get back to actually what we are born for
21:18
Speaker 1: and him clubs Peter Collins again and the sound is
21:21
Speaker 1: completely You think it's another producer who happens to share
21:25
Speaker 1: the same name, but he what he did. Although I'm
21:32
Speaker 1: not a fan of, say, the second half of the
21:35
Speaker 1: Power Windows and I find some of the material on
21:38
Speaker 1: Hold Your Fire relatively weak, he certainly knew how to
21:44
Speaker 1: drive a studio and how to bring out a sound
21:48
Speaker 1: in Rush that they hadn't had before, so in that
21:52
Speaker 1: it was a completely different version, completely a very different
21:55
Speaker 1: version of the band, and not one that I'm mad
21:58
Speaker 1: keen on. I appreciate what he was striving to do
22:04
Speaker 1: for them and achieved, because Neil has quoted someone saying
22:10
Speaker 1: that he thought that was at the time, or perhaps
22:13
Speaker 1: a few years after, that was the ultimate Rush record
22:16
Speaker 1: in that it got such a variety of everything going on,
22:20
Speaker 1: you wouldn't believe it was just three of them.
22:22
Speaker 2: Let's talk about you a little bit more, Time Stands Still,
22:26
Speaker 2: We're getting now and to Hold Your Fire from nineteen
22:28
Speaker 2: eighty seven. It feels like a continuation of Power Windows.
22:30
Speaker 2: Time Stands Still one of Russia's most human songs. Personally
22:34
Speaker 2: one of my favorite Rush songs. Neil wrote it about
22:37
Speaker 2: life moving too fast right. The message is about appreciating
22:40
Speaker 2: the present. Do you see this as one of his
22:43
Speaker 2: most relatable lyrical themes.
22:46
Speaker 1: I think it's. It's a great lyric allied to a
22:51
Speaker 1: really good pop rock song. It works. The vocal melody
22:59
Speaker 1: is great, the way Geddy treats the lines and there's
23:03
Speaker 1: the lyrics are something that everyone can relate to. For
23:08
Speaker 1: those people who pay attention to rock song lyrics, I'm
23:12
Speaker 1: one of those. Yeah, that line about old friends getting
23:15
Speaker 1: older is power with words. His skill with words was
23:22
Speaker 1: just to be able to convey such a strong and
23:28
Speaker 1: relevant idea. It's such a concise way, and that to
23:34
Speaker 1: me is you know, it comes up a lot in
23:38
Speaker 1: the mind without overstating it. Hear some words, have a
23:42
Speaker 1: think about it makes you think, Yeah, it really does.
23:45
Speaker 2: I'm not looking back. I want to look around me now.
23:48
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the past, the future, but also the
23:50
Speaker 2: present in the moment.
23:52
Speaker 1: And the inclusion of Amy Mann as a vocalist on that,
23:55
Speaker 1: that's a stroke of genius. And that's another first. You
23:58
Speaker 1: think Gilvots on a Rush album really okay? But it
24:04
Speaker 1: works in that song. Someone had that idea, Yeah, and
24:09
Speaker 1: that refrained. It's beautiful. It's just lovely, ghostly echo and
24:14
Speaker 1: she's had you sparingly, but it's so effective as a
24:17
Speaker 1: different instrument. So yeah, great song, great follow a great
24:23
Speaker 1: second track after Force ten. Hit them hard with Force ten,
24:28
Speaker 1: and then you got the more reflective but equally very
24:31
Speaker 1: memorable and very catchy poppy rock song.
24:37
Speaker 2: It's interesting. Yeah, that succession or that leading with the
24:40
Speaker 2: hard rocker and then going into that slower song is
24:43
Speaker 2: very late eighties. That was the formula of record labels.
24:47
Speaker 2: You start with the you know, Sebastian was talking about
24:51
Speaker 2: skid Row where they started with Youth Gone Wild and
24:53
Speaker 2: then you go into I Remember You, and it was
24:55
Speaker 2: like every band would do that.
24:56
Speaker 1: It was like, yeah, it's just the way po cellerbrate
25:00
Speaker 1: a little bit.
25:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, one more studio album from the eighties, but there's
25:04
Speaker 2: actually two eighty nine had the live album of Shorthands.
25:07
Speaker 2: But then Presto from that same year, which I am
25:10
Speaker 2: a big fan of. That might be my favorite of
25:12
Speaker 2: the latter eighties albums. Yeah. Yeah. Rupert Heine is the
25:17
Speaker 2: producer showed Don't Tell kicks it off and Neil seems
25:21
Speaker 2: to be critiquing empty rhetoric here with this aimed at politics,
25:25
Speaker 2: media or was it something more universal? Do you think
25:28
Speaker 2: on Show Don't.
25:28
Speaker 1: Tell, I definitely got the politics and the media the
25:32
Speaker 1: people in the now from that. Again, you read his words,
25:38
Speaker 1: you think, yeah, I could interpret that into my own life.
25:41
Speaker 1: I can see it in a broader context. That's the
25:44
Speaker 1: skill of the man. He just manages to make the
25:48
Speaker 1: brain work more than perhaps it normally does. And Show
25:53
Speaker 1: Don't Tell is another good pop rock opener. It's the
25:58
Speaker 1: stripped back sound. I think I'm sure that they they
26:03
Speaker 1: wish they'd remixed Presto. I think they feel the the
26:10
Speaker 1: sound doesn't do the songs justice.
26:13
Speaker 2: I'm a sucker for great pop rock. So as you
26:15
Speaker 2: can tell you as we're now, they're just the past. Oh,
26:21
Speaker 2: I mean that's I was going to go next, the past.
26:23
Speaker 1: I mean that is just that's the song of the album.
26:27
Speaker 2: It's so powerful, and I mean he's tackling serious topics
26:31
Speaker 2: teen suicide. This is in a direct way that Rush
26:35
Speaker 2: hadn't done before. I don't think I mean, there's no
26:38
Speaker 2: metaphor here. It is. This is straight to the point.
26:40
Speaker 2: Was that a deliberate shift in how Neil was approaching songwriting.
26:44
Speaker 1: I think so yeah, wanting to make the lyrics more
26:47
Speaker 1: personally relatable. It's there's a quote here. I spent a
26:53
Speaker 1: lot of time refining it, doing more research, so I
26:57
Speaker 1: really work to find true stories. I think, Wow, so
27:01
Speaker 1: you're not just sparuting forth your opinion. You've you've read
27:06
Speaker 1: up about these people. You've tried to understand their lives
27:09
Speaker 1: and their troubles and their circumstance, and then you've written
27:13
Speaker 1: a song about it, and that grounds it makes it
27:15
Speaker 1: even more effective.
27:17
Speaker 2: I think I was seventeen when that song came out,
27:21
Speaker 2: and Subdivisions is the Rush song that pulled me in
27:24
Speaker 2: and really connected with me because in high schooling, yeah
27:29
Speaker 2: you're you got all the cole.
27:31
Speaker 1: Or be kicked out right? Yeah there, yeah it is
27:35
Speaker 1: most of us have been there. Yeah, you eat a
27:37
Speaker 1: long or you don't.
27:41
Speaker 2: Richard James, the author of Rush nineteen eighty four to
27:43
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, every album, every song getting into the nineties,
27:46
Speaker 2: now so Roll the Bones nineteen ninety one that feels
27:49
Speaker 2: like a bridge between eras all right. Dreamline was one
27:53
Speaker 2: that did really, really well on rock radio. The lead
27:57
Speaker 2: single you got the title track one of Russia's boldest
27:59
Speaker 2: six elements. All right, let's talk. Let's talk about that
28:03
Speaker 2: wrap section from a D tuned Geddy Lee. That wasn't
28:07
Speaker 2: there rumors that it was that it was Neil? And
28:10
Speaker 2: then the.
28:12
Speaker 1: People had got it was who do we have according
28:15
Speaker 1: to this? John Claes of Monty Python fame was asked
28:21
Speaker 1: Robbie Robertson of the band.
28:23
Speaker 2: That's while reading that in your book. I didn't know.
28:25
Speaker 1: That the grip behind the producer gave it to go,
28:29
Speaker 1: and so did Geddy Lee.
28:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, many thought it was Neil. But wasn't there the
28:34
Speaker 2: rumor that it was an FM DJ or was that
28:37
Speaker 2: a different I don't know that that might be a
28:39
Speaker 2: different Rush song. It might be a different one.
28:41
Speaker 1: But I remember hearing back for the first time and thinking,
28:46
Speaker 1: oh right, confused, because is a mixture. It's a pop
28:54
Speaker 1: pori of all sorts. It is, and rap, of course
28:58
Speaker 1: was very very popular and in the mainstream, so of
29:02
Speaker 1: course Russia absorb it.
29:05
Speaker 2: But yes, so you think it's a genuine creative move
29:08
Speaker 2: or a product of the early nineties movement.
29:10
Speaker 1: I go with the former. It's even now listening to
29:14
Speaker 1: it now, it's a bit WinCE inducing again, but you're
29:20
Speaker 1: criticize and criticizing new ideas. Let's put a wrap section
29:25
Speaker 1: in what Well, Okay, let's try it. Enough people like it? Yeah,
29:31
Speaker 1: that's good.
29:32
Speaker 2: Well it sounds dated now that the delivery. However, however,
29:36
Speaker 2: I'm going to tip a cab to that very last
29:38
Speaker 2: part as right as you get back into it. So
29:41
Speaker 2: get out there and rock and roll the bat that's cool.
29:46
Speaker 2: I like that.
29:46
Speaker 1: But the way that moves into the instrumental part, yea.
29:50
Speaker 2: I love that.
29:52
Speaker 1: Yeah.
29:53
Speaker 2: I just love that you.
29:55
Speaker 1: Are brave enough to try something that's reflective of the
29:59
Speaker 1: times you live. It's not part of your traditional not
30:04
Speaker 1: that there was a traditional setup, but the trio setup.
30:08
Speaker 1: You gave it a go for better or worse. Yeah,
30:12
Speaker 1: my opinion, it's not for the better. But there you are.
30:17
Speaker 1: There's plenty of people like it. What do I know.
30:19
Speaker 1: I just wrote a book, so it's only my opinion.
30:21
Speaker 2: Ghost of a Chance feels like one of their most
30:24
Speaker 2: personal songs. Neil writes about love in a very grounded,
30:27
Speaker 2: almost skeptical way. How different is this from your typical
30:32
Speaker 2: rot love song.
30:33
Speaker 1: It's almost as if they were determined to write in
30:37
Speaker 1: as many different and not particularly conflicting styles, but not
30:43
Speaker 1: familiar styles. You know a love song. Well Tears was
30:48
Speaker 1: a love song of sorts going back to twenty one
30:50
Speaker 1: to twelve. Madrigal was an allegorical love song from Farewell
30:55
Speaker 1: to Kings. But there's never anything that's you know, love
30:59
Speaker 1: is always all in all these pop songs. And then
31:02
Speaker 1: Rush just goes straight at it. You think, oh, okay,
31:06
Speaker 1: different again, but to me, not a particularly strong song.
31:11
Speaker 2: It's it does get airplay every Halloween every Raio stations
31:16
Speaker 2: included under Halloween Playlist, even though it has nothing to
31:18
Speaker 2: do with ghosts. But no, it's in the title.
31:22
Speaker 1: It is a week leak.
31:23
Speaker 2: But yeah, so counterparts from ninety three Stick It Out
31:29
Speaker 2: Nobody's Hero. Absolutely loved both of those songs. Marks A
31:33
Speaker 2: returned to a heavier guitar sound from Alex liveson You
31:36
Speaker 2: talked about this.
31:38
Speaker 1: Yes, and also I think the songs sound better. I
31:41
Speaker 1: just think the majority of certainly that certainly the first
31:48
Speaker 1: side is really good. Strong Rush back at what they're
31:53
Speaker 1: doing best. They've kind of shaken off the shackles of
31:58
Speaker 1: the technology and the softer, poppier side and just thought
32:05
Speaker 1: to themselves. You know what, We're a rock band.
32:07
Speaker 2: How much of that has to do though with Nirvana.
32:10
Speaker 1: Pearl J Yeah, exactly, again, just getting back to the
32:14
Speaker 1: roots down rock. Suddenly it's very popular and you're a
32:19
Speaker 1: major band. You're thinking, yeah, we can do strip down rock.
32:24
Speaker 1: In fact, that's what we started out.
32:26
Speaker 2: Doing, right, interesting move, yes, keeping up with the times
32:30
Speaker 2: while in doing so you're going back to your roots, yes,
32:34
Speaker 2: which is interesting.
32:35
Speaker 1: But there's elements of the sort of prog rock skills
32:40
Speaker 1: in there as well to keep it musically interested. They're
32:43
Speaker 1: not just slamming out basic rock songs again. We're back
32:48
Speaker 1: to the intelligence and the lyrics and the thoughtfulness of
32:52
Speaker 1: the arrangements, and also stuff like Nobody's Hero, brilliant song,
32:59
Speaker 1: un convention.
33:00
Speaker 2: And lyrically pretty. Gatzi first verse touches I needs Yeah
33:05
Speaker 2: much as I needs Yeah. Yeah. Do you feel the
33:07
Speaker 2: connection here between this and the past?
33:10
Speaker 1: I'm not that age, No, I'm sorry.
33:13
Speaker 2: Think is this another step in writing tour? You know more?
33:19
Speaker 1: This reminds me of the past in that it's the
33:23
Speaker 1: way it treats its subject matter. He's writing very thoughtfully
33:31
Speaker 1: about genuine incidents for people and tragedies for people. Nobody's
33:37
Speaker 1: well in both cases. But he just doesn't just say, oh,
33:41
Speaker 1: isn't this really bad? We should do better. He addresses
33:46
Speaker 1: it in far more personalized detail. I didn't know the girl,
33:50
Speaker 1: but I knew her family. That's almost like a conversation
33:54
Speaker 1: between him or Geddy and the listener, just relaying the
33:59
Speaker 1: story and that. I think the music to it is
34:01
Speaker 1: astonishingly good. It's a really top flight ballad about a
34:08
Speaker 1: very non balady subject. You know, it's serious subject matter,
34:14
Speaker 1: but treated in the very thoughtful and thought through working way.
34:18
Speaker 2: Again, it reminds me of the Ryan Stewart song Killing
34:21
Speaker 2: of Georgie, that.
34:25
Speaker 1: Kind of reflective, semi conversational style of getting the song across.
34:33
Speaker 1: It's it's magnificent.
34:35
Speaker 2: Very anti rock and roll. I mean, that's something that
34:38
Speaker 2: people didn't really want to go near if you're a
34:40
Speaker 2: rock and roll band. But here we have sympathy or
34:43
Speaker 2: empathy for that person.
34:45
Speaker 1: But they've never been the clutch your fist in the
34:49
Speaker 1: air everyone chance along with this kind of band anyway.
34:52
Speaker 1: That's not the audience that they don't want that from
34:55
Speaker 1: their audience. They want, you know, this is our music.
35:00
Speaker 1: If you like it, great, but we're not going to
35:03
Speaker 1: do well. This is really bad. Shout out this is
35:06
Speaker 1: really bad four times. No. Yeah, you're intelligent people. This
35:11
Speaker 1: is what we think. What do you think? Oh, by
35:13
Speaker 1: the way, is great to you.
35:14
Speaker 2: To help you a lot, find the bookdown Rock website
35:18
Speaker 2: at bookdown rock dot com. There you can find all
35:22
Speaker 2: the back episodes of the show, the latest episode in
35:24
Speaker 2: video and audio, links to all of the platforms where
35:27
Speaker 2: you can listen to the podcast, plus all the social
35:30
Speaker 2: media platforms were on Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and x.
35:35
Speaker 2: Also check out the bookd on Rock blog. Find your
35:37
Speaker 2: local independent bookstore, find out all the latest hot rock
35:40
Speaker 2: book releases, and before you go, check out the Booked
35:43
Speaker 2: on Rock online store. Pick up some booked on Rock merch.
35:47
Speaker 2: It's all at booked on Rock dot com. Lyrically, half
35:51
Speaker 2: the World is to Me. That's another one where to
35:56
Speaker 2: this day I still listen to it and it applies
35:59
Speaker 2: to today, and it's part of that album from ninety
36:03
Speaker 2: six Test for Echo, which continues with the heavier guitar
36:05
Speaker 2: driven approach of counterparts. What do you think Neil is
36:08
Speaker 2: ultimately saying about how people see each other in half
36:12
Speaker 2: the world.
36:12
Speaker 1: It's the balance thing from hemispheres. Once again, half the
36:16
Speaker 1: world lives, half the world makes, half the world gives,
36:19
Speaker 1: whilst half the world takes. Yeah. Again, simple sentences and
36:24
Speaker 1: you think, yeah, I see exactly what you're saying there.
36:28
Speaker 1: That is very true. Half the world cries, half the
36:33
Speaker 1: world laughs, half the world tries to be the other half.
36:36
Speaker 1: That for me is the killer line that one. Yes,
36:39
Speaker 1: the people who don't have looking at the people who
36:43
Speaker 1: do have, and what thinking well, why can't I have that?
36:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's zephyraise seeing how the other half lives.
36:49
Speaker 1: Yeah. So again it's a very intelligent lyric about a
36:57
Speaker 1: non rock and roll subject, but complimented by another strong tune.
37:05
Speaker 1: So counterparts and test for Echo for me is a
37:08
Speaker 1: definite return in both the sound of the band but
37:12
Speaker 1: also the conviction to the songwriting. These songs feel more
37:20
Speaker 1: real to me. But I may be colored by I'm
37:24
Speaker 1: not the biggest keyboard fan in the world.
37:26
Speaker 2: This is the period. I would think that this is
37:27
Speaker 2: where they get back some of the Rush fans that
37:30
Speaker 2: may have lost interest with the keyboard synthesizers and their back.
37:34
Speaker 1: Now yeah and because they are whereas some of the
37:39
Speaker 1: mid Yeah, the Synthira and Presto. They're writing poppy songs
37:47
Speaker 1: with a rock edge. Here they're writing rock songs again,
37:52
Speaker 1: and the amps are turned up full and they're very
37:54
Speaker 1: very fact that you hear the first track of anime
38:00
Speaker 1: from Counterparts, you've never heard Neil count the band.
38:04
Speaker 2: In Yes, such such a great song.
38:07
Speaker 1: Yeah far and you can feel the palpable energy of right,
38:12
Speaker 1: brace yourselves. Three guys are going to play their instruments
38:16
Speaker 1: very loudly, indeed, which is what you've got a few
38:19
Speaker 1: years ago. It sounds like that they're back doing what
38:25
Speaker 1: they genuinely want to do, joined themselves huge as a result.
38:32
Speaker 2: Sure, and then unfortunately tragedy is not too far away.
38:36
Speaker 2: Here we have the live album ninety eight Different Stages
38:39
Speaker 2: two thousand and two, which is, yeah, I mean, one
38:41
Speaker 2: of the greatest live bands ever. So that you've got
38:45
Speaker 2: some great live albums out there. From Rush two thousand
38:48
Speaker 2: and two, they returned with that new studio album, Vapor Trails.
38:51
Speaker 2: One little Victory Secret touches on there, and it comes
38:54
Speaker 2: after a long hiatus Neil Paroit's personal tragedies. He lost
38:58
Speaker 2: both his daughter in ninety seven, his wife in ninety eight.
39:02
Speaker 2: I mean how much does that context shape the way
39:06
Speaker 2: we hear this album?
39:07
Speaker 1: It can't help but not too kind of when the
39:10
Speaker 1: news broke and you thought, well, Different Stages, that was
39:13
Speaker 1: a really good live album. There's not gonna be anymore Rush,
39:19
Speaker 1: and whilst not celebrating that fact at all, I remember thinking, Okay,
39:29
Speaker 1: they're going to stop being a band, because how do
39:32
Speaker 1: you how do you go back to work after that?
39:36
Speaker 1: You can't imagine it. So Different Stages to me was
39:41
Speaker 1: the perfect Okay, this has happened, and we're calling a
39:45
Speaker 1: hole to it now, a very very fine end of
39:48
Speaker 1: career summary, wonderful stuff. And then to hear that the
39:55
Speaker 1: six years later there's gonna be a new Rush album,
39:59
Speaker 1: I think, wow, what is this going to be like?
40:04
Speaker 1: And there's, like you said, some wonderful songs on it,
40:10
Speaker 1: Seeming Unlimited, is brilliant, Earthshine, Secret, Touch, One Little Victory itself.
40:23
Speaker 1: They are such statements of intent and you just I
40:29
Speaker 1: remember reading up on how they got back together and
40:33
Speaker 1: how they just sat and talked in a steward year
40:35
Speaker 1: for hours and didn't do any playing at all, And
40:39
Speaker 1: it's trying to bring a rusty old machine back to
40:41
Speaker 1: life and gradually things started to work. Earthshine I think
40:46
Speaker 1: was written, rewritten, rewritten again, scrapped, forgotten about, brought back,
40:52
Speaker 1: had another go. Eventually it became Earthshine. So the kind
40:55
Speaker 1: of strength of character of pertin wanting to go back
40:59
Speaker 1: to what it described as the day job or something.
41:03
Speaker 1: I mean by then he had got carry his second
41:06
Speaker 1: wife and his daughter was on the way, I think.
41:12
Speaker 1: So it's that power of hope over despair that I
41:16
Speaker 1: think he wanted to relay. The lyrics and again you
41:20
Speaker 1: read into it and you know that he's writing about himself,
41:22
Speaker 1: but he's not distinctly writing about himself. Anybody who suffered.
41:28
Speaker 1: I'm not comparing any form of tragedy with what he's
41:30
Speaker 1: been through. But in your own personal lives, you know
41:34
Speaker 1: every rain must fall in every life and so forth,
41:37
Speaker 1: when you're at your lowest. EBB, Well, he's been lower
41:41
Speaker 1: and he came back and did that, and you think
41:43
Speaker 1: that's pretty inspirational. This is not the end. Keep going.
41:49
Speaker 1: So songs like Ghostwriter, which are incredibly personal, but again
41:54
Speaker 1: it's he's not I felt really bad. I went on
41:57
Speaker 1: a motorbike journey. Let me tell you about it. It's
41:59
Speaker 1: just the description of what he sees and knowing the story,
42:06
Speaker 1: you think, yeah, I can place myself in his mind
42:12
Speaker 1: and that feeling of I can endure this. I think
42:17
Speaker 1: that that it's that that sense of just keep going,
42:24
Speaker 1: things will change. And the very fact that they didn't stop.
42:28
Speaker 1: They could have stopped. They certainly didn't need the money,
42:33
Speaker 1: but there's that sense of no, I think we could
42:35
Speaker 1: do more, not and not just trot out another tour
42:38
Speaker 1: and another greatest hits album. We can write new material,
42:42
Speaker 1: and the new material when they did get back together,
42:46
Speaker 1: is easily as good as anything else they came up
42:49
Speaker 1: with before.
42:50
Speaker 2: Lo and Behold. Now they start to become this legacy act,
42:53
Speaker 2: you know, to get into the two thousands. Now it's yes,
42:56
Speaker 2: now they're starting to get that legitimate respect that they
43:00
Speaker 2: didn't get, should have had had, but didn't get, not
43:04
Speaker 2: by fans, but by the music, the media and the critics. Yeah,
43:08
Speaker 2: it was like the.
43:10
Speaker 1: Fact that the induction into the Hall of Fame getting
43:12
Speaker 1: and Alex being that kind of the showman as it were,
43:17
Speaker 1: who would always meet the fans, and yet we went
43:21
Speaker 1: and we did all the things, and Neil just went
43:23
Speaker 1: off on his mosticycle.
43:26
Speaker 2: And Alex with his blah blah blah speech.
43:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, just one of the funny You think the circumstance
43:34
Speaker 1: and you've worked all these years and finally you've gained
43:39
Speaker 1: industry acceptance, just turned into comedian. So if good comedy
43:45
Speaker 1: is timing, that's perfect timing. He's wasted all that time
43:49
Speaker 1: and then he hits them with that. But that's part
43:52
Speaker 1: of the fun of the band, you know that is.
43:56
Speaker 2: They had what a sense of humor? Eventually people were
43:59
Speaker 2: finding out more more as we get into the documentaries
44:02
Speaker 2: and the articles written about their whole areas. So three
44:04
Speaker 2: of them were like the three Stooges.
44:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they just play off each other.
44:08
Speaker 2: Yeah.
44:08
Speaker 1: Remember on the tour saying I forget which toy it was,
44:14
Speaker 1: but one with the washing machines and then with the
44:17
Speaker 1: rot history Chickens.
44:20
Speaker 2: Did not take themselves too seriously critics, so that themselves,
44:24
Speaker 2: any progressive rock band takes themselves too seriously.
44:27
Speaker 1: Really okay, okay, but all right the music series. Yeah,
44:33
Speaker 1: they're writing very good music with very good lyrics and
44:36
Speaker 1: deliverate with complete conviction. Right, and yes, I'm standing in
44:40
Speaker 1: front of the washing machine playing mates, playing synthesizers and
44:45
Speaker 1: singing what have you got?
44:46
Speaker 2: Brilliant talking about we were talking about surprise moves that
44:50
Speaker 2: people didn't expect with Rush. The Feedback album was like whoa, okay,
44:56
Speaker 2: wait a minute. This came after, by the way, Russian Rio,
44:58
Speaker 2: which was a live album three but two thousand and
45:01
Speaker 2: four Feedback has it leans heavily into the sixties. British
45:06
Speaker 2: Invasion cover songs, garage rack Summertime Blues was released as
45:10
Speaker 2: a single. Yeah, why did they choose this moment in
45:13
Speaker 2: their career to look backward instead of forward?
45:16
Speaker 1: It's probably one of those ideas when you've had a
45:19
Speaker 1: few drinks that sounds brilliant to the next day doesn't
45:24
Speaker 1: sound ridiculous, And the idea must have been, you know what,
45:29
Speaker 1: why don't we play the songs that we learned as
45:33
Speaker 1: we were getting a depth on our instruments, our influences.
45:36
Speaker 1: So the Who, the Yardbirds, all of that stuff they
45:41
Speaker 1: grew up as teenagers with and loved. It's a bit
45:46
Speaker 1: of an indulgence, but it's great fun and they're not
45:51
Speaker 1: looking about Summertime Blues is a really powerful rendition of
45:55
Speaker 1: the song. There isn't a wasted track on Feedback, and
46:01
Speaker 1: I think it's a sense of you know we're back.
46:05
Speaker 1: We've got va portrayals out. Russian Rio is a great album. Yeah,
46:12
Speaker 1: let's do this for a giggle whilst we ever think
46:15
Speaker 1: about what we're going to do next. I think it's
46:17
Speaker 1: recording the matter of two or three weeks.
46:19
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say it sounds very raw, like it was
46:21
Speaker 2: mostly recorded in one or two takes. It's got that
46:24
Speaker 2: feel to it, like they're almost in the garage as
46:26
Speaker 2: teenagers just jamming.
46:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're having fun. It comes across in all aspects
46:33
Speaker 1: of the performance. It's it certainly wasn't what we were expecting,
46:39
Speaker 1: but you know by now we're in the stage of
46:41
Speaker 1: studio album, live album, possible anniversary album, another studio album.
46:47
Speaker 1: This one is an oddity, but it's a delightful oddity
46:52
Speaker 1: because they've never covered other people's songs on their studio albums,
46:56
Speaker 1: and some bands, of course have, even when they've achieved success.
47:02
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, now going to do our coverall whatever? Okay,
47:05
Speaker 1: why m here's an album mini album If you like
47:10
Speaker 1: twenty eight to odd minutes everything real likes as teenagers.
47:14
Speaker 1: Enjoy it or don't, There'll be another Rush album along shortly.
47:17
Speaker 1: If you don't like this one.
47:18
Speaker 2: And there was Yeah, I was seven Snakes and Arrows,
47:22
Speaker 2: which marks a return to that original material for Cry,
47:25
Speaker 2: Spin Drift, the larger ball they come from this one.
47:27
Speaker 2: Does it feel like Rush was like fully re engaged
47:30
Speaker 2: creatively here?
47:32
Speaker 1: I think they portrayals for all its very strong, mostly
47:37
Speaker 1: very strong material was Let's see how this goes? Can
47:43
Speaker 1: we be Rush again? I think having got it out
47:48
Speaker 1: of the system and gells once again as a studio
47:52
Speaker 1: and live act, they were back where they were at
47:56
Speaker 1: Tespa Echo and now it can make an album feeling
48:02
Speaker 1: yet this is right for us. We we haven't made
48:06
Speaker 1: a mistake. We have got more to give and we're
48:09
Speaker 1: going to give it. And there's some superb stuff on
48:18
Speaker 1: Snakes and Narrows. Spin Drift is magnificent, the way the
48:22
Speaker 1: wind blows working their all of the first side as
48:26
Speaker 1: was and far Cry is a great it's it. It
48:31
Speaker 1: hints of what they were doing in the past, but
48:36
Speaker 1: you've got some up to date more than lyrics. And
48:39
Speaker 1: it's another cracking song, slightly proggy but very relevant.
48:46
Speaker 2: And by the way, these albums, still from a commercial standpoint,
48:50
Speaker 2: are all solid. I mean the gold platinum cellars they're
48:53
Speaker 2: all getting into the top five Top ten MM which
48:58
Speaker 2: the top with cloud Work Angels. That was number one
49:02
Speaker 2: I think in the UK or number one in Canada,
49:06
Speaker 2: two in the US, one in Canada. That final album Snake,
49:11
Speaker 2: and that's another live album before that, by the way,
49:13
Speaker 2: Snake's and Arrows are live. They were cranking out these
49:15
Speaker 2: great live.
49:16
Speaker 1: Albums time Machine Live. My criticism, well, that's the trouble,
49:21
Speaker 1: and you've written such you have such a body of
49:24
Speaker 1: live work, of songs that trans translate live. There's only
49:28
Speaker 1: so many versions of Tom Sawyer or Spirit of Radio
49:33
Speaker 1: that you need to hear, but equally each there were
49:36
Speaker 1: some deeper cuts.
49:37
Speaker 2: Sure, And I think it is it which is the
49:39
Speaker 2: one that has that great solo from Neil. I think
49:44
Speaker 2: it might be Russian Rio that that really kind of
49:46
Speaker 2: took off on YouTube. It's got millions of views. I
49:49
Speaker 2: think it might have been on there.
49:51
Speaker 1: It's really Pista, Yeahterrista, I'm sure I'm not for matters
49:57
Speaker 1: that correctly. Best Rocking Instrumental Performance at the Grammy Awards
50:01
Speaker 1: in two thousand and five. Rock instrumental, Yeah, just the
50:06
Speaker 1: man hitting things with sticks, yeah okay, yeah, and he
50:10
Speaker 1: was never happy if he wasn't improving.
50:16
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for checking out the Booked on Rock podcast.
50:18
Speaker 2: If you've just found the podcast, welcome. If you've been listening,
50:22
Speaker 2: thank you so much for your support, and make sure
50:24
Speaker 2: you tell a friend, a family member, share on social
50:27
Speaker 2: media and let people know about Booked on Rock. And
50:30
Speaker 2: if you do like the podcast, make sure you subscribe
50:33
Speaker 2: give a five star review. Wherever you listen to the
50:35
Speaker 2: Booked on Rock podcast, We're on Amazon, Apple, iHeart, Spotify, Spreaker,
50:40
Speaker 2: tune In, and on YouTube music. You can check out
50:43
Speaker 2: the full episodes on video, along with video highlights from
50:46
Speaker 2: episodes on the Booked on Rock YouTube channel. Find it
50:49
Speaker 2: at Booked on Rock. Thanks again for listening. Now back
50:52
Speaker 2: to the show Clockwork Angels from twenty twelve and that's
50:56
Speaker 2: got Caravan B YouTube B, which is one of my
50:59
Speaker 2: favorite titles of a song Headlong Flight, the Wreckers, the
51:03
Speaker 2: Anarchists and the Garden, which I want to ask you
51:05
Speaker 2: because that closes the album in a reflective, almost peaceful way.
51:09
Speaker 2: Does it feel like a goodbye even if it wasn't
51:11
Speaker 2: written that way?
51:12
Speaker 1: But looking back, so yeah, I mean it mirrors the
51:16
Speaker 1: protagonist of the story. He's had all these adventures, he's
51:20
Speaker 1: survived and now he's taking stock. But it's one of
51:26
Speaker 1: the most beautiful pieces of music because it just builds
51:31
Speaker 1: and builds, and everything about it is right. And you're right.
51:36
Speaker 1: I agree it although we didn't know it at the time.
51:40
Speaker 1: Looking back now it's it's kind of the perfect studio farewell.
51:47
Speaker 1: If it's a farewell, because obviously now we've got the
51:53
Speaker 1: rejuvenation of the band out on tour. Will that lead
51:57
Speaker 1: to a new album? I don't know, But if it doesn't,
52:02
Speaker 1: the Garden seems like the perfect final song. It wouldn't.
52:06
Speaker 1: It wouldn't work anywhere else on the album. The most
52:11
Speaker 1: of that album is so astonishingly heavy. It's probably the
52:16
Speaker 1: heaviest thing they've ever released.
52:19
Speaker 2: As they get older, they got heavier. They didn't mellow
52:23
Speaker 2: out with.
52:23
Speaker 1: It and more determined to Yeah we're old men now, okay,
52:31
Speaker 1: I have listened to this. Yeah, what is this? There
52:36
Speaker 1: is no sense of treading water, and I think that's
52:42
Speaker 1: that's what I like, especially they're just relentlessly pursuing something. Also,
52:48
Speaker 1: this was the only album they ever made which was
52:52
Speaker 1: a concept album. Twenty one twelve wasn't the first side,
52:57
Speaker 1: but the other.
52:58
Speaker 2: Side of the first side only exactly.
53:00
Speaker 1: Nothing to do with what you've just heard at all.
53:03
Speaker 1: You've got the link of signal sex one into Hemispheres.
53:06
Speaker 1: So that's a concept album where it's a size and
53:10
Speaker 1: the bit of a concept album. Okay, that's good. But
53:14
Speaker 1: then to actually have best part of an hour? Was
53:19
Speaker 1: it more than an hour of one story told with
53:22
Speaker 1: such invention and such power in the recordings? I mean,
53:28
Speaker 1: it's an astonishing piece of work.
53:31
Speaker 2: So final question, when you step back and you look
53:34
Speaker 2: at rs from eighty four through clarkwork Angels, what do
53:38
Speaker 2: you think ultimately defines that aer in? Why should it
53:42
Speaker 2: still matter today? Oh, there's a question exploration, a period
53:48
Speaker 2: of exploration.
53:49
Speaker 1: Constant reinvention and constant exploration. I think they would get
53:54
Speaker 1: bored if they made the same album twice. They talk
53:58
Speaker 1: about some albums two of a kind. So the Farewell
54:02
Speaker 1: to Kings and Hemispheres were linked, Power Windows and hold
54:08
Speaker 1: your Fire linked. But it was never a case of
54:14
Speaker 1: because we've made this, we're going to make it again.
54:16
Speaker 1: We might take elements of what we've been playing and
54:20
Speaker 1: broaden it and go further. I think it's the fact
54:24
Speaker 1: that there's I think Geddy said, we're always looking for
54:28
Speaker 1: the better rush or the best rush. So whatever we've done,
54:33
Speaker 1: next time we need to do something different, or if
54:36
Speaker 1: it's not immediate, the next time, there will be evolution,
54:40
Speaker 1: there will be change, will still be the three of us,
54:45
Speaker 1: but we're not sitting back and being cautious. We're taking
54:52
Speaker 1: things head on and for better or worse, you'll like
54:56
Speaker 1: it or you don't. We'll like it because we'll release it.
55:02
Speaker 1: But I think, certainly since the band got back together,
55:07
Speaker 1: that was just an upward trajectory. FA Portrayals started where
55:15
Speaker 1: test Freka left off in that they were absolutely going
55:18
Speaker 1: to make another album and see how it went. Snake's
55:24
Speaker 1: Narrows Stronger and then clockwork Age just probably up there
55:31
Speaker 1: with the top three albums of their career.
55:33
Speaker 2: An interesting era to dive into, and that's why I
55:37
Speaker 2: would highly recommend this book. Because we know the classic
55:40
Speaker 2: era of the seventies, we get at the early eighties. Yeah,
55:43
Speaker 2: those are those peak years commercially, but still, I mean
55:48
Speaker 2: this material that they put out from eighty four to
55:50
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, it's really interesting to listen to it in
55:52
Speaker 2: chronological order and see where they're going. And you read
55:55
Speaker 2: this book as you're listening to them. It's really cool.
55:57
Speaker 2: You get that track by track breakdown, can say your
56:00
Speaker 2: opinions on each. It's out now, Rush nineteen eighty four
56:03
Speaker 2: to twenty fifteen, every album, every song. It's wherever books
56:07
Speaker 2: are sold. It's on Amazon. If you're in the UK,
56:09
Speaker 2: BURNINGSHD dot com is a great place to go. And Richard,
56:12
Speaker 2: can people find you online?
56:14
Speaker 1: They can, Yes, I've got my I'm a guitar teacher,
56:19
Speaker 1: so Richard James Guitarist dot co dot UK you can
56:24
Speaker 1: get me through there. I'm happy I've not just written
56:28
Speaker 1: about Rush, I've written about some other artists, but very
56:31
Speaker 1: happy to chat to people. Several people do email me said, yeah,
56:38
Speaker 1: read the book. I liked most of it, and you're
56:41
Speaker 1: aways going to get the people who criticize.
56:44
Speaker 2: It, they're always going to get.
56:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, to which my usual response if I'm not in
56:49
Speaker 1: the best of movies as well, can I read your book?
56:51
Speaker 1: Then right? But in the main the response is very good.
56:58
Speaker 1: I love hearing from people who who take the time
57:03
Speaker 1: to say, oh, saw your book and yeah, I didn't
57:05
Speaker 1: know much about the artist in question, because I've written
57:08
Speaker 1: quite a few for Sonic Bonds. Yeah, sort the matter
57:11
Speaker 1: like that music So if you're opening doors for people
57:14
Speaker 1: who're vaguely aware of an artist and you're writing makes
57:19
Speaker 1: them think, you know what, I want to explore that
57:23
Speaker 1: that unpleased with that because it's it's widening the community
57:26
Speaker 1: and you get to chat to people who you'd never know.
57:30
Speaker 1: I mean, we wouldn't be talking if it wasn't for Rush.
57:33
Speaker 1: So it's a very it. It's the onward process in
57:37
Speaker 1: that I still get emails from people about all the
57:41
Speaker 1: various bands I've written about, and you're just keep in
57:43
Speaker 1: conversation if a new album comes out. Oh great, if
57:46
Speaker 1: you've got a new album. Yeah, I did one on
57:48
Speaker 1: Joe Jackson, and there's a guy in Germany who we
57:54
Speaker 1: struck up a friendship and still correspond today about what
57:57
Speaker 1: has been releasing.
57:58
Speaker 2: So I like that or on Tap to twelve, you know,
58:01
Speaker 2: one of the first songs, maybe the first song that
58:03
Speaker 2: really grabbed me as a kid, was Stepping Out from
58:06
Speaker 2: Joe Jackson because it was on MTV. Yeah, and I said,
58:09
Speaker 2: I like this guy, and I was only maybe eleven time.
58:12
Speaker 1: He's just released a new album.
58:14
Speaker 2: I heard one of the tracks off, which was very good.
58:18
Speaker 1: Oh, it's a brilliant album. The guy. I mean it
58:23
Speaker 1: must be in his late seventies now, well mid seventiest
58:26
Speaker 1: least such a musician, such a singer, great songwriter. Hope
58:32
Speaker 1: and Fury is a new album. He's not lost it
58:35
Speaker 1: in the song. But you going back to the Rush thing. Yeah,
58:37
Speaker 1: we're getting old. Here's our next here's our latest album.
58:42
Speaker 1: This will damage your speakers if played at the right volume.
58:45
Speaker 1: Yeah it did.
58:49
Speaker 2: The book Down Rock podcast is part of the Boneless
58:51
Speaker 2: Podcasting Network. If you're a fan of classic rock and
58:54
Speaker 2: classic film like I am, go to Boneless dot lovable
58:58
Speaker 2: dot app to find over twenty great shows there. That's
59:01
Speaker 2: Boneless Downlovable dot app, or just go to bookdown Rock
59:04
Speaker 2: dot com the Boneless podcasting network. It is what you
59:08
Speaker 2: want to be Listen with confidence. I feel like I
59:13
Speaker 2: have to ask, are you going to see Rush with
59:16
Speaker 2: Anaka Nils? See?
59:18
Speaker 1: Now?
59:18
Speaker 2: This is gonna be the same problem with Neil Neil Peart.
59:22
Speaker 2: Is it Anaka Nillis? Is it Anaka Nels Nills? I
59:26
Speaker 2: don't know, but yes, But my main question is yes,
59:30
Speaker 2: are you going to Yes?
59:30
Speaker 1: Yes. Part of it is no, you want to see
59:37
Speaker 1: them again? Of course you do. I saw them on
59:41
Speaker 1: the last tour of the UK and weah, obviously we
59:46
Speaker 1: didn't know then that was the last tour, but the
59:49
Speaker 1: very fact that they're coming out again, Yeah, going up
59:54
Speaker 1: to Manchester. The tickets aren't cheap, so it'll be a
59:59
Speaker 1: take you binoculous job. But it'll be a great night
1:00:03
Speaker 1: because how many more times are we going to get
1:00:06
Speaker 1: to see them live? And they never put on a
1:00:09
Speaker 1: bad show, even if you didn't, you know, if there
1:00:14
Speaker 1: was a few songs that he thought, Okay, you've still
1:00:18
Speaker 1: got the visuals, You've got the films, you've got the lighting,
1:00:22
Speaker 1: you've got the washing machines, you've got the roads coming
1:00:25
Speaker 1: on changing the washing machines, you've got the chickens. You've
1:00:27
Speaker 1: got all manner of stuff going on, I mean.
1:00:31
Speaker 2: And you've got the ideas world, the realization that we
1:00:33
Speaker 2: thought we would never see them again. So that's the
1:00:36
Speaker 2: emotional impact that it's going to have.
1:00:38
Speaker 1: There will be it'll be one very noisy night in Manchester,
1:00:42
Speaker 1: and it'd just be a celebration of the fact of Oh,
1:00:47
Speaker 1: good old friends. Almost Yeah, great plays that song again,
1:00:52
Speaker 1: I like that one. It'll be tremendous and I'm sure
1:00:55
Speaker 1: that Anika will do an astonishing job. I mean talk
1:00:59
Speaker 1: about shoes to film. But I think, and you do
1:01:03
Speaker 1: read online of some people that she's the players, like
1:01:06
Speaker 1: Neil did. Well, No, it's because she's a younger lady
1:01:09
Speaker 1: and she's every musician sounds different. Yeah, kind of celebrate
1:01:15
Speaker 1: the fact that it's happening at all, rather than find
1:01:19
Speaker 1: some reason to criticize it. You know, they've picked her
1:01:21
Speaker 1: because she's got a lot to offer.
1:01:25
Speaker 2: Half the world sees things negatively.
1:01:32
Speaker 1: I tried to do.
1:01:33
Speaker 2: How is that for a finished Richard James Richard, thanks
1:01:37
Speaker 2: so much for coming on. This is awesome talking rush.
1:01:40
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Eric, It's been a real pleasure.
1:01:48
Speaker 2: That's it.
1:01:50
Speaker 1: It's in the books.