9/4

I've been reading the book "Rush and Philosophy" and can recommend it. It has deepened my appreciation of both Rush and Neil, both the music and lyrics. I didn't really realize how much they've influenced me over the past four decades until I read this book.

I’m still processing all of this and don’t quite know how to put it into words. This band and particularly Neils lyrics were very instrumental in shaping my view of the world when I was younger. It’s still unbelievable that he’s gone. I can’t wrap my mind around it.

 

Me too. I’m still crying for him. Then I feel guilty about it because I’m not his family and never met him. But I’m truly so sad he’s gone. This is really a hard one to cope with.

 

It's understandable, and so many of us share your ongoing sadness ...

 

Neil was a poet who spoke to our minds and touched our hearts. On the drums, he was an innovator who gave us masterpieces of music (in wonderfully synergistic collaboration with Geddy and Alex), inspired awe, and motivated countless musicians to work hard and develop their own musical artistry. As a person, he was an adventurous, inquisitive, creative, and resilient Renaissance man who served as an exemplar of what it means to live life well, through all of its ups and downs.

 

Among those who know Neil's life and work, he will never be forgotten.

It will take me a while to come up with my full list, but Permanent Waves is certainly among those tied for 1st place. I just listened to it, and decades after first hearing it, I consider it to be as close to perfection as an album can get. Off the charts in every dimension, and it all comes together to create a masterpiece for the ages. This is the sort of album that made Rush seem like gods in the minds of their fans.

Just manged to see "A Show Of Hands" on YT (The full concert) last weekend and just after finishing it, I just broke down and cried- just seeing Neil so young, so full of life, and knowing that he is not coming back, hurts even more. And poor Geddy and Alex, what nightmarish pain they must be going though. Then Olivia, poor girl, she's only 10 years old and was hoping that Neil would be around for everything; her wedding, grandchildren, and more in her life. I miss this dude even more now...

Having a child at 57 years old, there was little chance that he would be around for these events.

 

Neil's parents must be around 90 now, if he lived as long as them he very probably would be around for these events...

 

It's not just about being around, parents also need to have health and energy to spend time with their kids and take care of them until they can be fully independent, without putting a burden on their kids due to their own health issues.

Agreed. Not fair for any child to have parents as old as other children's grandparents.

 

Neil appreciated science, and he probably would have understood the evolutionary reasons for why male and female fertility and sex drive start to drop off in middle age, with prime years to have children being in the 20s and 30s.

Just manged to see "A Show Of Hands" on YT (The full concert) last weekend and just after finishing it, I just broke down and cried- just seeing Neil so young, so full of life, and knowing that he is not coming back, hurts even more. And poor Geddy and Alex, what nightmarish pain they must be going though. Then Olivia, poor girl, she's only 10 years old and was hoping that Neil would be around for everything; her wedding, grandchildren, and more in her life. I miss this dude even more now...

Having a child at 57 years old, there was little chance that he would be around for these events.

 

Neil's parents must be around 90 now, if he lived as long as them he very probably would be around for these events...

 

It's not just about being around, parents also need to have health and energy to spend time with their kids and take care of them until they can be fully independent, without putting a burden on their kids due to their own health issues.

I finished listening to the 16-hour audiobook of Ghost Rider today. The travel stories were interesting, but the theme that runs through the book is the immense grief and despair and dark shadow that Neil went through for a period of years (which the narrator doesn't really do justice to), which is reflected in his many tears and occasional feelings of disdain for ordinary people. It was a bit too easy to put myself in Neil's shoes (for reasons I won't go into), so experiencing this book was painful for me, and I'm glad to have gotten to the end.

 

The book ends with the happy story of Neil meeting and marrying Carrie, and returning to a much more positive state of mind and heart, but of course that ending is now bittersweet too, knowing that Neil got only two decades with Carrie and only a decade with his second daughter.

 

But on a positive note, Neil's story does illustrate how a person can experience terrible tragedy and be brought very low for a long time, but with resilience they can come out the other side - never give up!

 

I guess, in the end, we can also take consolation in knowing that the vast majority of Neil's 67 years were good years living life the way he wanted to, and in the process he gave the world many gifts through his art and the example of how he lived his life.

Just manged to see "A Show Of Hands" on YT (The full concert) last weekend and just after finishing it, I just broke down and cried- just seeing Neil so young, so full of life, and knowing that he is not coming back, hurts even more. And poor Geddy and Alex, what nightmarish pain they must be going though. Then Olivia, poor girl, she's only 10 years old and was hoping that Neil would be around for everything; her wedding, grandchildren, and more in her life. I miss this dude even more now...

Having a child at 57 years old, there was little chance that he would be around for these events.

 

Agreed, risky to have a child at that age. But I can understand his decision to do so. So terrible for his wife and daughter.

I was just listening to Dream Theater's cover of Xanadu. They did a great job, except that the drums don't cut it. Mike Mangini is a monster drummer, yet he's unable to get close to the precision feel of Neil's playing. Neil was THE MAN when it came to drumming.

Since Neil's passing, I've summoned the courage to (try to) play drums along with Rush albums, including albums which didn't resonate with me as much (post Power Windows). In the past week, I've played along with Hold Your Fire and Presto a few times, and I'm enjoying those albums more and more. I'm realizing that the experience playing one of the instruments and being 'inside' the music is different than just listening to the music and being 'outside' it. This may partly explain why Rush liked all of the music they made, and enjoyed playing much of it countless times live, whereas many of their fans like the albums quite unequally.

Very sorry to hear it. Lyle was great. Too many people passing away too young ... :(

Even the full moon looks different tonight... :(

 

Not listened to any Rush for a good few weeks and wasnt overly traumatised by Neil's death, was like he'd been gone a while anyway but, just gave Earthshine a hard blast when it came up on YT and was in awe once again at the majesty of this man's playing and lyrics. Tonight was the first time i felt a real sense of grief :(

Different forms of coping, man. It was just the opposite for me. I was instantly shocked and I fell in some kind of Rush-therapy-listening mode, over the last few weeks. I listened to all the studio material, back and forth, and I threw some fine bootlegs in between. Now that he's gone, those live recordings showed me a new facet of appreciation that I haven't known before. I love the man even more now!

 

I may be a weirdo but I will never lie. I slept with my Neil Peart 747 drumsticks one night after hearing the news.

 

I get it. I bought a pair of those drumsticks after Neil passed. I tried them the other day, and found them too heavy for me - I guess Neil was pretty strong to be able to move those sticks so fast.

Its different for everyone. I like pretty much all the '70s albums, but believe it or not I've never been crazy about Moving Pictures or Signals because one was over played and the other I thought rather dreary. I actually like Hold Your Fire and Presto the most from that mid-late 80s era because I enjoy pop Rush more than the back to a heavier sound Rush from their final albums.

And some of their experiments just didn't work. While certain fans will say that going the safe soft pop jazzy rock route (Hold Your Fire through RTB) didn't work for them, I'll say that the early '00s nu-metal and folk rock direction they took with Vapor Trails & Snakes was a mistake. Especially Snakes. God, I simply CANNOT listen to any of those songs aside from Far Cry and the instrumentals all the way through. Its too much of a chore. Clockwork too. I know a lot of fans plus the band themselves seemed to really enjoy that album its a drink coaster at my house. The songs are too long, too dense,poorly mixed & badly sung by an aging creaky sounding Lee to enjoy. But that's just my opinion, if someone else thinks its the best thing they ever did I'm not going to try and change their mind

 

I can see your point about some of the albums being overplayed. That made the older albums a bit stale for me too, but I'm listening to Rush differently now that I'm rediscovering them, and that's making those albums sound fresher to me, which is increasing my appreciation for them. I'm noticing things I didn't notice before, and I'm paying more attention to the lyrics than ever before. I think the incredible brilliance of those albums, which don't sound dated decades later, is part of the reason for Rush's fan base remaining so strong in the past couple decades, and I predict that Rush will be a band people still talk about a century from now, just as we still talk about Stravinsky, Beethoven, Rembrandt, etc.

 

While I consider Geddy to have been an excellent singer whose vocals I always loved on the older albums, I agree that, with age, he has inevitably struggled with higher notes, which reduces my enjoyment of the vocals from the past 10-15 years.

 

Of course, in the end, this is all personal and subjective. If a piece of music doesn't resonate with a particular listener (such as a music critic), that doesn't make the music objectively bad. And if someone likes a piece of music that many people don't like, that's good for that person, and they don't need to justify or defend why they like it. What's interesting about Rush is that they created music which appeals extremely strongly to a subset of listeners, even decades after the music was created. I think that makes Rush quite special.

With Neil's passing, I'm rediscovering Rush by listening to the albums, contemplating the lyrics, reading books about Neil and Rush, etc.

 

It's partly a trip down memory lane, since I listened to a lot of Rush from the late 1970s through the 1980s. I loved (and still love) all of the studio albums from Rush to Power Windows, and I listened to them all many times.

 

Starting with Hold Your Fire, the albums didn't grab me as much because they either had a softer, sweeter, pop aspect, or when the albums had heavier tracks, those tracks didn't strike me as having the same brooding intensity and creative fire as the older albums. So by the late 1980s, I wasn't listening to Rush nearly as much, though I still considered them to be close to my heart, and I've remained a lifelong fan.

 

I'm now going back and listening to the albums from Hold Your Fire onward again (some of which I've hardly listened to), and they're starting to grow on me, but I don't know if I'll ever develop the same fondness for them as the older albums. This may be partly due to the stylistic changes I mentioned. It may also be partly due to the older albums being part of the 'soundtrack of my youth' and therefore imprinted on me in a way that no subsequent albums could be, i.e. a result of my personal history and how that lined up with Rush's album releases. Related to this aspect, I wonder if I'm dealing with a self-imposed obstacle of expecting Rush albums to have certain characteristics because they're Rush albums, so the albums don't resonate as much with me if they don't have those characteristics, whereas I might enjoy the albums more if I just listened to them as music, without thinking of them as Rush albums. I'm trying to approach the albums with this kind of open mind, but it's hard to do because Geddy's voice always reminds me that I'm listening to Rush.

 

I'm curious about the thoughts and experiences of you all regarding all of this.

Yep I watched BTLS also and it was a whole different experience this time.

 

Same for me. Just watched it, and 10x more impact now than when I watched it before. My wife isn't really a Rush fan, but she watched it with me and liked it.

I've been continuing to play drums along with Rush tracks (using Roland e-drums, so it's easy to mix the tracks and my drums), and have made some observations:

 

- Neil's drum sound is fairly dry, without booming reverb, etc. This makes the sound of the drums quite clear, with each piece of the kit easy to pick out. It also means that, in order for the drums to sound powerful, you have to play with power - Neil didn't cheat!

 

- Neil's drum fills are highly musical, and they integrate perfectly into the music. In fact, the fills are essential to the music, since Rush music tends to have a lot of content (hence the question "how can three guys make so much music?!"), and the fills provide musical content in places where it wouldn't sound right for the guitar, bass, and vocals to do so.

 

- Aside from the necessary drum fills, Neil's playing was often on the understated side. He definitely didn't overplay in general. I feel like Neil's baseline of slight understatement brought the fills into sharper relief.

 

- Air/mind drumming Rush songs for years and decades will actually help you play the drum parts on real drums! I played along with 2112 yesterday, which I haven't listened to for years and which I've never before attempted to play drums along with, and it was a bit eerie how readily I at least got the gist of most of the drum parts right on the first try.

 

Playing along with the drum parts reinforces my (subjective) opinion that Neil was the greatest drummer ever in any 'rock' genre. Lots of other drummers have had chops, but no one else has had Neil's combination of chops, composition, precision, innovation, and musicality.

In studying Neil's work, I'm increasingly realizing that he can't be put in any standard category in terms of ideology, political views, worldview, etc. Applying labels like "individualist" to him can shed some light in some contexts, but it can also be quite misleading. Fundamentally, I think Neil was a reflective, searching, and relatively open-minded person who evolved over the course of his life's journey, and blended simplicity and complexity within the same person (he "contained multitudes"). That describes me fairly well too (and I suspect the vast majority of Rush fans), which is probably part of the reason I've felt a connection to Neil and Rush for the past four decades.

 

 

Thou shall not pigeonhole!

 

:tsk:

 

Neil even sometimes applied such labels to himself (e.g., "bleeding heart libertarian"), to help people understand his point of view and correct misconceptions about his point of view. But I think such labels could be misleading even when he applied them to himself.

 

I would guess that most Rush fans avoid such labels, with a larger percentage than the general population being politically independent; religiously non-believers or agnostics while skeptical of organized religion; spiritually open-minded; philosophically pluralistic, pragmatic, stoic, existentialist, and non-dogmatic; artistically eclectic; and generally inclined towards Aristotelian moderation.

In studying Neil's work, I'm increasingly realizing that he can't be put in any standard category in terms of ideology, political views, worldview, etc. Applying labels like "individualist" to him can shed some light in some contexts, but it can also be quite misleading. Fundamentally, I think Neil was a reflective, searching, and relatively open-minded person who evolved over the course of his life's journey, and blended simplicity and complexity within the same person (he "contained multitudes"). That describes me fairly well too (and I suspect the vast majority of Rush fans), which is probably part of the reason I've felt a connection to Neil and Rush for the past four decades.

Neil's musical ability might have been impaired by his brain tumor. Given that he always wanted to do his best work, I suspect that he wouldn't have wanted to create music, for sharing with others, in an impaired condition. I think he was pretty realistic about these things, and a man of many interests who wasn't driven to exclusively do any one particular thing.

I just made an effort to play drums along with Grace Under Pressure. A couple tracks were too far out of my reach, but for most I was able to at least channel much of Neil's spirit (maybe wearing his signature drumming shoes helped!). It felt good to be connected to Neil this way. I still think he's the most musical drummer ever in any 'rock' genre (though a lot of Rush doesn't sound like 'rock' to me; I think of Rush as being it's own genre - it's just Rush). And yes, you have to play with power when you play Neil's music, that's what the music requires. I can totally see how touring would have been tough on his body, especially as he got older.

 

I've also been listening to Ghost Rider on audible, and have started reading the book about Neil by Brad Birzer.

 

This immersion in many things Neil maybe helps to keep my sadness going, but I don't want to try to put Neil out of my mind. I'm realizing that Neil's influence on my life is too deep for that to be the right path. Instead, I'm choosing to go in the opposite direction and rediscover Neil and Rush, keeping them in my heart and mind.

I still can't comprehend the backbeat to this song. There's no way anything that complex and interlaced with other fills and bits should be so rollicking and smooth, yet there it is!

 

Also, you can clearly hear him laying back on the outro and that is my new argument against people who claim Neil didn't play with "feel."

 

I can see why people would say that, but my view is that Neil played with the kind of precision that orchestral percussionists play with, and that precision gave Rush a distinctively modern, sophisticated, and crisply energetic sound.

Found this on Youtube, apologies if it was posted earlier. Been a fan for 37 years and Neil still blows me away. Neil's isolated drums on TSOR live:

 

 

That's a precious find. There are parts that almost sound like mistakes, but the drums are clearly in sync with the other instruments, so I think it's all very intentional. Hearing the drums in isolation helps me understand why TSOR has a unique rhythmic feel, with various subtle and not-so-subtle changes in momentum.

That's a wonderful tribute from John, who is himself a tremendous musician I'm in awe of.

 

This captures one of my thoughts perfectly: "It still freaks me out that such a perfect combination of musicians found each other to make a sound greater than you thought possible from a trio."

I'd like to offer a recommendation to give a listen to the album "The Dawn of Time" by Virgil Donati. It doesn't really sound anything like Rush, but it's one of the few examples I know of where the drumming is composed, intricate, and at center stage. I think Neil would approve. I'm listening to the album now, and it made me think of Neil.

Neil was the hard, cold infusion of excellence and intelligence into the dying Rush concept. He shined so brilliantly, like a supernova, swiftly disappearing among the stars. He set the bar so very high, influencing greatness in others. Neil was the backbone and brain of Rush, a la Hemispheres.

 

I just finished listening to Hemispheres. I tried playing along with the drum parts, but eventually had to just humbly put the sticks down and listen in awe. Amazing composition and playing from all three of them - and 42 years ago! In my book, Neil was the best, plain and simple. Other drummers had and have chops and groove, but no one else has ever had the intelligent musicality on the drums that Neil did.

Another example of Neil's influence ...

 

I rode a dirt bike as a kid, and have wanted a street bike for decades. Several factors have steered me towards BMWs, including the fact that Neil rode BMWs. I've been listening to Ghost Rider for the past few days, and that's the last nudge I needed to likely go ahead and buy a BMW motorcycle.