Weatherman

I'm listening to the audiobook and loving it. Biggest surprises: 1) the separate lives that Ged and his wife have lived 2) Neil's drug use (Alex was no surprise) 3) Alex drunkenly destroying the hotel room in England for no reason sounded suspiciously similar to his felony charges at the Florida resort

They get a new drummer every 50 years.

This is my guess too.

He should've shrieked the first chapter just to give the haters something familiar to complain about.

Note: The mp3 version is now considered the regular audio version. You can get it free with a trial from Audible.

I just looked at the audiobook version on Audible and it has both Ged and Alex listed as narrators! That seals it -- I'm getting the audio version. I've got a long drive in December and I'd love to listen to both of them tell the stories. I'll bet they'll use snippets of the music too. Excited for this!

What do you call someone who hangs out with musicians? A drummer. (rimshot)

Anagram (for Mongo). I was singing along to that song for years without even realizing that the lyrics were all anagrams. I'm dumb that way.

He already sang in a comfortable range. It was on an album called Presto that everybody loves to crap on here.

It's kind of amazing how long that band existed. All this happened before I was even born.

Technicality: Steve Vai Emotiveness: Eddie VH Alex has several amazing moments where his technicality touches Vai's and his emotiveness touches Eddie's. But most of the time his playing rests just one shade below. This isn't a criticism. Vai's playing is so technical that it's hard to listen to. I overall prefer Alex to both of them.

I'd give him a 9 of 10 on both technique and emotiveness. His playing is very unpredictable, mostly in the good way. I learned guitar by copying his parts and am still kind of amazed by them.

I am thrilled to hear him in a different context. Really and truly. As great as Rush was, he needed to spread his wings. It's funny: I think Ged and Neil were more responsible for the Rush sound. In fact, anything Ged does going forward is probably going to sound like Rush. But Alex is freer. He doesn't carry that same weight.

They teased us with the Rushiest moment of the Rushiest song in the entire catalog.

Happy birthday! Change the title of your memoir! Thanks!

It's a shame because that tour featured their best setlist, hands down. Not a clinker in the bunch.

You all have to admit that Ged would be diving into artificial intelligence if he were still writing and recording music. He's the most curious one. Neil is the one who would've had no use for it whatsoever.

I'm really surprised how much love Hemi and PW have on this site. I like them too, but they're no 2112 or MP, not in my opinion.

Haha. Okay, here goes: Other than that glorious drum break, I think the unusual thing about the song is the way Ged and Alex pass that motif back and forth between one another. You know the one. First Ged on keys, then to Alex on guitar, then back to Ged on bass. Right now I can't think of any other charting rock song that does that kind of call-and-response. The only comparable song I can think of is "Closer" by the Chainsmokers. It does recycle a single motif in many forms throughout the tune, in a very artful way, but it's never explicitly passed back and forth like a hot potato between two players the way Ged and Alex do.

When I used to play Rush cover songs with a small band in college, the singer/bassist (who was a huge music geek and classical opera singer as well) used to complain about Tom Sawyer. It was difficult to replicate live and he didn't like much about the song, as a singer. Also, we both **hated** the guitar solo, and we devised something else for me to do for those 8 bars instead of the amelodic weird shit that Alex threw on that track. I can't remember what we did instead. That said, I still **love** the song overall. It has an undeniable energy and some great parts.

The Police built many of their biggest hits on bits of reggae. Rush copied them.

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It sounds like a lot of people really fell off the bandwagon at HYF. I can understand that. But there's still a lot to love about that album -- at least 4 banger songs, a couple more very good ones, Geddy's best vocals of his career, some excellent slappin-de-bass, and the usual great lyrics. Put it this way: I listen to HYF waaay more than RTB or TFE or VT or CA.

My first intro was MP, immediately followed by Presto and 2112. All in the same month. I loved all three of them. I didn't care what was "pop" or "prog rock" or "synth heavy" or "light production". The songwriting on all 3 albums was tight, tight, tight. They're still 3 of my top 5 Rush albums today. Anyways, my vote was for CoS. There is nothing about that album I enjoy. It's a slog. The CoS --> 2112 turnaround was one of rock music's great ninth-inning comebacks.

Grace Under Pressure tour, full show, YouTube (you know the one). They sounded so good.