Snyder80

I understand that his playing isn't impossible to recreate. However, the state that there exist a level of percussion that Neil Peart isn't worthy of being mentioned with just seems proposterous. The man has inspiried generations of people to play drums. He revolutionized the dynamic of rock drumming and took it to heights that never existed before. Is that the mark of someone who should be held in the "he's not as good as jazz drummers" conversation? I've watched plenty of jazz drummers and a lot of them do amazing things but no of it seems to be out of his league. Do you guys reall think he would be baffled by some of that playing? I grew up around a lot of guys who played in bands and very few of them could pull off even the most rudimentary Peart songs and none of them could touch some of his more complex material. I never thought I'd see the day when people actually argued over whether or not Neil Peart was just a run of the mill drummer. It's ridiculous. I'm geared more towards guitar myself and I can tell you now that what you guys are arguing would be the same thing as saying Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads were average guitarist because they didn't play like Al Di Meola. How many kids do you think are in their room right now slaving over Al Di Meola and how many do you think are slaving over Crazy Train or Eruption? Neil Peart is a master of his craft and worthy of consideration in even the stuffiest of jazz rooms. "I've watched plenty of jazz drummers and a lot of them do amazing things but no of it seems to be out of his league. Do you guys reall think he would be baffled by some of that playing?" Jazz guys explore techniques not typically utilized in Rock drumming..advanced techniques. A lot of rock drummers incorporate single stroke rolls and 16th note patterns in their playing..thats rookie stuff for guys like say, Steve Smith... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_T4YXhnveA I appreciate your fanboy love of Neil, but its well documented that his playing isnt of the upper echelon of world class drummers...I will say that his playing now is overall better than it was 30 years ago, but just look what happened at the first Buddy Rich memorial concert back in , i believe, 89...he got his ass handed to him in a drum duet with Will Calhoun, a guy who is a Berkleee graduate...Neil showed he wasnt up to the task of playing with the big boys at the time..he is great at his style within the confines of Rush, but take him out of that element, and he isnt all that adaptable. Guys like Neil Peart and Eddie Van Halen are, typically, early influences, guys who inspire young players to pick up the instrument, and they spend their youth practicing their parts...but then, as they mature, and soak up other players styles, they move on... Got his ass handed to him? What is this a boxing match? And the guy in that video is masterful but the stuff he's playing is unlistenable. It just sounds mechanical. There is no emotion or soul in that form of music. You can disagree all day long but that's why that guy is playing to one dude that looks like a mafia hitman instead of 15k screaming fans.

For me that time period would extend to 1985 but otherwise, I agree. I used to hold out hope that it would sound that way again but it's impossible. When I listen to that string of albums and realize they were all done consecutively I can hardly believe it.

I understand that his playing isn't impossible to recreate. However, the state that there exist a level of percussion that Neil Peart isn't worthy of being mentioned with just seems proposterous. The man has inspiried generations of people to play drums. He revolutionized the dynamic of rock drumming and took it to heights that never existed before. Is that the mark of someone who should be held in the "he's not as good as jazz drummers" conversation? I've watched plenty of jazz drummers and a lot of them do amazing things but no of it seems to be out of his league. Do you guys reall think he would be baffled by some of that playing? I grew up around a lot of guys who played in bands and very few of them could pull off even the most rudimentary Peart songs and none of them could touch some of his more complex material. I never thought I'd see the day when people actually argued over whether or not Neil Peart was just a run of the mill drummer. It's ridiculous. I'm geared more towards guitar myself and I can tell you now that what you guys are arguing would be the same thing as saying Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads were average guitarist because they didn't play like Al Di Meola. How many kids do you think are in their room right now slaving over Al Di Meola and how many do you think are slaving over Crazy Train or Eruption? Neil Peart is a master of his craft and worthy of consideration in even the stuffiest of jazz rooms.

I actually like the song. S&A is a horribly underrated album and I don't feel it's ever been appreciated the way it should. Very complex material; musically and lyrically.

What this guy said. It was a great album and has some tunes on it (The Anarchist, The Garden, Halo Effect) that I'll listen to for years to come but it's not in the same class with PeW or MP.

I hate to admit it but if I had to choose today it would be Moving Pictures. A year ago it would have been GUP and before that Signals. Currently though I can't live without Vital Signs. Just can't do it.

Your view on this, like everyone else's, is opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. However, to say that anyone who drums is far superior to Neil Peart seems to defy rationale thought. You can say that he's not the best ever all you want but to say that there are people who he isn't even fit to stand beside is ridiculous. Have you ever actually listened to his playing or watched him play? Um, yeah . And if you speak with seasoned Drummers, especially Jazz guys, they will tell you that Neils drumming isnt all that. I'm not saying he isn't an incredible Rock drummer, and one of the most influential , but his playing is " accessible"...meaning that you can find a ton of drummers who can play his stuff...The parts he comes up with are super memorable, and i love his style, but yeah, hate to break it to you, there are many Drummers who Neil cant keep up with.. This is a drum site i check out occasionally, ...quite a few well known guys are members of it...Neil is respected among some of the members, guys who grew up with him and then moved on to Jazz circles, but quite a few probably have no idea who he is...its like discussing Eddie Van Halen with a schooled, classical guitarist.. http://www.houseofdrumming.com/wp/ ...there are drummers who Neil can't keep up with. That statement proves my point. That is your opinion. Music is an art form. There is no best or this or that. If it makes your hair stand on end then it's good. And please stop with the jazz fusion, jazz circles obsession. Yeah, I get it, they're all great. That's why three generations of kids and adults alike picked up a set of sticks. Because they heard some smoke house jazz tune. No, sorry, it's because they heard La Villa Strangiato or Tom Sawyer or Subdivisions. I get what you're saying but don't kid yourself. 100 years from now people in the drumming world will talk about Neil Peart like he was from another planet.

Live albums capture the band at a certain point in their career. They're like photographs, some fade over time but they still maintain their value. Like many others on these forums I can remember when that album was released. I don't listen to it much anymore but sometimes I'm just flicking through my iPhone and I see the cover and I have to stop. To me their live albums all tell a story. Some tell it better than others but the story is always different and each time I listen I hear another little bit that I've missed.

"Suddenly, ahead of me, across the mountainside, a gleaming alloy-air car shoots towards me two lanes wide." -Red Barchetta "To you is it movement or is it action? Is it contact or just reaction? Evolution, just resistance, is it living or just existence?" -The Enemy Within "Reflected light to another's sight and the moon tells a lover's story. My borrowed face and my third-hand grace only reflects your glory." -Earthshine

Your view on this, like everyone else's, is opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. However, to say that anyone who drums is far superior to Neil Peart seems to defy rationale thought. You can say that he's not the best ever all you want but to say that there are people who he isn't even fit to stand beside is ridiculous. Have you ever actually listened to his playing or watched him play?

I voted GUP. It was close between GUP and Signals and a distant third was Permanent Waves. I love the older material but honestly the older I get the less desire I have to hear those songs live. I enjoy all of their material and have always embraced their changes in style. I'm sure I'm in the minority here but 80's Rush, to me, is what defined them as Rush.

Freewill Roll the Bones (R30 version)-Trust me, listen to it closely before answering. And I'm talking about the stuff he plays at a low volume level during the rap dialogue. EQ the guitar sound in and back the other stuff off and really listen to that blistering solo.

Force Ten Distant Early Warning

Ragged lines of ragged gray; skeletons, they shuffle away…Shouting guards and smoking guns will cut down the unlucky ones --(Red Sector A) It's cold comfort to the ones without it. To know how they struggled, how they suffered about it. If our lives were exotic and strange, we would likely have glady exchanged them for something a little more plain, maybe something a little more sane. --(Mission)

Force Ten Vital Signs

La Villa Strangiato Freewill

Ragged lines of ragged gray; skeletons, they shuffle away…Shouting guards and smoking guns will cut down the unlucky ones Leave out the fiction, the fact is this friction, will only be won by persistence. Leave out conditions, courageous convictions will drag the dream into existence.

R30.

I've never met them but the story you just told is why I'm so fond of not only their music but of them as people. They seem very genuine and very unassuming. They have no "Eddie Van Halen Syndrome". Just regular guys who happen to be fantastic musicians and artists. It's an amazing rarity and I'm proud to call myself a fan.

YES. GUP is my all time fave Rush album! The Body Electric is my fave track off of it ;) REALLY hoping I see it at Summerfest. aghhhhh....... The Enemy Within is hands down my favorite track from GUP. I love the lyrics in the middle: "Is it living or just existence?" That's such a great line and really inspires me to live life and not be afraid to have fun and take risks. You only live once.

It was first Rush show ever so it was very special for me and quite a bigger deal than I ever would've thought. I was really blown away and remember having to fight off the lump in my throat when they opened the show. At one point in my I never thought I would see them live, seeing how Test for Echo came out when I was in ninth grade and going to concerts just wasn't in the cards at that age. I remember hearing about the hiatus and the reasons for it and I remember that Rush had faded into non-existence so much that you couldn't seem to hear or read anything about them. I really thought they were finished. It was a great show and I heard a lot of material live that I loved and was introduced to some songs that at the time were unknown deep tracks for me, such as Resist & Between Sun & Moon. It was a perfect introduction to the live world of Rush.

Realistically I think they have one tour left in them and it will be an R40 themed show. Hopefully they take a long rest first but seeing how 2014 is six months away, I'm not sure how they'll actually work it.

I was born into Rush. My dad saw them for the first time in 1976 on the Fly By Night tour. He was in a band. He played bass. A Rickenbacker. You get the idea. I nearly saw them for the first time in the womb but my mother was so close to her due date that she didn't go for fear of going into labor during the show. To answer the question directly I'd have to give most of the credit to Red Barchetta and Subdivisons. My parents tell me that when I was a year old they couldn't leave the house for work in the morning without playing me Red Barchetta or I went nuts and threw a fit. As far as Subdivisions goes, I was three years old when Signals came out and I still remember my father walking through the door with the LP and hearing the song for the first time. I know that's hard to believe but it's true.

Tom Sawyer - Vapor Trails Tour 2002. It was at the Giant Center in Hershey and Rush was the first rock act to appear in the new arena. People had been complaining about how loud the sound system was during the hockey games and they still hadn't adjusted it because I will never forget that opening crash of Tom Sawyer. We were on the floor right under one of the PA rigs and God as my witness the sound blast was so powerful that I felt my hair move from the sonic vibration. Of the six shows I've been to that moment is still one of the most polarizing for me. My all time favorite band who, at one point in time I thought I'd never see them, were suddenly and explosively there. I almost couldn't believe it. Fought the lump in my throat for at least the first three songs.

the necromancer vital signs