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Neil Peart Has Passed Away


southpaw2k5
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Neil would be embarrassed and, I think, touched deeply if he knew the true "measure of respect" he has earned. A measure beyond measure.

 

This is still nearly as raw and staggering as it was eight days ago.

 

So true.

Agreed. The publications that had op-eds on Neil's impact reminded me of when Prince died. Not the standard blog spots. Major news publications with fr3eaking op-eds about NEP. WOW!!!
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Listening to Roll The Bones. It’s always been my least favorite Rush album. The production is lightweight, and the songwriting often strays too close to Huey Lewis And The News...and Heresy and Neurotica kind of annoy me. That said, I must be enjoying it more now than I ever have, because even The Big Wheel (one of a number of songs here that I just never really warmed to) is sounding good to me and moving. But there’s one song on here almost everyone seems to love that has never almost remotely impressed me. Bravado. I never found it to be very moving, very Rush like, really very notable at all. It’s catchy?

 

That’s changed. When I listened to it today, I think I got it.

 

“If love remains, though everything is lost, we will pay the price, but we will not count the cost.”

 

I never understood that line. It isn’t very complicated, but I never pieces it together. I looked at it as some sort of colloquialism, “we will not count the cost,” like what’s that supposed to mean. I get it now. If we must lose everything but love, we won’t hesitate to pay for love with everything, we won’t even think about that price.

 

And the line “and if the music stops, and there’s only the sound of the rain...” that’s a great moment. Bravado is a victory. The music grew on me too. I started to really hear how the melody and the guitar intertwine, and how Neil really personified the emotion of the song towards its finale.

 

Have you heard the live version of Bravado from Different Stages? I like it better than the studio version. Dreamliner off that album is also better in a lot of ways because it has more punch to it. There's some really good stuff on both Presto and Roll The Bones. I could never understand why they went with the production they did for both?

 

Also, as someone who was a massive Huey Lewis and The News fan when I was a kid, I hear nothing similar in the songwriting lol.

 

About the Huey comment, for me its more the general impression that Huey's music gives me bears a resemblance to the impression that RTB gives me, not so much that their are a lot of direct similarities. Frankly I think it's more the production than the songwriting, but the songwriting is pretty poppy in that 80s rock and roll for the masses kind of way that Huey does so well (and so much better I've often felt).

 

No I haven't listened to either of them off of Different Stages! I will have to check them out. I've always found it strange how much more appealing I find Presto than RTB despite the similar gutless production on both of them. I guess the music on Presto just feels more introverted and oddball to me, which I relate to. RTB feels more anthemic, but without enough gravitas to really capture my heart.

 

I just listened to the Different Stages version of Bravado....woah. I wasn't really looking at the time stamp and I thought it was almost over and then I saw it goes one for like 6 minutes! The guitar! Why didn't it sound like that on the record? And the bass was much deeper. Not to mention Neil really went to a different dimension of drumming where no two drums/cymbals are too far away to make a beat out of, and you don't need to stick to just two of them. That's way cooler than the studio cut!

 

There was extended ending they did with it live. That's why it's longer. Sometimes they would do an extended ending with CTTH live too.

 

Secret Touch became the jam song for a while too.

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I just love to hear him talk...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJqxiWmH76E

 

I've rarely heard him talk about drums. He makes what he does seem so simple!

 

I'd like to hear him playing Xanadu or something crazy like that on his little 4 drum setup, lol.

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I just love to hear him talk...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJqxiWmH76E

 

I've rarely heard him talk about drums. He makes what he does seem so simple!

 

I'd like to hear him playing Xanadu or something crazy like that on his little 4 drum setup, lol.

I never knew he sampled his voice because the electronic kit sounded too lame. Haha, that's the spirit!

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I've been watching/listening to/reading Rush stuff pretty much nonstop for the past week and it still doesn't feel real. I'll watch one of their concert DVDs, even one of the later ones, and he's so on top of his game still. To know that just a few years later this would happen is beyond words.

 

My wife and I had a rare Saturday yesterday that was free of anything to do so we spent the entire day watching Rush DVDs. It has been therapeutic! We started with the Laura Secord/Rutsey stuff and just went chronologically through it all. Well, we got to the Presto tour and stopped. Today we will try to finish but we have chores we need to do too! At any rate it has helped a lot. And you are right, it seems surreal.

Edited by Wil1972
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Neil would be embarrassed and, I think, touched deeply if he knew the true "measure of respect" he has earned. A measure beyond measure.

 

Neil Peart and Neil Armstrong had more things in common than their first name.

 

Armstrong also eschewed the limelight. He didn't want any part of the massive adulation from people all around the world. If he had wanted, he could have made a zillion dollars off his Achievement, but he didn't. He was a private man, a humble man, who literally saw himself as undeserving of all the hero worship. The Greatest Achievement in all of human history, and he said that he was undeserving of the all the praise. Remarkable....

 

Not to diss Neil Armstrong who was an exceptional pilot and engineer, but he was part of a huge team that made that achievement happen.

 

Neil Peart on the other hand was in a team of one when it came to delivering what he did.

I think if you read "Roadshow" you'd be surprised (as I was) that there was a lot more to Rush, as the years went by, than "just the 3 guys at work".
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Neil would be embarrassed and, I think, touched deeply if he knew the true "measure of respect" he has earned. A measure beyond measure.

 

This is still nearly as raw and staggering as it was eight days ago.

Other than Chris Cornell and BB King, I can't think of too many celebrities that I really gave a second thought about when the news announced their passing.

Neil probably wouldn't even have liked me, but we had a lot in common: Virgo, traveling all over Canada and the US, introvert, philosophical, humble, and losing our wives in a tragic manner. The book "Ghost Rider" "prepared me" in an eerie way for something I didn't know was going to happen. But, I guess it's the music. Most music is absolute garbage, and, even if I like the beat, or whatever, most music has nothing to say. Rush is the biggest exemption to that rule. The songs have so much philosophy, and, when you read Neil's books, you understand where a lot of the other lyrics came from that aren't so obvious.

 

Like many others have said on here, I too held out hope that we'd all meet again, one day, in ATL, when Rush finally decided to give us another tour. I take solace that we got to see them on the last tour.

 

 

We were lucky to have witnessed professionalism of the highest order.

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Not to diss Neil Armstrong who was an exceptional pilot and engineer, but he was part of a huge team that made that achievement happen.

 

Neil Peart on the other hand was in a team of one when it came to delivering what he did.

 

I like to take Neil's work in the context of the synergy of the band, which enabled each of them to shine. There was magic in the juxtaposition of Neil's precise, powerful, compositional drumming, Alex's textural guitar and free-flying emotive solos, Geddy's pumping and often groovy bass, and the way they used keyboards. Geddy gave heartfelt voice to the lyrics, and the music always fit the lyrics as if written specifically for the lyrics.

 

My mind still boggles at the seeming improbability of three such unique virtuosos finding each other, forming a band, meshing so well with each other musically and artistically, and having personal characteristics such that they could stay together for decades, through thick and thin, to create this body of artistic work.

Edited by 9/4
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Not to diss Neil Armstrong who was an exceptional pilot and engineer, but he was part of a huge team that made that achievement happen.

 

Neil Peart on the other hand was in a team of one when it came to delivering what he did.

 

I like to take Neil's work in the context of the synergy of the band, which enabled each of them to shine. There was magic in the juxtaposition of Neil's precise, powerful, compositional drumming, Alex's textural guitar and free-flying emotive solos, Geddy's pumping and often groovy bass, and the way they used keyboards. Geddy gave heartfelt voice to the lyrics, and the music always fit the lyrics as if written specifically for the lyrics.

 

My mind still boggles at the seeming improbability of three such unique virtuosos finding each other, forming a band, meshing so well with each other musically and artistically, and having personal characteristics such that they could stay together for decades, through thick and thin, to create this body of artistic work.

 

Totally agree with your post. And although it might appear that I was ignoring Geddy and Alex by praising Neil's individual brilliance, there is no doubt he wouldn't have had the same impact on the music world without the other two.

 

In terms of historical serendipity the white Corvette arriving at Dalziel Equipment Ltd. is worthy of mention alongside Paul McCartney bumping into John Lennon at Woolton village fete IMO.

 

 

Edited by Lurkst
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Neil would be embarrassed and, I think, touched deeply if he knew the true "measure of respect" he has earned. A measure beyond measure.

 

Neil Peart and Neil Armstrong had more things in common than their first name.

 

Armstrong also eschewed the limelight. He didn't want any part of the massive adulation from people all around the world. If he had wanted, he could have made a zillion dollars off his Achievement, but he didn't. He was a private man, a humble man, who literally saw himself as undeserving of all the hero worship. The Greatest Achievement in all of human history, and he said that he was undeserving of the all the praise. Remarkable....

 

Not to diss Neil Armstrong who was an exceptional pilot and engineer, but he was part of a huge team that made that achievement happen.

 

Neil Peart on the other hand was in a team of one when it came to delivering what he did.

 

The point I am making is about living in the limelight and how both men succeeded in avoiding it.

 

It's unfortunate that you tried to make it into some sort of contest about who "delivered more". :boo hiss:

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Bravado from DS is sublime, IMHO. Always preferred it to the studio version. It sounds good with some bottom end to it.

 

The Rush in Rio version is great. It's my favorite. Alex's solo is mind-blowing. :haz:

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The point I am making is about living in the limelight and how both men succeeded in avoiding it.

 

It's unfortunate that you tried to make it into some sort of contest about who "delivered more". :boo hiss:

 

It's actually a point I agree with, and I certainly wasn't intending to turn it into a contest. Their achievements are as incomparable as they were incredible.

 

If asked who my top Neil is there's only one answer however ;)

 

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The point I am making is about living in the limelight and how both men succeeded in avoiding it.

 

It's unfortunate that you tried to make it into some sort of contest about who "delivered more". :boo hiss:

 

It's actually a point I agree with, and I certainly wasn't intending to turn it into a contest. Their achievements are as incomparable as they were incredible.

 

If asked who my top Neil is there's only one answer however ;)

 

 

:cheers:

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I love you too Neil.

I love how your lyrics expanded my world and my attitudes and made me a better person.

I never met you but you touched my life profoundly. You were my only friend for a long time, the only one who got my experience. I don’t pretend to have know you but you moved me, you moved me.

 

I can’t imagine how your family and brothers feel now, but I feel for you deeply.

 

I want to watch that wonderful video of you having dinner with Geddy and Alex sometime soon and share a tiny bit of the good times in your life.

 

Life was wonderful and cruel to you. I hope Olivia will be ok about this one day.

 

Though I live on the other side of the world, chance has it that I will be in Toronto shortly. I’m going to go to Lakeside Park and leave a memory for you.

Edited by Gerxt
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Its been over a week now since the news, and while Im still bummed he is gone, Ive come to accept it and feel better. Heart broken for his family, and while he did have major tragedies, he also had an amazing life. Not many will enjoy his level of success and be remembered like he will be.
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I'm planning to go back and really listen to and study all of the Rush albums, going in order from start to finish.

 

I just finished listening to the debut pre-Neil Rush album. I like it as a bluesy, sometimes groovy, classic rock album with some resemblances to Zepp. John Rutsey did a fully adequate job on the drums, though his playing is pretty conventional (I read that he left the band due to health issues, not because Geddy and Alex kicked him out or due to a falling out).

 

Looking forward, the effect of Neil joining the band was clearly transformative with regard to elevating the sophistication of the album concepts, lyrics, and music. I won't say that Neil was the heart of Rush - that would be a disservice to Geddy and Alex - but he certainly reshaped the band into something which had limited resemblance to the original Rush. Of course, I'm just preaching to choir here, but interesting to make these comparisons in the wake of Neil's passing.

Edited by 9/4
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Still can't believe it, but it's gotten easier by re-listening to Rush every day since. Hopefully the Sirius channel sticks around .. I love having the random mix of songs I wouldn't have necessarily picked. I also love listening to the drums on By-Tor .. he just sounds like he was hitting the ground running, totally on fire with his playing on that track.

 

One tangent thought I've had lately is that I bet this also marks the end of Geddy's book signings. Doesn't seem like like he would want to be bombarded by fans asking about Neil, apologizing for his loss, bringing him flower bouquets, etc. At the signing I went to (right before Halloween) I remember thinking he didn't seem particularly happy to be there .. I've wondered in hindsight if it had to do with Neil's condition.

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Still can't believe it, but it's gotten easier by re-listening to Rush every day since. Hopefully the Sirius channel sticks around .. I love having the random mix of songs I wouldn't have necessarily picked. I also love listening to the drums on By-Tor .. he just sounds like he was hitting the ground running, totally on fire with his playing on that track.

 

One tangent thought I've had lately is that I bet this also marks the end of Geddy's book signings. Doesn't seem like like he would want to be bombarded by fans asking about Neil, apologizing for his loss, bringing him flower bouquets, etc. At the signing I went to (right before Halloween) I remember thinking he didn't seem particularly happy to be there .. I've wondered in hindsight if it had to do with Neil's condition.

 

I've wondered that about the book signings and about Grapes Under Pressure as well. (It's an all day train ride/winery day in Ontario with Alex and Geddy where the proceeds go to charity.) Who wants to feel like the last man standing while dealing with your own grief?

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