Driven: Rush In The '90s & In The End

[blueschica]

Did you go for the faux-leather hardback binding? They do look good, one admits. They are more ornamental than functional, anyway.

Yes, I went for the faux-leather binding, and yes, they are certainly pretty to look at!!

Got a few of these on the shelf - Neil Young and Van Halen, Dylan and so on. They are pretty, and I tend to use them for reference photos to paint or draw said musicians. I hadn`t considered actually reading them :cool:

For reference I tend to use Wandering The Face Of The Earth. Now that is a mighty tome!!

 

That book is so much fun to just read in bits and pieces! :) The touring stories from the early days really take me back to the 70's and the way things used to be. So glad I got it!

Totally agree, Blueschica. I just finished this book, reading maybe 20 pages a night, and dreading the end, partly because I know full well how the story ends of course, but partly because I looked forward to my 20 pages before bed. Just bought the first two volumes. I haven't been overly impressed with Popoff's other Rush works, but this was good.

 

Yes, the Wandering book really made me want to go back in time!

 

I'm glad to hear that about the Popoff books! I was thinking of getting them, but yes, I had purchased some of his other Rush books and wasn't overly impressed. These look better, though. :hi: Go Cubs!

[RushFanForever]

On a side note in relation to the topic of this post.

 

Anthem: Rush In The 70's has made the Speaker's Book Award 2021 Shortlist noted here.

 

The winner will be announced this upcoming Fall.

Edited June 23, 2021 by RushFanForever

[Syrinx]

Wandering the Face of the Earth is fantastic! I kept concert reviews of every concert I went to, in scrapbooks. It is great to be able to go back to a show you attended and read about it in the book. I love the snippets of early reviews. The critics for the most part hated Rush. So funny after all of these years how most people came around and now respect the band's legacy.

I'm not sure how old you are Syrinx but an old codger like me remembers what the music press were like in the UK in the late '70s ...... boy they hated Rush with a passion.

I just turned 60 zepphead. Here are a few early reviews:

 

Rush at Varsity Stadium – Sunday, September 2, 1979

Concert review by Alan Niester – Globe and Mail

When it was conceived a few months ago, last night’s pairing of Rush and FM at Varsity Stadium probably seemed like a good idea. After all, Rush members are favourite sons here, and their appearances traditionally draw good crowds. It was the Labor Day weekend, the last slice of summer freedom, and presumably the city’s students would have been dying for one last chance at a summer blow-out. And putting the concert in a nice outdoor setting should only have increased the pleasure two-fold.

But somehow, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Only 8,000 fans turned out for the concert, apathetically sitting through conditions which seemed more suited to a late autumn football game than a summer concert. Between enduring the cool breeze and facing the realization that summer had run its course, the audience hardly seemed in a festive mood. And the music provided by the artists both reflected and increased the general audience apathy.

FM started it off with what may have been the most ignored set I’ve ever seen in this city. The three-man band, featuring Cameron Hawkins on synthesizer and Ben Mink on electronic violin, plus drummer Martin Dellar, ran through 50 minutes of its own brand of electro-jamming. Although the music tended to be a bit ragged, the trio generally acquitted itself well. Considering the similarities between this type of music (progressive, thought-provoking, rambling) and the headline act, it was quite surprising that almost no one noticed when they left the stage.

Of course, Rush fans are an intensely loyal lot, primed for their heroes and having little regard for anyone else. Simply because the band only drew half the number of fans it usually draws, I’m not yet prepared to write it off. The weather was less than inviting for an outdoor concert, and I suspect the CNE has gleaned most of the greens from teen jeans.

Rush ran through a lengthy set which revolved around material from its Hemispheres and 2112 albums. Personally, I find the idea of a power trio with a singer who sounds like Lucy Ricardo rather trying after an hour or so. But the Rush fans who hung in through the seemingly endless (often as long as 20 minutes – which in the hands of Rush seems endless) songs seemed to be satisfied, even if they did spend most of the evening hunkered dozily on the stadium infield.

For their perseverance, the fans were treated to some new material from the band, including a song called The Spirit of Radio. The new material sounded much like the old material – pretentious and bombastic. But it sells, so why knock it.

When all was said and done, however, Labor Day weekend with Rush was certainly not the triumph it should have been. The concert was a “so what” affair, and ended the listless Toronto concert summer with a whimper, not a bang.

[Syrinx]

Rush at Varsity Stadium Review #2 – The Toronto Sun

What a bummer for Rush!

When last Toronto’s hometown heavies played at home, they sold nearly 50,000 tickets to three nights at the Gardens.

This year they had reportedly been booked to play the CNE but were lured back into the arms of Concert Productions International with a fat guarantee. CPI hired Varsity Stadium for them on Sunday and sought to raise the crowd limit by 10,000.

But by showtime the attendance was less than 10,000 in all.

Was the problem the recession that is scaring many American acts off the road?

Was it the length of time since the last album? (Rush will begin to record again next month at Quebec’s Le Studio.)

Was it promotion that took for granted that the Rush show was the big event of Labor Day weekend and failed to make it seem so?

Was it a ticket price half again as much as the CNE concert by Triumph and Doucette (who drew half again as many people)?

Was it the threatening weather that also prevented Rush from using its movies and turned its clouds of smoke into wisps of mist?

Aside from bruised feelings, though, Rush was alright. (It was the scalpers hustling passers-by with slashed-price tickets who got burned – and some of them had been burned at the Bee Gees!) The trio played more like the tough little barband that triumphed at Massey Hall just a few years ago. Even the more progressive science-fiction material seemed gutsier without the band’s classy visual distractions – and that’s a pointer towards Rushmusic in the 80’s.

The new album will be called Magnetic Air, which describes the buzz they get before going on stage. Neil Peart, whose solo rhythmic showmanship closed the concert on a climax, said he didn’t think there was “a single whiff of space anywhere on the album.”

“Not in the lyrics,” agreed singer Geddy Lee, who also mentioned a song that is “almost entirely” in 4/4 time. “That’s a breakthrough for us. Finding something we like that is in 4/4 almost all the way through is an accomplishment.”

During the concert they previewed two tight, disciplined creations called Free Will and The Spirit of Radio. The latter is a tribute to progressive CFNY, and while the band didn’t dedicate it on stage (the show was presented by CHUM), they knew the Brampton station’s listeners would recognize references to their promotions.

[Syrinx]

Rush at Varsity Stadium, Sept. 2, 1979 – Review #3

By Bruce Blackadar – Toronto Star

“Rush tries to bludgeon audience”

Attending a Rush concert is like being a masochist who’d enjoy a heart transplant operation in his friendly neighborhood hospital.

But the Rush fanatics – who used to be legion in these parts – seem to be losing their addiction to pain. Only 8,000 showed up last night at Varsity Stadium to happily endure the three-man Toronto heavy metal group’s mind-shattering barrage of technological and electronic wizardry that it cunningly disguises as music.

It’s meaningless to attempt to review what Rush is doing; that would be like trying to explain the political necessity of planting bombs in churches to a sweet old nun running a children’s orphanage.

However, we can say that the trio – Neil Peart on drums, Geddy Lee, vocals and bass, and Alex Lifeson, guitar – are certainly professional, like a team of frogmen who possess an exquisite mastery of technical matters.

First, there’s the overwhelming bass line, always present, steering the electronic carnage that makes up the bulk of the band’s albums, like Hemispheres and 2112, this way and that.

Then there’s the dentist drill voice of Lee, which after not all that many songs becomes a deft instrument of torture for the listener. It’s a voice that begins immediately at the level of pain and, miraculously, and very unfortunately, proceeds to a higher plane.

Finally, there’s the drum work of Peart, the frightful heartbeat, the rhythm of doom.

Other ingredients of the Rush assault include a mind-bending sound system, full of hysterical – and meaningless – distortions, a perfectly synchronized light show, and the band’s weird philosophical stance of intellectually primitive conservatism.

Much of what the band does – such as The Spirit of Radio, a new song they introduced to their fans last night – is wildly exciting. But the other material is pointless electronic overkill of the highest order.

[Syrinx]

Rush at the CNE Grandstand – August 23, 1977

Review #1 by Peter Goddard – The Toronto Star

The exercise of power is never more menacing than when it’s done without humour. It seems so monstrously banal, so lacking in human qualities.

There’s nothing menacing about Rush’s three members, bassist-singer Geddy Lee, drummer Neil Peart or guitarist Alex Lifeson. Nothing personally menacing, that is, and certainly nothing particularly banal.

BIG NIGHT

But the moment they become a unit on stage, as was the case at the Canadian National Exhibition’s Grandstand last night, they seem thoroughly depersonalized.

It was the Toronto band’s most important concert yet. With 20,800 people jammed into the stadium, it was the biggest crowd the group had played to as a headline act.

It also gave Rush a chance to premier material from its sixth album, A Farewell to Kings, the most adventurous album in its career.

Yet it all left this reviewer numb.

RESTLESS CROWD

The crowd cheered everything and then fought or threw sparklers when the blunt, almost brutal excitement waned ever so slightly.

And the vast sound system – which seemed better tuned for the opening act, Max Webster, than for Rush – made every piece flutter like a flag to be saluted, even good songs like A Farewell to Kings.

There was no style, no grace, no touch of humor to leven this colossal display.

Like Peart’s mystical lyrics, there was little to respond to.

[zepphead]

Wandering the Face of the Earth is fantastic! I kept concert reviews of every concert I went to, in scrapbooks. It is great to be able to go back to a show you attended and read about it in the book. I love the snippets of early reviews. The critics for the most part hated Rush. So funny after all of these years how most people came around and now respect the band's legacy.

I'm not sure how old you are Syrinx but an old codger like me remembers what the music press were like in the UK in the late '70s ...... boy they hated Rush with a passion.

I just turned 60 zepphead. Here are a few early reviews:

 

Rush at Varsity Stadium – Sunday, September 2, 1979

Concert review by Alan Niester – Globe and Mail

When it was conceived a few months ago, last night’s pairing of Rush and FM at Varsity Stadium probably seemed like a good idea. After all, Rush members are favourite sons here, and their appearances traditionally draw good crowds. It was the Labor Day weekend, the last slice of summer freedom, and presumably the city’s students would have been dying for one last chance at a summer blow-out. And putting the concert in a nice outdoor setting should only have increased the pleasure two-fold.

But somehow, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Only 8,000 fans turned out for the concert, apathetically sitting through conditions which seemed more suited to a late autumn football game than a summer concert. Between enduring the cool breeze and facing the realization that summer had run its course, the audience hardly seemed in a festive mood. And the music provided by the artists both reflected and increased the general audience apathy.

FM started it off with what may have been the most ignored set I’ve ever seen in this city. The three-man band, featuring Cameron Hawkins on synthesizer and Ben Mink on electronic violin, plus drummer Martin Dellar, ran through 50 minutes of its own brand of electro-jamming. Although the music tended to be a bit ragged, the trio generally acquitted itself well. Considering the similarities between this type of music (progressive, thought-provoking, rambling) and the headline act, it was quite surprising that almost no one noticed when they left the stage.

Of course, Rush fans are an intensely loyal lot, primed for their heroes and having little regard for anyone else. Simply because the band only drew half the number of fans it usually draws, I’m not yet prepared to write it off. The weather was less than inviting for an outdoor concert, and I suspect the CNE has gleaned most of the greens from teen jeans.

Rush ran through a lengthy set which revolved around material from its Hemispheres and 2112 albums. Personally, I find the idea of a power trio with a singer who sounds like Lucy Ricardo rather trying after an hour or so. But the Rush fans who hung in through the seemingly endless (often as long as 20 minutes – which in the hands of Rush seems endless) songs seemed to be satisfied, even if they did spend most of the evening hunkered dozily on the stadium infield.

For their perseverance, the fans were treated to some new material from the band, including a song called The Spirit of Radio. The new material sounded much like the old material – pretentious and bombastic. But it sells, so why knock it.

When all was said and done, however, Labor Day weekend with Rush was certainly not the triumph it should have been. The concert was a “so what” affair, and ended the listless Toronto concert summer with a whimper, not a bang.

Yeah, that sounds like the vibes I remember from the time. It never put me off, and I reckon it didn't put you off either eh Syrinx?

[zepphead]

Rush at Varsity Stadium, Sept. 2, 1979 – Review #3

By Bruce Blackadar – Toronto Star

“Rush tries to bludgeon audience”

Attending a Rush concert is like being a masochist who’d enjoy a heart transplant operation in his friendly neighborhood hospital.

But the Rush fanatics – who used to be legion in these parts – seem to be losing their addiction to pain. Only 8,000 showed up last night at Varsity Stadium to happily endure the three-man Toronto heavy metal group’s mind-shattering barrage of technological and electronic wizardry that it cunningly disguises as music.

It’s meaningless to attempt to review what Rush is doing; that would be like trying to explain the political necessity of planting bombs in churches to a sweet old nun running a children’s orphanage.

However, we can say that the trio – Neil Peart on drums, Geddy Lee, vocals and bass, and Alex Lifeson, guitar – are certainly professional, like a team of frogmen who possess an exquisite mastery of technical matters.

First, there’s the overwhelming bass line, always present, steering the electronic carnage that makes up the bulk of the band’s albums, like Hemispheres and 2112, this way and that.

Then there’s the dentist drill voice of Lee, which after not all that many songs becomes a deft instrument of torture for the listener. It’s a voice that begins immediately at the level of pain and, miraculously, and very unfortunately, proceeds to a higher plane.

Finally, there’s the drum work of Peart, the frightful heartbeat, the rhythm of doom.

Other ingredients of the Rush assault include a mind-bending sound system, full of hysterical – and meaningless – distortions, a perfectly synchronized light show, and the band’s weird philosophical stance of intellectually primitive conservatism.

Much of what the band does – such as The Spirit of Radio, a new song they introduced to their fans last night – is wildly exciting. But the other material is pointless electronic overkill of the highest order.

Boy!! The Toronto Star seemed to really have it in for them!

[treeduck]

Did you go for the faux-leather hardback binding? They do look good, one admits. They are more ornamental than functional, anyway.

Yes, I went for the faux-leather binding, and yes, they are certainly pretty to look at!!

Got a few of these on the shelf - Neil Young and Van Halen, Dylan and so on. They are pretty, and I tend to use them for reference photos to paint or draw said musicians. I hadn`t considered actually reading them :cool:

For reference I tend to use Wandering The Face Of The Earth. Now that is a mighty tome!!

 

That book is so much fun to just read in bits and pieces! :) The touring stories from the early days really take me back to the 70's and the way things used to be. So glad I got it!

Totally agree, Blueschica. I just finished this book, reading maybe 20 pages a night, and dreading the end, partly because I know full well how the story ends of course, but partly because I looked forward to my 20 pages before bed. Just bought the first two volumes. I haven't been overly impressed with Popoff's other Rush works, but this was good.

 

Yes, the Wandering book really made me want to go back in time!

 

I'm glad to hear that about the Popoff books! I was thinking of getting them, but yes, I had purchased some of his other Rush books and wasn't overly impressed. These look better, though. :hi: Go Cubs!

[blueschica]

Did you go for the faux-leather hardback binding? They do look good, one admits. They are more ornamental than functional, anyway.

Yes, I went for the faux-leather binding, and yes, they are certainly pretty to look at!!

Got a few of these on the shelf - Neil Young and Van Halen, Dylan and so on. They are pretty, and I tend to use them for reference photos to paint or draw said musicians. I hadn`t considered actually reading them :cool:

For reference I tend to use Wandering The Face Of The Earth. Now that is a mighty tome!!

 

That book is so much fun to just read in bits and pieces! :) The touring stories from the early days really take me back to the 70's and the way things used to be. So glad I got it!

Totally agree, Blueschica. I just finished this book, reading maybe 20 pages a night, and dreading the end, partly because I know full well how the story ends of course, but partly because I looked forward to my 20 pages before bed. Just bought the first two volumes. I haven't been overly impressed with Popoff's other Rush works, but this was good.

 

Yes, the Wandering book really made me want to go back in time!

 

I'm glad to hear that about the Popoff books! I was thinking of getting them, but yes, I had purchased some of his other Rush books and wasn't overly impressed. These look better, though. :hi: Go Cubs!

 

:lol: :lol: Everyone that has had to work with him always says he's a problem, except Candace. It must be true love!

[treeduck]

Did you go for the faux-leather hardback binding? They do look good, one admits. They are more ornamental than functional, anyway.

Yes, I went for the faux-leather binding, and yes, they are certainly pretty to look at!!

Got a few of these on the shelf - Neil Young and Van Halen, Dylan and so on. They are pretty, and I tend to use them for reference photos to paint or draw said musicians. I hadn`t considered actually reading them :cool:

For reference I tend to use Wandering The Face Of The Earth. Now that is a mighty tome!!

 

That book is so much fun to just read in bits and pieces! :) The touring stories from the early days really take me back to the 70's and the way things used to be. So glad I got it!

Totally agree, Blueschica. I just finished this book, reading maybe 20 pages a night, and dreading the end, partly because I know full well how the story ends of course, but partly because I looked forward to my 20 pages before bed. Just bought the first two volumes. I haven't been overly impressed with Popoff's other Rush works, but this was good.

 

Yes, the Wandering book really made me want to go back in time!

 

I'm glad to hear that about the Popoff books! I was thinking of getting them, but yes, I had purchased some of his other Rush books and wasn't overly impressed. These look better, though. :hi: Go Cubs!

 

:lol: :lol: Everyone that has had to work with him always says he's a problem, except Candace. It must be true love!

Aye!

 

He seems alright these days. I saw an interview with him and Candace talking about how the lockdown was going on a bit too long.

[Syrinx]

Wandering the Face of the Earth is fantastic! I kept concert reviews of every concert I went to, in scrapbooks. It is great to be able to go back to a show you attended and read about it in the book. I love the snippets of early reviews. The critics for the most part hated Rush. So funny after all of these years how most people came around and now respect the band's legacy.

I'm not sure how old you are Syrinx but an old codger like me remembers what the music press were like in the UK in the late '70s ...... boy they hated Rush with a passion.

I just turned 60 zepphead. Here are a few early reviews:

 

Rush at Varsity Stadium – Sunday, September 2, 1979

Concert review by Alan Niester – Globe and Mail

When it was conceived a few months ago, last night’s pairing of Rush and FM at Varsity Stadium probably seemed like a good idea. After all, Rush members are favourite sons here, and their appearances traditionally draw good crowds. It was the Labor Day weekend, the last slice of summer freedom, and presumably the city’s students would have been dying for one last chance at a summer blow-out. And putting the concert in a nice outdoor setting should only have increased the pleasure two-fold.

But somehow, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Only 8,000 fans turned out for the concert, apathetically sitting through conditions which seemed more suited to a late autumn football game than a summer concert. Between enduring the cool breeze and facing the realization that summer had run its course, the audience hardly seemed in a festive mood. And the music provided by the artists both reflected and increased the general audience apathy.

FM started it off with what may have been the most ignored set I’ve ever seen in this city. The three-man band, featuring Cameron Hawkins on synthesizer and Ben Mink on electronic violin, plus drummer Martin Dellar, ran through 50 minutes of its own brand of electro-jamming. Although the music tended to be a bit ragged, the trio generally acquitted itself well. Considering the similarities between this type of music (progressive, thought-provoking, rambling) and the headline act, it was quite surprising that almost no one noticed when they left the stage.

Of course, Rush fans are an intensely loyal lot, primed for their heroes and having little regard for anyone else. Simply because the band only drew half the number of fans it usually draws, I’m not yet prepared to write it off. The weather was less than inviting for an outdoor concert, and I suspect the CNE has gleaned most of the greens from teen jeans.

Rush ran through a lengthy set which revolved around material from its Hemispheres and 2112 albums. Personally, I find the idea of a power trio with a singer who sounds like Lucy Ricardo rather trying after an hour or so. But the Rush fans who hung in through the seemingly endless (often as long as 20 minutes – which in the hands of Rush seems endless) songs seemed to be satisfied, even if they did spend most of the evening hunkered dozily on the stadium infield.

For their perseverance, the fans were treated to some new material from the band, including a song called The Spirit of Radio. The new material sounded much like the old material – pretentious and bombastic. But it sells, so why knock it.

When all was said and done, however, Labor Day weekend with Rush was certainly not the triumph it should have been. The concert was a “so what” affair, and ended the listless Toronto concert summer with a whimper, not a bang.

Yeah, that sounds like the vibes I remember from the time. It never put me off, and I reckon it didn't put you off either eh Syrinx?

Are you kidding? I am sure you like all Rush fans wore it as a badge of honour that our band was hated by the critics, but still sold out every show.

[zepphead]

Wandering the Face of the Earth is fantastic! I kept concert reviews of every concert I went to, in scrapbooks. It is great to be able to go back to a show you attended and read about it in the book. I love the snippets of early reviews. The critics for the most part hated Rush. So funny after all of these years how most people came around and now respect the band's legacy.

I'm not sure how old you are Syrinx but an old codger like me remembers what the music press were like in the UK in the late '70s ...... boy they hated Rush with a passion.

I just turned 60 zepphead. Here are a few early reviews:

 

Rush at Varsity Stadium – Sunday, September 2, 1979

Concert review by Alan Niester – Globe and Mail

When it was conceived a few months ago, last night’s pairing of Rush and FM at Varsity Stadium probably seemed like a good idea. After all, Rush members are favourite sons here, and their appearances traditionally draw good crowds. It was the Labor Day weekend, the last slice of summer freedom, and presumably the city’s students would have been dying for one last chance at a summer blow-out. And putting the concert in a nice outdoor setting should only have increased the pleasure two-fold.

But somehow, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Only 8,000 fans turned out for the concert, apathetically sitting through conditions which seemed more suited to a late autumn football game than a summer concert. Between enduring the cool breeze and facing the realization that summer had run its course, the audience hardly seemed in a festive mood. And the music provided by the artists both reflected and increased the general audience apathy.

FM started it off with what may have been the most ignored set I’ve ever seen in this city. The three-man band, featuring Cameron Hawkins on synthesizer and Ben Mink on electronic violin, plus drummer Martin Dellar, ran through 50 minutes of its own brand of electro-jamming. Although the music tended to be a bit ragged, the trio generally acquitted itself well. Considering the similarities between this type of music (progressive, thought-provoking, rambling) and the headline act, it was quite surprising that almost no one noticed when they left the stage.

Of course, Rush fans are an intensely loyal lot, primed for their heroes and having little regard for anyone else. Simply because the band only drew half the number of fans it usually draws, I’m not yet prepared to write it off. The weather was less than inviting for an outdoor concert, and I suspect the CNE has gleaned most of the greens from teen jeans.

Rush ran through a lengthy set which revolved around material from its Hemispheres and 2112 albums. Personally, I find the idea of a power trio with a singer who sounds like Lucy Ricardo rather trying after an hour or so. But the Rush fans who hung in through the seemingly endless (often as long as 20 minutes – which in the hands of Rush seems endless) songs seemed to be satisfied, even if they did spend most of the evening hunkered dozily on the stadium infield.

For their perseverance, the fans were treated to some new material from the band, including a song called The Spirit of Radio. The new material sounded much like the old material – pretentious and bombastic. But it sells, so why knock it.

When all was said and done, however, Labor Day weekend with Rush was certainly not the triumph it should have been. The concert was a “so what” affair, and ended the listless Toronto concert summer with a whimper, not a bang.

Yeah, that sounds like the vibes I remember from the time. It never put me off, and I reckon it didn't put you off either eh Syrinx?

Are you kidding? I am sure you like all Rush fans wore it as a badge of honour that our band was hated by the critics, but still sold out every show.

You bet!!

[ytserush]

Did you go for the faux-leather hardback binding? They do look good, one admits. They are more ornamental than functional, anyway.

Yes, I went for the faux-leather binding, and yes, they are certainly pretty to look at!!

Got a few of these on the shelf - Neil Young and Van Halen, Dylan and so on. They are pretty, and I tend to use them for reference photos to paint or draw said musicians. I hadn`t considered actually reading them :cool:

For reference I tend to use Wandering The Face Of The Earth. Now that is a mighty tome!!

 

That book is so much fun to just read in bits and pieces! :) The touring stories from the early days really take me back to the 70's and the way things used to be. So glad I got it!

Ditto. Read it cover to cover. Enjoyed it immensely. I'll pull it out again and start at the beginning this coming winter when motorcycling days are few and far between.

For me, I love looking up the details of specific gigs when I am checking out bootleg stuff. The detail is quite amazing.

 

I think so too! They did such a great job that it is sometimes disappointing when I try to look up dates or sources about other bands I saw in the past. Some have good tour archives, but others (looking at you, U2 in the 80s) are very incomplete. That Rush book should be an example for everyone!

My only problem with it is that it's such a big book! My bookshelves aren't really designed for a book of those dimensions.

I just keep it on top of my PC printer - handy then to pick up if I am doing Rush related stuff on the PC!

Have to keep mine in the entertainment center drawer with the Art Of Rush Book and some other oversized books that won't fit on the book shelf.

[ytserush]

I enjoyed reading about Ben Mink's memories of working with Geddy Lee.

 

In particular the story about Geddy being a first time session musician for Canadian folk singer-​songwriter Marie-Lynn Hammond that Ben was producing. This was for her 1983 album Vignettes.

 

Here's the songs Geddy plays bass on from Vignettes.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y9reesAEu0

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3LwMc_AumY

 

The story in the book from Ben about Geddy not knowing a B flat note on the bass during sessions for Vignettes is hilarious. An individual like him who has written all this great music with Alex has done this on intuition, memory, attention to detail, and with his ear.

 

To quote Ben "they’ve created their own musical way of communicating through complicated riffs."

 

I showed the book passage to Marie-Lynn and she replied with some memories that I can share.

 

"Regarding Geddy never being a session musician etc, yes that's true. And the story behind him playing on my album may never have been fully documented, but Ben was of course producing Vignettes, and one day he said, "Hey, I was thinking we could ask Geddy to play bass on a couple of tracks." I said, "Wow, cool, but I'm sure I can't afford him." Ben said that Geddy didn't need the $ but that he figured Geddy would like to do a gig as a regular session guy for once, and not just be "the Rush guy," who can only play Rush songs , and so if I offered him musician's union scale (the minimum the union sets for a particular gig), so that it really would feel like a session gig and not a mere favour he was doing, that he figured Geddy would go for it. And, Ben added, maybe throw in a bottle of really good single malt Scotch, which Geddy loved back then and maybe still does. So of course I agreed and that was the deal. I wrote Geddy a cheque for something like $125 (cannot recall exact amount now) and asked friends' advice re the Scotch since I know nothing about Scotch and the deal was done!"

 

I forwarded the above to author Martin Popoff, which he appreciated.

 

On a side note, I've met Marie-Lynn in person when Stringband (the 70's Canadian folk group) did a short farewell tour in 2018 when co-founder Bob Bossin decided to retire. Stringband performed in Vancouver back in February 2018, which was great.

 

Ben Mink was one of the members of Stringband, in which all three performed on that farewell tour. Photos of one of the concerts here.

 

Always knew these existed but never tracked down a copy to hear. Thanks.