Take That Lampshade Off Yo Head!

[DadRockGirl]

So I've just read that Headlong Flight was originally an instrumental called 'Take That Lampshade Off Yo Head!' and on hearing this, I tried to imagine how it would sound without the vocals and now I really want to hear it for real! I think it would be so much better. Does anyone know of an instrumental only version that's knocking about on the internet?

[Blue J]

Why am I not surprised at that title for a Rush instrumental? :P

 

I'd never heard of that before, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's out there. I'd be interested to hear it, too.

[Narps]

I would prefer it without the vocals too. At this point I would be into an entire album of instrumentals though... :dweez:

[Blue J]

Prefer it without vocals? So much better without vocals??

 

Pish posh I say to both of you, pish posh!

[Lucas]

I don't know about the song, but this reminds me of the story Ace Frehley tells in his autobiography of when RUSH toured with KISS circa 1975 . .

 

I have so many road stories, but one that always comes to mind is the tour we did in the summer of 1975 with Rush opening for us. I always liked Rush (and still do). After a few weeks on tour I started to get to know the guys in the band, and their very funny tour manager, Howie. One thing led to another and before long Peter and I were getting visits from the Rush boys. It usually turned into late evenings filled with beer and grass and whatever else was around. Alex Lifeson, the band's guitarist, used to do this hysterical routine with a large paper laundry bag. He'd draw a ridiculous giant face on the bag with a black marker and put it over his head with a couple of holes poked in it so he could see and breathe. Everyone in the room at this point was either drunk or stoned, but usually a little of both. Anyway, Alex would go into this routine with the bag over his head and while smoking a joint out of his eye he put everyone into total hysterics. He really milked the routine until everyone was gasping for air!

 

http://www.rushisaband.com/images/201111/2077.f.jpg

 

.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Lucas

[Look to Sirius]

"'Headlong Flight' was one of those songs that was a joy to write and record from beginning to end. Alex [Lifeson] and I had blast jamming in my home studio one day before the 2nd leg of the Time Machine Tour and I did not revisit that jam until a year later. Alex and I assembled the song to be an instrumental and its original title was 'Take that lampshade off yo head!' but once we saw the lyrics Neil had written for 'Headlong Flight,' I knew that the spirit of the lyrics matched the instrumental perfectly and it was just a matter of making them fit and writing the melodies." Geddy Lee, PRNewswire.com, April 19, 2012

[DadRockGirl]

Why am I not surprised at that title for a Rush instrumental? :P

 

I'd never heard of that before, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's out there. I'd be interested to hear it, too.

 

I thought the same, I absolutely love that title!

[DadRockGirl]

I would prefer it without the vocals too. At this point I would be into an entire album of instrumentals though... :dweez:

 

I'm really loving their instrumentals at the moment, their weirdness really comes out in them :)

[DadRockGirl]

Prefer it without vocals? So much better without vocals??

 

Pish posh I say to both of you, pish posh!

 

Okay, don't get me wrong, I really love the vocals on the song (especially the big steel wheel part or whatever) but I can just imagine it being so awesome as an instrumental!

[DadRockGirl]

I don't know about the song, but this reminds me of the story Ace Frehley tells in his autobiography of when RUSH toured with KISS circa 1975 . .

 

I have so many road stories, but one that always comes to mind is the tour we did in the summer of 1975 with Rush opening for us. I always liked Rush (and still do). After a few weeks on tour I started to get to know the guys in the band, and their very funny tour manager, Howie. One thing led to another and before long Peter and I were getting visits from the Rush boys. It usually turned into late evenings filled with beer and grass and whatever else was around. Alex Lifeson, the band's guitarist, used to do this hysterical routine with a large paper laundry bag. He'd draw a ridiculous giant face on the bag with a black marker and put it over his head with a couple of holes poked in it so he could see and breathe. Everyone in the room at this point was either drunk or stoned, but usually a little of both. Anyway, Alex would go into this routine with the bag over his head and while smoking a joint out of his eye he put everyone into total hysterics. He really milked the routine until everyone was gasping for air!

 

http://www.rushisaband.com/images/201111/2077.f.jpg

 

.

 

Oh my, this had me stifling laughter in work Gotta love Alex!

[Blue J]

Prefer it without vocals? So much better without vocals??

 

Pish posh I say to both of you, pish posh!

 

Okay, don't get me wrong, I really love the vocals on the song (especially the big steel wheel part or whatever) but I can just imagine it being so awesome as an instrumental!

 

Okay, then. Agreed!

[TexMike]

I don't know about the song, but this reminds me of the story Ace Frehley tells in his autobiography of when RUSH toured with KISS circa 1975 . .

 

I have so many road stories, but one that always comes to mind is the tour we did in the summer of 1975 with Rush opening for us. I always liked Rush (and still do). After a few weeks on tour I started to get to know the guys in the band, and their very funny tour manager, Howie. One thing led to another and before long Peter and I were getting visits from the Rush boys. It usually turned into late evenings filled with beer and grass and whatever else was around. Alex Lifeson, the band's guitarist, used to do this hysterical routine with a large paper laundry bag. He'd draw a ridiculous giant face on the bag with a black marker and put it over his head with a couple of holes poked in it so he could see and breathe. Everyone in the room at this point was either drunk or stoned, but usually a little of both. Anyway, Alex would go into this routine with the bag over his head and while smoking a joint out of his eye he put everyone into total hysterics. He really milked the routine until everyone was gasping for air!

 

http://www.rushisaband.com/images/201111/2077.f.jpg

 

.

Did Alex really draw that face? If so, that's pretty impressive. From reading the story, I was expecting something a whole lot simpler! Wonder how long it's been since he's seen this pic and what he'd say about it now. Would've been funny if he wore that during part of a Rush show, maybe during the La Villa rant.

[hcm]

I would prefer it without the vocals too. At this point I would be into an entire album of instrumentals though... :dweez:

I always thought it would be awesome for a live show too!

[TexMike]

At this point I would be into an entire album of instrumentals though... :dweez:

Yes!!! That is what I keep hoping for. If Neil is completely done, Ged and Al should just go in and write the music they would've made for the next Rush album (presumably continuing in the vein of CA) and just keep it without vocals. Record it with a hotshot drummer who's in the same league as Neil (but not an exact clone) and call it something other than Rush. (P.S., I think "The Anarchist" would've also made a good instrumental). Edited September 25, 2015 by TexMike

[Blue J]

If Neil is completely done, Ged and Al should just go in and write the music they would've made for the next Rush album (presumably continuing in the vein of CA) and just keep it without vocals. Record it with a hotshot drummer who's in the same league as Neil

 

Stop right there.

 

I can appreciate your enthusiasm, but...

 

[Narps]

At this point I would be into an entire album of instrumentals though... :dweez:

Yes!!! That is what I keep hoping for. If Neil is completely done, Ged and Al should just go in and write the music they would've made for the next Rush album (presumably continuing in the vein of CA) and just keep it without vocals. Record it with a hotshot drummer who's in the same league as Neil (but not an exact clone) and call it something other than Rush. (P.S., I think "The Anarchist" would've also made a good instrumental).

I am old enough now that I could get into something like this. No time for sentimentality anymore... :cheers: Edited September 25, 2015 by Narps

[Digital Dad]

I find it completely improbable in this day and age that they do not have demo versions of these songs lying around in complete umastered form. It is a tragedy they do not find these things interesting enough to save for release somewhere down the line.

[Blue J]

I find it completely improbable in this day and age that they do not have demo versions of these songs lying around in complete umastered form. It is a tragedy they do not find these things interesting enough to save for release somewhere down the line.

 

Hey, unless they completely part company with Ray Danniels, anything is possible! :P

Edited September 25, 2015 by Blue J

[Jaminbenb]

"'Headlong Flight' was one of those songs that was a joy to write and record from beginning to end. Alex [Lifeson] and I had blast jamming in my home studio one day before the 2nd leg of the Time Machine Tour and I did not revisit that jam until a year later. Alex and I assembled the song to be an instrumental and its original title was 'Take that lampshade off yo head!' but once we saw the lyrics Neil had written for 'Headlong Flight,' I knew that the spirit of the lyrics matched the instrumental perfectly and it was just a matter of making them fit and writing the melodies." Geddy Lee, PRNewswire.com, April 19, 2012

 

 

Cool quote! Wonder what some of the other tunes were like before they decided upon the "theme" album...

[Jaminbenb]

I find it completely improbable in this day and age that they do not have demo versions of these songs lying around in complete umastered form. It is a tragedy they do not find these things interesting enough to save for release somewhere down the line.

 

Which is why I don't get the "we don't have leftover stuff" argument when it comes in respect to stuff for box sets ?!?! We know that they have soundcheck jams, and demos....to me that's as valuable as an unreleased song. (as are alternate mixes of things) Just from talking to my old recording III professor from way back, he said that a few things just fall into place, but others take a while, and there may be 10-15 different versions of any given song, in which at least about 5 of those sound completely different than the final version.

[Digital Dad]

It's gotta be there. They are totally taking thier fans for granted latching onto that stuff. Maybe it is only for hardcore fans so skip retail issues and sell them online. I don't get it.

 

Some artists should definitely not be responsible for the contents on their unreleased recordings/vaults. Sadly Rush is one of them.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Digital Dad

[Look to Sirius]

It's gotta be there. They are totally taking thier fans for granted latching onto that stuff. Maybe it is only for hardcore fans so skip retail issues and sell them online. I don't get it.

 

Some artists should definitely not be responsible for the contents on their unreleased recordings/vaults. Sadly Rush is one of them.

[Jaminbenb]

It's gotta be there. They are totally taking thier fans for granted latching onto that stuff. Maybe it is only for hardcore fans so skip retail issues and sell them online. I don't get it.

 

Some artists should definitely not be responsible for the contents on their unreleased recordings/vaults. Sadly Rush is one of them.

 

I'd actually be interested if their engineer's have the 2-tracks that they ran during sessions (to catch accidents and stuff like that during sessions) My old prof said that he kept most of them over the years, in fact, one night he brought in one from a Billy Joel session that was hilarious! Billy was getting tired of working, and at the end of the tape just said something to the effect of "F*ck this, someone just order a damn pizza, and let's come back tomorrow"! Other stuff was him telling bad jokes in between takes, and stuff like that.

 

Any engineer worth his salt would run those...but who knows if they were able to keep them. (I think I have some Zeppelin bootlegs somewhere that have sessions stuff like that)

 

I'm sure that the average fan (that knows nothing more than the "hits") wouldn't want to hear stuff like that, but a lot of us on this board would live to hear that stuff!

 

We did a demo session for Henry Gross (one hit wonder with Shannon) and ran one...he was a hoot!

[x1yyz]

I find it completely improbable in this day and age that they do not have demo versions of these songs lying around in complete umastered form. It is a tragedy they do not find these things interesting enough to save for release somewhere down the line.

 

Which is why I don't get the "we don't have leftover stuff" argument when it comes in respect to stuff for box sets ?!?! We know that they have soundcheck jams, and demos....to me that's as valuable as an unreleased song. (as are alternate mixes of things) Just from talking to my old recording III professor from way back, he said that a few things just fall into place, but others take a while, and there may be 10-15 different versions of any given song, in which at least about 5 of those sound completely different than the final version.

 

If they do have any of those things they probably don't want to release them because they aren't the finished product, and as such they don't sound good. It would be akin to you not wanting your publicity photo to be one of you when you just woke up in the morning, and everything's a mess ;)

[Jaminbenb]

I find it completely improbable in this day and age that they do not have demo versions of these songs lying around in complete umastered form. It is a tragedy they do not find these things interesting enough to save for release somewhere down the line.

 

Which is why I don't get the "we don't have leftover stuff" argument when it comes in respect to stuff for box sets ?!?! We know that they have soundcheck jams, and demos....to me that's as valuable as an unreleased song. (as are alternate mixes of things) Just from talking to my old recording III professor from way back, he said that a few things just fall into place, but others take a while, and there may be 10-15 different versions of any given song, in which at least about 5 of those sound completely different than the final version.

 

If they do have any of those things they probably don't want to release them because they aren't the finished product, and as such they don't sound good. It would be akin to you not wanting your publicity photo to be one of you when you just woke up in the morning, and everything's a mess ;)

 

True, and I don't doubt that at all, but I think that a contrast, or even a developmental path would be an interesting thing to hear... Think about how interesting listening to the sound check jam for <insert song title> would be, then the demo stage, and a few mixes before the finished product

 

I also think that was why at first they didn't want bootleg tapes of concerts out there because of mistakes...but for some reason they seemed to get lax on it over the years... (not that they allow you to tape like the jam bands do, but that they seem to allow sites to have it out there for download)