It was an understandably quiet week for Rush news due to the Holidays, although we did learn that the upcoming issue of the UK's Prog magazine features a cover story on Rush. Issue #52 of Prog will hit newsstands this coming January 5th and the cover is a collage of 40 Rush-related images, with the taglines Rush Chronicles: New album? New tour? Rush reveal all; R40: 40 years of the most important band you've ever heard; and 40 famous Rush fans choose their 40 favorite Rush songs. The feature also includes an interview with Neil Peart where he talks about his latest book Far and Near: On Days Like These, and you can read a teaser of the interview online here.
It's likely that many Rush fans received a copy of Rush's R40 40th Anniversary Collectors Box Set (6 Blu-ray discs or 10 DVDs) under their Christmas trees yesterday morning. The set includes Rush's 5 most recent live videos (Rush in Rio, R30, Snakes & Arrows Live, Time Machine, Clockwork Angels Tour) along with an R40 bonus disc, all contained in a 52 page hardback book measuring 305mm x 225mm (12" x 9"). The bonus disc includes the full Laura Secord Secondary School 1974 footage including the 2 unreleased tracks I've Been Runnin' and The Loser, along with their cover of Bad Boy. Previews of both of the unreleased tracks are available on Rush's YouTube channel (I've Been Runnin', The Loser), and you can read interviews with Alex and Geddy discussing the tracks on radio.com (Geddy, Alex). The R40 bonus disc also includes the Passaic, NJ Capitol Theatre show from 1976; Lock and Key live from 1988; Rush at the Molson Amphitheatre in 1997; the I Still Love You Man video from 2011; and the Rush portion of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction in 2013. The Rush Backstage Club and Best Buy are also offering a special edition of the set that includes an extra R40 Completist disc (in addition to the bonus disc) that contains different content based on whether it's the Blu-ray or DVD version, with the ultimate goal being to ensure that the same content is included in both the DVD and Blu-ray packages. You can see all the details regarding the Completist DVD in this post and check out the liner notes at Cygnus-X1.net. Last week Rush posted a new video trailer for the Completist edition which you can check out on YouTube. Eagle Rock Entertainment has also made the Completist content available for free download at R40Bonus.com, although it's been hit-or-miss over the last week as to whether the links work. As of right now they work, so get 'em while they're hot! Ultimate Classic Rock is currently running a contest to win an R40 box set. There's also this review of the R40 Completist edition from Progarchy.com.
Rush announced a few weeks ago that they will be releasing all of the Mercury-era Rush albums on vinyl along with a few select titles on Blu-ray audio in 2015. They are calling it the 12 Months of Rush, as they will be releasing one or two titles a month each month beginning with Fly By Night on January 27th. All titles will be reissued on high-quality vinyl with a download card for a digital audio version, with Fly By Night, A Farewell to Kings and Signals also getting a Blu-ray Audio release. For all the details, check out the Rush.com press release. Here are the pre-order links along with the release dates for most of the titles:
Fly By Night (01/27/15) - Vinyl | Blu-ray audio
Caress of Steel (02/17/15) - Vinyl
2112 (03/17/15) - Vinyl
All the World's a Stage (03/17/15) - Vinyl
A Farewell to Kings (04/21/15) - Vinyl | Blu-ray Audio
Hemispheres (05/19/15) - Vinyl
Permanent Waves (06/16/15) - Vinyl
Moving Pictures (07/21/15) - Vinyl
Exit ... Stage Left (07/21/15) - Vinyl
Signals (08/18/15) - Vinyl | Blu-ray Audio
Grace Under Pressure (09/15/15) - Vinyl
The Clockwork Angels graphic novel series that Neil Peart co-wrote with Kevin J. Anderson was released in six issues between March and November of the past year, and will be getting a release as a single-volume graphic novel next April. Earlier this month Anderson also released a companion book to the graphic novel series via his Wordfire Press publishing label titled Clockwork Angels: The Comic Scripts. The book contains the scripts which Anderson wrote to guide comic book artist Nick Robles in creating the graphic novel. Brad Birzer at Progarchy.com wrote a great review of the book this past week, giving it a 10 out of 10:
... Looking at THE COMIC SCRIPTS, one readily sees that Anderson anticipated and then directed every single panel of the comics. He describes the emotions on the faces as well as the technology that will (certainly) jolt the reader into a sort of glee. Anderson presents every aspect of the CLOCKWORK world in all of its alchemical madness and glory. By describing every thing visually, Anderson paints an interesting portrait of this world that could tease the Rush fan and the sci-fi/fantasy reader without end. Some day, lit crit folks will have a field day deconstructing all of this. ...
Peart and Anderson are also working on a new companion novel to Clockwork Angels titled Clockwork Lives which will expand on the stories of some minor characters from Clockwork Angels and should be released next year. Anderson has been teasing excerpts from the upcoming novel via his Twitter feed over the past couple of weeks.
The Andrew MacNaughtan Photographic Arts site sent out a newsletter earlier this week regarding a Boxing Day sale they are currently running up through December 31st. You can read all the details in this post.
This evening DJ Eddie Trunk will be celebrating another Holiday Rush on his Q104.3 radio show, where he'll be playing 3 hours of non-stop Rush music. You can listen online at the Q104.3 website tonight at 11PM EST (thanks What-A-Rush).
The Santa Fe Reporter's David Riedel used a Geddy Lee analogy in his review of the new movie Horrible Bosses 2 this past week:
For years people I know have railed against Rush singer Geddy Lee's singing voice. His sound, to some-and especially on the early stuff-can feel shrill. One friend asked me how the guy doesn't break windows. Because I love Geddy Lee, I had no idea what his detractors meant until now. Charlie Day is the Geddy Lee of contemporary comedies. How viewers can find a guy with the most nasally, whiny, ear-piercing shriek funny is beyond me. ...
Ultimate Classic Rock put together their list of all the Rush albums, ranked from worst to best this past week. Topping the list were Fly By Night, 2112 and Moving Pictures.
Here's the video trailer for the R40 Completist edition that Rush posted to YouTube last week:
I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas yesterday and is looking forward to the New Year. 2014 was a quiet year for Rush news as they took an extended break after their lengthy 2012-13 tour in support of Clockwork Angels. Although nothing has been officially announced yet, it looks like 2015 will be a more eventful year for the band as they seem to be planning on some kind of 40th anniversary tour for the coming year. If that's the case, then Rush fans should anticipate some news on that front relatively soon in the new year. Let's hope so! Have a great weekend and a Happy New Year everybody!
