Rush and Yes fans were treated to some big news last Friday when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced that Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will have the honor of inducting Yes into the Rock Hall at the April 7th ceremony at the Barclays Center in New York. The members of Yes that will be inducted are Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Alan White, Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin and Chris Squire - whose wife Scottie will be accepting on her late husband's behalf. Speaking of the late bass legend, Squire actually mentioned wanting Rush to induct the band during an interview a few years ago:
I haven't given it much thought, maybe those Rush guys who got in last year! I'm pretty good friends with Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins (of the Foo Fighters) and they did a great speech for Rush... so probably not them, since they just did one. But if you know Geddy (Lee), let him know that that would be fine by me. I don't know how these things work, though, I don't know how much control we have, how much control the voting committee has, and of course we're still kind of wondering how many members of Yes would be inducted.
Tickets for the 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony went on sale to the public earlier this morning at 10AM EST, and already look to be close to selling out. There are plenty of overpriced tickets available on Ticket Broker websites though. The other inductees for 2017 are ELO, Joan Baez, Journey, Nile Rogers, Pearl Jam, and Tupac Shakur. Neil Young and Jackson Browne will be inducting Pearl Jam and Joan Baez respectively.
Rush and Spotify have teamed up for a contest where the winner will get a Rush 2112 40th anniversary prize package consisting of the 2112 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Box Set, a DW Starman snare drum, a custom Fender Signature Model Geddy Lee Jazz bass guitar, and a copy of the Rush: Time Stand Still documentary. The contest runs through February 19th and all you need to do to enter is to be a Spotify member and follow the Rush Best Of playlist as detailed at this link. Rush's 2112 40th anniversary edition box set released last month and is available in several different packages. The standard edition of the 2112 40th anniversary reissue is a 2CD+DVD set which includes a CD of 2112 remastered (the version from last year's 2112 vinyl reissue), another CD of some rock celebrity covers of a few of the various songs on the album along with some live outtakes, and a DVD of the newly-restored Live at Capitol Theatre 1976 show along with some other bonus videos. There's also a 3 LP version with the same content as the CDs along with a few bonus goodies. The Super Deluxe edition contains both the 2CD+DVD and 3 LP sets along with some additional bonus content. The cover songs included on the set are 2112: Overture from members of the Foo Fighters (audio here at the 46 minute mark), A Passage to Bangkok from Billy Talent (audio), The Twilight Zone by Steven Wilson (audio), Something for Nothing by Jacob Moon (audio) and Tears by Alice In Chains (audio). One of the live outtakes on the bonus CD is a 1976 Massey Hall recording of Something for Nothing which is available for streaming online here. Rob Bowman wrote the very extensive liner notes included with the set, and Eric at Power Windows has transcribed them and made them available online here, and John at Cygnus-X1.net has all the artwork/scans available on his site here. You can get all the details regarding the contents of the 2112 40th anniversary edition via the official Rush.com press release and also watch a 1-and-a-half minute promotional unboxing video which highlights the contents of the box set here. There were a couple of new reviews of the set released this past week including this one from Relix.com, and this 9/10 review from PopMatters.com. Assuming you don't already have it, you can order the 2112 40th anniversary edition on Amazon (2CD+DVD, 3 LP, Super Deluxe), or pick it up at your local retailer.
Alex Lifeson makes a guest appearance on Triumph guitarist Rik Emmett's new solo project RES9 (Rik Emmett Resolution 9) was released via Mascot Label Group back in November. Lifeson plays the 12-string guitar on the track Human Race and also appears alongside Dream Theater's James LaBrie on End of the Line. You can listen to both of these tracks on YouTube (End of the Line, Human Race), and listen to samples of all of the album's eleven tracks here. The members of RESolution9 are from Rik's touring quartet and include Dave Dunlop on guitar, Steve Skingley on bass, and Paul DeLong on drums, with Dave and Steve co-producing the project. In addition to guest spots from Lifeson and LaBrie, Emmett's former Triumph bandmates bassist Mike Levine and drummer Gil Moore also appear on the album. Emmett was recently interviewed for Music Aficionado to talk about the album and list off his top 5 guitar albums. Here's what he said regarding Lifeson's contribution (thanks RushFanForever):
... "Alex and I are the same age, and we come from the same era musically." Emmett says. "He's a very intuitive player. He finds something in his head and he makes it happen on the fretboard. He's a gifted man in so many ways, and he locks into things very emotionally and physically. It was such a joy to watch him do his thing on this record. I had a Vox AC10 lying around in case he wanted to use it, but he plugged into his Lerxst amp." ...
A video trailer for the album is also available and features several clips of Alex Lifeson in studio with Emmett. You can watch the video trailer on YouTube here, and order RES9 via Amazon.
Crave Online posted their list of the 10 Best Live Drum Solos Recorded in Rock History this past week and Neil Peart's R30 drum solo made the cut at #4.
29 years ago today on February 3, 1988, Rush played the Sports Arena in San Diego, CA on the Hold Your Fire tour with Tommy Shaw opening. They recorded Mission which was later released on A Show Of Hands. Here's the video version of Mission, which was filmed in the UK later in the tour.
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!
