Alex Lifeson's 1996 solo album Victor will be reissued on double vinyl this coming August 9th, nearly 30 years after the album's original January, 1996 release. The reissue will also be available on CD and include 4 bonus instrumental tracks. The 4 bonus tracks are instrumentals that have been available for listening on AlexLifeson.com since late 2021; Kroove, Banjo Bob and Serbs were released together as the Lerxst Demo Archives in August, 2021, and Cherry Lopez Lullaby was added later that year in October. From the product description:
Alex Lifeson is reintroducing his solo album "Victor," which was originally released on January 9, 1996. This marks Alex's sole venture into solo work, for which he handled the songwriting, production, and mixing himself.
"Victor" is making its vinyl debut. The reissue features the original album, completely remixed by Alex personally, offering significantly enhanced audio quality specially prepared for this release. Additionally, the album's fourth side features four instrumental tracks.
Among the album's guest appearances are I Mother Earth's lead vocalist Edwin and Les Claypool from Primus.
Tracklist:
SIDE A:
1. "Don't Care" (4:01)
2. "Promise" (5:44)
3. "Start Today" (3:46)
4. "Mr. X" (Instrumental) (2:24)SIDE B:
5. "At The End" (6:07)
6. "Sending Out A Warning" (4:10)
7. "Shut Up Shuttin' Up" (4:05)
8. "Strip And Go Naked" (Instrumental) (3:49)SIDE C:
9. "The Big Dance" (4:04)
10. "Victor" (6:23)
11. "I Am The Spirit" (5:32)SIDE D:
12. "Cherry Lopez Lullabye" (3:22)
13. "Serbs" (3:46)
14. "Kroove" (4:52)
15. "Banjo Bob" (4:10)
You can pre-order the album on Amazon at this location (or on CD here). Geddy Lee is also re-releasing the 2019 Record Store Day vinyl version of his 2000 solo album My Favorite Headache on August 9th. This version will mirror the RSD release, and will include the same 2 bonus instrumental tracks from that edition. You can pre-order it on Amazon here.
Conan O'Brien has a show on Sirius XM's Conan O'Brien Radio with his longtime producer Jordan Schlansky called the Conan and Jordan Show. Jordan Schlansky has a very specific favorite mastering of Rush's Tom Sawyer - the song that opens the show - so Conan decided to invite Geddy Lee onto the show to surprise him. Conan opens the show by asking Jordan about why he likes this particular pressing, and at one point introduces Geddy Lee. Ged sticks around and chats for about 5-10 minutes. The entire appearance was captured on video and you can check it out below or on YouTube.
Blogger Jay Roberts posted a reprint of a popular article he wrote back in June of 2000 titled YYZ: The Rush Pilgrimage which describes a Rush pilgrimage Roberts and a pal took in June, 2000. They used the original "A Rush Fan's Guide to Toronto" by Bruce Holtgren as a starting point and went from there. It's a great read if you are planning a trip to Toronto and want to check out all the Rush sites.
Phish's Trey Anastasio was the subject of a new interview in Rolling Stone in the lead-up to his 60th birthday and Phish's summer tour. At one point he talks about how most longtime bands absolutely loathe one another, with a few exceptions (thanks RushFanForever):
... A lot of bands smile onstage together. And as soon as they get offstage, they go in six different directions, as fast as they possibly can. Almost always. They can't even be in catering together. We really, sincerely like each other. It's weird, after all these years. The only other bands I've ever met where that wasn't the case was Rush and U2. They really liked each other. But Rush knew each other in middle school. ...
American Songwriter posted an article this past week on the meaning behind Rush's Limelight from their breakout Moving Pictures album. The article explores what the song is about and how it represents lyricist Neil Peart's demeanor. You can check it out online here (thanks Joe C). Speaking of Limelight, the song was the subject of a recent video posted on the Drumeo YouTube channel as part of their series where they recruit drummers to add a drum part to a popular song that they've never heard before. Their latest video features The Mars Volta drummer Philo Tsoungui adding a drum part to Rush's Limelight. The most surprising part of the video is the fact that she'd never heard Rush before, yet did a very respectable job. You can listen to her drum part, along with her reaction after hearing the original below or on YouTube.
On this past week's episode of the Something for Nothing Rush FanCast (episode #182), hosts Steve and Gerry attempt the impossible feat of ranking EVERY single Rush song. You can listen in below or wherever you get your podcasts:
On the latest episode of Rush Roundtable (#235) on the Rushfans YouTube channel, the panel continues their discussion of Vapor Trails with How It Is:
That's all for this week. Stay cool and have a great weekend!
