The double vinyl reissue of Alex Lifeson's 1996 solo album Victor officially released this past Friday, nearly 30 years after the album's original January, 1996 release. The reissue - also available on CD - includes 4 bonus instrumental tracks 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. This is the first vinyl edition of the album to be released, and the reissue features the original album, completely remixed by Alex personally, offering significantly enhanced audio quality specially prepared for this release. You can order the album on Amazon at this location (or on CD here) or other online retailers. The reissue also includes new linernotes penned by superfan Ray Wawrzyniak, and Eric at Power Windows has transcribed them and made them available online here.
Geddy Lee also re-released the 2019 Record Store Day vinyl version of his 2000 solo album My Favorite Headache this past Friday. This version mirrors the RSD release, and include the same 2 bonus instrumental tracks from that edition, but does NOT include the two tracks he released during his book tour, namely Gone and I Am You Are. You can order MFH on Amazon here.
Speaking of Geddy, Dirk was the guest on the latest episode of the Toronto Star's Deep Left Field podcast with Mike Wilner to discuss all things baseball and more. From the episode description:
This week in Deep Left Field, we are joined by honest-to-goodness Canadian rock royalty. Geddy Lee is here for an in-depth conversation about baseball and the Blue Jays, two of his great loves. We remember Jays history and discuss what went wrong this year, what he thinks of the current front office, and the renovations that forced him to move back a couple of rows at Rogers Centre. We also talk about his music, his family, his bandmates and more. Geddy's book "My Effin' Life" is currently available wherever finer books are sold.
You can listen in to the podcast below or at this location or wherever you get your podcasts.
Back in the summer of 2021, Neil Peart's extensive classic car collection - dubbed the Silver Surfers by Neil himself - was sold at Gooding & Company's 17th annual Pebble Beach Auctions. Just before the auction, it was revealed via an announcement at Rush.com that this collection of classic cars was the subject of a coffee table book that Neil Peart was working on prior to his untimely passing 4 years ago. Since that initial announcement very little additional information had surfaced, until this past January when the book's May 2024 release date and cover were revealed. However, back in March they announced that the book would not release until September, and it now looks like it has been delayed once again, with a slated released date of November 19th. The book comes in at 96 pages and is slated for release on November 19th with pre-orders available here. You can check out an image of the cover here.
Guitarist Chris Herin of Detroit-based prog rockers Tiles will be releasing his debut solo album Hiding In Plain Sight this coming November via The Laser's Edge, and one of the guest musicians on the album is Rush's Alex Lifeson, as first mentioned in this post from last summer. Alex plays on a track titled Second Ending which also features vocalist Matthew Parmenter of Detroit-based band Discipline. Some other notable guests on the album are Doane Perry, Michael Sadler, Peter Frampton, Kim Mitchell, and Crown Lands. Tiles has several connections with Rush, most notably their producer - former Rush producer Terry Brown - who also produced Hiding In Plain Sight. Brown introduced Lifeson to the band's work back in the 2000s and Lifeson ended up guesting on their 2008 Fly Paper album, adding guitar tracks to the song Sacred and Mundane. Rush album artist Hugh Syme also did the album's cover, as he did for most of Tiles' previous albums. From the announcement:
... Hiding In Plain Sight is a collection of thoughtful observations and somber meditations while Herin sidestepped through the debris field and collateral damage of the growing Alzheimer's storm. Eleven watershed moments that echo the fragile impermanence of life and encourage the listener to turn inward in sympathetic introspection. Musical adventure abounds as sprawling vocal hooks glide over angular riffs, richly textured instrumentation, and brooding ambient orchestrations. Abundant prog filigree adorns the album and is well-represented in the album's lead single and advance video for "The Darkest Hour" - a standout track featuring odd meter gymnastics, an army of guitars, and intricate percussion - and is especially notable for boasting members of the classic Jethro Tull line up joining forces for the first time in over twelve years! ... Chris Herin proclaims with the album's announcement, "I'm honored to have worked with so many talented musicians and to witness these songs take shape under Terry's watchful eye and unfailing ear. His meticulous care and artistic commitment meant the unique characteristics of each performance influenced the music's evolution and identity. I thank everyone involved for their distinctive contributions and for helping create a unified spirit of purpose in honor for those afflicted and affected by dementia. A portion of this album's proceeds will be donated to Alzheimer's charities." ...
The album's second track The Darkest Hour serves as the lead single for the album, and features Jethro Tull alums guitarist Martin Barre and drummer Doane Perry, along with vocals by Mark Mikel, who has also played with Jethro Tull as well as Alan Parsons and more. You can watch a video of The Darkest Hour online here. The album will be released on digipack CD and streaming on November 1st with pre-orders available here.
Grapes for Humanity is an organization that helps to raise funds to benefit humanitarian causes around the world with the assistance of the international wine community, and Geddy Lee is a member of the board of directors. Last week, the Board gathered at the home of Geddy Lee in Toronto for a reception with the beneficiaries of their 2024 Charity Fine Wine Auction. In an afternoon ceremony they presented checks of $163,000 each to The HALO Trust USA Tree Canada / Arbres Canada and Nature Conservancy of Canada / Conservation de la nature Canada. Photographer Richard Sibbalt captured some photos of the event, which can be seen on the organization's official Instagram page:
Guitar.com posted their review of the Lerxst Snow Dog pedal last week, calling it, "a wonderfully thick octave fuzz from Alex Lifeson", and giving it 9/10:
... The most fiendish thing about the Snow Dog might be getting hold of one - it was a Reverb-exclusive at launch and unlike the By-Tor, it's not currently available on the Lerxst website, though that will hopefully soon change. That and the fact that it's $295 makes it a significant investment one way or another. But when I'm putting down my own hard-earned on a pedal, I want to have something that inspires me musically, and gives me plenty of options. With it's switching options and wealth of tones, the Snow-Dog absolutely ticks both of those boxes - it might be the last fuzz pedal you ever need.
Legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Andy Kim was recently interviewed for EverythingZoomer.com (thanks RushFanForever), and spoke a bit about working with Alex Lifeson, who has been a regular staple at Kim's annual charity Christmas show.
... Kim was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006, got a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2018, entered the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2019 and received the Order of Canada in 2023. He remembers when Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson wrote a letter recommending him for the Walk of Fame; it said, "If there isn't enough room for Andy to get a star this year, please cover up half of mine and give it to him." ...
Goldmine Magazine posted their list of The Top 20 rock drummers with their own sound this past week, and Rush's Neil Peart made the cut at #17:
Yeah, I know, it's weird seeing The Professor so far down any list about drumming, but Neil's sound changed a few times over the year to where there's no definitive identity, but, to his credit, quite a few different ones. Let's highlight two: one is his use of tuned toms round-housed from high to low with single stroke rolls. This is what inspired so many '80s greats to pick up the sticks-no drummer turned teens into drummers more than Neil Peart, except maybe John Bonham. A couple celebrated moments in this respect are "The Temples of Syrinx" and "Tom Sawyer." The second is his herky-jerky, neo-prog approach to electronic drums, most notably from Grace Under Pressure through Hold Your Fire.
Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro was recently interviewed for Rolling Stone to talk about the band's reunion and upcoming studio album. At one point he was asked about all the bands that have been retiring lately and whether Jane's Addiction might follow suit, mentioning such acts as Aerosmith, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac and Rush (thanks RushFanForever):
... you mention Rush. What's funny is that Rush were my earliest childhood influences. The same goes for Stephen Perkins. But oddly enough, Perry and Eric hated Rush. They just hated them. But if you listen to songs like "Three Days," "Then She Did," or "Trip Away," and I could go on, you can hear the Rush influences that Stephen and I snuck in there that they didn't know about. Let's just put this this way: They were all about Joy Division back then. They weren't about "Limelight." ...
On the latest episode of Rush Roundtable (#240) on the Rushfans YouTube channel, the panel continues their discussion of Vapor Trails with Earthshine:
50 years ago this past Wednesday, on August 14, 1974, the classic line-up of Rush with Neil Peart on drums played their very first live show, opening up for Uriah Heep and Manfred Mann at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. They played a short, 4-song set consisting of Finding My Way, In The Mood, Bad Boy, Working Man and a short Neil Peart drum solo - his first ever as a member of Rush. You can listen to a bootleg recording of the set below or on YouTube.
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!!
