News on upcoming Rush Album

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:34 pm

October 19, 2006 - 16:55

New Rush album to reflect on faith, due next year, says drummer Peart

CASSANDRA SZKLARSKI

TORONTO (CP) - Canadian rock icons Rush are working on a collection of new songs based on Neil Peart's reflections on faith, the drummer said Thursday from his home in Los Angeles.

Peart said he, high-pitched singer Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson spent much of this year crafting the power trio's first slate of new material since 2004's "Vapor Trails" and expect to begin recording in November for an album release early next year.

Peart revealed few details about the record, except to say that reflections on faith emerged as a clear theme from the very beginning.

"I tried hard to look at it as a subject - what's good about it - and tried to balance that against what I saw as not being a good thing," said Peart, noting his experience as a Canadian living in the United States for the past six years has given him a unique perspective on world events.

"All we're seeing, especially in the world today, is a very malevolent kind of faith, in fundamentalism of all kinds, on both sides. One of the lines I use in the new songs equates Middle East and Middle West, because this stuff is going on in both localities, although both would probably be insulted by the comparison."

Peart said much of the new material was hashed out long distance, with him exchanging lyrics from Los Angeles for the song sketches of Lee and Lifeson, who both live in Toronto.

His musings on religion emerged during a motorcycle road trip he took across the United States in 2004, the year the band celebrated their 30th anniversary with a tour.

He turned the experience into a book of anecdotes and stories, "Roadshow: Landscape With Drums: A Concert Tour By Motorcycle." "I don't need it in my life, is the way I would put it," Peart said of faith. "But I see other people who do and other people for whom it's definitely a positive sort of reinforcement of a kind of solace and those are all good things."

Still, he says he's not shy about tackling an issue that is often considered taboo.

Peart said a teacher once told him to never judge people by things they can't change. Therefore, religion is fair game, he says.

"To me, those are things they can change, so I feel entitled to look at them in that light," he says.

The band's last album was "Feedback", including eight cover songs released in 2004 to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of the first Rush album, "Rush."

patsy stone · Post by **patsy stone** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:32 pm

Curious to hear.

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 5:48 pm

I am as well. I would be curious to hear how Neil would pen down lyrics concerning religion. I know he has briefly touched the subject in some songs, but this sounds to be a bit more in depth.

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:05 pm

More recent news on the forthcoming CD:

On the "more official news front", Alex Lifeson apparently called in to Jeff Burrows' radio show, "The Tea Party", on Canadian radio station 95.1 The Rock. According to various sources who heard the conversation, Alex confirmed that the album should be ready for a late April / Early May release. Additionally, studio video footage of the recording sessions were shot which may make their way onto DVD in the future. Finally, Alex confirmed that Rush would tour beginning in June and would cover North America and Europe with a stop in South America after the Christmas holiday break.

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:21 pm

Nice reference on The Family Guy last night

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:50 am

Release date is May 1.

A clip of the first single, Far Cry, is up on the official site Rush

The clip is real short, but the sound certainly compares to the Hemispheres era.

patsy stone · Post by **patsy stone** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:14 pm

I'll check my torrent websites tonight to see if I can get it early.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial · Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:58 pm

Yeah, that tidbit sounded very Hemispheres...ish.

BSmack · Post by **BSmack** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:21 pm

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:Yeah, that tidbit sounded very Hemispheres...ish.

Would have been nice to hear more than 12 bars worth.

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:42 pm

BSmack wrote:Would have been nice to hear more than 12 bars worth.

I agree. The small sampling was quite good though.

BSmack · Post by **BSmack** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:08 pm

MuchoBulls wrote:
BSmack wrote:Would have been nice to hear more than 12 bars worth.
I agree. The small sampling was quite good though.

Yea, that same chord over and over again for 10 of the twelve bars really hits you in the package.

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:22 pm

BSmack wrote:Yea, that same chord over and over again for 10 of the twelve bars really hits you in the package.

It's not so much the repetitiousness of the chord that is played, but the sound quality, which has the same feel as their EP Feedback. No one outside of the band and the producers even knows where this clips is even placed within the song yet.

As I mentioned before, the song definitely can be traced back to A Farewell to King or Hemispheres where there was some repetition in the longer songs like Xanadu, La Villa Strangiato and Cygnus X-1.

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 1:28 am

Longer clip of Far Cry can be found at

http://www.rushisaband.com

Click right under where it says Updated 3/9 @ 4:52. Still sounds like the latter part of the song

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:41 pm

The entire version of Far Cry is now available at http://www.rush.com

It can also be found quicker on http://www.rushisaband.com

I definitely like the sound going back to the Hemispheres era.

DELSDAD · Post by **DELSDAD** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:19 am

Mucho,

Have you seen the new ESPN Fantasy Baseball ad?

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:21 pm

Yes, that was quite nice. The was also a long fantasy baseball segment with Geddy and Matthew Berry that was pretty cool as well. Geddy certainly takes his fantasy baseball seriously.