The first Neil Peart song you played?

[FuseU1]

Spirit of Radio.

...then on to Ton [img]wink.gif[/img] Sawyer - the brisk RH eighth-note HHs [almost JP-worthy, NO?!]...then Red Barchetta, & Camera Eye...the opening snare cadence part with those Lifeson power chords & little gtr fills building a crescendo into the intro backbeat sent shivers up my spine...YYZ was attempted, but not mastered until much later...;c) Nowadays, with the exception of the 3 standout mid-section [D] dr fills [between the bass fills], & also the ending Cobhamesque down-the-toms roll, I can't stand the other dr fills in the tune [one's even a direct M Giles rip from 21st Century Schizoid Man]...but i thought they were the sh** then.

When Subdivisions came out, I just HAD to nail it [work it out]...

Of course, my HS [& eventually college] buddies all thought it was "the shtuff"...lol

Backwards to Fly By Night, some of the stuff in By-Tor, then Strangiato, Free Will, Natural Science, Xanadu, Jacob's Ladder [snare intro in 11/4 & later the 13/8 part!] & parts of Hemispheres incldg Cygnus were all crowning achievements for me later on...

I also enjoyed Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, & RTB...but like was said, I too lost interest after that.

On a similar side note, I saw popular country singer Travis Tritt's road band kill Barchetta at a soundcheck [I thought that was cool ;c)]...dare I say it sounded instrumentally better than the orig! [Blasphemy!]

I realize now that NP's real strength lied not so much in his "solo drummer" abilities as much as in his 1/3rd contribution to the unique sound of that band, awa most of his lyric writing ability. Heady stuff for the time in AOR/"prog" rock w lead-vox.

Altho I will also say that the snare & dbl-kicks work in the intro to his Exit Stage Left solo up until the neat, catchy little 16th-based cowbell/FT jingle was quite impressive ATT. As a result, I immediately put together a varying size awa pitched 5 cowbell tree [1 on top/3 in middle/1 at bottom], & worked up that melody, but not using all singles like he did, but using some more rudimentally based doubles AW. None of his other solos before or since have matched that particular solo on those tours [ESL/Signals], & I do mean NONE, IMHO. Powerful. [img]cool.gif[/img] Anything else is rehash, & less so.

NP was also my truly first exposure to "rock 'quad' overkill"...Jordison, Portnoy, meh...they are but NP 'wardrobe holders'... ;cP J/K

NP was meant to be the 3rd spoke in the Rush wheel. ["Wheels can take you around; or wheels can cut you down..."]

Fond memories.

Awright, Steve - what's your take - we know ya gots one... ;cP

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 02, 2005 08:36 PM: Message edited by: fuseU1 ]</font>

[Cameron_Mahoney]

I remember trying to figure out his famous solo he's done over the years, for a talent show in 8th or 9th grade. I even got the xylophone part down, but I had to switch mallets for it because I don't own a malletkat! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[PocketPlayer]

In college, I used YYZ and edited it to the car chase scene from the movie Against All Odds for a project.

[FuseU1]

Anyone ever chart the intro to SpiritOR [the synchopated drums/bass lines against the 16th-note guitar arpeggio ostinato]? It's almost as if they're feeling "superimposed metric modulation" at times against the gtr part...I always thought that was hip awa a little beyond the average AORock radio play - it jumped out & grabbed me, & pulled me in...I was a Rush fan after that.

It took a little while until I got used to Geddy's voice, later. [img]wink.gif[/img] Hated it at first [I was, after all, weened on 'standard' radio format crooning voices; but their rock trio instrumentation drew me in regardless]; but eventually came to think Ged was a real bad-axe after a while... his vox def matured aft awhile... [img]cool.gif[/img]

& NP wrote some da** fine lyrics with conviction at the top of his game in many of those songs.
Between the Wheels [the whole Grace Under Pressure album], Hold Your Fire, Power Windows, Signals, Permanent Waves all contained some hard, home-hitting, powerful messages.

And live through those monstous PAs those three cats were powerful. BIG sound...

They were my first die-hard "anthem" banner rock band, for sure. [Along with Yes, Genesis, Kansas, Journey, Van Halen, Zep, Stv Miller, Tull, ELP, Whitesnake, Living Colour, & Toto.] Now I'm starting to date myself...

...& I found I'm an easy one - but I ain't cheap. Or was it the other way around...Ba-DUM, TSHH [thx, Tom!] ;cP

I'll shut the heck up now.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 02, 2005 08:30 PM: Message edited by: fuseU1 ]</font>

[maxweinberg]

Tom Sawyer.

Note for note.