Sept 25: No one's Disciple

I need to find a way to watch this new documentary on Neil Peart...

Any advice on how to watch it in the UK?

Jul 28: 2000

The year 2000 saw some good albums released as the new millennium began.

Ian Anderson's solo album "The Secret Language of Birds" was the latest of his solo albums, featuring Andy Giddings on keyboards who also joined the live touring band for some years.

Geddy Lee released his only solo album (so far): My Favourite Headache.

When he released his autobiography a few years ago, he released a few extra bonus tracks as well which were decent... 

Also in 2000, we had U2's album "All that you can't leave behind".

Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno were both involved in producing tracks on the album. They have also worked with Peter Gabriel.

This was a stand out track.

The video for this track was filmed in August 2000 at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

The international version of the album had a track with lyrics from Salman Rushdie.

What were your favourite musical moments from the start of the new century?

Jun 24: A song by a band you wish were still together

So that would mean a Rush song. 

As I said on January the 7th, the passing of Neil Peart meant the end of Rush. It's likely that they would have finished anyway as Neil was fed up of touring, but after a few years break he may have been tempted back for a final tour. I'm going to add the final song from their final album: a concept album called 'Clockwork Angels'.

The song is called 'The Garden'.

Here's the studio version. 

And here's the live version of the song, with strings...

This was the final song on the final Rush album and it acts as a perfect closure to their career.

I am going to see the tour in 2027 and very much looking forward to seeing Anika Nilles behind the kit, but that will be to see a different band, and not the one that recorded all of Rush's albums.

Jun 9: Aimee Mann

Earlier this week - in the early hours of this morning UK time - Rush took to the stage at the KIA Forum in California, where they had performed their last gig in 2015. 

This was the first of 4 nights here as part of their 50th anniversary tour, and their debut full live performance with drummer Annika Nilles. The show was sold out. Ticket prices were high (though not quite at World Cup levels).

In 1987, Rush had recorded a song with Aimee Mann on backing vocals. I've blogged about both Aimee and the song already. But then something special happened and Aimee (who lives in the area) came out to perform the vocals live with the band.

Two of my favourite musical acts of the last 40 years performing together. I suppose it's too much to ask that she will appear with them at the O2 next March....

Spoilers: Setlist is here. They have apparently rehearsed almost 40 songs, so the setlist will not be the same each time.

Their 2nd show at the Forum is tonight, when we will perhaps see some of the other songs they are performing.

Here's Aimee's Instagram...

Update

The 2nd night at the Forum revealed a very different set list to the first one, and more songs which will potentially form the set list when I see them next year - and included the whole of 2112!

And what was great is that Aimee came out again for 'Time Stand Still'.

Update 2

Aimee said this:

" ... I was 26 years old when I recorded [Time Stand Still]. And when you’re 26, you’re like, Oh, this is totally a metaphysical rumination on the nature of time. That’s interesting. But when you’re in your sixties, it’s like, The moment is now, man. This is it. This is happening. You have to be present. I think that’s why being onstage for that moment was so moving. It was also very moving to me because when I recorded with them and spent some time with them doing the music video. I really liked those guys. Then they’re on tour, I’m on tour, and they live in Toronto. We don’t live in the same place, and I never saw them again. It was always a little heartbreaking, to be honest. To reconnect with them like this is like, having time folded onto itself, it was really lovely. "

Jun 1: A song you like with a colour in the title...

There's plenty of songs that I could have gone for here. This is an easy way in to the challenge, although the challenge is thinking of one that you particularly like or stands out in some way.

I'm going to go for quite a challenging one: 'Red Sector A' by Canadian band Rush.

The vocalist, bassist and keyboard player is Geddy Lee. 

His family was imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen and Dachau, and survived to be liberated.

It's worth reading Geddy's autobiography: 'My Effing Life' which goes into a lot more detail on this. You can listen to it if you have Spotify.

Neil Peart, the lyricist describes the writing of the lyrics to the song:

I read a first person account of someone who had survived the whole system of trains and work camps and Bergen-Belsen and all of that (...) through first person accounts from other people who came out at the end of it, always glad to be alive, which again was the essence of grace, grace under pressure is that through all of it, these people never gave up the strong will to survive, through the utmost horror, and total physical privations of all kinds.

...I wanted to take a little bit out of being specific and, and just describe the circumstances and try to look at the way people responded to it, and another really important and to me really moving image that I got from a lot of these accounts was that at the end of it, these people of course had been totally isolated from the rest of the world, from their families, from any news at all, and they, in cases that I read, believed that they were the last people surviving.

What are your ideas for songs with colours in the title?

I've made a Google Form to capture some of your ideas.

I'll leave it up a while and share the results later in the year and update the post as well.

Apr 23: Grace under Pressure

The Rush album 'Grace under Pressure', which was released in 1984 has been given a major update and made available in some chunky box sets which go up to over $250 in price!

One of the tracks features a guitar solo by Alex Lifeson which apparently took days to get right.

Alex has also said of the solo on 'Kid Gloves':

That song is from our Grace Under Pressure album. What I like about the solo is, it's the opposite of Limelight: it's got a hip, kind of slinky attitude, a little goofy humor. When I play it, I feel a certain confidence, also like a prankster, which is not the way I am in real life at all. What's funny about it, too, is that it has a plot to it, and I only realized that after I recorded it for the first time - I never have a plot in mind when I'm recording solos; I always just kind of wing them. The Kid Gloves solo guided me; it's like it knew what it wanted to be and I just had to allow myself to follow.

The entire concert from 1984 has now been made available by Rush on YouTube.

It's an era when synthesisers were becoming more dominant in their music, and reducing the amount of guitar that Alex Lifeson was able to contribute to their sound.

Rush are also appearing in 2 music magazines this month, with interviews relating to their new tour. I bought one of them which comes with a free poster and large sticker.

Annika Nilles

Apr 7: Countdown - into space

The Space Shuttle was a phase of space exploration that is no longer... the current Artemis II mission has been very much in the news with a journey on the "other side".

There were several tragic accidents during its time as the main launch vehicle for NASA.

Members of Canadian rock band Rush were invited to a shuttle launch - the first of the Shuttle Columbia in 1981.

The experience became the final track on their 1982 album 'Signals'.

I had the programme from the Signals tour, and remember reading about this memory from Neil Peart - who always wrote the notes to the tour programmes.

We met our liaison man, who conducted us safely into the "V.I.P." zone (Red Sector A) in the pre-dawn hours. We were due to play that night in Dallas, so we couldn't wait much longer. Finally they announced that the launch would be scrubbed for that day. Well, we ran for the car, and our daring driver sped off, around the traffic jams, down the median of the highway, and got us to the airport barely in time.

The next night we had a show in San Antonio, after which we drove off immediately, clambered into a hired jet, and flew straight back to Florida. This time the launch took place on schedule, and it was SOMETHING!!

I remember thinking to myself as we flew back to Fort Worth after a couple days without sleep: "We've got to write a song about this!" It was an incredible thing to witness, truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I can only hope that the song comes even close to capturing the excitement and awe that we felt that morning.

— Neil Peart in the Signals tour book.

The song incorporates audio from voice communications between astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen and ground control, specifically Ascent CAPCOM Daniel C. Brandenstein and with commentary from Hugh Harris, Kennedy Space Center Public Affairs Officer.

Here they are playing the track live in Montreal, Canada in 1981.

Via Wikipedia.

The song was used as a wakeup song for astronauts during STS-109, which was the last successful flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. It was used again for astronaut Mike Fincke during STS-134, flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final mission before retirement. Fincke described how his friends Greg Shurtz and NASA employee Ken Fisher chose the song because the band was inspired to write it after viewing the launch of STS-1. Fincke went on to say the song was played as a tribute to the Space Shuttle program, which has inspired people around the world.

Source: https://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19830228circus.htm

Here's the detail from the Signals tour book from the programme of that tour - I had a copy of this.

And here's the Public Service Broadcasting track: "The Other Side" which is the story of the Apollo mission which was the first to do what Artemis II did a day or so ago - and after which astronaut Bill Anders made the classic Earthrise photo that was so important to the environmental movement as it showed the fragility of the Earth... we now have an updated version of that image.

Feb 23: OK, so... what do I do now?

OK, so Rush are expanding their 50 something tour to the UK.

I first saw them play live almost 45 years ago...

How much are the tickets?

Do I really want to go when Neil is not on the drum riser?

Will they fill in some of those gaps if these dates sell out and perhaps go to some better venues? Hmmm....

Answer to my conundrum...

You go onto the Rush pre-sale (code R50) and get yourself a ticket for the O2 at a 'reasonable' price - comparable with other tickets I've paid for this year, such as David Byrne in 2 weeks' time... more on that to come....

“We are thrilled to support the ‘Fifty Something‘ tour, celebrating a band whose music has resonated and inspired fans for generations, and to honor Neil’s extraordinary legacy as both a drummer and lyricist. Neil’s musicianship was singular. Compositions of intricacy and power that expanded what rhythm itself could express. As both drummer and lyricist, he was irreplaceable. Inimitable in his artistry, and unmatched in the depth and imagination he brought to the lyrics that inspired and moved so many, he profoundly shaped how fans connected with him and the band, giving voice and meaning to their own lives. As the band enters this new chapter, it promises to be truly unforgettable. We are excited to see how their new vision unfolds, and to hear this legendary music played live once again.”

Carrie Nuttall-Peart and Olivia Peart, Neil‘s widow and daughter.

And here's my ticket from when I saw them in 1983....

I had to pay more than £6 this time round...

Jan 7: Remembering 'the Professor'

Through the year we will be marking anniversaries of events: some joyful and some immensely sad. The loss of this musician was particularly hard to take....

It's been six years today since the passing of the master musician and lyricist Neil Peart of the band Rush. 

I count myself extremely lucky to have seen him perform many times since 1982. He always gave 100% and the musicality of his drumming was beyond parallel. I've seen many great drummers play live, and he was the best.

Here's one of my favourite Rush songs, which we will also return to later in the year because of its theme of alienation in the suburbs, or subdivisions:

He was a part of my life for over 40 years, and Rush have to be one of the bands that I have played the most whether on LP, CD or streamed on Spotify. 

I was privileged to see Rush play live 7 or 8 times I think from 1982 onwards, to the final live gig I attended in Sheffield on the Time Machine tour in 2012 - I will always regret not seeing them on the Clockwork Angels tour now.... 

One of my favourite non-Rush videos is when Peart laid down a drum track for his friend Matt Scannell from the Australian band Vertical Horizon. 

The enjoyment of Matt as his friend and hero plays drums for him is infectious, and the drum track is awesome.... There are so many Rush tracks I could embed here... but check this out next...



And then check out Red Barchetta live from that Time Machine tour that I saw.

Along with his music, he was a great traveller - particularly on motorbikes but also on bicycles and he wrote about his travels in a series of books, most of which I have. These were excellent travelogues and observations of people, although he was a very private person. He also wrote lengthy pieces for Rush tour programmes - some of which I still have in my collection of tour memorabilia.

In October 2025, we had an interesting announcement from Geddy and Alex...

I'll not be partaking of this particular musical moment.

Here's a well conceived tribute video from Hudson Music... gives a flavour of his legacy and drum technique.

And check out his website.

Neil was partial to ending the day with a glass of the Macallan. But have you seen the price of it? 

I'll raise a glass of something more affordable to Neil tonight, as I have done each year since his passing.

Rest in peace Professor.