Posts

Showing posts from September, 2013

Rush's Vapor Trails Remix and 7-Disc Box Set of Atlantic Era Studio Albums Released Today

Image
The wait is now officially over. The remixed version of Rush's Vapor Trails is now available for purchase . Last week , Rolling Stone Magazine began streaming the remixed version of Vapor Trails which was met by overwhelming praise by fans across the globe. The album was also hovering in the Top 10 sales list on Amazon.Com. Hopefully this will translate into brisk sales of the album which may finally propel it to receive a Gold Certification by the RIAA . Up until Vapor Trail's release back in 2002, every studio and live album Rush released throughout their history achieved at least a Gold Certification (indicating sales of 500,000 units in the U.S.A.). Unfortunately, Vapor Trails, Snakes & Arrows and their most recent studio offering Clockwork Angels have yet to reach that plateau. Yet. In addition to the remixed version of Vapor Trails, the new 7-Disc Boxed Set Of Atlantic Studio Albums is also now available . Ordering Links for all are available below: ...

Rush's Vapor Trails Remix Streaming Online at Rolling Stone Magazine

Image
The release of Rush's remixed version of Vapor Trails is set for September 30th however Rolling Stone Magazine is now streaming the entire album online . From the article: "...Lee came to this realization not long after the record came out, but there was little he could do to fix the situation. "It's a terrible feeling that, due to lack of objectivity, you let an imperfect piece of work get out there," he says. "But the songs are very strong and people really responded to the record and people were welcoming us back. The sonic defects of it got lost in the excitement of the band's return to functionality. It's always been a bee in my bonnet." Eleven years after the album came out, Rush fixed the situation by hiring producer David Bottrill to remix the album. "He understood what it should sound like," he says, "so I'm very pleased with the end result. I think he's finally brought some completion and some justice to som...

Rush Sighting on NBC's Revolution - Acoustic Version of Tom Sawyer

Image
The season premiere of NBC's hit show Revolution aired tonight. In the opening minutes of the episode, an acoustic version of Rush's Tom Sawyer is performed by an unnamed actor on-screen. Prior to the performance of Tom Sawyer , a countrified version of Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train was also played. The episode is titled "Born in the U.S.A.". A video clip of the performance can be viewed via the player below or directly at this YouTube Link . Thanks to Scott Julian for the head's up.

Geddy Lee Talks to Rolling Stone Magazine About Rush's Future

Image
Geddy Lee recently sat down with Rolling Stone Magazine to chat about the upcoming release of Rush's Clockwork Angels Tour CD/DVD , among other topics. The article, titled Q&A: Rush's Geddy Lee On Finally Taking a Break From the Road , puts to rest the possibility of Rush touring in support of their 40th anniversary next year: "That's not going to happen...My attitude is that as much as I'd like to celebrate 40 years, we need a break more than we need a 40th anniversary celebration. There's nothing wrong with celebrating 42 years." Geddy went on to say this about the end of the Clockwork Angels tour: Are you enjoying the break now? That was a pretty long tour. I am, yeah. It was the first tour I finished that I wasn't ready to finish, though. I think it's because I was in the best physical condition of my life. I worked really hard at being in shape for the tour. I was anticipating the difficulty of it. Our pacing is a little better. We had...

Neil Peart News, Weather, and Sports Update - September 2013 - "Drummer With a Singletrack Mind"

Image
The September 2013 update for Neil Peart's "News, Weather, and Sports" website blog is an expanded piece based on an article Neil wrote during the European leg of Rush's Clockwork Angels tour back in May, 2013 for a British motorcycling periodical. Titled " Drummer With a Singletrack Mind ", Neil introduces it with the following caption: [This story was written during our Clockwork Angels European tour in May, 2013, for a British motorcycling weekly. They asked for about 700 words and a photo or two, and I gave them 1,700 words, and eight photos. They said they would run it like that, but took a few liberties—not so much with the text, but perhaps because the story was part of an “adventure touring” issue, they replaced Brutus’s and my iconic U.K. photos with more exotic images from a previous tour in South America. That’s fine, for their purposes, but not for mine—trying to share an experience as deeply as I can. So I decided to present it here in its...

ESPN Monday Night Football Commercial Features Rush's Tom Sawyer

Image
Over the past week, ESPN has been airing a 30-second commercial promoting the upcoming Monday Night NFL Football game between the undefeated Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders. The commercial focuses on Peyton Manning, Denver's quarterback, and features Rush's Tom Sawyer playing in the background. The commercial is now online at YouTube and can be viewed via the embedded player below. Thanks to Ed from RushIsABand for the news.

Rush's Longtime Roadie Skip Gildersleeve Passes Away

Image
The Rush world was saddened yesterday by the news of the untimely passing of one of the band's long-time roadies. Russell "Skip" Gildersleeve, who was just 57 at the time of his passing, was a roadie and stage/bass guitar technician for Rush from 1975, beginning with the band during their Caress of Steel tour, through 1997 and the band's Test for Echo tour. Skip's touring duties extended beyond Rush as well as he was involved with the likes of Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Kid Rock, Stray Cats, Brian Setzer, Steely Dan, and many others. "Slider", as he was affectionately referred to by the band, had a small section about his time with Rush included in the Rush biography Chemistry : Russell "Skip" Gildersleeve is a crew veteran of many bands. He was brought in for the 'Caress of Steel' tour to replace Jimmy Johnson, And he often used to introduce the band. Skip, a.k.a. "Slider", became Geddy's bass technicia...

Alex Lifeson Talks to Classic Rock Magazine About Rush's Vapor Trails Remix and the Next Rush Album

Image
Classic Rock Magazine has just posted a new interview with Alex Lifeson on their website . The main topic of discussion in the interview is the upcoming re-release of Rush's Vapor Trails album. From the interview: You say that the sound of the finished album ‘bothered’ you and Geddy. What exactly was wrong? The original mastering was the problem. It was poorly done. At the time we should have remastered. It bothered us forever – particularly Geddy, who had the task of remastering of the original album and feels responsible for it. It irked him for many years. The original version is hard on your ears, because the mastering was pushed so hard, there’s distortion and so much compression – I found it very difficult to listen to it. But why go back and remix it – why rewrite history? There was so much invested in that record and it just didn’t sit with us that we had this blemish on our recording history. We wanted to rectify that. I’d like to remix every record we did – mayb...

Rush's Clockwork Angels Tour DVD Coming November 19th - Pre-Order Today!

Image
Update: (10/04/2013): A pre-order link for the 3-CD set is now available. Click HERE to order. Update: According to this announcement from Roadrunner Records, there will be a CD version released on November 19th as well. Unfortunately, as of now, there aren't any pre-order links for the CD version ... yet. Rush have just announced that their anxiously awaited Clockwork Angels Tour DVD will be released on November 19th in both DVD and Blu-Ray formats. From the announcement: Rush Clockwork Angels Tour captures the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers' 2012-2013 sold-out tour from a unique point-of-view approach to filmmaking utilizing distinct composition and a voyeuristic style that at varying moments puts the viewer on the stage, at the side of the stage, and throughout the arena. For the first time ever the legendary band (Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart) was accompanied on this tour by an eight-piece string section! This electrifying 2-DVD or single Blu-ray concert (bot...

Neil Peart Celebrates His 61st Birthday Today!

Image
Today marks the 61st birthday of Rush Drummer and Lyricist Extraordinaire Neil Peart. Neil (born Neil Ellwood Peart) came into the world on September 12th in 1952 Hamilton, Ontario. He grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario, Canada (now part of St. Catharines) working the occasional odd job including the role of a Parts Manager for his father Tractor Supply company. His true ambition, however, was to become a professional musician. During adolescence, he floated from regional band to regional band and dropped out of high school to pursue a career as a full-time drummer. After a discouraging stint in England to concentrate on his music, Peart returned home, where he joined local Toronto band Rush in the summer of 1974. And the rest, as they say, is history. Join me in wishing Neil a very Happy Birthday - and many happy returns.

Apple's iPhone 5 Event Features Rush in iOS 7 Demonstration

Image
Apple is currently holding a live press event a their Cupertino, California headquarters where they are announcing the next iteration of their acclaimed iPhone line of smartphones. In addition to the new smartphones, details on the latest version of their operating system - iOS 7 - is being shared. At one point during the presentation, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering began demonstrating the iTunes radio station feature and, lo and behold, Rush was used as their example! Apparently Mr. Federighi said something to the effect of "We're were going to show you how to get a pure dose of awesome." The CNET liveblogger remarked "Never have I heard so much applause for Rush!" You can follow the live blog at this HERE . Click the image to the right for a full-sized version of the Rush reference. A recast of the event may be available later. If so, we'll include the link - and any video extracts of the Rush reference...

Rush's Working Man Covered by Cyril Neville On His "Magic Honey" Album

Image
Cyril Neville, part of the famed Neville_Brothers ; the American R&B and Soul group, is releasing a new solo album titled Magic Honey . Among the twelve tracks on the album, Cyril includes a cover of Rush's classic song Working Man . From a write-up at OffBeat : Part of Magic Honey’s success hinges on his choice of band: Lead guitarist Cranston Clements is no mindless shredder; even when he plays heavy he carries along his melodic sense. Likewise, “Mean” Willie Green is the drummer, which means the drums here—heavy on the backbeat and mixed right upfront—still manage to swing. Neville’s vocals have never lacked swagger, but here they have an arena-rock power that he’s seldom reached for in the past. So it makes sense that the track “Working Man” isn’t the one Mike Bloomfield wrote and Otis Rush recorded (as the cover credits have it), but the one by those venerable bluesmen, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. And the sound of New Orleans funkateers doing a Rush song—and doing it da...

The Spirit of Rush Fanzine Archive - Now Online

Image
I'm proud to announce a new, exclusive feature to Cygnus-X1.Net - the official and complete archive of the The Spirit of Rush Fanzine . The Spirit of Rush was launched back in 1987 and ran for over fifteen years. In over sixty published issues, the fanzine brought Rush news, articles, reviews, concert updates, fan art, exclusive band interviews and so much more to fans around the globe. Over the past month or so, I've been working with a previous contributor as well as a co-editor of the fanzine, both who graciously allowed me to not only borrow all of the issues of the fanzine, but also scan and publish them online. To begin with, the first ten issues of the fanzine are available now at the new Spirit of Rush Archive Page . Moving forward, new issues will be published in chronological order at the rate of approximately one a week. As the members of Rush are taking their well-earned break as they - and we - head into the band's 40th anniversary next year, I thought...

Share This