Thursday, April 7, 2011

My Revue on Rush!

Today I decided to write about Rush. I was able to see them last year at Summerfest. This is another awesome band.  They have a lot of great music and when I seen them they really have an awesome concert.

The band was formed in Canada. They formed this band August 1968 in Willowdale this is a town near Toronto. The style of music for Rush is blues-inspired, heavy metal, hard rock, progressive rock and a period of using synthesizers. 

The band members are- bass, keyboards and lead vocals Geddy Lee, guitar Alex Lifeson and drums and lyricist Neal Peart. There was another drummer before Neal his name is John Rustsey. He had to quit because he had medical problems. He had found out that he has diabetes. He found this out two weeks before there tour in the United States. There was also one other replacement in the band. Jeff Jones was in the band when they first got together he was bass and lead vocals. Then two weeks after they formed the band he was replaced by Geddy Lee. Geddy and Alex were friends from school.

In 1974 The band was known for there musicianship, complex compositions and electric lyrical motifs drawing heavily on the science fiction, fantasy, philosophy of the music. They are also known for addressing humanitarian, social, emotional and environmental concerns. There main influences were The Who and Led Zeppelin.

In 1974 there first album was released that was the Rush album. Then in 1976 the album 2112 was released it was the first platinum album in Canada. The title track is twenty minutes long and the record company wanted them to divide it into seven parts. This was the band's first commercial album and it was the best one at the time. They went on tour with this album they had  three nights in Toronto. While on this tour they recorded a live album. All the World's a Stage was the name of the album and this was there first live album.

In 1977 while they were in the United Kingdom the band recorded A Farewell to Kings and in 1978 they recorded Hemispheres at the rock studio in Wales. At this point the band was looking for some kind of a trademark and a personality  of there own. There was two bands that inspired them to do this it was Yes and King Crimson. So they found there way of doing it and this is how using synthesizer, extended length, highly dynamic playing features and Rush's composition. This is when Alex started to experiment with the twelve string guitar, Geddy added a bass-pedal synthesizer and Neal added cow bells, triangles, wood blocks, glockenspiel, timpani, gong and chimes. 

In 1980 they released Permanent Waves and this was Rush's first top 5 album. This one has Freewill and The Spirit of the Radio on it. On this album the songs are shorter. In 1981 was the release of Moving Pictures. This album was were Permanent Waves left off.. Tom Sawyer is the lead track off this album and best known song. Limelight was also released off this album and had a great response from the radio stations and the fans. The longest song on the album is The Camera Eye this song is eleven minutes long. Moving Pictures album reached the number three spot on the Billboard 200 chart and has been certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

As of 2004 Rush sold over 40 million albums Worldwide. On June 25th, 2010 The band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The bands saying is you love them or you hate them. I really agree with this because they are an awesome band. They have a great style of music and they tell you a story with each album. I love how they tell you a story with music. The three band members have been together since 1974 and they have a great friendship. This is the only band I know that has been together this long. There music just keeps getting better and better every time a new album comes out.

I told you earlier in here I seen them at Summerfest and that was an awesome concert. They did the whole album from Moving Pictures. I would rather see them in concert because you get to see and hear the real band than the studio versions. I think Rush will be around for a very long time still. They have an awesome career and they have the fans that love them.

2 comments:

  1. An excellent overview of Rush!

    After seeing them for three times in concert, one could say I'm a HUGE Rush fan. I stared getting into Rush in the '7O's by a friend whom had the 2112 album. Since then, I've been a loyal Rush fan.

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  2. I am glad to see another Rush fan. I have enjoyed there music since then too. I just wish I still had my album collection. If you have seen them that many times yes you are a huge fan of there's.

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