Sunday 5 March 2023

N is For Neil Peart And Rush.

 I have been lucky enough to see quite a few great Rock bands.  One band who I have liked since I was a teenager is Toronto 3 piece outfit Prog Rockers Rush.   

I have seen them twice.  Once at Birmingham NEC and once at Sheffield Arena.

Neil Peart the drummer and lyricist is sadly no longer with us but his music, videos, lyrics and books live on.

I have in my possession his great motor bike travel memoir Ghost Rider.  It's full of pathos, humour and it's where I got the phrase "my mental jukebox" from.  

Neil writes to a buddy in jail and the stories are highly amusing.  He also paints some amazing word pictures of the Canadian and North American and Mexican landscape.  It's  a book I highly recommend and I aim to  read it again some time.

Being a Prog Rock band.  Rush made concept albums and Farewell To Kings was recorded in Wales.

Have you seen Rush?

Here's a short track by Rush instead of a long Prog version like Xanadu which is based on Coleridge' Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner.  That man from Porlock had a lot to answer for.

Here's Spirit Of The Radio.  It's lyrics sum up when radio music was good  and reminds me of when I would listen to this record over and over again.  Some magical lyrics from the Professor Mr Peart like: "A companion unobtrusive..."

I don't really listen to the radio much these days.  Unless it's something like Classic Hits playing eighties and nineties music.  

Even this years Glastonbury is bringing back the oldies like Guns n Roses and Cat Stevens/Yusaf Islam.  Like that Bob Seger song says: " You can't beat that old time RocknRoll!"


8 comments:

  1. I have seen the Australian actor Geoffrey Rush and the Welsh footballer Ian Rush. I also saw a bull-rush but jumped aside at the last minute. I never saw the band Rush but I assumed they were Russian.
    P.S. The on-screen lyrics made a mistake with "elusive" - putting "illusive" instead. I'm going to write to my MP about that.

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  2. Ian Rush was brilliant like the Canadian Rock band YP.

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  3. I love it when I can read the lyrics as I listen to the music. A great piece

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  4. Yes Linda I often type with lyrics when I watch a YouTube video. It's a great single of theirs. Back in the days when I liked to listen to the radio. Not much of a fan of radio modern music these and I switch it off for five minutes when the news comes on. It's only bad news. Thanks!

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  5. I shall take a look then if the lyrics are displayed. I can always imagine the music. My bluetooth aids still aren't great with music.

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  6. You make very good observations JayCee. I think that's why I like small live concerts so much. You take in the different members of the band, their instruments, clothes even looks, especially if they are female and the reaction and involvement of the audience. I like to read lyrics especially if they are wrote by a creative genius like Fish or Neil Peart from Rush.

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  7. I liked the words, like poetry. Very of their time, reminded me of other rock bands like Yes of the time, King Crimson and all.

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  8. Madrigal is a very poetic track of theirs Rachel. I much prefer the seventies era you talk about when concept albums were the in thing. Thanks!

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