Though it doesn’t happen often, Rush’s members take on solo projects. In 1996 Alex Lifeson put out a solo album titled Victor. In 2000 Geddy Lee put out a solo album titled My Favorite Headache and in 2005 Neil Peart released his must-watch lesson in drum solo craft titled Anatomy of a Drum Solo.
The Rush’s solo projects have been few and far between and only really captured and judged by the most hard core Rush fans. In this portion of the 25 days of Rush, we’re going to look at some of the band’s side projects and non-Rush pursuits.
Victor (1996)
Ask yourself: have you ever heard Alex Lifeson sing? How about arrange instruments? It’s strange to think that in 40 years of Rush, we really only know Alex as the guitar maestro of Rush and…well, that’s about it. Sure we know Lifeson can solo and write outstanding guitar parts, but we really
1996’s Victor is a great look into what else Alex can do, but unfortunately it falls flat doing so most of the time. Musically, each song sounds like a Rush throwaway piece from the Counterparts era. It’s almost spooky at times how much these songs sound like they could have been Rush songs. Even the bass playing, as loud, crunchy and clangy as it sounds could easily be confused for Geddy’s Jazz bass but a quick look at the liner notes will reveal that it’s actually bass player Peter Cardinali taking over the bass duties. Definitely the best 90s Geddy impression I’ve heard so far.
Lyrically, it becomes very apparent quick why Lifeson never took on singing or lyric writing responsibilities.
Lifeson’s time piece sounds like it could have only thrived in 1996, the height of dirty, grungy rock music. The track ‘Promise’ sounds like if REM was asked to write a song that sounds like Rush. The upbeat, major-to-minor chord changes give it a very 90s college rock sound and on this track, Lifeson comes off sounding like a pitched down Michael Stipe. ‘The Big Dance’ sounds like a throwaway of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. ‘Sending Out a Warning’ feels forced and unbelievable. I as the listener have a hard time listening to this and believing that these are the things Alex really believes are song-worthy and the fact that that crosses my mind jeopardizes the listening experience of the album.
Of all the tracks on this album, ‘Strip and Go Naked’ feels the most original and is the most enjoyable to listen to. It weaves and morphs from a bouncy, playful number into a darker, grittier song but still with the bounce alternating between acoustic and electric guitar. Almost like a Jethro Tull song but with more fuzz.
Victor’s biggest problem is two fold. The first is that nothing here sounds original. Musically and lyrically, everything on this album feels like Alex listened to whatever was hot in music at the time and said ‘I can do that, too.’ Which is unfortunate. That mindset and how easily the lister is drawn to that conclusion lets the listener think that this whole album is a ‘me too’ album: nothing ‘original’ per se coming out of it, instead, just imitations of what was popular at the time and what he already knew how to do.
The second is that Alex is not a lyricist or a singer. While he gets points at the end of the day for pushing himself to take on these new roles and push his own musical envelope, there’s a good reason there wasn’t a Victor 2. Lyrically, the songs sound like a cookie cutter ‘angry 90s song’: a lot of bark about something but no bite.
My Favourite Headache (2000)
Geddy Lee’s attempt at a solo record faired quite better than Alex Lifeson’s 1996 Victor, but isn’t without it’s lulls.
After the first listen through of this album, the sounds of Test for Echo and Vapor Trails comes immediately to mind. Like Victor which sounded like an album made from the musical scraps left on the cutting room floor of the Counterparts sessions, Headache finds itself in a similar position only a few years into the future.
However that doesn’t mean that this collection of songs isn’t without some home runs. The title track is a fantastic number that hits you hard and fast with an undeniably Geddy Lee bass line. ‘Moving to Bohemia’ and ‘Window to the World’ brings back memories of the best parts of Test for Echo with the sounds of big, slow, fuzzed out guitar work. ‘The Angel’s Share’, the token acoustic number for this album lives in the same vein as ‘Resist’ or the opening to ‘Ghost Rider’ from Vapor Trails: start slow and gentle and then hit hard with a loud electric guitar.
The only miss on this album is ‘Home on the Strange’, a southern rock tinged number that doesn’t mesh well at all with Geddy’s singing style. That detail aside, Headache is certainly something worth looking into – devoted Rush fans only, however.
Overall, it’s a fun listen but it suffered from the same issues Victor did by sounding like a Rush throwaway collection. Each song just sounds like it could have been on a Rush album from the 90s or early 2000s just by the instrument arrangement and production quality. However, that’s either a push forward or a drawback depending on your view. Personally, I would have liked to see a bit more barrier pushing from Geddy and Alex respectfully if they were going to invest time and resources into solo efforts and less Rush sounds but the time and condition that these songs were put together in were a little tumultuous for the band. It’s understandable the outcome but it’s very satisfying to hear the results are what they are at the end of the day.
Anatomy of a Drum Solo (2005)
While Geddy and Alex released solo records, Neil Peart joined up with Hudson Music for an instructional DVD called Anatomy of a Drum Solo in 2005.
Anatomy is a fantastic look under the hood of Neil’s legendary drumming skills. The fact that the video is as long as it is (about 90 minutes in length) lets you know right off the bat that there is a lot that Neil has to say.
The video is doesn’t give you the impression that Neil is taking the role of the teacher and the viewer is the student. Rather the tone and delivery of this seminar feels more like a conversation. Neil addresses the viewer the entire time and explains his drumming methodology as if talking to a fellow drummer friend. He walks the viewer through not just which drums he uses in certain parts of his drum solo (in this case ‘Der Trommler’) and for during excerpts of songs including ‘Scars’ from 1989’s Presto, but why he chose these drums. When walking the listener through ‘Scars’, he explains he wanted some tribal sounds, why he chose this arrangement of drums and why he chose to play certain patterns and revisit certain motifs for these drum parts rather than others.
That being said the video intertwines speaking with footage or excerpt footage of Neil performing his drum parts with Neil speaking to the camera. At times, it can feel a little tedious to hear a drummer of Neil’s caliber speak for as long as he does rather than play.
At the end of the day, this is a thinker’s drum video. Not only are you presented with the how of Neil’s drums, but the why – something that is conspicuously absent from many instructional drumming videos. The video is as entertaining mentally as it is physically and for a non-drummer like myself, I found Anatomy immensely entertaining to watch and listen to.
Additional Reading on Rush’s Solo Projects:
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