Neil Peart -- The Latest News

Rhythm and Music Radar readers have chosen Rush's Moving Pictures as the most influential Prog album of all time.

Their story provides an excellent analysis about why Moving Pictures is such an important album and drum performance (for Prog or any other genre). Here's an excerpt:

Your winners by a country mile, Neil Peart and Rush are the prog heavyweight champions as chosen by Rhythm and MusicRadar readers.

After their progressive proclivities reached a zenith on the albums A Farewell To Kings and Hemispheres, Rush showed signs of moving away from epic compositions towards more radio-friendly rock on 1980's Permanent Waves.

But it was on Moving Pictures that their new direction reached fruition as Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart proved they could write radio-friendly hits that were still musically rich and satisfyingly complex. The group recorded the album at Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec with Terry Brown who had been Rush's producer since their second album Fly By Night in 1975.

Characteristically, Peart came to the recording sessions with every groove, fill and flam meticulously planned out and rehearsed. Seeking to try to capture the sound of the drums the way Peart heard them as he was playing, engineer Paul Northfield experimented with taping a PZM microphone to Peart's chest to capture the sound from the drummer's perspective.

The album became Rush's most successful, reaching Number 3 in both the US and UK charts. It opens with a track that remains a live standard to this day - 'Tom Sawyer'. As catchy as the song is, the drumming is enormously detailed.

 Read the rest of the story here.

Also topping the list of 30 albums were:

Systematic Chaos (2007) - Band: Dream Theater; Drummer: Mike Portnoy

AEnima (1996)- Band: Tool; Drummer: Danny Carey

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) - Band: Genesis; Drummer: Phil Collins

Fear of a Blank Planet (2007) - Band: Porcupine Tree; Drummer: Gavin Harrison

Fragile (1972) - Band: Yes; Drummer: Bill Bruford

The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) - Band: Pink Floyd; Drummer: Nick Mason

In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) - Band: King Crimson; Drummer: Michael Giles

Labels: polls

This survey was all about Neil Peart fills. I decided to open it up so people could add additional fills to the list. This made it more interesting, but also made it more difficult to count votes -- because I couldn't always tell which fill someone was referring to. Because of this, I had to drop some of the options people had added.

The Results

1. Tom Sawyer solo fills - 30%

You could say these are probably the most important fills Neil has ever played. "Tom Sawyer" was the song that launched Rush into popular culture and expanded Rush's audience considerably. (This was the song that captured my attention.) As I wrote about these series of fills on my "Top 10 Fills" page:

Who can forget this drum-solo-within a song? The first fill is trickier than it seems (if you watch the Archives studio video, Neil actually skips a tom on the way down). The second is the famous "quadruplet" with a triplet feel.

Here's Neil talking about the difficulties of playing "Tom Sawyer." There's also a clip of him playing it around the time it was recorded (at Le Studio):

2. Natural Science solo fill - 18%

This was the big surprise -- as I didn't have this on my original list (but it should have been). This is the kind of fill that happens so fast, you're left wondering what just happened. I had to slow it down to really understand what was happening. Neil would go on to use this same approach for solo fills in songs like "YYZ" and "Leave That Thing Alone." 

Watch Neil play "Natural Science" on the Snakes & Arrows tour:

If you're looking for more about what Neil's playing here, I recommend watching Ray Harber's lesson on "Neil Peart's four note grouping." The part about the "Natural Science" fill comes in around the 7-minute mark.

3. Vital Signs - Fill at the end of the song: 11%

This has always been one of my favorite fills because of the level of excitement it brings to the song.  

Here's what Neil Peart had to say about "Vital Signs" and this fill in his article, "Notes on the Making of Moving Pictures."

Conceptually, this song was an attempt to bridge the gap between the primal appeal of the rhythmic reggae "bounce" and the electronic energy of high-technology music. As a drummer, this gave me the opportunity to begin as a simple "groove" player, and then grow through various developments into the "overplaying show-off type" toward the end! I drew on many influences throughout this progression: notably the works of Creme and Godley, Ultravox, The Police, the great things that Michael Giles did with early King Crimson, a healthy dose of good old hard rock, and a little Caribbean influence.

Here's a version of "Vital Signs" with isolated drums. You can really hear how much they tweaked the drum and cymbal sounds.

Full results:

Thanks to everyone who voted!

Labels: drums, polls

Rolling Stone held a poll for "The Best Prog Rock Bands of All Time," and Rush won. In a landslide.

Here are the comments:

Well, this poll wasn't even close. Rush won in a landslide -- but this couldn't come as any surprise. The Canadian trio have perhaps the most intense and enthusiastic fan community in all of rock. The band deserves such commitment. While most of their peers have fallen apart due to greed or laziness, Rush has maintained the same line-up since 1975 and their concerts are as spellbinding as they ever were. It's also beyond dispute that Neil Peart is the greatest drummer on the planet. They just wrapped up an epic tour where they played Moving Pictures straight through, and are working on a new album. Here's hoping that they bust out 2112 the next time out. It's the only way to top that last tour.

Readers Poll: The Best Prog Rock Bands of All Time: 1. Rush | Rolling Stone Music | Photos

I guess Rolling Stone is continuing to warm up to Rush. Unfortunately, their lack of research still shows, as they didn't even know that Rush performed "2112" on the Test for Echo tour.

Thanks to PowerWindows for the head's up!

Labels: polls

You can vote for who you think is the greatest drummer of the last 25 years. In this reader's opinion, there are some serious omissions from the list: Alan White, Alex Van Halen, Bill Bruford, Steve Smith, Dave Weckl, Carter Beauford, Gregg Bissonette, Peter Erskine, Elvin Jones, Max Roach, Tony Williams just to name a few.

Who is the greatest drummer of the last 25 years? | MusicRadar.com

The choices are:

Labels: polls

Labels: Hockey Theme, polls