Rush instrumentals

Song_infobox
Name = La Villa Strangiato


SorA = album
Artist = Rush
Album = Hemispheres
Released = October 28, 1978
track_no = 4
Recorded =
Genre = Progressive rock
Length = 9:34
Writer =
Composer =
Label = Anthem Records (Canada) Mercury Records
Producer = Rush & Terry Brown
Chart position =
prev = "The Trees"
prev_no = 3
next =
next_no = Extra tracklisting
Album = Exit...Stage Left
Type = live
prev_track = "Tom Sawyer"
prev_no = 12
this_track = "La Villa Strangiato"
track_no = 13
next_track =
next_no = Song_infobox
Name = Where's My Thing? (Part IV, "Gangster of Boats" Trilogy)


SorA = album
Artist = Rush
Album = Roll the Bones
Released = September 3 1991
track_no = 5
Recorded = 1991
Genre = Pop rock
Length = 3:49
Writer =
Composer =
Label = Anthem Records (Canada)Anthem/Atlantic
Producer = Rupert Hine and Rush
Chart position =
prev = "Face Up"
prev_no = 4
next = "The Big Wheel"
next_no = 6Song_infobox
Name = Leave That Thing Alone


SorA = album
Artist = Rush
Album = Counterparts
Released = October 19 1993
track_no = 9
Recorded = 1993
Genre = Progressive rock
Length = 4:06
Writer =
Composer =
Label = Anthem Records (Canada) Mercury Records
Producer = Peter Collins and Rush
Chart position =
prev = "Double Agent"
prev_no = 8
next = "Cold Fire"
next_no = 10Song_infobox
Name = Limbo


SorA = album
Artist = Rush
Album = Test for Echo
Released = September 10, 1996
track_no = 10
Recorded = 1996
Genre = Progressive rock
Length = 5:28
Writer =
Composer =
Label = Anthem Records (Canada) Mercury Records
Producer = Peter Collins and Rush
Chart position =
prev = "Resist"
prev_no = 9
next = "Carve Away the Stone"
next_no = 11Song_infobox
Name = Broon's Bane


SorA = album
Artist = Rush
Album = Exit...Stage Left
Released = October 1981
track_no = 8
Recorded =
Genre = Classical Guitar
Length = 1:37
Writer =
Composer =
Label = Anthem Records (Canada) Mercury Records
Producer = Terry Brown
Chart position =
prev = "Jacob's Ladder"
prev_no = 7
next = "The Trees"
next_no = 9Song_infobox
Name = R30 Overture


SorA = album
Artist = Rush
Album =
Released = November 22, 2005 (Canada & US) November 28, 2005 (Europe and UK)
track_no = 1
Recorded = September 24, 2004
Genre = Progressive rock, Hard rock
Length = 6:42
Writer =
Composer =
Label = Anthem Records (Canada) Mercury Records
Producer = Peter Collins and Rush
Chart position =
prev =
prev_no =
next = "The Spirit of Radio"
next_no = 1

The Canadian rock band Rush has written, recorded, and performed several instrumentals throughout its career. This article includes information about each of them.

tudio Recordings

2112

Overture

From the "2112" album, "Overture" opens up one of Rush's concept suites. Geddy Lee's voice is recorded as an instrument in the early parts of the song, as he sings no words. However, there is, despite the Overture's overall instrumental nature, only one line sung at the end, as the piece transitions to "The Temples of Syrinx": "And the meek shall inherit the earth." Like some overtures, music from the "2112" overture is repeated or built upon in other places in the suite such as "The Temples of Syrinx" and "Oracle: The Dream". At 4:07 in song, a key phrase from Tchaikovsky's famous piece, the "1812 Overture", can be heard.Fact|date=October 2008

Grand Finale

This section of the suite includes some "spoken" (not sung) lines at the end, with each phrase repeated three times: "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed control."

La Villa Strangiato

Found on the "Hemispheres" album, this was Rush's first entirely instrumental piece, clocking in at nearly ten minutes (9:37). The instrumental's subtitle is "An exercise in Self-Indulgence". The multi-part song was inspired by a dream guitarist Alex Lifeson had, and the music in these sections correspond to the occurrences in his dream. The opening segment was played on a nylon-string classical guitar, while the live versions were played on an electric guitar. This segment is basically a Spanish-flavored scale based on E Phrygian.Fact|date=September 2008 The next segment introduces the main theme of La Villa, the Strangiato theme. The song progresses to include an increasingly complex guitar solo backed by string synthesizer, followed closely by bass and drum fills. The Strangiato theme is then revisited before the song ends abruptly with phased bass and drums. The song is divided as follows:

* I: "Buenos Nochas, Mein Froinds!" - (0:00)
* II: "To sleep, perchance to dream..." - (0:27)
* III: "Strangiato theme" - (2:00)
* IV: "A Lerxst in Wonderland" - (3:16)
* V: "Monsters!" - (5:49)
* VI: "The Ghost of the Aragon" - (6:10)
* VII: "Danforth and Pape" - (6:45)
* VIII: "The Waltz of the Shreves" - (7:26)
* IX: "Never turn your back on a Monster!" - (7:52)
* X: "Monsters! (Reprise)" - (8:03)
* XI: "Strangiato theme (Reprise)" - (8:17)
* XII: "A Farewell to Things" - (9:20)

"Monsters" contains segments of the song "Powerhouse" by Raymond Scott.

Live versions of "La Villa Strangiato" have often featured certain alterations. For instance, on Exit...Stage Left, Lee sings nursery rhyme lyrics over "Danforth and Pape," then plays part of "Monsters! (Reprise)" as a bass solo. During more recent tours, as documented on Rush in Rio, a drum/bass vamp is inserted before "Strangiato Theme (Reprise)," over which Lifeson makes a stream-of-consciousness rant. The classical guitar introduction is either played on electric guitar or, more commonly, cut out altogether.

According to Lee, "We spent more time recording 'Strangiato' than the entire "Fly By Night" album. It's recorded in one take but it took 40 takes to get it right! It was our first piece without any vocals at all. So each section had to stand up with a theme and musical structure of its own."Banasiewicz, Bill; "Rush: Visions: The Official Biography", Chapter 7, Omnibus Press, 1988]

"La Villa Strangiato" translates roughly to "Strange Village" or "Weird City".visions]

YYZ

From the "Moving Pictures" album. "YYZ" (natively pronounced "why-why-zed") is the airport code for the Toronto International Airport, and the instrumental opens with a rhythm in 5/4 that is Morse code for "YYZ" (-.-- -.-- --..). The piece evolved into a drum/bass solo during the 1980s. "YYZ" was the first of five Rush songs (over three decades) to be nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance. It was nominated in 1981, losing to The Police's "Behind My Camel".It was also named by Modern Drummer Magazine as the best drum performance of the 1980s.Fact|date=August 2008

Where's My Thing?

From the "Roll the Bones" album. The subtitle for this instrumental is "Part IV, 'Gangster of Boats' Trilogy." Drummer Neil Peart has explained this as a joke — there are only three items in a trilogy, not four. "Gangster of Boats" comes from the persistent threat from Lee and Lifeson to title an album "Gangster of Boats" and never became an actual "concept" the same way that Rush's "Fear" trilogy had. [http://www.nimitz.net/rush/faq3ans.html#137] "Where's My Thing?" was their second song nominated for a Grammy, in 1991, losing to Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover". The song is much more pop-like than the rest of Rush's work, featuring an upbeat tempo and a brass-like synthesizer line.

Leave That Thing Alone

From the "Counterparts" album. During the "Counterparts", "Test for Echo", and "Vapor Trails" tours, and featured on the "Rush in Rio" live album, "Leave That Thing Alone" preceded Peart's drum solo. "Leave That Thing Alone" was the third song nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1994, losing to Pink Floyd's "Marooned".

Limbo

From the "Test for Echo" album. Like the "2112 Overture", "Limbo" features vocals by Lee, however, his voice is being used as an instrument as he is not singing any words. The song also includes samples from Bobby "Boris" Pickett oldie "The Monster Mash": 'Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist' and 'Ahh, Mash Good!'.

"The Main Monkey Business", "Hope" and "Malignant Narcissism"

Rush's album "Snakes & Arrows" is the first Rush album to feature multiple instrumental tracks: "The Main Monkey Business", "Hope", and "Malignant Narcissism". The first, "The Main Monkey Business", is slightly over six minutes long. As with "Limbo" and "2112 Overture", Lee's voice is being used as an instrument as no words are being sung. The other two songs, "Hope" and "Malignant Narcissism", are the two shortest songs ever recorded by Rush at just over two minutes long. This was a distinction previously held (excluding the short sections of the multi-parted songs like "2112" and "La Villa Strangiato") by the short track "Need Some Love" on the album "Rush". "Hope" is a solo guitar piece written by Lifeson. "Malignant Narcissism" features Lee on a fretless bass and Peart on a four-piece drum kit. [ Peart, Neil: [http://rush.com/thegameofsnakesandarrows/Rush.Essay4.S&A.pdf The Game of Snakes and Arrows] ] "Malignant Narcissism" contains dialog of a woman's voice, "Usually a case of malignant narcissism brought on during childhood." The last word in the phrase is repeated, each time lower than the last. The phrase is an audio clip from the movie "".Fact|date=August 2007. "Malignant Narcissism" became the fifth instrumental to be nominated for a Grammy under the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance, in 2008, losing to Bruce Springsteen's "Once Upon A Time In The West." [ [http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/50th_Show/list.aspx#04 GRAMMY.com ] ]

Live Performances & Recordings

Broon's Bane

Found on the "Exit...Stage Left" live album, "Broon's Bane" is a short classical guitar arrangement performed by Lifeson as an extended intro to "The Trees". The song is named after Terry Brown (Brown is also referred to as "T.C. Broonsie" during the intro to Jacob's Ladder) who produced "Exit...Stage Left" and ten other Rush albums. It is not featured on any other live or studio recording by Rush. The song repeats and builds upon the same three-beat line, coming to a climax about one minute into the piece before segueing into "The Trees".

Cygnus X-1 (Live Recordings)

On the live album "Rush in Rio", an abridged version of "Cygnus X-1" is performed as an instrumental. The piece contains the themes from 1:26 to 4:59 in the studio recording of the piece, shortened slightly by about twenty seconds. In other words, it includes the Prologue part without the spoken words. Also, the keyboard synthesizer heard in the studio recording is replaced with a more synthesized voice played by Lee with foot pedals. This is the same excerpt of the piece played as part of the Overture.

R30 Overture

The opening song of Rush's 2004 tour dates featured an instrumental combining sections of one song from each of the band's first six albums.

The songs featured in the medley were:
#"Finding My Way'" ("Rush")
#"Anthem" ("Fly by Night")
#"Bastille Day" ("Caress of Steel")
#"A Passage to Bangkok" ("2112")
#"Cygnus X-1 Prologue" ("A Farewell to Kings")
#"Hemispheres Prelude" ("Hemispheres")

Neil Peart's drum solos

A staple and highlight of Rush's concerts is a drum solo by Neil Peart. These solos have been featured on every live album released by the band. On the early live albums ("All the World's a Stage" and "Exit...Stage Left"), the drum solo was included as part of a song ("Working Man/Finding My Way" and "YYZ", respectively). On all subsequent live albums, the drum solo has been included on a separate track. On "A Show of Hands" and "Different Stages", the drum solos were titled "The Rhythm Method" (a pun on the form of birth control); on "Rush in Rio", it was entitled "O Baterista"; on "R30 Live In Frankfurt" it was titled "Der Trommler". On Rush's most recent live album, "Snakes & Arrows Live", it is titled "De Slagwerker", and is coupled with "Malignant Narcissism" on the track-list. "O Baterista" was the fourth song nominated for a Grammy, in 2004, losing to Brian Wilson's "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow".

The titles "O Baterista", "Der Trommler" and "De Slagwerker" all translate to "The Drummer" in Portuguese, German and Dutch respectively. [cite web | title = Drummer | publisher = Woxikon.com | url = http://www.woxikon.com/eng/drummer.php]

All of Peart's drum solos include a basic framework of routines connected by sections of improvisation, leaving each performance unique. [Drummer translations, Hudson Music, 2005, DVD] Each successive tour sees the solo more advanced, with some routines dropped in favor of newer, more complex ones. Since the mid-late 1980s Peart has utilized MIDI trigger pads to trigger sounds sampled from various pieces of acoustic percussion that would otherwise consume far too much stage area, such as a marimba, harp, temple blocks, triangles, glockenspiel, orchestra bells, tubular bells, and vibra-slap as well as other, more esoteric percussion. Some purely electronic, description-defying sounds are also used. All are incorporated into each drum solo.

Peart has utilized the marimba section of one of his solo tracks titled "Pieces of Eight" (which first appeared as a flexidisc record found in the May 1987 issue of Modern Drummer magazine) in every solo since 1987-88. Tours since the 1989 studio release of "Presto" have included a complex pattern from the song "Scars" as part of the solo. Another of Peart's marimba-based solo tracks, titled "Momo's Dance Party", has been used as part of the solo since the 1996 tour in support of "Test for Echo". For the "Vapor Trails" and R30 tours, each solo concluded with a section of the Count Basie standard "One O'Clock Jump", which Peart recorded while producing "Burning For Buddy", a two-volume tribute album to legendary big band drummer and bandleader, Buddy Rich. For the 2007 and 2008 legs of the Snakes And Arrows Tour, Peart replaced the finale with an excerpt from "Cotton Tail", which he recorded with the Buddy Rich Band in the mid 1990s.

References