I'd like to raise that BLOODY BRILLIANT to a FUCKING INCREDIBLE! -- course as it may seem. Loving Far Cry.
They had a commerical for ESPN's Fantasy Baseball. In it, former Philadelphia Phillie and current baseball analyst Jon Kruk was fronting a rock band and imitating Jack Black.
Some of the fills are a bit tricky -- nothing on the level of Buddy Rich, but still take some chops -- but the toughest part, if you play it without cheating, is, imo, the 32nd note ride cymbal patterns (ti-ti-tibby-ti-ti-ti, ti-ti-tibby-tibby-ti-ti-ti) that follow a bit after the solo (after " ... but change is!").
If you just push the stick into the head and let it bounce, you'll get the speed (but it will sound like shit). If you use actual single strokes via Moeller, push-pull, etc., those 32nds are damn tough to play. Not many drummers outside of jazz could pull it off as clean as Neil does, I don't think. Most people would simply cheat (come to think of it, so would some jazzbos).
Neil's trickiest songs came from the early-to-mid 1980s, imo. Albums like Signals, Grace Under Pressure and Hold Your Fire gave us some tough ones. A lot of limb independence challenges, fast one-handed work and odd patterns. Not easy at all, but hardly top level, I don't think. I couldn't play that stuff (not cleanly ... I probably could cheat it, of course). But anyone on the Bruford level and up could, in my opinion.
Freaking awesome is an understatement! I'm so excited to see that a new album is coming out. With all the stuff that Neil has been through, I though for sure Vapor Trails was the end of the show as far as albums and especially tours. I'm so there if they get remotely close to Indianapolis.
I love how both of my favorite things are talked about in a single forum. I wrote about JB and Neil in my business book that was published a few years back. It's cool to see that so many people share the same passion for the same things. Kindred souls I guess.
I'm not a big Rush fan, but I like quite a few of their songs. My favorites would be Tom Sawyer, Distant Early Warning, Free Will, and Big Money.
There are a few songs that, if I have a radio on and someone tries to turn it off or change the station when they're playing, that person is apt to end up with broken fingers. Tom Sawyer is one of those songs. (I mainly keep the radio on a classic rock station that only plays stuff from the 60-80's and some early 90's)
For those of you not on the Rush e-mail list, be advised tour dates are to be announced Monday March 26 at rush.com.
Sounds great Chris! Just got my tickets for NEC Birmingham,i know they are expensive,but i figure it may be last chance us Europeans get to see them in the flesh.
If you go to the Rush site you can pre-order the new album as a dvd version in 5.1 surround! Just ordered mine!
Have you seen Neil's Work in Progress DVD where he performs most of the Test for Echo album - solo - while discussing why he made the creative choices he did?
Yeah, I actually had Work in Progress (lost it years ago) -- good stuff. I also have Anatomy of a Drum solo -- even better stuff.