OT-ish - Neil Peart Retires From Music

[Howstupidmrbates]

So I guess this could be the "official" end of Rush. Geddy Lee announced recently about possible solo albums to come.

Ahh, how many times I air-drummed to Rush songs. Thank you, Neil. Bon Voyage!


http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/12/r ... rom-music/

[roddswett]

I read the article as well as band members disclaimers.
After listening to R40 album, I have reached an adventourus yet plausible conclusion: Neil's tendinitis and Alex' artritits are just a cover story for the real reason why Rush can't play anymore live: Geddy Lee has completely lost his voice and the remaning of it went squeaky almost in all songs.
I LOVE Rush, but you must know when you hit a wall.
Next tour should be called "Instrumentals Only".

[Howstupidmrbates]

I felt the same way. Geddy has not taken care of his voice. Love or hate Sting, but the man took care of his voice all these years. R40 felt "under produced" and I can't even believe I would use that term to describe a Rush performance.

[roddswett]

Bonus track: Neil's toms -specially- on the second half of the show (riding the "El Darko" drum kit) are waaaaaaaaay below in the mix with virtually no attack from them, which is VERY disaponting for any drummer or Rush fan.

[zilboy]

Guys, the human voice ages along with the rest of the body. It's biology. Listen to how much deeper Stewart's speaking voice is compared to thirty years ago. Geddy's vocals sounded as good as one could expect from a guy in his seventh decade. Frankly, I was amazed at how he could still hit some of those notes in the older material. I can't hit a lot of notes that I could just ten or twelve years ago and I don't smoke or guzzle whiskey or any of those other bad habits that supposedly wreck a voice. And lemme tell you, it 'ain't easy singing falsetto with a bunch of third graders either. And as long as we're here, if Sting has taken such good care of his voice, why we're so many songs on the reunion tour in a different key? "It's just B-I-O-L-O-G-Y, can't you see? It's just biology."

That said, I am of the opinion that it might be time for them to call it a day. They don't owe the world anything and they are at the top of their game. I have thoroughly enjoyed every tour and album and I have never felt that they gave me any less than one hundred and ten percent live. And yeah, Neil's arm and Alex's hands have been issues for years. One can only soldier on for so long without rebuttal from the body. Maybe now Neil can work on being that better Jazz guy he's wanted to be for decades. That doesn't involve much physicality. Unless you're Buddy Rich. Or Jack DeJohnette.

I will say that I am in agreement regarding the dissatisfaction with the live mixes on the tours. Maybe if Neil had stayed with Ludwig or Tama. I have never liked his DWs live. Actually, I have never played a set of DWs that sounded good to me (and I've played a few). And don't get me started on the totally absent snare on the Clockwork Angels Live CD.