My enduring love is Rock. For me it started with Elvis and Eddie Cochran. Elvis kind of fell by the wayside for me as his output was patchy. Such a great voice and ultimately such a shame, the man that had it all.....
1968, still the MAN!
1977, a mere 9 years later......
Eddie Cochran is the legend. He died in his prime as a young man and his appeal is timeless. He never goes out of fashion because he was a true talent and innovator. He pioneered studio techniques, was a great guitarist and a superb songwriter and in death we were left with the "what if's?"
.....and he looked cool...
I still listen to his songs and still think that he was the true inspiration for the generations of rock musicians that have existed since. George Harrison became a guitarist after seeing Eddie Cochran. The Sex Pistols covered "Something Else" and the Who, amongst many others, covered "Summertime Blues". Brian Setzer from the Stray Cats is a big fan and has covered many Cochran songs and I would say that his own output shows a positive hint of Eddie Cochran and I mean that in the most complimentary way.
My love of rock extended in to Thin Lizzy and AC/DC, both of whom I still adore. Early AC/DC is unsurpassed in attitude and grit by just about anyone with a few exceptions, Rose Tattoo, Hanoi Rocks and the Angels from Angel City. I suppose that the New York Dolls and Iggy deserve a place there but it was a different kind of understanding, I got the Antipodean (and Finnish) dirt but missed the point of the American sleaze and punk scene.
I took up guitar at somepoint but it wasn't rock music that inspired that, it was Cat Stevens, the Band and John Martyn. I didn't buy an electric guitar, I bought an acoustic. My love of guitar has extended to electric but the acoustic is my preference when I play. I have recently been inspired by Duane Allman, a song called "Little Martha" and some live footage of John Martyn playing "May you never" and some acoustic footage of Stevie Ray Vaughan handing Satriani his a***e on a plate on MTV by playing an acoustic version of "Rude Mood" on a 12 string. Those are the magic moments that are inspirational to a music lover, the moments that make you say "I want to play like that."
This all kind of came about because Classic Rock Magazine are doing a few special issues that include a full magazine dedicated to whoever or whatever band and include their latest offering as part of the package, a month before the official release. I bought Slash's albums this way and last month took delivery of the latest Rush album. I have been a Rush fan since I saw them on the "Signals" tour in 1983. On listening to them I didn't like them, how could I? I was listening to Bon Scott sing about women and booze, Phil Lynott singing about being a Renegade in the gypsy romantic Irish way of his, and here was a band singing about trees and Tom Sawyer.
Bon Scott, the bare chested rock god with a voice akin to gargling with broken glass and the swagger of a guy that wouldn't take any sh*t.
Phil Lynott, a modern day poet, a lover
and a fighter.
Rush had keyboards and everything, I wasn't interested.
Then I saw them live, my second ever concert and they were incredible. I was in awe and a convert, I understood. I bought all their albums prior to "Signals" and have bought everything since. I have seen them on all subsequent UK tours (apart from the last one) and they have endeared themselves to me and become old friends through their music in the way that only music can.
Not every album has been great but they have been consistent. Oddly though, as they get older the albums have got heavier. The latest album, "Clockwork Angels" is bombastic and big, not quite stripped down but it is certainly a revitalised sounding Rush.
I listened to it for a couple of weeks then put it down. I picked it up again this morning and it sounded absolutely brilliant. It has the signature Rush sound but it is truly a mix of 1970's Rush with 2012's Rush, it has the brilliance and passion mixed with the darkness and heavy guitar and keyboard work that they excel in. As an aside I would recommend Rush as a band to run to, I have a few of their numbers on my ipod and they help when the going gets tough.
This is a band that has made 20+ albums, all have gone platinum yet no-one, apart from the fans, have a clue what they sound like This is a band that has forged a career despite the record companies, no singles and no marketing, I guess this makes them the biggest cult band in the World. They have changed styles, sound and image, been reclusive and appear cold from the outside. A band that wasn't known for its humour but we, the fans knew better, here was a quirky Canadian band and for anyone that knows Canadians, they are a humorous bunch, unlike Americans they get sarcasm and can dish it as well as take it. Rush have a gentle humour. On stage it can be seen in the washing machines and chicken roasting machines that festoon the back line, it can be seen in the insong jokes that crop up or the films that run between some of the songs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo4ii38tWzw&feature=related or in a candid video of the three of them having dinner and getting drunker and drunker and just having a very nice time together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfjQ_EF_8U0
If you haven't experienced Rush before, I am pretty certain you won't like them. They are a band you either love or hate, in some ways an acquired taste but once they filter in, they will stay with you. They have, in my opinion, the greatest drummer ever, a percussionist that is always rated in the top 5 drummers ever and in the last poll I saw, missed out on the top spot to Keith Moon and came in ahead of John Bonham, if proof were needed a Drum solo. The other two guys are no slouches either, the bassist is also the keyboard player and singer, often performing all three tasks simultaneously. the guitarist is severely underrated, a creative soloist and superb rhythm player, he may not be Satriani or Vai but his body of work is far superior to them both.
There is a picture somewhere of Brian Warner/Marilyn Manson in a Rush T-shirt, the Manic Street Preachers are huge fans and Chris Cornell did break into a Rush song during an acoustic interlude at an Audioslave gig.
Rush have their share of closet fans as they are a band that no-one volunteers to liking as they are constantly unfashionable and I like that about them. There is nothing they can ever do to appeal to people so they are in the position of being able to make music only for themselves, what an absolute pleasure that is.
Some bands follow and some lead. Rush do neither, they simply are, and they do it very well.
"Summer's going fast
Nights growing colder
Children growing up
Old friends growing older
Experience slips away."
Time Standstill Rush (Lyrics by Neil Peart)
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