![]() ![]() Lee remembers the process of making the album with little fondness. There were, according to Lifeson, even a few explosions at and with one another. Strangely, the band, especially Lee and Lifeson, felt real tension with one another during the recording of the album. “I feel that that’s the condition of contemporary man now – when we read the paper or when we watch TV, we’re not sure if we’re supposed to laugh.” ĭespite being the most “progressive” album the band had produced in a decade or so, Test for Echo also has a relaxed, comfortable feel to it, something rarely found on a Rush album. “It’s about the numbing process that happens when we are exposed to great tragedies and then we’re exposed to moments of hilarity,” said singer-bassist Geddy Lee, whose band returns Tuesday to Target Center in Minneapolis. Lee explains why the album needed both as to best reflect the meaning of the album as a whole: While Test for Echo contains driving songs, it also contains a lot of whimsy and humor. Peter Collins, English producer of Power Windows (1985), Hold Your Fire (1987), and Counterparts, returned to produce this album, keeping his view on the overall structure of the full album, with Clif Norrell (Catherine Wheel) serving as recording engineer and Andy Wallace (Faith No More) as mixing engineer. Certainly, Lifeson had never played such a strong and assertive role in the creation of an album as he did with this one. In the context of the history Rush, “Test for Echo” is, to be sure, its own creature. Instead, it sounds like almost nothing Rush had done before, and yet, it sounds almost like nothing Rush did after. Neither, however, was it as light and sleek as Presto (1989) had been. Test for Echo possessed neither the overall hardness of the 1993 album nor the denseness of a Power Windows (1985). “Everybody needs an ‘echo,’ some affirmation to know they’re not alone.” “Test for Echo,” Peart explains, was a means of Rush both asking and assuring its fan base that neither was alone. We worked we traveled we lived our lives and it was fine.” The title of the album even reflects the time away from one another and from their fans. ![]() ![]() “During that time,” Peart notes in the official tourbook, “Geddy and his wife produced a baby girl, Alex produced a solo album, and I produced a tribute to the big-band music of Buddy Rich. Arriving a full three years after Counterparts, Rush fandom had never had to wait so long for a new album from the band. Test for Echo, the band’s sixteenth studio album, is an anomaly and a beautiful transition from the first full stage of Rush (1.0) to the final stage of Rush (2.0). In the meantime, here’s an excerpt–a raw, unedited version of my section on Peart and Rush in 1996-1997, just before all of the tragedies hit. I’m hoping to come up with something better. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta.Īt the moment, the place-holder title is The Neil Peart Generation. The book will come out this fall (2015) from WordFire Press under the editorial expertise of Kevin J. So, if you’ll permit me, I’ll do it here.Īnd, I’m having a blast, not surprisingly. While I’ve mentioned this in passing, i’ve yet to announce formally that I’m writing a book on the words and ideas of Neil Peart. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |