Magical Moment Photos

ALEX LIFESON AND GEDDY LEE OF RUSH PERFORMING LIVE IN SPOKANE, WA. ON 9-16-77. PHOTO/ART BY BEN UPHAM.

RUSH-
“RUSH PLAYS HEAVY METAL EPIC”
BY MARY CAMPBELL
THE NEWS
FREDERICK, MARYLAND
JUNE 26, 1980

“Our music tends to be epic in proportion” says Neil Peart, drummer of the Canadian hard rock trio Rush “We think big and reach high.” “I have nothing against short songs, but having to write short becomes an external limitation. You should think big if you have a big idea.”
Alex Lifeson plays guitars Geddy Lee sings and plays bass and eight-voice synthesizers he operates with his foot. Peart says, “I have a toy box of different percussion effects “When we’re writing, we make sure the instrumental changes can be physically done. That’s a good limitation.”
When they’re performing, Peart says, “Most of our show is spent with our noses to the grindstone; there’s less jumping around and smiling. You have to concentrate at an intense level as things get more technical.”
Heavy metal is having a resurgence right now but Rush has been doing well since its fourth, breakthrough album, “2112,” in 1976. In 1977, both its 1976 albums, “2112″ and “All the World’s a Stage,” were certified gold as well as the 1977 “A Farewell To Kings.” In 1978 “Hemispheres” went gold, and this year “Permament Waves” went gold.
A lot of rock critics who formerly didn’t like them, now do, Peart says, because their music has improved. This doesn’t include Rolling Stone magazine, which said “Rush’s patented sledgehammer epics try to mesh mystical, literary lyrics with elaborate rock ‘n’ roll suites but they only succeed in turning everything into heavy metal sludge.” It mentioned “Free Will” as an exception, “the punchiest, most straightforward rocker on ‘Permanent Waves,’ ” and added. “Also, it’s hard not to be impressed by the fact that only three musicians can create such a massive, leaden sound.”
Audiences look to be mostly 16 and 17 year-old boys. The group was formed 11 years ago and Peart says. “Was turned down by every record company in Canada at least once. The management raised money and recorded the group on an independent label. Moon. It was a last resort but a good resort. That got some sporadic airplay and attracted the attention of Mercury Records.”
Rush Signed with Mercury in 1974 and Mercury issued the album, “Rush” in the United States. “I wasn’t on that album,” Peart says “I joined on its release. I was on the first tour and everything.”
Peart also became the Rush lyricist “I’d written two songs long ago. Kind of stabs at it, then forgot about it and went on drumming. “I’d always had a fascination with words since I began to read. I’m a voracious reader. I thought why not write lyrics. Neither of them were interested in writing them. I got into it, began shooting my mouth off.”
As far as the music goes. Peart says, “I’m able to contribute rhythmic ideas, which is satisfying to me It’s fulfilling enough on a personal side being involved with lyrics. Being drummer at the same time is not only fulfilling, but over the top.”
He adds that he thinks Rush has a good chance of going on together for more years because, “We’re pretty much the same in terms of abilities and we grow at the same pace. I’ve been in bands where one is better than the rest and that leads to difficulties. “We share fundamental values, too, which gives our relationship continuity and sincerity ” And their ages are about the same — Peart 27. and the other two 26 — but he doesn’t think that’s an important factor among musicians.
This year Rush has toured from mid-January to mid-June but sometimes, Peart says, they’ve toured for eight or nine months. They finished an eight-month tour of Canada, the United States and Europe in June of last year and took the first vacation in a long time. “We went home and stayed there, puttered around and led a normal life.
We all have families. You recapture your home life. All that takes time and it’s worth it. You want to make sure those things balance in your life as well. We’re not interested in being martyrs.”
Then they met at a small farm to put some music together “I hid a lot of phrases and potential titles. We arrived fresh and creative We weren’t so relaxed we couldn’t get fired up again. We were ready to get back into action. “We were able to work more quickly and comfortably than we had done in the past, when we’d rush nght into a studio after a tour and compose, rehearse and arrange everything and make it sound like we’d been playing it for six months. “That works. I’m happy with some of the things we’ve done that way But it’s not a proper way to do it “We did a short tour to get us in shape to go in the studio. Half the new album was being played every day for that time.
“So, it was much easier, to record side one than side two. As far as the listener goes, I don’t feel there’s a difference in the two sides. One piece, ‘Natural Science,’ was created entirely in the studio. I think it’s my best lyric writing and one of the best musically I love playing it every night.”
When Rush started in the United States, Mahogany Rush, a trio from Montreal, also was starting. There was some confusion, which has disappeared, Peart says. The name of the new album, “Permanent Waves,” refers to the album cover. In black and white, like the old movies the group likes, it’s an attempt to be a bit humorous A girl is
walking across a street, “unbothered by cataclysmic events taking place around her.” She has a permanent wave. There’s a tidal wave. A man is waving. Across the picture runs the wave of an electrocardiogram. Peart says, “We were thinking of the press calling the music ‘old wave.’ It’s like: how many birds can you find hidden in this drawing’…
“A lot of our records have been thematic and metaphorical in the past. In this one the work is serious and strong and sincere, presented in a more lighthearted package It’s a conscious and subconscious attempt not to take ourselves so seriously.”

RUSH DISCOGRAPHY:
1974 Rush
1975 Fly by Night
1975 Caress of Steel
1976 2112
1976 All the World’s a Stage
1977 A Farewell to Kings
1978 Hemispheres
1980 Permanent Waves
1981 Moving Pictures
1981 Exit, Stage Left
1982 Signals
1984 Grace Under Pressure
1985 Power Windows
1987 Hold your Fire
1989 Presto
1989 Show of Hands (Live)
1991 Roll the Bones
1993 Counterparts
1996 Test for Echo
1998 Different Stages (Live)
2002 Vapor Trails
2003 Rush in Rio (Live)
2004 Feedback (Live Covers)
2005 R30 30th Anniversary World Tour (Live)
2006 Grace Under Pressure Tour (Live)
2007 Snakes & Arrows
2008 Snakes & Arrows Live

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE RUSH PHOTOS:
RUSH PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
RUSH FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM

ALEX LIFESON PLAYING SOME PSYCHEDELIC GUITAR IN SPOKANE, WA. ON 9-16-77. PHOTO ART BY BEN UPHAM.

RUSH
“MIX OF SCI-FI AND ROCK CREATES UNUSUAL SOUND”
BY DANNY GODDARD
THE ABALINE REPORTER
ABALINE, TEXAS
OCTOBER 17, 1977

Science fiction merged with hard-driving rock and roll Sunday night at the Rush concert in Taylor County Coliseum. Rush has come a long way since the early days when their chief claim to fame was a publicity campaign that had lead guitarist Alex Lifeson billed as the reincarnation of Jimi Hendrix.
The coliseum was only about half-filled, but the small crowd was extremely enthusiastic. With each successive album the Canadian group has advanced their individual sound and become more experimental.
Rush, while basically a three-member group, has expanded their music to include synthesizers, acoustic guitar and other variations on the traditional bass/guitar/drum lineup. Sunday night, Rush sounded like a combination of Aerosmith and Pink Floyd.
Lead vocalist Geddy Lee has one of the strangest sounding voices in the business. His high-pitched, shrill vocals are instantly identifiable.
Drummer Neil Part also plays bells, wind chimes, Chinese cymbols and other unusual percussion instruments that give Rush’s music an almost Oriental sound. Lifeson, still not the equal of Hendrix is nonetheless a talented and inventive guitarist.
His songs are often set in the far future or on some lonely planet in the outer reaches of the galactic void. The interstellar music mixed with a mind-boggling (and blinding) stage show represents a merging of technology and music that wasn’t possible five years ago.
Rush mixed songs from their old albums with cuts from the newest release, “Farewell to Kings.” A song called “Temple of Syryinx” about a man in the far future who finds a long-forgotten guitar, takes it to the priests in the temple, only to be chastised and finally executed, brought the biggest
response from the crowd. “Working Man Blues” was their encore. Other songs Included “You Can’t Get Something for Nothing,” one of their earlier, basic hard rock numbers and the title cut from “Farewell to Kings” that featured Lifeson on a acoustic-guitar solo. Most of the songs were over 15 minutes long allowing plenty of extended solos from Lifeson and Lee.
UFO, the other headliner, put on an energetic show consisting of more down to earth hard rock. Sounding a great deal like Aerosmith, the English band maintained a high energy level on stage, but their music was less imaginative than Rush. The lyrics were also more traditional in songs like “Love to Love” and “On With the Action.” Lead vocal Phil Mogg has a lower, grittier voice than Rush’s Lee but lead guitarist Michael Schenker dominated the act with his wailing solos. Drummer Andy Parker, bassist Pete Way and keyboardist Danny Peyronel provided the rest of the overpowering decibels of sound produced by UFO.
The first group, Max Webster, was a strange combination of hard rock and comedy. Lead guitarist Kim Kitchen was part robot and part madman. Backed up by bassist Mike Tiflka, keyboardist Terry Watkinson and drummer Gary McCracken, the group rivaled Brownsville Station in onstage lunacy.
During one intermission, promoters announced that Ted Nugent will be in concert Nov. 5 at the coliseum. Tickets, $6.50 in advance and $7.50 the day of show, go on sale today at Tape Town, Sears. Flipside Records and the coliseum box office.

RUSH DISCOGRAPHY:

1974 Rush
1975 Fly by Night
1975 Caress of Steel
1976 2112
1976 All the World’s a Stage
1977 A Farewell to Kings
1978 Hemispheres
1980 Permanent Waves
1981 Moving Pictures
1981 Exit, Stage Left
1982 Signals
1984 Grace Under Pressure
1985 Power Windows
1987 Hold your Fire
1989 Presto
1989 Show of Hands (Live)
1991 Roll the Bones
1993 Counterparts
1996 Test for Echo
1998 Different Stages (Live)
2002 Vapor Trails
2003 Rush in Rio (Live)
2004 Feedback (Live Covers)
2005 R30 30th Anniversary World Tour (Live)
2006 Grace Under Pressure Tour (Live)
2007 Snakes & Arrows
2008 Snakes & Arrows Live

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO SEE RUSH PHOTOS:
RUSH PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
RUSH FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM

ALEX LIFESON OF RUSH PLAYING IN SPOKANE, WASHINGTON ON 9-16-77. PHOTO ART BY BEN UPHAM.

RUSH
“CANADIAN ROCK BAND WINS U.S. FOLLOWING”
BY GRAHAM HICKS
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA
NOVEMBER 9, 1976

Neil Peart, drummer for the Toronto rock band Rush, sat in a corner of a cavernous dressing room in Brandon’s Keystone Centre, usually reserved for visiting Western Canada Hockey League teams. The spidery figure was absorbed in Canadian nationalist Richard Rohmer’s book “Exxoneration”, a fictional account of an attempted takeover of Canada by the United States.
This was odd because the heavy rock trio had deliberately forsaken Canada in the band’s reach for stardom. Like such other Canadian groups as Bachman-Turner Overdrive, they looked southward for success.
During the last two years, the band had played almost every major American city, touring seven months of each year.
A readers’ poll in Circus, a rock music publication aimed at the teen-age market, has named Rush the second-best new band in North America.
Their latest album, “2112″, was released in the U.S. earlier this year and has sold 300,000 copies. Canadian groups are considered super-successful if they sell 100,000 copies of an album.
The band finally made it to Canada last summer for a coast-to-coast tour. “I guess we’re a Canadian band that never really has played Canada before,” said lead singer and bassist Geddy Lee. “We played in most of the United States before we went east of Ottawa or west of Sudbury.” Their October tour was to “find out what the band means in Canada.” Lee said. The group said they enjoyed playing in Toronto, southern Ontario, Sudbury and Winnipeg but the Maritimes were a disaster. The audiences were there but Lee said there was a “failure to communicate.” “We’ll play Halifax and Moncton again, perhaps. But not Sydney, St. John’s or Charlottetown. The audiences are primitive. The halls in Canada are the pits. They’re terrible for sound, just barns or hockey rinks.”
In Toronto Rush played three sellout shows at Massey Hall—the first Canadian rock band to have attracted such audiences. Lee said Canadian audiences are more subdued than their American counterparts. “The teens are geared to a different way of life up here. They’re not as attuned to styles and fashions as you find in the states”.
Rush is not a new band. They worked pubs and high school dances in southern Ontario for five years. Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson are original members. Peart joined in 1974.
Lee said they were turned down by all Canadian record companies and were always told Rush had no commercial potential. After sending a copy of their first album to a Cleveland radio station Rush signed with Mercury in July, 1974. “Since then it’s been tour, tour, tour,” Lee said. “We’ve played hundreds of American towns, supporting whoever we could. We figured Canada would come naturally.” A new album, a live double set entitled “All the Worlds a Stage” has been released. Sales figures for the album and a future album to be recorded in England may determine whether Rush breaks through the ranks of superstardom.

RUSH DISCOGRAPHY:

1974 Rush
1975 Fly by Night
1975 Caress of Steel
1976 2112
1976 All the World’s a Stage
1977 A Farewell to Kings
1978 Hemispheres
1980 Permanent Waves
1981 Moving Pictures
1981 Exit, Stage Left
1982 Signals
1984 Grace Under Pressure
1985 Power Windows
1987 Hold your Fire
1989 Presto
1989 Show of Hands (Live)
1991 Roll the Bones
1993 Counterparts
1996 Test for Echo
1998 Different Stages (Live)
2002 Vapor Trails
2003 Rush in Rio (Live)
2004 Feedback (Live Covers)
2005 R30 30th Anniversary World Tour (Live)
2006 Grace Under Pressure Tour (Live)
2007 Snakes & Arrows
2008 Snakes & Arrows Live

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE RUSH PHOTOS:
RUSH PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
RUSH FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM

MICHAEL SCHENKER OF UFO. PHOTO BY BEN UPHAM.

ALEX LIFESON & GEDDY LEE OF RUSH. PHOTO BY BEN UPHAM.

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE UFO AND RUSH PHOTOS:
UFO PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
RUSH PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
RUSH FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM

UFO & RUSH-
“HEAVY METAL IS BACK”
BY JOHNNY HOLMES
CORPUS CHRISTI TIMES
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
OCTOBER 25, 1977

During the early 70s, there was an unwritten rule which said heavy metal Music wouldn’t sell. The real problem was that the number and quality of such heavy groups had dwindled and heavy music was dying because it had become stale and mundane. That’s all changed now. Heavy metal is back with a bang, as Rush and UFO proved last night by playing to a sold-out Memorial Coliseum.
UFO opened the show with perhaps the most powerful song in its’ repertoire, the title cut from its latest album, “Lights Out,” and the tone of the evening was set. UFO can handle several different forms of music quite well but focuses on its raw, heavy songs in concert.
Onstage, UFO possesses all the tools of stardom. Vocalist Phil Mogg, clad in contrasting black and white, appeared to be emulating Queen crooner Freddie Mercury with his moves and stage dominance, spending most of his time working with bassist Pete Way. Always on the prowl, Way was a terror onstage, easily the focal point away from the singer as he was forever stalking his fellow musicians, marking time or just getting carried away with the music.
But perhaps the most imposing figure of all was guitarist Michael Schenker. At times, Schenker appeared to occupy a different plane altogether, often merely standing back before his wall of amplifiers watching his cronies, or leaning over the audience, pitching out his leads.
UFO moved through several songs from various albums, the best of which were “Doctor Doctor,” “Out On The Street” and “This Kid’s,” before concluding with its tour-de-force, “Rock Bottom.” Rock bottom is about the last place you could find UFO after last night. If it can keep this sort of performance level up, UFO should soon be flying high.
Rush took the stage for its 100 minutes of music shortly thereafter and launched into its usual opener, “Bastille Day,” before changing things up a bit. The band had some trouble getting things going, and though the trouble was minor, Rush started a little better than it did last night. Once cranked up however, the boys in the band became unstoppable. “Lakeside Park” was moved into the second slot but was surpassed by “By-Tor and the Snow Dog,” an old favorite featuring some blistering guitar work from Alex Lifeson.
The entire show was reflected in singer/ bassist Geddy Lee’s articulate expressions. Every note, every chord, every move was detectable and it became obvious by the grin on his face that he was pleased with the performance. “Xanadu,” a concept piece from the new album, worked well, thanks to several precise tempo and rhythm changes courtesy of drummer Neil Peart. “A Farewll To Kings” followed and and brought on Lee’s biggest grin of the evening before the group retreated into some older material
like “Something For Nothing” and “Anthem.” At times, Lee’s voice suffered from stress and humidity, but he covered well, avoiding the lower ranges where it most bothered him. Lee also deserves credit for maintaining his concentration because there was a circus of craziness in full swing backstage all evening long. A running battle between Lee, UFO and crew members kept things constantly appearing onstage, culminating in UFO’s irrepressible bassist Pete Way’s candy-striped pants being strung up on Lee’s amps. As Rush prepared to return for its well-deserved encore, Lee and Way quickly exchanged clothes and Way led Rush back out on stage. Running and jumping around and generally being crazy, Way clowned through most of Rush’s three-song encore, which began with “Working Man” and concluded with Lee laughing uncontrollably in Way’s arms off the side of the stage following “Cinderella Man.”
But seriously, folks, Rush was in typically fine form last night.
The rejuvenation of heavy metal music is largely due to groups like this — groups that can take a basic heavy metal premise, add some clever innovations and shape its music into something truly extraordinary. As if it were written in a script, Rush bade “Farewell to the Old Kings of Rock” as the older music was laid to rest.
There is a new, progressive heavy metal-king and his name is Rush.

UFO DISCOGRAPHY:
1970 UFO 1
1971 UFO 2 Flying
1974 Phenomenon
1975 Force It
1976 No Heavy Petting
1977 Lights Out
1978 Obsession
1979 Strangers in the Night (Live)
1980 No Place to Run
1981 The Wild, The Willing and the Innocent
1982 Mechanix
1983 Making Contact
1985 Misdemeanor
1988 Ain’t Misbehavin’
1992 High Stakes & Dangerous Men
1998 Walk on Water
2000 Covenant
2002 Sharks
2004 You are Here
2006 Monkey Puzzle
2009 The Visitor
2012 Seven Deadly Sins

RUSH DISCOGRAPHY:
1974 Rush
1975 Fly by Night
1975 Caress of Steel
1976 2112
1976 All the World’s a Stage
1977 A Farewell to Kings
1978 Hemispheres
1980 Permanent Waves
1981 Moving Pictures
1981 Exit, Stage Left
1982 Signals
1984 Grace Under Pressure
1985 Power Windows
1987 Hold your Fire
1989 Presto
1989 Show of Hands (Live)
1991 Roll the Bones
1993 Counterparts
1996 Test for Echo
1998 Different Stages (Live)
2002 Vapor Trails
2003 Rush in Rio (Live)
2004 Feedback (Live Covers)
2005 R30 30th Anniversary World Tour (Live)
2006 Grace Under Pressure Tour (Live)
2007 Snakes & Arrows
2008 Snakes & Arrows Live
2011 Time Machine
2012 Clockwork Angels

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE UFO AND RUSH PHOTOS:
UFO PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
RUSH PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
RUSH FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM