History of Rush

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The history of Rush spans over thirty-five years, from the original lineup (of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and John Rutsey), to the modern era, after the replacement of Rutsey with Neil Peart. Over this time span, Rush has changed their style of music dramatically, changing from a sound very derivative of Led Zeppelin on their eponymous debut to styles encompassing hard rock, progressive rock, and a period dominated by synthesizers. Today their style of music can best be described as modern rock. Presently, the band continues to produce music and tour extensively.

1 The early days (1968–1974)
2 The hard rock days (1974–1976)
3 The progressive rock era (1977–1981)
4 The synthesizer period (1982–1989)
5 Returning to their roots (1989–1997)
6 Hiatus and comeback (1997–present)
7 References

[edit] The early days (1968–1974)

The original lineup of Rush formed in September 1968, consisting of Jeff Jones (bass and lead vocals), John Rutsey (drums and backing vocals) and Alex Zivojinovich, better known by his stage name, Alex Lifeson (guitars and backing vocals), a name he assumed since it was a literal translation of Zivojinovich. It was Rutsey's older brother who suggested the name "Rush" immediately before the band's first gig at The Coff-In, a local coffee shop in the basement of an old Anglican church. This was a play on words alluding to the frantic scrambling of the band members as they tried to come up with a title. That same September, Jones was replaced as bassist and lead vocalist by Lifeson's schoolmate Gary Lee Weinrib, who went by the name of Geddy Lee due to the heavily accented pronunciation of his first name by his Jewish mother. After this point, Rush experienced rapid personnel changes and lineup reformations before finally settling on the first officially recognized incarnation of the band. This began in January of 1969 when Lindy Young came onboard at the request of Lifeson to play keyboards and occasional back-up guitars. Surprisingly, Geddy Lee was asked to leave Rush that May, and he went on to form his own band which he first called "Ogilvie", but later opted for the name "Judd". Rush and Judd were both managed by local friend, Ray Daniels. Lee was replaced in Rush by bassist and vocalist Joe Perna. Soon after Lee's expulsion, the name of the band was changed to "Hadrian." Lee had such terrific success with his newly formed band that Lindy Young made the decision to leave and join Judd. This act resulted in the final dissolution of Hadrian since Young's departure saw the loss of a highly talented player. However, in September, the members of Judd also disbanded allowing Lee, Lifeson, and Rutsey to reconvene as Rush once again. In February of 1971, Mitch Bossi was recruited as rhythm guitarist, however, his tenure was extremely short-lived and he quit in May of the same year leaving behind the three members to carry on as a trio.

After experiencing some stability in their lineup and honing their skills on the local bar/high school dance circuit, Rush decided to release their first single in 1973 before attempting work on a full album. Side A contained "Not Fade Away", a cover of a Buddy Holly song, while on side B there was an original composition titled "You Can't Fight It" credited to Rutsey and Lee. To the chagrin of the band, the single did not generate the desired reaction on the commercial circuit. Because numerous record companies refused to produce and distribute Rush's music, the band was forced to form their own record label, Moon Records. However, despite these early setbacks, Lee, Lifeson, and Rutsey, with the aid of Daniels and newly enlisted co-producer Terry Brown, released their first album in 1974, the self-titled Rush. The entire production cost came to a scant $9,000. Highly derivative of Led Zeppelin, Rush had limited local popularity until the original release, distributed by Moon Records, was picked up by WMMS, a radio station in Cleveland, Ohio. Donna Halper, a DJ working at the time, selected the seven minute "Working Man" to be part of the regular play cycle. This song was the band's first release to garner positive commercial feedback. It instantly resonated with hard rock fans in North America; being reminiscient of Led Zeppelin, with Geddy Lee sounding similar to Robert Plant, and Alex Lifeson's guitar riffs modeled partly after Jimmy Page's style. This popularity led the album to be redistributed by Mercury Records^[1] ^[2].

[edit] The hard rock days (1974–1976)

Rush (1974)

The same year, drummer John Rutsey resigned due to his affliction with diabetes and a distaste for touring. Rush held auditions for a replacement drummer before finally selecting Neil Peart. Prior to joining the band, Neil had recently travelled to England in order to further his musical career. Unfortunately, he became increasingly disillusioned with the scene and emigrated back to Canada where he auditioned for Rush. Incidentally, Alex Lifeson has remarked in interviews that his immediate impression of Neil was actually less than favorable (in terms of personality), while Geddy was much more accepting. Neil's inclusion led the band to a more progressive ethos over the course of the next few albums, Fly by Night, Caress of Steel, and 2112. He also became the band's principal lyricist since Lee and Lifeson had very little interest in writing, contributing to only a few songs over the rest of the band's career. Instead the two of them focused solely on the musical aspect of Rush. Although these early albums were still heavily entrenched in the blues-inspired hard rock that dominated their eponymous debut, more complex song structures and progressive rock arrangements became apparent. Fly By Night (1975), Rush's first album after recruiting drummer Neil Peart, saw the inclusion of the band's first mini-epic tale "By-Tor and the Snow Dog", replete with complex arrangements and multi-section format. Lyrical themes also underwent dramatic changes after the addition of Neil due to his love for fantasy and science-fiction literature. However, despite these many differences most of the music still closely mirrored the style found on Rush's debut^[3].

Following quick on the heels of Fly By Night, the band released Caress of Steel (1975) a five track hard/art rock album featuring two extended multi-chapter songs, "The Necromancer" and "The Fountain of Lamneth". The latter was Rush's first full-fledged epic, devoted entirely to side 2 of the album, while the former (a nod to J.R.R Tolkien) was a more compact "mini-epic". Caress of Steel was considered an audacious move for the band due to the placement of two protracted numbers back-to-back, as well as a heavier reliance on atmospherics and story-telling: a large deviation from Fly by Night. Still, the lead-off track "Bastille Day" harkened back to the previous album and became a fan favorite "rocker". The song was consistently used as the opener for many of their live shows in the late 70's. Intended to be the band's first "break-through" album, Caress of Steel sold quite poorly, and the promotional tour consisted of small lackluster venues which led to the moniker the "Down the Tubes Tour". In light of these events, Rush's record label earnestly pressured them into molding their next album in a more commercially friendly and accessible fashion. However, in spite of such urges, the band ignored the requests. So, while Caress Of Steel was a commercial flop and the subsequent tour in support of the album was mostly a failure, their next album, 2112, released the following year was a masterful comeback. It was the band's first taste of commercial success and their first Canadian gold and platinum album^[4]. It is widely considered to be the pinnacle of early period Rush. The lyrics of this time (most of them written by Peart) were heavily influenced by classical poetry, fantasy literature, science fiction and, in a few cases, the writings of novelist Ayn Rand, as exhibited most prominently by their 1975 song "Anthem" from Fly By Night and a specifically acknowledged derivation in 1976's 2112^[5].

It was obvious, by this time, that Rush's music was beginning to head in a new direction. After the rousing success of 2112, the band released a double live album titled All the World's a Stage in 1976 in order to demarcate the boundary between Rush's early years and the next era of music. The album has become known for its sonic rawness and intensity, and more than anything else demonstrates the "power" aspect of the band's sound during their early days.

[edit] The progressive rock era (1977–1981)

Rush
(A Farewell to Kings tour photo 1977)

Revitalized with a creative fervor after the highly acclaimed and well-received 2112, Rush followed up and delivered 1977's A Farewell to Kings and 1978's Hemispheres. These albums saw the band pushing the prog rock envelope even further than before by expanding their use of progressive elements. Trademarks such as increased synthesizer usage, extended length concept songs, and highly dynamic playing featuring complex time signature changes became a staple of Rush's compositions. Alex Lifeson began to experiment with twelve- and six-string classical guitars, introducing yet another facet to the music. Songs such as "A Farewell To Kings", "Closer to the Heart", and "The Trees" make moderate to extensive use of finger picking, a common classical guitar technique. Additionally, the nine-and-a-half-minute instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" even features some flamenco guitar during the introduction. Geddy Lee also began to assimilate different instrumentation, such as bass-pedal synthesizers and Mini-Moog, into Rush's songs in order to achieve a broader palette of sound. Likewise, Peart's percussion became vastly more diversified in the form of triangles, glockenspiel, wood-blocks, cow-bells, and chimes. All of these new additions lent themselves to the progressive character of Rush's sound.

Beyond instrument additions, the band kept in stride with the progressive rock movement by continuing to compose long atmospheric songs, usually conceptual in nature with science fiction and fantasy overtones. A somewhat novel approach to story-telling within the rock genre, the two albums that followed after 2112 were linked conceptually by a two-part interconnected storyline. Hemispheres contains a sequel to A Farewell to King's "Cygnus X-1" titled "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres". While Rush produced a few other multichapter songs over the rest of their career, "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres" was their last side-spanning epic. As the new decade approached, Rush gradually began to dispose of their older styles of music in favor of shorter, and sometimes softer, arrangemements.

Rush (1978)

1980's Permanent Waves shifted Rush's style of music dramatically. Other styles such as reggae and new wave were starting to sneak into Rush songs throughout the early 1980s beginning with this album. Also, although a hard rock style was still evident, more and more synthesizers were introduced. During an interview in 1978, Geddy Lee stated that Rush felt they had taken the long-song format as far as they could or wanted. Many of their early songs received limited airplay and commercial recognition because of their extended length (in some cases exceeding ten minutes). This partially contributed to the band's apparent change in direction while recording Permanent Waves in 1979. Here, Rush began to opt for shorter songs that still retained their trademark musicianship and complexity. However, lengthy songs did make a few final appearances in this period, in the form of "Jacob's Ladder", "Natural Science", and "The Camera Eye". The nine-minute track "Natural Science" from Permanent Waves is considered the band's last true multichapter song since it comprises three individual passages as explicitly stated in the liner notes. Yet, even after purposely forgoing the extended song format, many of the band's songs would continue to clock in at five or six minutes, still just outside of mainstream music convention. However, Permanent Waves was able to spawn two highly recognizable, immortal radio classics, "The Spirit of Radio" and "Freewill", songs which combined musical complexity with marketable accessibility that allowed Rush to emerge as a more radio friendly band. Both songs continue to make appearances on classic rock radio stations in Canada and the United States to this day.

Lyrical themes also changed markedly during this time, beginning to rely much less on science-fiction imagery. Instead, Neil's lyrics took on a more expository tone with subject matter that dwelled less upon fantastical or allegorical story-telling and more heavily on cerebral topics that explored humanitarian, social, emotional, and metaphysical elements.

Rush
(Moving Pictures session photo 1981)

Rush's popularity hit its zenith with the release of Moving Pictures in 1981. Moving Pictures essentially continued where Permanent Waves left off, extending the trend of highly accessible and commercially friendly pop-progressive rock that helped thrust them into the spotlight. The lead track, "Tom Sawyer", is probably the band's best known song. In addition to "Tom Sawyer", "Limelight" also received satisfactory responses from listeners, and to this day (along with "Tom Sawyer") still remains a relatively popular song on classic rock radio stations across North America. It should be mentioned that Moving Pictures was the very last album to feature an extended song, the 10-and-a-half-minute "The Camera Eye". Incidentally, the song also possessed the band's heaviest usage of keyboards and synthesizers up to that point hinting that Rush's music was veering in yet another new direction. Moving Pictures shot up to #3 on the Billboard Album Chart and has been certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)^[6].

Following the success of Moving Pictures (and the completion of yet another four studio albums) Rush came to release their second live recording, Exit...Stage Left, in 1981. More than anything else, the album delineates the apex of Rush's progressive period featuring live material from the band's very successful Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures tours. As with their first live release, Exit...Stage Left identified the margin of yet another chapter of Rush's sound. The band underwent another radical stylistic transmutation with the release of Signals in 1982.

[edit] The synthesizer period (1982–1989)

While Geddy Lee's synthesizers had been featured instruments ever since the late 70's, 1982's Signals arguably represented Rush's most drastic stylistic transformation up to that point. Keyboards were suddenly shifted from a contrapuntal background to the melodic frontlines. Traditional guitar solos also became less of a focal point as seen in both "Countdown" and the lead-off track "Subdivisions". Both songs feature nimble lead synthesizer lines with minimalistic guitar chords and solos. Another song, "Losing It," features Ben Mink on electric violin, while Lifeson's guitar chords are only perfunctory, as they are slighty audible in the mix. Many Rush fans (chiefly guitarists) were disappointed with Alex Lifeson's subdued guitar tone and overall diminished presence, but others enjoyed the adventurous musical territory. It must be noted that, while the band members consciously decided to move in this overall direction, they felt dissatisfied with long-time producer Terry Brown's studio treatment of Signals and parted ways with him in 1983.

Rush
(The Body Electric Music Video, 1984)

Signals contained Rush's only US top-40 pop hit, "New World Man", while, musically, other more experimental songs such as "Digital Man", "The Weapon", and "Chemistry" expanded the band's use of ska, reggae, and funk. More specifically, Alex Lifeson's guitar tone and playing style on Signals were very reminscient of contemporary acts of the time who were well known for incorporating such rhythms into their music, The Police and U2 being the most evident; and it is not at all uncommon to still hear comparisons drawn between Alex Lifeson and Andy Summers of The Police. These diverse styles would come into further play on their next studio album.

The style and production of Signals were patently augmented and taken to new heights on 1984's Grace Under Pressure. Although Geddy Lee's use of sequencer and synthesizer remained the band's cornerstone, his focus on new technology was complemented by Neil Peart's adaptation of electronic drums and percussion -- a sonic evolutionary step similar to A Farewell to Kings. Alex Lifeson's contributions on the album were decidedly enhanced to act as an overreaction to the minimalistic role he played on Signals. Even still, many of his trademark guitar textures remained intact in the form of open reggae chords and funk and new-wave rhythms; "red lenses", "Red Sector A" and "The Enemy Within" serving as prime examples. Grace Under Pressure also featured several popular MTV music videos, including the anti-nuclear anthem "Distant Early Warning." "The Body Electric" would prove a staple of AOR and classic rock radio.

Lyrically, many of the themes featured on Grace Under Pressure were bleak and hopeless. Peart began to address previously unexplored motifs in his writing such as nuclear war, the Holocaust, deep personal strife, and communism. Such subjects obviously deal with secular, environmental, and humanitarian concerns that were rather unorthodox for Neil at the time. However, from this point on, Neil's lyrics would more or less continue in this vein for the remainder of the band's career, albeit with less despondency.

1985's Power Windows and 1987's Hold Your Fire could be considered the peak of this musical chapter of Rush. Produced by Peter Collins, the music on these two albums give far more emphasis and prominence to Geddy Lee's multi-layered synthesizer work. However, Power Windows still builds somewhat upon the momentum from Grace Under Pressure, even as it involves more sophisticated usage of sequencers and guitar minimalism. However, Alex Lifeson's presence is still palpable on "The Big Money," (the album's modest-charting single) with spotlights on "Grand Designs," "Middletown Dreams," and "Marathon."

1987's Hold Your Fire represents both a modest extension of the guitar stylings found on Power Windows (and initiated on Signals), and perhaps the culmination of this era of Rush. Lifeson, like many guitarists in the late 1980s, became enamored of processors that reduced his instrument to echoey chord colorings and razor-thin leads. Most Rush fans now agree that Lifeson's contributions on these two albums were secondary to Geddy Lee's bass playing and keyboard-sequencer arrangements. Whereas the previous five Rush albums sold platinum or better, Hold Your Fire only went gold in 1987. This would convince the group to change record labels from Polygram to Atlantic in 1989.

A third live album and video, A Show of Hands (1989), was also released by Polygram following the Power Windows and Hold Your Fire tours, demonstrating the aspects of Rush in the 80's.

[edit] Returning to their roots (1989–1997)

Rush started to deviate from their 1980s style with the albums Presto and Roll the Bones. Produced by record engineer and musician Rupert Hine, these albums saw Rush shedding much of their keyboard-saturated sound. Beginning with Presto (1989), the band opted for arrangements that were notably more guitar-centric than the previous two studio albums. While synthesizers were still used in many songs, the instrument was no longer featured as the centerpiece of Rush's compositions. Morever, songs such as "Red Tide", "Available Light", and "Anagram (For Mongo)" display prominent piano lines in lieu of synthetic keyboards. Some musical diversity was apparent in this transformation as well. The lead off track from Presto, "Show Don't Tell", is a mixture of funk rock and pop rock, "Scars" makes use of complex tribal drum patterns and rhythms, and the uptempo rocker "Superconductor" features much more salient guitar work than anything found on the previous four studio albums, representing a partial return to form. Continuing this trend, Roll the Bones (1991) extended the use of the standard three instrument approach with even less focus on synthesizers than its predecessor. While, musically, the album does not deviate too much from a general pop rock sound, some songs exhibit traces of more exotic styles. "Roll the Bones", for instance, has some funk and hip-hop elements, while the instrumental track "Where's My Thing?" (the band's first instrumental piece in a decade) features several jazz components. This return to three piece instrumentation would help pave the way for future albums in the mid 90's which would adopt a more straight-forward rock formula.

Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee of Rush
(Roll The Bones tour photo 1991)

Peart's lyrics continued to exhibit humanitarian and socially conscious themes during this time. While the band had long since shed their propensity for conceptual pieces, generalized (and almost conceptual) album themes became evident in Neil's writing. Many of the songs off of Roll the Bones, for instance, deal with the premises of chance, fortune, and serendipity, while several songs from Presto speak about environmental concerns, emotion or human relations using weather, Earth Science related phenomena, and celestial imagery as metaphors.

After the "synthesizer period" of 1982–1991, the band largely dropped synthesizer-style keyboard sounds from their studio recordings in favor of a heavier, guitar-driven style and adapted the remaining keyboard sounds to more organic voices such as strings and organ. This transition began with the well-received 1993 album Counterparts and continued with equal praise on the followup 1996's Test for Echo. Musically, Counterparts is one of Rush's most guitar-driven albums. One song in particular, "Stick it Out", is arguably one of Rush's heaviest songs and has been often been cited as an example of Rush's deliberate melding of Alternative Rock and Grunge with their own trademark style. While far from a progressive rock album in the traditional sense of the phrase, some songs such as "Double Agent" and "Leave that Thing Alone" feature mild prog-like attributes. The former displays significant voice overs and spoken narration sections that help tell a story of desperation and inner personal struggle. The latter is fully instrumental, albeit short, with conspicuous organ and keyboard parts.

Many of the elements found on Counterparts were preserved on the follow up Test For Echo. Again, while the music in general did not meet the criteria for "progressive rock", some of the songs could be considered more adventurous than what one might expect from a standard modern rock band. "Time and Motion" possesses several odd time signature changes and heavy organ, and another instrumental track, titled "Limbo", consists of several distinct, and relatively complex, musical passages repeated throughout the duration. Musically, the album still retained much of the hard rock/alternative stylings already chartered on the previous record. Lifeson and Lee's playing remained more or less unchanged; however, a distinct modification in technique became apparent in Neil's playing.

During the interim between the release of Counterparts and Test for Echo, Neil sought out long time jazz drummer extraordinaire Freddie Gruber, who agreed to help him augment his own revered drumming style with formal jazz and swing training. During the tour for Test for Echo Neil could be seen live alternating between match grip and traditional grip. The latter is a hallmarked technique of big band, swing, and jazz drumming, and was used by Neil in concert while playing many of the songs from Test for Echo. This style of playing has been used extensively on every subsequent tour. The tour in support of the album also marked the first time the band hit the road without an opening act. This enabled them to increase the number of songs available for setlist inclusion, as well as extend their time on stage to approximately three hours. Shows consisted of two sets running approximately 80 minutes each bridged by a short 15 minute intermission. Promotion for each live show featured the tagline "An Evening with Rush". This format has essentially remained unaltered ever since. To the welcomed surprise of long time fans, the tour also represented the first, and so far only, time that the song 2112 had been played live in its entirety. When all was said and done, the band's first tour as a solo-act was an enormous success and members were optimistic and confident about where they were headed. Unfortunately, intense tragedy would strike Neil soon after and shroud the band's future in doubt and uncertainty.

[edit] Hiatus and comeback (1997–present)

After wrapping up the tour promoting Test for Echo in 1997, the band decidedly receded from the public-eye and entered a five year hiatus mainly due to personal tragedies in Peart's life. Peart's daughter Selena died in a car accident in August 1997, followed by his wife Jacqueline's death from cancer in June 1998. Peart embarked on a self-described "healing journey" by motorcycle in which he travelled thousands of kilometers across North America. He subsequently wrote about his travels in his book Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road. Rush later stated that they had nearly broken up during this period due to Neil's situation. During this abeyance of activity as Neil recuperated a triple-CD live album entitled Different Stages was released in 1998. It contained two discs packed with recorded performances from the band's Counterparts and Test for Echo tours, marking the fourth officially released live album by the band. The third disc was included as a bonus, a rare concert performance recorded on February 28, 1978 during the A Farewell to Kings tour from the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The entire package was dedicated to the loving memory of Selena and Jacqueline. Also during the hiatus, Geddy Lee released his solo album My Favourite Headache in November 2000.

After sufficient time to grieve and reassemble the pieces of his life, Neil married photographer Carrie Nuttall in September of 2000. In early 2001 he announced to his band mates that he was ready to once again enter the studio and get back into the business of making music, a boon for fans who were worried about Rush's future. The band returned in May 2002 with the surprisingly heavy and modern sounding Vapor Trails album. In order to herald the band's comeback, the single and lead track from the album, "One Little Victory" was designed to grab the attention of listeners due to its rapid guitar and drum tempos. While mostly heavy rock, the album displayed a fair share of musical eclecticism ranging from standard modern-riff rock and poppy numbers to songs that display a fresh smattering of progressive flavor. Vapor Trails also marks the first studio recording not to include a single synthesizer, organ, or keyboard part since the early '70's. While the album is almost completely guitar-driven, it is mostly devoid of any conventional sounding guitar solos, a conscious decision made by Alex Lifeson during the writing process. He has been quoted as saying that he had purposely held back in this area due to the feel and mood that the album had as a whole, signifying the band's triumphant survival in the wake of Neil Peart's terrible ordeals. Lyrical themes acutely contrast one another with warm optimism and icy despair to give the album a very introspective feel; likely inspired by Neil Peart's devastation and subsequent recovery. According to the band, the entire developmental process for Vapor Trails was extremely taxing and took approximately 14 months to complete, by far the longest the band has ever spent writing and recording a studio album^[7]. The album debuted to moderate praise and was supported by the band's first tour in six years, including first-ever concerts in Mexico City and Brazil, where they played to some of the largest crowds of their career.

Rush performing in 2004

The band was one of a number of hometown favourites to play the SARS relief concert (dubbed SARStock) at Downsview Park in Toronto in August 2003, with an attendance of over half a million people.

A triple CD live album and dual DVD, Rush in Rio, was released in late October 2003. It is a full concert performance on the last night of their Vapor Trails tour, recorded November 23, 2002, at Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The audience present represented the second largest crowd that Rush has ever played in front of (40,000 persons), the largest being the previous night in São Paulo to a capacity of 60,000. The DVD which accompanied it won the 2004 Juno for best music DVD recognizing the artist, director and producer. Also, Neil Peart's drum solo, O' Baterista, was nominated for the Grammy of Best Rock Instrumental Performance, but lost to Brian Wilson's "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow". In order to celebrate their 30th anniversary, June 2004 saw the release of Feedback, a studio EP featuring eight covers of such artists as Cream, The Who, and The Yardbirds, bands which the members of Rush cite as inspiration around the time of their inception. This marks the first official studio release of the band covering the music of other artists. In stark contrast to Vapor Trails, the entire process of recording and mixing Feedback took only a few weeks to finish. The band has been quoted as saying that the project had a very spontaneous feel to it, and that it was very exciting to work on^[8]. Several songs, including "Summertime Blues," "Crossroads," and "The Seeker," were played on modern and classic rock radio stations across North America, introducing Rush to some new audiences. That same summer, Rush again hit the road for a very successful 30th Anniversary Tour, playing dates in the United States, Canada, the UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands. On September 24, 2004 a Frankfurt, Germany concert was recorded for DVD (titled R30: Live in Frankfurt), which was released November 22, 2005.

Rush Replay X 3 is a live DVD by Rush, released on June 13, 2006. It consists of three vintage VHS videos of the Grace Under Pressure Tour 1984, Exit... Stage Left, and A Show of Hands concerts filmed in the 1980s. For this release, each one was remixed in 5.1 surround sound by Alex Lifeson. It also includes a previously unreleased CD audio version of the Grace Under Pressure Tour 1984, and a set of reprinted tour books for each concert[1]. Rush Replay x 3 debuted at #1 on the Billboard Music Video charts, marking the third consecutive time a Rush DVD has topped the music video charts.

Neil Peart states on his website that Rush are now working on their next album, with the recording almost complete. The band intend for the recording to be finished by the end of 2006 so that final mastering can take place in the early New Year.