Rush was a great and unique band. The Canadian trio featured and all-time great drummer in Neil Peart, a phenomenal bass player in Geddy Lee, and a superb guitar player in Alex Lifeson. What made them unique was that Lee and Lifeson would write the music while Peart wrote the lyrics, something drummers did not typically do. A band’s singer usually writes the lyrics because he’s singing them, and he has to sing them with conviction; he has to “buy-in” and commit to the lyrics, which is much easier to do when a singer writes them.
But they were unique in another way. Peart is one of the most heralded drummers in
rock history, deservedly so. And Lee has
more skill as a bass player than most.
But the key to the band is Lifeson, as I will explain in a moment.
Having gone through high school in the early 1980s, when
Rush had reached peak popularity, my high school years coincided with their
best LPs:
- 1980 – Permanent Waves was released while I was in 8th grade and was played a lot my freshman year on the high school grounds.
- 1981 – Moving Pictures, released midway through freshman year
- 1982 – Signals, my junior year
- 1984 – Grace Under Pressure, my graduation year
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| Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, 4/1/86 |
Of course, any time I saw them, my eyes were fixed on Peart
absolutely rocking the drum set. But
over time I’ve come to appreciate Alex Lifeson because his versatility makes
him better than most rock guitar players.
Consider, most guitar players have their signature sound. You know Eddie Van Halen when you hear him. Same with U2’s The Edge. And Stevie Ray Vaughan has his own sound that
makes his music instantly identifiable.
I can go on and on, naming almost every great guitar player that’s ever
been recorded and they have their own sound, save for a handful of versatile and
unique players like Eric Clapton and Steve Howe. Among that handful has to be Alex Lifeson.
On Rush’s self-titled debut album, Lifeson, just 20
years-old, sounded like he was imitating Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, using a similar
guitar sound with heavy distortion. Even
on their second LP, Fly By Night, the guitar intro to Beneath, Between &
Behind sounds like if could be a Led Zeppelin intro. But there were hints of evolution on the title
track, played with sparing distortion.
His sound evolved through the 70s, playing acoustically (The Trees,
Closer to the Heart) and on electric, with effects and without, and playing
fast and artistically (La Villa Strangiato, Xanadu).
By 1980’s Permanent Waves LP, Lifeson sounded nothing like
he did on Rush’s debut just seven years prior.
A year later, on Moving Pictures, Lifeson was at his rock peak, playing
skillfully when appropriate and rocking hard other times.
Then Rush began changing their sound, and as he did
throughout the 70s, Lifeson’s sound changed with the band. In the late 1980s and into the 90s, Rush went
for a more keyboard-driven sound and Lifeson changed his guitar sound, but also
his style. The power riffing rock leads
evolved into new wave textures and rhythms.
And that’s the greatness of Lifeson; he’s a shape-shifter, a
guy who can really play any style and always wrote and played to the style of
music the band was playing. And while
fans consistently raved about the virtuosity of Peart’s drummer and talent of
Lee playing outstanding bass runs with his hands while often accompanying
himself on synthesizer foot pedals, Lifeson, I believe, has been the key to the
band’s sound. Whether rocking a hard
lead or applying texture to Geddy’s keyboard leads with appropriate guitar
rhythms, Alex Lifeson always made Rush’s music better by playing to the song
rather than trying to force a signature sound into a song. That make Alex Lifeson one of the best guitar
players in the industry because he can do so much and play so many styles. It’s just a shame more music fans don’t
recognize his talents.
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