The Passing of a Musical Great - Neil Peart

It was clear to me yesterday what this week's post would be about, after hearing the news of Neil Peart's death at age 67. After first feeling numb from the news, I think it is now sinking in. Here is a musician who I have long considered the best drummer of all time. The music he created with Canadian progressive rock band Rush remains as influential and vital today as it ever was. Peart joined Rush after their 1974 debut album, and quickly settled into his role as both forward-thinking drummer and as writer of their song lyrics.

Peart, after his early lyrical flights of fancy with Rush - his sci-fi and fantasy period, matured into a talented song word-smith. It's a rare thing for a band's time-keeper to participate in this capacity, and Peart is one of the very few who wrote just about every single lyric for the band's songs.

As a teenager, I loved not only Peart's intricate and textured percussion style on Rush songs, but I also really dug his drum solos on the band's live albums. My first taste of Neil's concert shenanigans was on Rush's first live recording from 1976, All the World's a Stage. I haven't listened to the album in many years, but as I write this paragraph, I am listening to the drum solo section of its Working Man/Finding My Way medley. Even in those early days, Peart - dubbed The Professor by his bandmates - established himself as a world-class drummer.

It didn't take long for Peart to cement his rock drummer god status in the minds of fans and musicians the world over. He repeatedly placed first in music magazine polls. I had no argument with those opinions. His talent was otherworldly. I guess it goes without saying that I was a major Rush fan for most of my life, ever since my mid-teens.

It was on the 1981 live album Exit... Stage Left that Peart took his concert drum solo to another sphere. I played that tape endlessly back in the day. It was the following year that I finally got to see the man perform in person. This was in Toronto on the concert tour supporting Rush's Signals album. I air-drummed along with Neil through most of that show. Since then I've seen Peart in action with Rush nearly a dozen times, always mind-boggling in his precision and creativity.

When I think of Peart's mastery of his craft, I first recall the lengthy instrumental song La Villa Strangiato for his master class in drumming... then there's his high-poetry-to-music The Trees.

Neil Peart took drumming to another level. His drumkit was perhaps the most elaborate in the world, constantly growing and changing. Peart's fascination with percussion instruments from other cultures brought additional exotic sounds to his playing. 

In the early 80's, he added an electronic drumkit to his setup, with a rotating stage riser for a dramatic spin of his gear... Neil would stand, seat himself at his second kit, and go at it. Get a load of his kit circa 1984:

Then, never one to become complacent, Peart went back to school... in the early 1990's he studied under jazz musician and instructor Freddie Gruber, and went on to incorporate some jazz and swing elements into his playing style. The master as student.

When Rush called it quits as a band about five years ago, much to the shock of their fans,  Peart was suffering from serious physical strains caused by years of strenuous drumming. Totally understandable. 

Rush's progressive music has been influential on generations of musicians, and will no doubt continue to do so. In my mind, early albums 2112 and A Farewell to Kings are high points in a career spanning five decades, and, along with 1980's Permanent Waves and 1981's Moving Pictures, are most often cited as milestones in both Rush's growth and in rock music, period.

My condolences to Neil Peart's family, friends, and of course, his bandmates Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. Rest in peace, Neil.

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Here is Friday's CBC breaking story: https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/neil-peart-obit-1.5422806