The period of Rush that Alex Lifeson hated most
Throughout rock history, Rush always prided themselves on experimenting with every genre. From when they started as a Led Zeppelin-adjacent band to their final outing, Clockwork Angels, their impressive journey marked significant departures for the genre that no one had even thought possible. While the band were more than willing to experiment with different textures, there was one period that Alex Lifeson hated with a passion.
When the band started, though, they were much more of a standard rock and roll band than what they would become. Outside of the few extended pieces, the band’s debut was a straight-ahead blues rock record, which would drastically change once Neil Peart entered the fold as the replacement for original drummer John Rutsey.
Being the most literate member of the group, Peart was the one pushing the band to experiment more. Inspired by Yes and Genesis, both Geddy Lee and Lifeson set about making more ambitious on every song, much to the chagrin of their record label, who wanted them to stay a standard rock and roll outfit.
Going against the wishes of their label, Rush carved out their niche in the rock world, creating songs that had extended sections and told a story over massive instrumental passages. Although the band could play those pieces all day, they thought it was time to streamline their sound by the 1980s.
Starting with Permanent Waves, the band created songs that blended their progressive side with pop sensibilities influenced by The Police. While albums like Moving Pictures from this era would be celebrated among the band’s best, their following album, Signals, marked a departure that the band would not shake for years.
Embracing the synthesisers wholeheartedly, the band would spend the rest of the 1980s with the keyboard as the lead instrument, occasionally drowning out Lifeson’s guitar in the mix. Although Lifeson was known to compromise on many creative decisions, he admitted to reaching his breaking point when working on these albums.
When talking about the recording of albums like Power Windows, Lifeson would recall the fights that he had trying to bring his guitar further up in the mix, telling Beyond the Lighted Stage, “Why am I looking for a different place? I shouldn’t be looking for a different place? What’s with all these keyboards? I mean, they’re not even real. It’s not even a real instrument”.
Regardless of Lifeson’s opinion on the keyboards having too much of a prominent role, his work on these albums showcased a different side to his playing, creating sonic landscapes akin to what Andy Summers had done. By the time the band got to Test For Echo, though, the rest of the band started to realise that there was a problem, quickly bringing the band back to basics on later efforts like Counterparts.
Then again, Lifeson even had to forego some of his hangups in the process, getting rid of his effects pedals on the majority of the new records as well. As much as Rush may have been able to create massive digital landscapes, they had always thrived when making some of the most complex rock and roll ever conceived by man.