Rush To Glory

NUMBER 201
APRIL 1981
CHARLTON
CI5
PUBLICA HONS
Mftmber
@
Audit Bu reau of Circulations
Photo Editor
Laurie Paladino
Publisher
John Santangelo. Jr .
Editor
John Shelton Ivany
Associate Editors
Mary Jane Canett i
Charley Crespo
Assistant Ed itor
Patty Romanowski
Executive Editor
William Anders o n
Executive Art Editor
John Cofrancesco , Jr.
Business Manager
Edward Kon ick
Advertising Production
Caro l Olech nowich
Art Direc tor
Danie l Snow
FLEETWOOD MAC _ __ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ __
4
Not Just A Jo b But An Adventure
THAT'S UNBEARABLE! _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _
8
Joe Jackson In Concert
WE READ YOUR MAIL _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 10
RIK EMMETT'S ROCKTOONS
10
ROCK AND ROLL REVUE
12
The Stars At Play
CELEBRITY RATE-A-RECORD WITH REO SPEEDWAGON _
_ _ 14
ANGEL CITY'S JEKYLL AND HYDE
15
Kids Just Go 'Berko'
UFO
VS .
MICHAEL SCHENKER _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
16
Malic e i n Wonde rland
ROOTS: GARLAND JEFFREYS _________________________ 17
Revisiting The Old Neighborh ood
JOHN LENNON REMEMBERED _ _ _ _ _ _ _____ _ _ 18
DELBERT McCLINTON
21
Boozin'. Cruisin ', Lovin ' and Losin '
RECORD REVIEWS _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ 22
RUSH
25
Pleasing Mos t Of The Peop le
STEVE FORBERT _______________________________ 28
Every Man For Himself
SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROCK STAR? ________________ 30
Demo Tapes For Profit Not For Fun
BILL Y THORPE _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 31
Accidents Will Happen
BILLY JOEL CENTERFOLD _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ 32
PICK HIT: BILLY BURNETT E
34
SHOOTING STARS
35
Critical Mass . Robbin Thompson Band. Jack Green . Korgls
PAUL SIMON _ _ __ _ _ ______ _ _ __ _ __
Contributing Editors
Toby Go ldste in, Jeffrey Peisch , Andy Secher, Ro y T rakin , lra
Kaplan . Da n Hedges , Bo b Grosswei ner, Ed Naha, Crispin
Cioe , Karen Schlosberg, Rob Patterson , Ed Ochs , Regan
McMahon. Janel Bladow, St uart Cohn . Sa lley Rayl, Patt y
Romanowski, Jeff Tamarkin , Suzan Crane.
36
There 's No Bus iness Like Show Business
GUITAR WORKSHOP: GAMMA'S RONNIE MONTROSE _ _ _ _ 38
ROCK AND ROLL HIT PARADE
39
Joe Perry, Pat Travers and Mick Jones: Their All- Time Favorite LPs
ROCK POLL _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 39
Win Free Police and REO Speedwagon LPs
Contributing Photographers
Neil Zlo zowe r , Mark Wei ss , Retna Ph o tos , Ebet Roberts ,
Laurie Pa ladino , Sheri L yn n Be hr, Steve Nam m , G ary
Gersh off. Richard Aa ron / Th und erthu mbs , Bob Mathe u. Bob
Leafe. Bob Sorce , Ron Pownall , Russell Turi ak, Larry Yelen ,
Kink Kume. Sam Em erson.
HIT PARADER SPORTS CHALLENGE _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ 40
Peter Criss And The Great Pool Shootout
MOON MARTIN _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 41
Feet Firmly On The Ground
GRATEFULDEAD __________________________________ 42
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11 tI C :ocf ':I;? .... rt
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Middle Aged Crazy
SONGINDEX ___________________________________ 43
HEART
57
Si lence Is Golden
DIRE STRAITS _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ ____ 60
The Somewhat Sweet Smell 0 1 Success
CAUGHT IN THE ACT _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ 62
The Kinks. The B-52 's
Pleasing Most of the People All of the Time.
,,I
by Andy Secher
just can't figure why
some people keep
dumping on us," Rush 's
blond gu itarist Alex
Life on blurted out as he slumped
into a dressing room c hair, Lifeson
and cohorts Ne il Peart (drums) and
Geddy Lee (bass and vocals), had
just finished a rousing performance
fo r 15,000 appreciati v fans, Even
so, as Lifeson s lowly unbuttoned
his sweat-d renched shirt, his
a nnoyance at Rus h 's lack of critical
acceptance became increasingly
a pparent.
"Sometimes I look at the charts,
or listen to the crowds roa r, a nd [
say to mysel f. 'Hey, e\'erything's
go in' along pretty well.' Then I read
somewhere about how Rush is loo
complex fo r their own good , or how
pompous we are, I'll tell you, stuff
like that can get to yo u after a
while, We're in the bUSiness of
pleasing people with our musi c,
and it can get awful annoying when
"1
some people refuse to accept what
you're trying to do,"
Lifeson's indignation isn't entirely without cause, In th e last eight
years, Rush has emerged, quite
unintentionally, of course, as rock's
answer to Rodney Dangerfield, It
seems that no matter how hard
they try, they just don't get no
respect. Eve n with their more
recent LPs, notably last year 's
platinum Permanent Waves, ran king among th e most highly successful heavy-metal albums in rock
history, this Canadian power tri o
remains a favori te target for both
cri tical journal ists a nd more
"aestheti cally" inclined rock fans,
With a style so mewhat dependent
on overbearing instrumental pyrotechniCS and mystically inane
lyrics, Rush long ago earned a
Geddy Lee: "It's kind'a nice to finally be noticed by a wider audience ,"
repu tation as an 0 te ntatious hard
rock band, With their late t LP,
Moving Pictures, they've trimmed
the excess from their metalli c style,
What's left is powerful. in tricate
and undeniably entertaini ng,
"I really don't see what all the fuss
is a bout." Geddy Lee laughed as he
peered over the top of h is huge oval
glasscs, 'We're not exacUy newcome rs to this business, but all of a
sudden it seems like that musi c
world has discovered that we exi t.
We've put out some pretty good records over th e last few ye ars, and
we've built up a core of fans who've
helped turn almost every one of th em
gold, I like to t hink that we've
developed a distinctive style, that
peo pl e can h ear and imlllediately
identity as n ew Rush ,
"Sure we've had ou r share of
25
critical abuse. but honesuv. how
many rock and roll bands -haven 't?
We know whar we wanr to do wirh
our music. and we're not about to
let anyone's opinion change that. I
must say though," he added with
an impish smile. "it's kind'a nice to
finally be noticed by a wider
audience. [ gue s that's what every
performer really wants."
While Lee may seem omewhat
casual when discussing Rush's
recent success, the band's members
are the first to admit that thei r
curre nt albums represent a major
stylistic shift from earlier works.
Unlike their concept albums 211 2
and Hemisphere (both of which
were heavily steeped in mythology.
mysticism and science fiction) . the <
later LPs 'now boast not only
t
Lifeson's fiery gUitar a nd Lee's
z
screeches. but a clari ty and impact E
<:
that were previously lost amid more
~
complex musical lneanderings.
v
"I realize that much of what we
did on our earlier albums wenr over
our audiences' head," drummer Neil
Pea rt confe sed. 'We were trying to
show how diverse hard rock could
be, I th ink we did that ex tremely
well. but our approach di d have a
number of b u ilt-in limi tations. We
got to the point whe-re we were
using an entire s ide of
Hemisphere to do only one song.
so we realized that we 'd have to
trim down ou r aspirations a bit. We
-
Sex symbol Alex Lifeson usually cools out in hls Fruit of the Looms.
started in that direction with
Pennanent Waves , and now with
Moving Pictures I think we've real ly
succeeded. We've tri ed to present
songs that stand on th eir own
without being part of an overall
concept."
"Then I read somewhere
how Rush is too complex
for their own good , or
how pompous we are."
[n the absence of a si ngle
concept. many songs on Moving
Pictures depict. accordi ng to Peart.
Rush. from left: Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and Geddy Lee relaxing backstage before concert.
26
Neil Peart: "I've always had difficulty s eeing members of Rush - particularly
myself - as rock stars. '
.. our view of life, T here's one song
on the album called The Camera
Eye. wh ich examines the phenomenon of being able to recall various
things in yo ur life." Peart explained,
'W e're all very interested in
cameras a nd film work. especially
Geddy, so a title li ke Moving
Pictures fits right in with our
in te rests,
"My favorite song on the album is
Limelight." Peart continued, "It's
a bout coming to terms with the
attention one gets by being a rock
and roll performer, It's interesting
to me because I've always had
difficulty seeing members of Rush
- particularly myself - as rock
sta rs, We've always been most
con cerned with the crea tive and
artis ti c processes and th e 'star trip'
me n tality is something that we've
neve r really ex perienced, I guess it's
a natural part of the business, but
in thi s band we've been very selfconsci ous at times, so we try to
keep our feet on the ground and
always stay in touch v.rith what the
fans want."
-
What the fans want - and ge t
is one of the most elaborate rock
Llfeson and Lee: MI really don't see what all the fuss is about."
spectacula rs featuring flashy
musicianship and films that
graphically dep ic t some of the
so ngs' themes,
For instance. cheir opus
Hemisphere - prese n ted with
creat ive screen a nimation - is the
half-hour long highlig h t of the
group's concert performance,
"The visual aspect of our shows
is as important a s th e music,"
Geddy Lee ex-plained, 'Wh ile our
alb ums may not delve into as many
complex themes as lh ey used to. our music. especially onstage, is
still very involved with SC ience
fiction and mythol ogy, Certa in
so ngs we've done seem to lend
themselves very well to the use of
a nimation. espeCially a number like
Hemisphere, whi ch touches on
eve ryth ing from space travel to
black h oles, We feel that a strong
overall p resentation is very important to th e impact of our shows ,
Of co u rse. we cou ld just rely on our
music, but we've never been
satisfied taking the easy way out."
Though ad mi ttedly limited by its
three-man, heavy-metal approac h,
Rush remain s fresh a nd lia ble
because each band member co ntributes to the so ng-wri ti n g process, Pearl supplies pract ically all of
t he band's lyrics, and Lee and
Lifeson handle the m usical
responsi biliti es, c reati ng a n almost
assembly-line effi cie n cy, The songs
still reflect the indi vidual interests
and personality of each band
member,
,. ormally, I wri te t h e lyrics fi rst
and hand them ove r to Alex and
Geddy who'll shape th e mus ic
around 'e m, " Peart explai ned, "That
way we're all invo lved in the
creative process, Because of that.
we've developed an affinity for one
another, Our lin eup isn't a handicap:
act ually. it's our greales t strength,
"We have more self confidence
than ever before." Peart added, 'We
know what's best for the band, and,
more importantly, we fo ll ow ou r
own advi ce, Recently, as a n example. people were telling us to
follow up Pennanent Waves with a
lil'e album th al would cover everything from Hemisphere to Spirit of
Radio. But we had so much good
stud io ma terial ready that it would
b e silly to release a live album, This
band has a sen se of purpose and a
feeli ng of unity that's really incredible."
Wi th the success of Moving
Pictures, Rus h starrds on th e verge
of claiming recogn itio n as one of
the premier hard rock bands, They
have finally conquered whatever
musical stigmas that have plagued
their career. By infusing n ew ideas
into th eir metallic style Rush h as
become th e spearhead of heavymetal's creative evolution,O
27