You’re dead on, Andrew. Everything in his catalogue is “intentional”. He has said “There are improvisational drummers and there are compositional drummers. I am definitely a compositional drummer. I play it the same way every single time. It’s how it was designed and meant to be played”.
Some of his critics often suggested that Professor was far to machine like. He was too perfect and that he could not adlib or flow based on mood etc., like John Bonham. Those kinds of people I used to think grew up with participation ribbons. I new that if I saw them live or heard an album I would get exactly the same product whether I liked it or not. After all these years I still love to listen to Tom Sawyer or XXZ(ed) about once a week and I wonder if they ever got better. It was so consistent I could never tell.
Neil was the principal lyricist of the band, but what impressed me was Neil using musical subdivisions to work alongside the message of the song. Rest In Peace Professor.
"Ride is very pingy." Heh. Neil played the same Zildjian 22" A Ping Ride for over three decades before Sabian offered to make him a signature line, Sabian Paragon. Neil sold scores of Ping Rides for Zildjian before then, though - every drummer my age had to have that sound. That rack tom you admire so much, closest to the snare, is a 13x9. Neil was quoted as saying 13x9 is basically the platonic ideal of the tom, and that he could build any kit around one great-sounding 13x9. 13s and I have never gotten along, but I'm not here to argue with The Professor. Given his remarks, Neil would be pleased that the sound of that one drum jumped out at you above the others. And yes, each and every one of Neil's drum parts were through-composed, and up until very late in his career, he played the same part the same way every time, just as you play the timpani part in the Ode To Joy the same way every time. He didn't "play drums" on Rush tunes - he *composed* drum parts for Rush tunes, and always executed them faithfully. He was not screwing around.
Most drummers who have bought multiple off the shelf standard rock kits will have a pile of 13s in the corner :) must be the lucky size... but, if you can get it to work for you; man, the most versatile drum size on the planet.
Because of my first and only 13” tom, I never owned another odd-size drum in my life. It was a theory I came up with; that odd-sized drums sounded bad; looking back on my theory, I’d now say that I was full of shit. Having said *that* to this day all my drum dimensions can be equally divided by 2 🤔🤷🏻
Got a 22" dry /ping ride. Have had it for about 35 years and have never seen another combo ride since. The kit I picked up when I was 17, was a custom made TAMA 8 piece, everything oversized. My floor tom sounds like a third bass drum. Never getting rid of these drums. They'll be passed down to whoever wants them.👍🏼🙂🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
As soon as you said “intention”… I thought…yep, that would be a pretty accurate one-word description of Neil, his playing, and his life. Thanks for another great reaction!
Rush often presents an idea that works on multiple levels. Not only are the houses subdivided, but the people are subdivided. And the band is using subdivisions to bring the story to you. A great example of this is the jacket to the original vinyl for the Moving Pictures album. Workers are moving the pictures, which are themselves emotionally moving to the people watching them, all the while on the inner sleeve a crew is filming the scene as part of a moving picture.
I watched him play this from second row center on the Clockwork Angels tour in 2013. It was amazing. So many awesome RUSH show memories over the last 40 years for me. Simply the best.
So many Rush fans relate to this song, since so many of us grew up (like the band themselves) in the suburbs. The Signals album was kind of panned in my high school because the reliance on keyboards took them away from the earlier, heavier sound, and in fact, I wasn't sure I liked the album when I bought it, but Neil's lyrics as you pointed out, are incredibly deep and I was happy that Alex's solo work on this album still kicked ass. It's kind of surreal because I've gone from really relating to "drawn like moths, they drift into the city; the timeless old attraction, cruising for the action, lit up like a firefly just to feel the living night" as a 17 year old when this album came out to "well, some will sell their dreams for small desires, or lose the race to rats, get caught in ticking traps, and start to dream of somewhere to relax their restless flight. Somewhere out of a memory, of lighted streets on quiet nights" as a 50+ year old.
Rob - I've thought of the same thing recently. The first verse applied to me back in my teens. Plus, my kids are now in their early 20s, and the song applies to their desire to chart their own path, coming from a suburban background where their choices are considered unusual. But it has also hit me that the end of the song now applies to me in my 50s. My desire to be a musician ultimately took a back seat to having a career, family, house, etc. Not that these are bad things - quite the opposite. But "relaxing my restless flight" resonates with me because that's still a part of me, and it started when I lived on a different lighted street on quiet nights. The lyrics really hit home on multiple levels. As a complete aside, "Losing It" was never my favorite tune. But my daughter was a dancer and hurt her knee, which ended her dancing. Every time I hear that song now I get a little choked up. The imagery from that song mirrors my daughter's situation. That's a song/lyrical combination that I didn't fully appreciate until I was much older. Peart's ability to craft such thoughtful lyrics around these issues is certainly one of the reasons I have always liked this band.
I was a freshman in high school when this came out, and it couldn't have described me any better. I was a classic nerd trying to be cool, but always cast out. It was one of may favorite songs for years before I understood the complexity of what Neil was doing on it.
Neil worked a lot in person with DW Drums to develop the tone of his kit. Playing with different combinations of wood types and grain direction until the sound was just so. It was something that he put a lot of thought, work and development in to when he had the resources and reputation to do so. I'm sure he would be pleased to know people noticed the impeccable tone and tuning on his kit. The same went for his cymbals. He released a few different custom cymbal lines over the years with Zildjian and Sabian. I used to have a set of the A Customs he developed with Zildjian. Also very bright. Rest in the pocket professor.
A superb analysis video. The lyrics to this song really resonated with me as a kid growing up. I wasn't one of the cool kids, and was quite nerdy and shy. Rush's music and lyrics were part of the backbone to my childhood growing up, and still with me to this day.
His drums parts are so well composed and put together and such an integral part of the song. I could tell exactly what part of the song he was in, and hear the bass, vocal, and guitar, just from his drumming. I've heard this song ... THOUSANDS of times but I'm not a drummer. Still, I knew exactly where he was in the song based on the drum part. Just Amazing to me. To me, most drum parts are interchangeable within a song. Not his.
Your comment reminds me of something I wish he had talked about: Neil's arrangements. One thing he did that always stood out to me vs other drummers is to invent new parts for each verse -- you can never ignore any part and assume he's just repeating the old beats. Anyway, I think that's why you can easily tell which part of the song he's in.
I'm not a percussionist either (I haven't touched an instrument since High school band), but I've recently really begun to appreciate Rush and especially Neil's work in the group. "Subdivisions" especially stands out to me because it's a song where the drum kit often carries the melody. In most groups, it's the backbeat, the heartbeat of the song, important but not really noticable (until they do a drum solo). In this song, the drums are what move you through each verse, while the guitars and keys are providing the steady beat to keep the time.
Neil said he tuned his toms slightly high so that when he hit them hard (as he generally did, so the details could come through the live mix with loud guitar and bass) the tone would bend to where he wanted it. He also tuned his snare very bright (as did Stewart Copeland), which makes it ring more.
Neil made a 90 minute documentary film named "The Anatomy of a Drum Solo". I've seen it posted (maybe not legally) on UA-cam. If you haven't seen it you might find it interesting. There is also an awesome video of the band sharing banter and conversation over dinner which is amazing.
This song spoke directly to the socially misaligned kids like me attending high school in the suburbs of Toronto. On the weekends we would cruise Toronto's downtown "Yonge Street strip", going to the arcades to play Asteroids, and buying records at Sam the Record Man. I don't know if there is any other song which quite captures that time or experience so directly. This was very much a song written about my lived experience at the time. Thanks for reacting, I'm a bit late to this one but enjoyed the nostalgic hit.
I've been finding something new in Neil's lyrics on that album every year since the 80s. This was the album where they made their strongest move away from sci-fi stories and fantasies, and more toward broadly relatable topics. Like getting stuffed into a locker at high school or ignored by the girls at the mall, for instance.
All of rush' s improvs were extremely well rehearsed ! 😉 I remember Alex playing a bum note live . He nearly wet himself laughing ! It was such a rare occurrence. And about 15,000 of us all joined in . It was a great moment of band and audience comoradery. Peace and love brother 👍🏻☮❤
Fantastic, keep them coming! "Losing It" from this same album is another great option, particularly if you want to explore unusual time signature structure... though, there may not be an isolated drum track.
You really ought to have a look at Neil Preat DW 30th Anniversary kit check out. It was the first time Neil sat behind his newly created R30 kit and took it for a test drive. Not only does the thing sound amazing having been tuned, mic and recorded so well, but also shows his facility on the instrument even when just warming up. Love how he pushes and pulls time so effortless why keeping the pulse going and moving from upbeat to down beat on the hi hats, back and forth. You’ll love it.
Intention is what makes Neil the best drummer ever. It wasn't that he could play such crazy stuff (although he could and did) it was why he chose what he chose to play. Just incredible!
This is him rehearsing for Rush's 2010-2011 "Time Machine Tour." During this rehearsal process, Neil filmed his instructional video, "Take Center Stage," which is where this footage is lifted from.
Rush has a high point that begins with the founding of the band, and ending with their retirement. Also, as a fan, I suggest you listen to the final song a few times before listening to this drum track. As he plays this, I can hear the rest of the song in my head. You don't have the memory of the song to know what part of the song you're in.
This song has a lot of connection, and personal meaning for people of a certain age when it came out.... Never forget the genius that was Neil Peart the lyricist...
Neil was an amazingly heady player. His lyrics were indicative of his genius which was also reflected in his drumming. There were no accidents when Neil composed and played a tune.
I was a sophomore in high school when this came out . Lots of my friends didn't like it because it wasn't what they expected them to sound like after Moving Pictures. " keyboard's!!" . They changed from album to album always. I loved it .
I'm a guitarist and a wannabe drummer that has always been obsessed with watching this man play, and this is my favorite song to watch him on. My favorite part of watching him is the stoic expression that never changes regardless of the difficulty of the song. My favorite drum "licks" are the crossover hi-hat fills at the end of some of the verses... but the last quarter of it is insane, with him hitting the china crash alternatively with the ride, and with all kinds of crazy stuff going on the snare... it blows me away, and he does it to perfection every time with not so much as a flinch on his face. I would like to have seen you break that down. Is that a common thing to alternate back and forth like that... and over such a wide area? Like you said in the video, everything with him is deliberate and necessary to the composition of the song. Every time I've seen them live, I watched him like a hawk, and he never altered it.
What Peart does with ride, hi-hat, snare, and bass in the introduction was what sold me on Rush when I first heard the band in the early 90s. His ability to do something that interesting on time told me that this was a musician and a band that were masters of their craft.
Love your channel, it's neat hearing all these songs I've loved and listened to for 30-40 years new from your perspective. Makes me appreciate them even more, thanks again.
I appreciated your deeper dig, especially in to the lyrics. For we fans, as good as the music is the lyrics really meant a lot to us =) Enjoying your discovery of Rush quite a bit.
One of the things that is so damn impressive about Neil you see in his drum solo. His feet are playing in one time signature and his hands are playing in a completely different time signature.
Andrew you were also right as subdivisions in the musical sense (as well a the housing sense) the prof was always using words and themes with multiple meanings and metaphors as per "moving pictures" etc etc, his aim was to make to think and work it out or take from it what you wish
The fact Neil composed this song on a different kit with three toms in front, and toms over the high hat. On the RUSH R40 tour they made a recreation of his original kit from the 70's. Neil changed and used several kits over the years. As a long time Drummer and RUSH fan, I prefer the tradition set up with three Toms in front over the double bass drum set. But it was interesting that Neil was always growing and changing his kit and progressing his drumming. As far as this song.. it very much reflects what is was like growing up in Canada and feeling like an outsider. Lyrically Subdivsion and drumming wise is one of those songs that really stands out as a classic Rush Song.
Neil pearts final shorter solo in the middle section of WHERES MY THING, HERE IT IS, live in Dallas, with a great bass playing start to the instrumental by geddy Lee. Best wishes from the UK.
Really appreciate you exploring Neil Peart and Rush. Subdivisions was one of my first exposures to the band back in the early 80s. I've been a fan ever since. I encourage you to take a look at one of the final songs in their decades-long career, "Headlong Flight". Wonderful example of all three exercising their prowess
You may have seen it already, but there's a video on the Tube of a Rush show where the head on the tom you were pointing out broke. The band just kept chugging along as if nothing happened while Neil's tech pulled the tom, replaced the head and put it back during the song. Kind of like a NASCAR pit stop experience.
There's a guy on you tube. And his name is Joel something. And the video is called R40 a tribute to Neil Peart. And the guy is really good. He's got on headphones and playing a medley of Rush songs to a track. You can faintly hear Geddy and Alex in the background. But this guy obviously studied some Neil and hes nailing it.
i dont know if neil peart was the greatest drummer who ever lived BUT I DAMN WELL KNOW HE WAS THE GREATEST LYRICISTS WHO EVER LIVED i will die defending that hill any day the guy was a genius
Absolutely love your vids, especially the Rush. I'm not a drummer 😂. I play bass. Use to play in a Rush tribute band. U always make it a point to Not just talk about how great Neil was but also Geddy and Alex. They were music for musician's 🎶👍🙏💪
In one video you had asked if he was ambidextrous. I think you’re right about that. This song is a good example of that displays some of that clearly. He has some unusual changes that are difficult if you’re not ambidextrous to some degree.
Subdivisions can pertain to the suburban neighborhoods that are the focus of the song as well as the cliques we separate each other into, especially during our teen yrs. Genius.
The sounds you describe about Neil Peart's drums are all familiar to Rush fans. One of his trademarks were those heavy tom fills. Everything had a purpose. O Baterista is a great drum solo. Check out the song "One Man Army" by Canadian band Our Lady Peace. Drummer Jeremy Taggart has said no one has been able to accurate replicate his fill. It's wild.
Each song is basically an amazing drum solo, with fantastic lyrics and supporting instruments. I'm sure a lot of people attended concerts just to hear Peart play.
Neil's drums were DW. DW made special made drums for Neil, they worked him to get the special sound that he wanted. The same goes for his symbols Some symbol company worked with to get that special sound that he wanted.
You will sleep much easier at night once you allow yourself to know your listening to the best most technically perfect drummer to ever play the drums. I read someone's post that said "The world is billions if years old, and you just happened to be alive in the same time Neil peart was".
I get such a kick out of you (Andy) seeing this stuff for the first time, Moving Pictures was such an earthquake for me and my friends that (and I hate to say it) we almost took Neil for granted for years. Many of my friends who are extreme metal drummer types all grew up on him as well... and I love the heavy stuff, I wonder if his complexity made us crave more ? As you have found out there are metal drummers doing amazing things, in retrospect Neil really had more impact across the landscape than he ever gets credit for.
So Neil has his signature Sabian line here called the Paragon which is still for sale to this day. (Yes they made a whole custom line for him!) And the reason why the ride has so much definition is because the ride is a SUPER heavy ride. The ride is 8lb/3.63kg!
I’m not a drummer, but I know some of you use the same cymbals for years, or even decades. Read in one of his books that he went through several sets of cymbals on each tour. That’s hitting hard.
I love his drum tone. A lot of drummers/producers can't seem to work with the open sound of large shallow toms and tend to err towards excessive damping or fusion sizes. Each to his/her own I guess. Personally; for drum tone my favourite 3 are Neil, Nicko and Vinnie Appice - all using a combination of drum size, depth, head thickness and tuning to arrive at very distinctive and musical open drum tones.
wanted to bring to light a song off their latest, Clockwork Angels, it's not drum extravaganza but him playing the rhythm to the music. They included a string ensemble on this tour, Clockwork Angels for a few tunes on one of which is - The Garden Live. Very interesting use of bass and quite appropriate lyrics in reflection of one's life. Did such a emotionally, reflective job to bring this tune alive. If not to post a reaction, maybe give a listen to this tune, believe you would find it enjoyable in watching a lot of your other musical tastes, cheers.
Signals is absolutely a high point for Rush. I feel bad for the people who need the vanilla classic rock aesthetic to enjoy the music and skipped this album because of the synths, a ton of my absolute favorite instrumental parts by all three of them are on it and the synths just sound great anyway
Thats how they were as far as playing songs as written and recorded. But on tour they seemed to always pick one song and have fun with it . Like working man. They made a reggae kinda song out of then shredded their way out. Cloeer to the heart at the end Geddy and Alex went off on a dueling guitars kinda thing. Or Neil might throw in a drum solo on one. They actually had an alter-ego called Rash . And they would totally spoof their songs. Like do a polka version or a country version and just totally have fun with it. There's a video of rash on UA-cam where they were dressed up in costumes and all and acting out a little skit it's hilarious you should check it out.
The first word I learned how to spell was in my dads 1987 Nissan Sentra outside the laundry matt in Phoenix AZ when I was just a young lad was "Rush". I think he got tired of asking him to play the blue cd with the bolt on it (Counterparts).
Over time they would do change-ups in songs,. but they were always intentional. They started adding occasional segments/transitions between songs where they'd have more fun playing around...
That Tom right in front of his snare is a 13 inch Tom... I've seen in several interviews with him and that is his favorite Tom size. That Drumkit Is worth more than most houses...
The album Signals was almost like a drug for me when I was 16 years old; I couldn’t get enough and played it over and over. Interestingly, Alex Lifeson hated the material, at least at the time, and it was a source of controversy within the band. Alex felt the band was straying too far from guitar-based rock, while Geddy was immersing himself in synthesizers more and more. However, Neil had already been exploring electric drums via Simmons in tandem with the Gedster, and their new path was ultimately set. It wasn’t until 1993’s release of Counterparts that they really tried to return to their roots.
High point is arguably previous album Moving Pictures (1981) this followed in 1982 and was not liked as it's hard to match perfection but over the years this album which also marked a change in musical direction for the band has become accepted as a very good album in hindsight
Neil writes all rush lyrics. Alex and geddy jointly wrote almost all music. They historically and famously always have split all writing proceeds three ways equally. There might be a few songs where the music was geddy or Alex alone, but the vast majority were both.
Signals was their move into their synth pop period during the 80s, following their move to more radio-friendly length songs from Permanent Waves onward.
A local station in my area uses the very beginning of 2112 as a part of their radio bumps, and it always makes me mad because I know they'll never play and never have played 2112 before. They only play subdivisions, freewill and spirit of the radio when they play Rush, which is fine, but Everytime I hear that 2112 intro I get hyped, but then I remember that they're not actually going to play it lol.
Actually, it isnt Neil, nor anyone from Rush saying Subdivisions. Mark Dailey, evening newscaster and "The Voice" of Toronto television station City-TV and also MuchMusic, is the voice that repeats the chorus line "Subdivisions."
@@joelguinand5489 Mark Dailey denied ever having anything to do with it... This is what he said... "That's been an urban myth for years. It's not my voice on 'Subdivisions' by Rush but I continue to get credit. I've tried to dispel it but won't go away. Getty Lee says he doesn't remember." ... Looks like we may never know the real answer.
You’re dead on, Andrew. Everything in his catalogue is “intentional”. He has said “There are improvisational drummers and there are compositional drummers. I am definitely a compositional drummer. I play it the same way every single time. It’s how it was designed and meant to be played”.
Love it!
Some of his critics often suggested that Professor was far to machine like. He was too perfect and that he could not adlib or flow based on mood etc., like John Bonham. Those kinds of people I used to think grew up with participation ribbons. I new that if I saw them live or heard an album I would get exactly the same product whether I liked it or not. After all these years I still love to listen to Tom Sawyer or XXZ(ed) about once a week and I wonder if they ever got better. It was so consistent I could never tell.
Everything in his LIFE was intentional. Quote: "Every day I ask myself 'what's the most excellent thing I can do today?'"
Love this comment.
I agree. A song can change somewhat drastically when the drums aren't kept as originally played.🙂👍🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Neil was the principal lyricist of the band, but what impressed me was Neil using musical subdivisions to work alongside the message of the song. Rest In Peace Professor.
"Ride is very pingy." Heh. Neil played the same Zildjian 22" A Ping Ride for over three decades before Sabian offered to make him a signature line, Sabian Paragon. Neil sold scores of Ping Rides for Zildjian before then, though - every drummer my age had to have that sound.
That rack tom you admire so much, closest to the snare, is a 13x9. Neil was quoted as saying 13x9 is basically the platonic ideal of the tom, and that he could build any kit around one great-sounding 13x9. 13s and I have never gotten along, but I'm not here to argue with The Professor. Given his remarks, Neil would be pleased that the sound of that one drum jumped out at you above the others.
And yes, each and every one of Neil's drum parts were through-composed, and up until very late in his career, he played the same part the same way every time, just as you play the timpani part in the Ode To Joy the same way every time. He didn't "play drums" on Rush tunes - he *composed* drum parts for Rush tunes, and always executed them faithfully. He was not screwing around.
Sabians that Neil uses where and still made near me in new Brunswick Canada
Most drummers who have bought multiple off the shelf standard rock kits will have a pile of 13s in the corner :) must be the lucky size... but, if you can get it to work for you; man, the most versatile drum size on the planet.
Because of my first and only 13” tom, I never owned another odd-size drum in my life. It was a theory I came up with; that odd-sized drums sounded bad; looking back on my theory, I’d now say that I was full of shit. Having said *that* to this day all my drum dimensions can be equally divided by 2 🤔🤷🏻
@Loss fer’ Words He actually played 13" Quick Beats for a long time.
Got a 22" dry /ping ride. Have had it for about 35 years and have never seen another combo ride since. The kit I picked up when I was 17, was a custom made TAMA 8 piece, everything oversized. My floor tom sounds like a third bass drum. Never getting rid of these drums. They'll be passed down to whoever wants them.👍🏼🙂🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
As soon as you said “intention”… I thought…yep, that would be a pretty accurate one-word description of Neil, his playing, and his life. Thanks for another great reaction!
You got it Paul!
I’m tired just watching him. Can’t imagine playing that hard for a three hour concert! Miss him dearly 😢
Rush often presents an idea that works on multiple levels. Not only are the houses subdivided, but the people are subdivided. And the band is using subdivisions to bring the story to you. A great example of this is the jacket to the original vinyl for the Moving Pictures album. Workers are moving the pictures, which are themselves emotionally moving to the people watching them, all the while on the inner sleeve a crew is filming the scene as part of a moving picture.
I watched him play this from second row center on the Clockwork Angels tour in 2013. It was amazing. So many awesome RUSH show memories over the last 40 years for me. Simply the best.
So many Rush fans relate to this song, since so many of us grew up (like the band themselves) in the suburbs. The Signals album was kind of panned in my high school because the reliance on keyboards took them away from the earlier, heavier sound, and in fact, I wasn't sure I liked the album when I bought it, but Neil's lyrics as you pointed out, are incredibly deep and I was happy that Alex's solo work on this album still kicked ass.
It's kind of surreal because I've gone from really relating to "drawn like moths, they drift into the city; the timeless old attraction, cruising for the action, lit up like a firefly just to feel the living night" as a 17 year old when this album came out to "well, some will sell their dreams for small desires, or lose the race to rats, get caught in ticking traps, and start to dream of somewhere to relax their restless flight. Somewhere out of a memory, of lighted streets on quiet nights" as a 50+ year old.
Rob - I've thought of the same thing recently. The first verse applied to me back in my teens. Plus, my kids are now in their early 20s, and the song applies to their desire to chart their own path, coming from a suburban background where their choices are considered unusual.
But it has also hit me that the end of the song now applies to me in my 50s. My desire to be a musician ultimately took a back seat to having a career, family, house, etc. Not that these are bad things - quite the opposite. But "relaxing my restless flight" resonates with me because that's still a part of me, and it started when I lived on a different lighted street on quiet nights. The lyrics really hit home on multiple levels.
As a complete aside, "Losing It" was never my favorite tune. But my daughter was a dancer and hurt her knee, which ended her dancing. Every time I hear that song now I get a little choked up. The imagery from that song mirrors my daughter's situation. That's a song/lyrical combination that I didn't fully appreciate until I was much older. Peart's ability to craft such thoughtful lyrics around these issues is certainly one of the reasons I have always liked this band.
I was a freshman in high school when this came out, and it couldn't have described me any better. I was a classic nerd trying to be cool, but always cast out. It was one of may favorite songs for years before I understood the complexity of what Neil was doing on it.
That was FUCKIN SWEET!!!!!!!!!.......plus a ring in the TOM -BONUS
Neil worked a lot in person with DW Drums to develop the tone of his kit. Playing with different combinations of wood types and grain direction until the sound was just so. It was something that he put a lot of thought, work and development in to when he had the resources and reputation to do so. I'm sure he would be pleased to know people noticed the impeccable tone and tuning on his kit. The same went for his cymbals. He released a few different custom cymbal lines over the years with Zildjian and Sabian. I used to have a set of the A Customs he developed with Zildjian. Also very bright. Rest in the pocket professor.
Cheers David!
A superb analysis video. The lyrics to this song really resonated with me as a kid growing up. I wasn't one of the cool kids, and was quite nerdy and shy. Rush's music and lyrics were part of the backbone to my childhood growing up, and still with me to this day.
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing :)
Quite possibly your best reaction to Neil’s work yet! Excellent!
His drums parts are so well composed and put together and such an integral part of the song. I could tell exactly what part of the song he was in, and hear the bass, vocal, and guitar, just from his drumming. I've heard this song ... THOUSANDS of times but I'm not a drummer. Still, I knew exactly where he was in the song based on the drum part. Just Amazing to me. To me, most drum parts are interchangeable within a song. Not his.
Your comment reminds me of something I wish he had talked about: Neil's arrangements. One thing he did that always stood out to me vs other drummers is to invent new parts for each verse -- you can never ignore any part and assume he's just repeating the old beats. Anyway, I think that's why you can easily tell which part of the song he's in.
@@bozimmermanThanks for your insight! Cool!
I'm not a percussionist either (I haven't touched an instrument since High school band), but I've recently really begun to appreciate Rush and especially Neil's work in the group. "Subdivisions" especially stands out to me because it's a song where the drum kit often carries the melody. In most groups, it's the backbeat, the heartbeat of the song, important but not really noticable (until they do a drum solo). In this song, the drums are what move you through each verse, while the guitars and keys are providing the steady beat to keep the time.
I would've bought tickets just for this. What a master he was 🙏🏼
Neil said he tuned his toms slightly high so that when he hit them hard (as he generally did, so the details could come through the live mix with loud guitar and bass) the tone would bend to where he wanted it. He also tuned his snare very bright (as did Stewart Copeland), which makes it ring more.
Neil made a 90 minute documentary film named "The Anatomy of a Drum Solo". I've seen it posted (maybe not legally) on UA-cam. If you haven't seen it you might find it interesting. There is also an awesome video of the band sharing banter and conversation over dinner which is amazing.
Andrew,
Thank you so much for showcasing Neil's work. He was just an amazing drummer with a true composer attitude when he played. What a legend! 🤟
Couldn't agree more Mike!
This song spoke directly to the socially misaligned kids like me attending high school in the suburbs of Toronto. On the weekends we would cruise Toronto's downtown "Yonge Street strip", going to the arcades to play Asteroids, and buying records at Sam the Record Man. I don't know if there is any other song which quite captures that time or experience so directly. This was very much a song written about my lived experience at the time. Thanks for reacting, I'm a bit late to this one but enjoyed the nostalgic hit.
Signals is my all time favorite Rush album, as well as my all time favorite album of ALL ALBUMS !!!
I'd say it's a high point 🏆🥇😎
I've been finding something new in Neil's lyrics on that album every year since the 80s. This was the album where they made their strongest move away from sci-fi stories and fantasies, and more toward broadly relatable topics. Like getting stuffed into a locker at high school or ignored by the girls at the mall, for instance.
Although i am a rush fan for 40 years, i gotta say Signals was a let down for me. I preferred permanent waves
All of rush' s improvs were extremely well rehearsed ! 😉
I remember Alex playing a bum note live . He nearly wet himself laughing ! It was such a rare occurrence. And about 15,000 of us all joined in . It was a great moment of band and audience comoradery.
Peace and love brother 👍🏻☮❤
Fantastic, keep them coming! "Losing It" from this same album is another great option, particularly if you want to explore unusual time signature structure... though, there may not be an isolated drum track.
You really ought to have a look at Neil Preat DW 30th Anniversary kit check out. It was the first time Neil sat behind his newly created R30 kit and took it for a test drive. Not only does the thing sound amazing having been tuned, mic and recorded so well, but also shows his facility on the instrument even when just warming up. Love how he pushes and pulls time so effortless why keeping the pulse going and moving from upbeat to down beat on the hi hats, back and forth. You’ll love it.
Thanks for the tip!
Intention is what makes Neil the best drummer ever. It wasn't that he could play such crazy stuff (although he could and did) it was why he chose what he chose to play. Just incredible!
And I can hear the entire song in my head.
This is him rehearsing for Rush's 2010-2011 "Time Machine Tour." During this rehearsal process, Neil filmed his instructional video, "Take Center Stage," which is where this footage is lifted from.
Rush has a high point that begins with the founding of the band, and ending with their retirement.
Also, as a fan, I suggest you listen to the final song a few times before listening to this drum track. As he plays this, I can hear the rest of the song in my head. You don't have the memory of the song to know what part of the song you're in.
This song has a lot of connection, and personal meaning for people of a certain age when it came out.... Never forget the genius that was Neil Peart the lyricist...
Neil was an amazingly heady player. His lyrics were indicative of his genius which was also reflected in his drumming. There were no accidents when Neil composed and played a tune.
I just like watching your face while you watch him play. You look in awe, just like everyone else.
This was recorded in the studio around the Time Machine tour in 2011, it's an instructional DVD called "Taking Center Stage"
I was a sophomore in high school when this came out . Lots of my friends didn't like it because it wasn't what they expected them to sound like after Moving Pictures. " keyboard's!!" . They changed from album to album always. I loved it .
My favorite Rush tune.
Excellent Craig!
I'm a guitarist and a wannabe drummer that has always been obsessed with watching this man play, and this is my favorite song to watch him on. My favorite part of watching him is the stoic expression that never changes regardless of the difficulty of the song. My favorite drum "licks" are the crossover hi-hat fills at the end of some of the verses... but the last quarter of it is insane, with him hitting the china crash alternatively with the ride, and with all kinds of crazy stuff going on the snare... it blows me away, and he does it to perfection every time with not so much as a flinch on his face. I would like to have seen you break that down. Is that a common thing to alternate back and forth like that... and over such a wide area?
Like you said in the video, everything with him is deliberate and necessary to the composition of the song. Every time I've seen them live, I watched him like a hawk, and he never altered it.
What Peart does with ride, hi-hat, snare, and bass in the introduction was what sold me on Rush when I first heard the band in the early 90s. His ability to do something that interesting on time told me that this was a musician and a band that were masters of their craft.
I love that you take the time to explain the sounds and rhythms of Neil's playing
Love your channel, it's neat hearing all these songs I've loved and listened to for 30-40 years new from your perspective. Makes me appreciate them even more, thanks again.
Fantastic! 🙏
I appreciated your deeper dig, especially in to the lyrics.
For we fans, as good as the music is the lyrics really meant a lot to us =)
Enjoying your discovery of Rush quite a bit.
One of the things that is so damn impressive about Neil you see in his drum solo. His feet are playing in one time signature and his hands are playing in a completely different time signature.
Andrew you were also right as subdivisions in the musical sense (as well a the housing sense) the prof was always using words and themes with multiple meanings and metaphors as per "moving pictures" etc etc, his aim was to make to think and work it out or take from it what you wish
Love it!
The fact Neil composed this song on a different kit with three toms in front, and toms over the high hat. On the RUSH R40 tour they made a recreation of his original kit from the 70's. Neil changed and used several kits over the years. As a long time Drummer and RUSH fan, I prefer the tradition set up with three Toms in front over the double bass drum set. But it was interesting that Neil was always growing and changing his kit and progressing his drumming. As far as this song.. it very much reflects what is was like growing up in Canada and feeling like an outsider. Lyrically Subdivsion and drumming wise is one of those songs that really stands out as a classic Rush Song.
One of my favorite Rush songs. Thank you for doing this 🙏👍👍👍👍
My pleasure!!
Neil pearts final shorter solo in the middle section of WHERES MY THING, HERE IT IS, live in Dallas, with a great bass playing start to the instrumental by geddy Lee. Best wishes from the UK.
This video is part of a documentary of his drumming. It’s 7 hours of Neil playing! 😍
Think he recorded this for his DVD "Taking Center Stage" ...
That is correct. It’s part of that video released by Hudson Music.
Really appreciate you exploring Neil Peart and Rush. Subdivisions was one of my first exposures to the band back in the early 80s. I've been a fan ever since. I encourage you to take a look at one of the final songs in their decades-long career, "Headlong Flight". Wonderful example of all three exercising their prowess
You may have seen it already, but there's a video on the Tube of a Rush show where the head on the tom you were pointing out broke. The band just kept chugging along as if nothing happened while Neil's tech pulled the tom, replaced the head and put it back during the song. Kind of like a NASCAR pit stop experience.
HAHA! Love it!
That's incredible groove for the song. Hard to fully appreciate when heard with the full ensemble.
The most frequent words printed on a Rush album: "Music by Lee and Lifeson. Lyrics by Peart."
I love to practice to old Rush stuff. My fav band growing up, so learned many Rush tunes, like half the drummers in the world....
There's a guy on you tube. And his name is Joel something. And the video is called R40 a tribute to Neil Peart. And the guy is really good. He's got on headphones and playing a medley of Rush songs to a track. You can faintly hear Geddy and Alex in the background. But this guy obviously studied some Neil and hes nailing it.
i dont know if neil peart was the greatest drummer who ever lived
BUT I DAMN WELL KNOW HE WAS THE GREATEST LYRICISTS WHO EVER LIVED
i will die defending that hill any day
the guy was a genius
Absolutely love your vids, especially the Rush. I'm not a drummer 😂. I play bass. Use to play in a Rush tribute band. U always make it a point to Not just talk about how great Neil was but also Geddy and Alex. They were music for musician's 🎶👍🙏💪
💯Ron! 🙌
In one video you had asked if he was ambidextrous. I think you’re right about that. This song is a good example of that displays some of that clearly. He has some unusual changes that are difficult if you’re not ambidextrous to some degree.
Subdivisions can pertain to the suburban neighborhoods that are the focus of the song as well as the cliques we separate each other into, especially during our teen yrs. Genius.
The sounds you describe about Neil Peart's drums are all familiar to Rush fans. One of his trademarks were those heavy tom fills. Everything had a purpose. O Baterista is a great drum solo.
Check out the song "One Man Army" by Canadian band Our Lady Peace. Drummer Jeremy Taggart has said no one has been able to accurate replicate his fill. It's wild.
Each song is basically an amazing drum solo, with fantastic lyrics and supporting instruments. I'm sure a lot of people attended concerts just to hear Peart play.
I'd guarantee it Wesley!
On the Live in Rio DVD, you can se people in the crowd air-drumming. How many other drummers ever got that reaction?
I agree. My favorite drum song in the Rush catalog.
I can hear song when he played drums❤. And ten times voted best drummer on the world says something🥁.
Great videos! Thanks for making them!
He once said that when writing a drum part he approached it like an author. This drum is a period. That drum is an explination piont. Ect..
Excellent. Thank you Mike
Love that snare.
Yes!
The Neil Peart video you are watching is from a instructional DVD on his drumming called Taking Center Stage I believe.
Neil's drums were DW. DW made special made drums for Neil, they worked him to get the special sound that he wanted. The same goes for his symbols Some symbol company worked with to get that special sound that he wanted.
Neil wrote ALL OF THEM LYRICS!!! GEEZ, And I am a New Yorker!!!!
You will sleep much easier at night once you allow yourself to know your listening to the best most technically perfect drummer to ever play the drums. I read someone's post that said
"The world is billions if years old, and you just happened to be alive in the same time Neil peart was".
I get such a kick out of you (Andy) seeing this stuff for the first time, Moving Pictures was such an earthquake for me and my friends that (and I hate to say it) we almost took Neil for granted for years. Many of my friends who are extreme metal drummer types all grew up on him as well... and I love the heavy stuff, I wonder if his complexity made us crave more ? As you have found out there are metal drummers doing amazing things, in retrospect Neil really had more impact across the landscape than he ever gets credit for.
So Neil has his signature Sabian line here called the Paragon which is still for sale to this day. (Yes they made a whole custom line for him!) And the reason why the ride has so much definition is because the ride is a SUPER heavy ride. The ride is 8lb/3.63kg!
I’m not a drummer, but I know some of you use the same cymbals for years, or even decades. Read in one of his books that he went through several sets of cymbals on each tour. That’s hitting hard.
Damn! I really miss Rush. Wondering what this album sounded like. Always a fun ass time. Thanks for your reaction.
Awesome sauce!😃💛✌
Hey Brooke!
👋
There are 2 kinds of Rush fan. Those of us who studied music before we ever heard of Rush, ad those who studied music BECAUSE they heard Rush, lol
I love his drum tone. A lot of drummers/producers can't seem to work with the open sound of large shallow toms and tend to err towards excessive damping or fusion sizes. Each to his/her own I guess. Personally; for drum tone my favourite 3 are Neil, Nicko and Vinnie Appice - all using a combination of drum size, depth, head thickness and tuning to arrive at very distinctive and musical open drum tones.
Drum hits are like words. Everyone is important and should be heard. No subdivisions.
wanted to bring to light a song off their latest, Clockwork Angels, it's not drum extravaganza but him playing the rhythm to the music. They included a string ensemble on this tour, Clockwork Angels for a few tunes on one of which is - The Garden Live. Very interesting use of bass and quite appropriate lyrics in reflection of one's life. Did such a emotionally, reflective job to bring this tune alive. If not to post a reaction, maybe give a listen to this tune, believe you would find it enjoyable in watching a lot of your other musical tastes, cheers.
Signals is absolutely a high point for Rush. I feel bad for the people who need the vanilla classic rock aesthetic to enjoy the music and skipped this album because of the synths, a ton of my absolute favorite instrumental parts by all three of them are on it and the synths just sound great anyway
another great review Andy
How he came up with these parts I'll never know??? Brilliant
Neil does drum by feel. He has talked about it many times in interviews.
Thats how they were as far as playing songs as written and recorded. But on tour they seemed to always pick one song and have fun with it . Like working man. They made a reggae kinda song out of then shredded their way out. Cloeer to the heart at the end Geddy and Alex went off on a dueling guitars kinda thing. Or Neil might throw in a drum solo on one. They actually had an alter-ego called Rash . And they would totally spoof their songs. Like do a polka version or a country version and just totally have fun with it. There's a video of rash on UA-cam where they were dressed up in costumes and all and acting out a little skit it's hilarious you should check it out.
The first word I learned how to spell was in my dads 1987 Nissan Sentra outside the laundry matt in Phoenix AZ when I was just a young lad was "Rush". I think he got tired of asking him to play the blue cd with the bolt on it (Counterparts).
Over time they would do change-ups in songs,. but they were always intentional. They started adding occasional segments/transitions between songs where they'd have more fun playing around...
Neil didn't just play drums - He Composed his parts which allow for them to stand out among other drummers.
Well said!
That Tom right in front of his snare is a 13 inch Tom... I've seen in several interviews with him and that is his favorite Tom size. That Drumkit Is worth more than most houses...
I think Moving Pictures was, if nothing else, the album that made them a household name.
Right on Josh!
Apparently, Simon Phillips doesn't dampen his drums at all. He just skins them, tunes them, and lets "em ring ! Probably why his drums sound AWESOME.
YES!
The album Signals was almost like a drug for me when I was 16 years old; I couldn’t get enough and played it over and over. Interestingly, Alex Lifeson hated the material, at least at the time, and it was a source of controversy within the band. Alex felt the band was straying too far from guitar-based rock, while Geddy was immersing himself in synthesizers more and more. However, Neil had already been exploring electric drums via Simmons in tandem with the Gedster, and their new path was ultimately set. It wasn’t until 1993’s release of Counterparts that they really tried to return to their roots.
The GOAT 🇨🇦
HE'S CLEVER.
SORELY MISSED. This is killing me.
People introduced to him and judging.
CANADA ROCKS!!
I wasn’t judging him was I? Don’t mean to do that. Still learning about Neil
Subdivisions meaning + song = real
I would recommend "Tom Sawyer (Official Video)". Neil has stated in the past that this was somewhat of a difficult peace to play.
High point is arguably previous album Moving Pictures (1981) this followed in 1982 and was not liked as it's hard to match perfection but over the years this album which also marked a change in musical direction for the band has become accepted as a very good album in hindsight
in case no one else has mentioned this, its actually Neil's voice saying "subdivisions", even though it shows alex in the video
9:35 Good point, I always had the impression that he's not so much playing the drums, but more like working the drums.Intentional indeed.
FYI The late CITY-TV news anchor Mark Dailey says the word "Subdivisions"
This video is from his rehearsal for the tour.
There is a recorded version of Neil playing Subdivisions from a concert too , no UA-cam
Wow, interesting. I always thought Geddy was saying " battle cars" until I read the lyrics about 10-15 years ago.
this is taken from a dvd "Taking Center Stage-A lifetime of Live Performances"
Thank you Anthony!
@@AndrewRooneyDrums and do yourself a favor and check out Jose Pasillas of the band Incubus. excellent drummer.
This DVD set is amazing. Eight hours of Peart!
Neil writes all rush lyrics. Alex and geddy jointly wrote almost all music. They historically and famously always have split all writing proceeds three ways equally. There might be a few songs where the music was geddy or Alex alone, but the vast majority were both.
Signals was their move into their synth pop period during the 80s, following their move to more radio-friendly length songs from Permanent Waves onward.
A local station in my area uses the very beginning of 2112 as a part of their radio bumps, and it always makes me mad because I know they'll never play and never have played 2112 before. They only play subdivisions, freewill and spirit of the radio when they play Rush, which is fine, but Everytime I hear that 2112 intro I get hyped, but then I remember that they're not actually going to play it lol.
Excellent as always! Btw, it's Neil's voice saying "Subdivisions", not Alex. Alex just lip syncs it for the video.
Actually, it isnt Neil, nor anyone from Rush saying Subdivisions. Mark Dailey, evening newscaster and "The Voice" of Toronto television station City-TV and also MuchMusic, is the voice that repeats the chorus line "Subdivisions."
@@joelguinand5489 Wow thanks! I always assumed it was Neil. Sounds just like him
@@joelguinand5489 Mark Dailey denied ever having anything to do with it... This is what he said...
"That's been an urban myth for years. It's not my voice on 'Subdivisions' by Rush but I continue to get credit. I've tried to dispel it but won't go away. Getty Lee says he doesn't remember."
... Looks like we may never know the real answer.
@@zimmyfan617 It absolutely is Neil.
@@LuckilyHeDied 100% it's Neil
Can you imagine having to tune all those drums? I'd go crazy