Snakes & Arrows
Encyclopedia
Snakes & Arrows is the 18th full-length studio album
by the Canadian
rock
band Rush
. Co-produced by Nick Raskulinecz
, it is Rush's first studio outing since 2004's Feedback
, and their first complete studio album since Vapor Trails
in 2002. The album was recorded in five weeks between November and December 2006 at Allaire Studios in New York’s Catskill Mountains and mixed and mastered at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles
, California
. Snakes & Arrows was released on CD on May 1, 2007, as a double LP album
on June 19 (limited to 5,000 copies), as well as the new MVI
(Music Video Interactive) format (limited to 25,000 copies) on June 26. Snakes & Arrows debuted at #3 on the The Billboard 200 chart where it remained for 14 weeks. It was certified gold
in Canada in September 2007. The track "Malignant Narcissism" was nominated for a Grammy Award
under the category Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The album was named as one of Classic Rock
‘s 10 essential progressive rock
albums of the decade.
, inspiration for the title of the album was conceived after considerable research from several sources; the 2000-year-old Buddhist game called "Leela
, the Game of Self Knowledge," the related children's game Snakes and Ladders
(also known as Chutes and Ladders), and Hamlet
's quote "slings and arrows." This information helped convince bassist Geddy Lee
and guitarist Alex Lifeson
to adopt the original painting of the age old game board as the cover for the new album.
n radio stations. On May 8, 2007, the band announced the release of a video for "Far Cry," and on June 1, 2007, "Spindrift
" was released to radio stations as the album's official second single. The third single for the album, "The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)
" was released June 25 to North American radio where it positioned within the top 30 of the Mainstream Rock and Media Base Mainstream charts.
In promotion of Snakes & Arrows, Rush kicked off their planned intercontinental tour
on June 13, 2007, in Atlanta, Georgia, which ran through October and covered most of North America and Europe. The 2008 leg of the tour started on April 11, 2008, in San Juan, Puerto Rico
at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum
and came to a close July 24, 2008, in Noblesville, Indiana
.
The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200
, selling about 93,000 copies in its first week. These figures only reflect sales of the CD
version of the album, and do not include the MVI or LP
versions.
, which gradually molded their ideas into completed pieces. During this process, Neil Peart wrote preliminary lyrics for the songs – a creative method the band has frequently employed on their earlier works
. Peart, originally from the Toronto area, has lived in Southern California
since 2000. To continue working with his bandmates for the new album, he commuted to Ontario and New York throughout the writing and recording phases. When Peart was in California, the band occasionally collaborated over the Internet.
By March 2006, rough versions of six songs had been completed. The three band members met in Quebec
to listen to the material recorded thus far. In May 2006, they refined the songs in a small professional studio in Toronto. After the first six songs were recorded, the band set out to write and record additional songs in September.
American producer Nick Raskulinecz
, who worked with the Foo Fighters
, was hired to assist the band in producing the album. Raskulinecz, a self-proclaimed fan of the band, reportedly encouraged the band members to explore the limits of their renowned talents and enthusiastically encouraged the band to incorporate the complex rhythmic and melodic patterns that characterized their earlier works. The final mix of the album was recorded at Allaire Studios in Shokan, New York
; mixed and engineered by Richard Chycki at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles, California
, and mastered by Brian Gardner
.
In a first for Rush, this album contains multiple instrumental tracks
: "The Main Monkey Business," "Hope," and "Malignant Narcissism." This also marks the first new instrumental piece(s) composed by the band since "Limbo," on 1996's Test for Echo
.
Neil Peart's customary essay on the writing and recording of the album, called The Game of Snakes and Arrows, has been released on the Rush website. Neil also wrote an article that appeared in the August 2007 issue of Modern Drummer
in which he details his writing process for the album.
, inspired by his motorcycle journeys through North America. Many of the experiences mentioned in the lyrics of Snakes & Arrows evolved from Peart's memoirs from his most recent book: Roadshow: Landscape With Drums, A Concert Tour By Motorcycle.
According to Alex Lifeson, musical themes for the album were written and developed using acoustic guitar
s to work out the major parts. These parts were ultimately recorded using acoustic or electric guitars, or other instruments. Lifeson found that writing the songs on acoustic guitars provided a certain purity, assisting him in conceiving the instrumental parts. Both he and Lee used this as an alternative to more traditional methods of song development, which saw the use of amplified electric guitars and the assistance of electronic instruments. David Gilmour
is credited in the liner notes because he inspired Lifeson to write songs mostly on acoustic guitar. According to an interview from the Sept 2007 issue of Guitar Player Magazine, Lifeson mentioned meeting Gilmour at a concert at Toronto's Massey Hall during Gilmour's "On an Island" tour.
According to Raskulinecz, the album has a similar sound to Rush's albums of the late 70s, such as 2112
, A Farewell to Kings
, and Hemispheres
.
's "MVI
(Music Video Interactive) format." This format is a 25,000 copy limited edition. The album comes in a deluxe box, and includes the 13 songs on the album in hi-resolution audio, the entire album in 5.1 surround sound, a 40 minute video documentary on the making of the album, 26-page booklet (4 pages more than the otherwise identical CD booklet), wallpapers, buddy icons and an exclusive poster for fans that register the MVI copy. After several production delays, the MVI was released on June 26, 2007.
The DVD-ROM
portion has 192-kbit/s
MP3
files of the entire album. The DVD-Video
portion contains both a "high-resolution audio" track (96 kHz/24-bit stereo LPCM) as well as a 5.1 surround-sound track (448 kbit/s Dolby Digital
, 48 kHz). There is no DVD-Audio
content on the disc.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
. Co-produced by Nick Raskulinecz
Nick Raskulinecz
Nick Raskulinecz is a Grammy-winning American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee.-Production career:Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxville on a 8-track recorder that his grandfather bought for him...
, it is Rush's first studio outing since 2004's Feedback
Feedback (Rush album)
Rhapsody praised the album, calling it one of their favorite cover albums. Allmusic reviewer Thom Jurek called the tracklist "amazing" and said "None of these tunes are done with an ounce of camp...
, and their first complete studio album since Vapor Trails
Vapor Trails
-Personnel:* Geddy Lee - bass guitar, vocals* Alex Lifeson - electric and acoustic guitars, mandola* Neil Peart - drums, percussion-Album:Billboard Music Charts -Singles:...
in 2002. The album was recorded in five weeks between November and December 2006 at Allaire Studios in New York’s Catskill Mountains and mixed and mastered at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Snakes & Arrows was released on CD on May 1, 2007, as a double LP album
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
on June 19 (limited to 5,000 copies), as well as the new MVI
MVI
MVI stands for Musical Video Interactive, a DVD-based means of packing audio, video and interactive visual content onto one disk...
(Music Video Interactive) format (limited to 25,000 copies) on June 26. Snakes & Arrows debuted at #3 on the The Billboard 200 chart where it remained for 14 weeks. It was certified gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
in Canada in September 2007. The track "Malignant Narcissism" was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
under the category Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The album was named as one of Classic Rock
Classic Rock (magazine)
Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock, published by Future Publishing, who are also responsible for its "sister" publication Metal Hammer. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of...
‘s 10 essential progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
albums of the decade.
Title inspiration
According to drummer and lyricist Neil PeartNeil Peart
Neil Ellwood Peart , OC, is a Canadian musician and author. He is the drummer for the rock band Rush.Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario . During adolescence, he floated from regional band to regional band in pursuit of a career as a full-time drummer...
, inspiration for the title of the album was conceived after considerable research from several sources; the 2000-year-old Buddhist game called "Leela
Leela (game)
Leela is a board game with origins in ancient India. The original game was created by Hindu scholars with the intention of teaching moral values, and was a precursor to the modern game Snakes and Ladders....
, the Game of Self Knowledge," the related children's game Snakes and Ladders
Snakes and ladders
Snakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian board game regarded today as a worldwide classic. It is played between two or more players on a game board having numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares...
(also known as Chutes and Ladders), and Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
's quote "slings and arrows." This information helped convince bassist Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee
Gary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee , is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush...
and guitarist Alex Lifeson
Alex Lifeson
Aleksandar Živojinović, OC, better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a second generation Serbian-Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In the summer of 1968, Lifeson founded the band that would become Rush with friend, drummer John Rutsey...
to adopt the original painting of the age old game board as the cover for the new album.
Promotion and release
On March 12, 2007, the band unveiled a new website at the official Rush website, primarily to promote the album. The first single from the album, "Far Cry," was posted as on-demand streaming audio on this site at that time. The band also announced that the single was being released to North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n radio stations. On May 8, 2007, the band announced the release of a video for "Far Cry," and on June 1, 2007, "Spindrift
Spindrift (song)
"Spindrift" is the second single of Rush's 2007 album Snakes & Arrows. "The Larger Bowl " was originally going to be the second single, but was shortly after changed to "Spindrift"...
" was released to radio stations as the album's official second single. The third single for the album, "The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)
The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)
"The Larger Bowl " is the fourth track and third single from Rush's 2007 album Snakes & Arrows.-Inspiration and lyrical structure:The lyrics were written by the drummer and primary lyricist Neil Peart...
" was released June 25 to North American radio where it positioned within the top 30 of the Mainstream Rock and Media Base Mainstream charts.
In promotion of Snakes & Arrows, Rush kicked off their planned intercontinental tour
Snakes & Arrows Tour
Rush began the Snakes & Arrows Tour to promote the album, Snakes & Arrows on June 13, 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2007 tour came to a close on October 29, 2007 at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland...
on June 13, 2007, in Atlanta, Georgia, which ran through October and covered most of North America and Europe. The 2008 leg of the tour started on April 11, 2008, in San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum
José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum
The José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, officially named "Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot" , is the biggest indoor arena in Puerto Rico dedicated to entertainment...
and came to a close July 24, 2008, in Noblesville, Indiana
Noblesville, Indiana
Noblesville is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Indiana, United States, located just north of Indianapolis. The population was 51,969 at the 2010 census making it the 14th largest city/town in the state, up from 19th in 2007...
.
The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, selling about 93,000 copies in its first week. These figures only reflect sales of the CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
version of the album, and do not include the MVI or LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
versions.
Writing and production
Writing for Snakes & Arrows began in January 2006 with Lee and Lifeson working at their home studio in Toronto. The pair began the writing process by jammingJam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
, which gradually molded their ideas into completed pieces. During this process, Neil Peart wrote preliminary lyrics for the songs – a creative method the band has frequently employed on their earlier works
Rush discography
Rush is a Canadian rock band originally formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, currently composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
. Peart, originally from the Toronto area, has lived in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
since 2000. To continue working with his bandmates for the new album, he commuted to Ontario and New York throughout the writing and recording phases. When Peart was in California, the band occasionally collaborated over the Internet.
By March 2006, rough versions of six songs had been completed. The three band members met in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
to listen to the material recorded thus far. In May 2006, they refined the songs in a small professional studio in Toronto. After the first six songs were recorded, the band set out to write and record additional songs in September.
American producer Nick Raskulinecz
Nick Raskulinecz
Nick Raskulinecz is a Grammy-winning American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee.-Production career:Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxville on a 8-track recorder that his grandfather bought for him...
, who worked with the Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
, was hired to assist the band in producing the album. Raskulinecz, a self-proclaimed fan of the band, reportedly encouraged the band members to explore the limits of their renowned talents and enthusiastically encouraged the band to incorporate the complex rhythmic and melodic patterns that characterized their earlier works. The final mix of the album was recorded at Allaire Studios in Shokan, New York
Shokan, New York
Shokan is a hamlet located in the Town of Olive in Ulster County, within the Catskill Park. The population was 1,252 at the 2000 census.-History:...
; mixed and engineered by Richard Chycki at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, and mastered by Brian Gardner
Brian Gardner
Brian Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner is a mastering engineer. He has worked on countless recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk, and dance pop. He is perhaps best known for his work on hip hop albums and in...
.
In a first for Rush, this album contains multiple instrumental tracks
Rush instrumentals
The Canadian rock band Rush has written, recorded, and performed several instrumentals throughout its career.-Overture:From the 2112 album, "Overture" opens up one of Rush's concept suites. Geddy Lee's voice is recorded as an instrument in the early parts of the song, as he sings no words...
: "The Main Monkey Business," "Hope," and "Malignant Narcissism." This also marks the first new instrumental piece(s) composed by the band since "Limbo," on 1996's Test for Echo
Test for Echo
Test for Echo is the sixteenth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1996. The album marks the final Rush work prior to the events in Neil Peart's life that put the band on hiatus for several years...
.
Neil Peart's customary essay on the writing and recording of the album, called The Game of Snakes and Arrows, has been released on the Rush website. Neil also wrote an article that appeared in the August 2007 issue of Modern Drummer
Modern Drummer
Modern Drummer is a monthly publication targeting the interests of on drummers and percussionists. The magazine features interviews, equipment reviews, and columns offering advice on technique, as well as information for the general public...
in which he details his writing process for the album.
Influences and musical direction
Peart, the band's primary lyricist, has stated the lyrical theme of the album is based on his personal reflections on faithFaith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...
, inspired by his motorcycle journeys through North America. Many of the experiences mentioned in the lyrics of Snakes & Arrows evolved from Peart's memoirs from his most recent book: Roadshow: Landscape With Drums, A Concert Tour By Motorcycle.
According to Alex Lifeson, musical themes for the album were written and developed using acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
s to work out the major parts. These parts were ultimately recorded using acoustic or electric guitars, or other instruments. Lifeson found that writing the songs on acoustic guitars provided a certain purity, assisting him in conceiving the instrumental parts. Both he and Lee used this as an alternative to more traditional methods of song development, which saw the use of amplified electric guitars and the assistance of electronic instruments. David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
is credited in the liner notes because he inspired Lifeson to write songs mostly on acoustic guitar. According to an interview from the Sept 2007 issue of Guitar Player Magazine, Lifeson mentioned meeting Gilmour at a concert at Toronto's Massey Hall during Gilmour's "On an Island" tour.
According to Raskulinecz, the album has a similar sound to Rush's albums of the late 70s, such as 2112
2112 (album)
2112 is the fourth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1976.The album features an eponymous seven-part suite written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, with lyrics written by Neil Peart telling a dystopian story set in the year 2112. The album is sometimes described as a concept album...
, A Farewell to Kings
A Farewell to Kings
A Farewell to Kings is the fifth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1977. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and mixed at Advision Studios in London....
, and Hemispheres
Hemispheres (Rush album)
Hemispheres is the sixth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1978. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales and mixed at Trident Studios in London....
.
MVI format
Snakes & Arrows is one of the first albums released on Warner MusicWarner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
's "MVI
MVI
MVI stands for Musical Video Interactive, a DVD-based means of packing audio, video and interactive visual content onto one disk...
(Music Video Interactive) format." This format is a 25,000 copy limited edition. The album comes in a deluxe box, and includes the 13 songs on the album in hi-resolution audio, the entire album in 5.1 surround sound, a 40 minute video documentary on the making of the album, 26-page booklet (4 pages more than the otherwise identical CD booklet), wallpapers, buddy icons and an exclusive poster for fans that register the MVI copy. After several production delays, the MVI was released on June 26, 2007.
The DVD-ROM
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
portion has 192-kbit/s
Bit rate
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....
MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
files of the entire album. The DVD-Video
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
portion contains both a "high-resolution audio" track (96 kHz/24-bit stereo LPCM) as well as a 5.1 surround-sound track (448 kbit/s Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
, 48 kHz). There is no DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio is not intended to be a video delivery format and is not the same as video DVDs containing concert films or music videos....
content on the disc.
Track listing
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The Billboard 200 | 3 |
| Top Rock Albums | 1 | |
| Top Internet Albums | 1 |
Singles
| Information |
|---|
"Far Cry"
|
| "Spindrift Spindrift (song) "Spindrift" is the second single of Rush's 2007 album Snakes & Arrows. "The Larger Bowl " was originally going to be the second single, but was shortly after changed to "Spindrift"... " |
| "The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum) The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum) "The Larger Bowl " is the fourth track and third single from Rush's 2007 album Snakes & Arrows.-Inspiration and lyrical structure:The lyrics were written by the drummer and primary lyricist Neil Peart... " |
| "Workin' Them Angels"
|
Personnel
- Geddy LeeGeddy LeeGary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee , is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, mellotronMellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
, bass pedal - Alex LifesonAlex LifesonAleksandar Živojinović, OC, better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a second generation Serbian-Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In the summer of 1968, Lifeson founded the band that would become Rush with friend, drummer John Rutsey...
– electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
s, twelve-string guitars, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, bouzoukiBouzoukiThe bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but... - Neil PeartNeil PeartNeil Ellwood Peart , OC, is a Canadian musician and author. He is the drummer for the rock band Rush.Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario . During adolescence, he floated from regional band to regional band in pursuit of a career as a full-time drummer...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...