Rush 4 - The Art Rock Years Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rockfield Studios, Wales.

'A Farewell to Kings' was the first time Rush had recorded an album outside of Canada. It also marked a return home for producer Terry Brown.

Answer: Nancy, Charlene and Jaqueline.

The three ladies are Nancy Lee (Geddy 's wife), Charlene Zivojinovic (Alex Lifeson's wife) and Jackie Taylor (Neil Peart's partner who, sadly, died of cancer).

Answer: Closer to the Heart.

As well being the chorus and title of one of the most popular and enduring songs on the album, it is also the closing line of the title track.

Answer: Anthem

Released in February 1978, it reached #36 in the UK charts.

Answer: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The poem, entitled 'The Ballad of Kublai Khan' opens with the lines:

'In Xanadu did Kublai Khan
a stately pleasure-dome decree,
where Alph, the sacred river, ran
through caverns measureless to man
down to a sunless sea...'

The full text of the poem can be found at http://www.zyra.org.uk/kublai.htm

Answer: Drive 'Til You Die Tour

The tour included well over 100 shows in four countries on two continents and lasted eight months.

Answer: Neil Peart

Entitled 'A Condensed Rush Primer', it was also used in the two volume songbook 'The Deluxe Rush Anthology'.

Answer: September 1977

'A Farewell to Kings' was the first Rush album to be simultaneously released in Canda, the USA and the UK.

Answer: Time

'Cygnus X-1' also pays homage to Miguel Cervantes and John Steinbeck by calling the spacship in the piece the Rocinante. Rocinante was the name of horse in 'Don Quixote' by Cervantes and the truck in 'Travels With Charley' by Steinbeck.

Answer: False

The lyrics to 'Closer to the Heart' were co-written with Peter Talbot while Geddy Lee wrote the lyrics for 'Cinderella Man'. Some Rush detractors have suggested that the lyrics to 'Xanadu' should give Samuel Taylor Coleridge a co-writing credit as well.

Answer: 'Power of Mind' by Adam Smith

Neil Peart has always cited 'Powers of Mind' as being the main influence on 'Hemispheres'. However, Nietzsche's 'Birth of Tragedy' was actually one of the inspirations for Smith's book.

Answer: Advision

The 'Hemispheres' sessions took rather longer than anticipated. In 'Visions', Alex Lifeson recalls that 'Hemispheres' was a very difficult album to record.

Answer: October 1978

Once again, 'Hemispheres' was released in a striking gatefold cover designed by Hugh Syme.

Answer: A street corner in Toronto.

The intersection of Danforth and Pape is the centre of Toronto's Greek community.

Answer: Kingston, Ontario

This was the start of a very long tour for Rush.

Answer: 134

And people thought that the 'Drive 'Til You Die' Tour was a long one.

Answer: Pink Pop Festival, Geleen, Holland

The Pink Pop Festival saw the end of 9 months of touring. The concert is captured on an excellent bootleg called 'A Right to Passage.'

Answer: Max Webster

Rush went on to record a song called 'Battlescar' with Max Webster, which featured on the latter's 'Universal Juvenilles' album and was released as a single. In addition, Max Webster's lyricist, Pye Dubois, has co-written a number of songs with Neil Peart, the most famous being 'Tom Sawyer.'

Answer: Circumstances

Neil spent around 18 months in England "playing in more bands and doing a bit of unglamorous session work."
(Neil Peart, 'A Condensed Rush Primer', 'A Farewell to Kings' Tourbook, 1977)

Answer: True

As Geddy Lee is quoted as saying in 'Visions':

"We spent more time recording 'Strangiato' than the entire 'Fly By Night' album. It's recorded in one take but it took 40 takes to get it right!"

Neil Peart had a different memory - "For four endless days and nights we played that very long and difficult instrumental again and again! We wouldn't give up. Over and over we played it until our fingers were raw and swollen and our minds were drained and dark. We were determined to get the whole thing perfect, but in the end I just couldn't do it, and we ended up putting it together from a few different takes." ("Modern Drummer", Dec '82)