Alex Lifeson Reflects On Rush’s Legacy Amid A New Boxed Set Celebrating The Band’s 50th

To fans of progressive rock in the last five decades, the music of Rush has been the soundtrack of their lives. The songs by the Canadian rock trio of bassist/singer Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart — among them “2112,” “Closer to the Heart,” “The Spirit of Radio,” “Tom Sawyer” and “Subdivisions” — have remained staples of rock radio and streaming services. Although the band has ceased recording and touring following the death of Peart in 2020, Rush continues to be in the public eye through archival reissue projects and the activities of surviving members Lifeson and Peart.

Marking 50 years since the band’s self-titled album, a new 4-CD/7-LP retrospective, Rush 50, was recently released. Consisting of both studio and live tracks (some of them previously unreleased), Rush 50 is the most up-to-date anthology of the band’s career: from their first-ever single, a 1973 recording of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” to their final live performance with Peart from 2015 on “What You’re Doing/”Working Man”/”Garden Road” at the L.A. Forum.

On the occasion of Rush 50’s release, Lifeson, now a member of his latest rock band Envy of None, says that he and Lee don’t get involved much in Rush’s album reissues. In the last several years, that program has seen the 40th-anniversary deluxe re-releases of such classic Rush albums as A Farewell to Kings, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures and Signals.

“We leave it up to the record company, and they always bring it to us,” Lifeson says. “They don’t have to, but they want our approvals on everything. So we know what’s going on, and we look at the artwork. Hugh [Syme, who has worked on Rush’s album art] does an amazing job with these packages. We still have a relationship, obviously, with him. So we’re aware of it.”

Lifeson says it was up to the record company to choose the track selection for this boxed set anthology. “But they’re aware of how we work,” he says. “And Andy [Curran, my Envy of None bandmate] works his main job [in A&R] there at Anthem [an indie record label whose roster included Rush]. So you know he’s there looking after our interests as well.”

Other never-before-heard live cuts found on Rush 50 include “Bad Boy” and “Garden Road,” both of them recorded from the band’s early performances in 1974. Another unreleased live track, a performance of “Anthem,” was taken from Rush’s 1974 visit to Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

The new anthology comes as the group recently marked the 50th anniversary of their debut album Rush, which featured their original drummer John Rutsey. In retrospect, the record reflected the influence of such groups as Cream and Led Zeppelin with songs such as “Working Man” and “Finding My Way.” But it wasn’t until Peart’s arrival as their group’s drummer and lyricist on Fly by Night from 1975 that Rush forged their distinctive progressive rock sound.

“Obviously, we were huge Led Zeppelin fans,” Lifeson says. “A lot of material from that [first Rush] album is from 1970. And they were such a big influence on us. Just listen to Ged’s hooks. But when Neil came in, he brought something new and fresh. And Ged and I were already leaning towards being more progressive in our music, less bluesy rock. And Neil was definitely aligned with that way of thinking. So we naturally fell into that longer tracks, more thematic. He was certainly an influence [and] definitely part of the ride.”

After a combined 30 studio and live albums — not to mention decades of touring — Rush’s popularity still endures more than 50 years later. It’s a milestone that Lifeson marvels at.

“Isn’t it nuts?” he asks. “It’s crazy. When we first got our record deal in 1974, it was for five records. And I thought, ‘This is amazing. This is going to fulfill our recording life and maybe 6-7 years of touring. This would be great.’ And then 40 years later, we were doing the final show [in Los Angeles]. Who would ever thought that that would have happened the way it did?

“So it was a very unique experience for us,” he continues. “And it blows my mind that even after 10 years of being sort of off the road and out of the scene, there’s interest as keen as it was 20 years ago.”

Rush 50 arrived around the same time as the release of Envy of None’s second album Stygian Wavz, both involving Lifeson. “It just so happened this record took, I don’t know, a year and a bit to make,” Lifeson says about the timing of the two releases. “So it just kind of ends up occupying the same space. But it’s kind of good. There’s lots of talk about stuff that I’m part of.”