Limelight: Rush in the ’80s
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Part two of the definitive biography of the rock ’n’ roll kings of the North — covering Rush’s most iconic and popular albums, Moving Pictures and Power Windows
Includes two full-color photo inserts, with 16 pages of the band on tour and in the studio
In the follow-up to Anthem: Rush in the ’70s, Martin Popoff brings together canon analysis, cultural context, and extensive firsthand interviews to celebrate Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart at the peak of their persuasive power. Rush was one of the most celebrated hard rock acts of the ’80s, and the second book of Popoff’s staggeringly comprehensive three-part series takes readers from Permanent Waves to Presto, while bringing new insight to Moving Pictures, their crowning glory. Limelight: Rush in the ’80s is a celebration of fame, of the pushback against that fame, of fortunes made — and spent …
In the latter half of the decade, as Rush adopts keyboard technology and gets pert and poppy, there’s an uproar amongst diehards, but the band finds a whole new crop of listeners. Limelight charts a dizzying period in the band’s career, built of explosive excitement but also exhaustion, a state that would lead, as the ’90s dawned, to the band questioning everything they previously believed, and each member eying the oncoming decade with trepidation and suspicion.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Rush fans, the ultimate account of your heroes’ heyday is here. The second instalment of Martin Popoff’s three-part Rush history chronicles the band’s ascent to international stardom during the 1980s and their evolution into one of Canada’s most unique musical exports. Through Popoff’s rock-detective research and comprehensive interviews with the band and their inner circle, we get the inside scoop on how Rush went from hard-edged progressive-rock underdogs to radio-ready arena superstars by adopting ideas from the blossoming New Wave scene. Besides getting the skinny on the creation of classics like “Tom Sawyer,” “Subdivisions,” and the fan-favourite “Limelight,” you’ll learn about the band’s complicated relationship with stardom and how they kept it together when fame changed their lives. Even if you think you know Rush, you’ll find stories that are enlightening and often hilarious.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Music critic Popoff delivers an excellent follow-up to his recent Anthem: Rush in the '70s, the first volume in a three-part history of the progressive rock band Rush. Popoff extensively analyzes the LPs made from 1980's Permanent Waves through 1989's Presto, when Rush "took to messing about with all the decade had to offer, enthusiastically so," including an increased use of synthesizers and keyboards. Popoff expertly details the ways Rush expanded its sound, including the use of reggae and electronic music in Permanent Waves, as well as a focus on shorter, tighter compositions on the band's hugely popular Moving Pictures, and the decade-closing pair Power Windows and Hold Your Fire, which showcased "an astringent, high-strung pop band, trendy keys and synths in excess." Throughout, Popoff extracts insightful quotes from band members, such as the late Neil Peart's explaining that he was "a huge fan when I first started to hear Talking Heads, and when I first started to hear the Police and Ultravox and all these new English bands," and doesn't shy from being critical of the band ("Pretty objectively, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire sound extremely dated, wholly of the '80s, where Rush's '70s material has become unassailably hip"). Die-hard Rush fans will devour this fascinating deep-dive into the band's musically controversial decade.
