Geddy Lee has released two new songs which were recorded during the sessions of his 2000 solo album, ‘My Favourite Headache’.
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Released yesterday (December 5) through Elektra Records under the title ‘The Lost Demos’, the tracks – ‘Gone’ and ‘I Am… You Are’ – grant fans a deeper look into the writing sessions of Lee’s only solo album so far.
‘Gone’ is a melodic, acoustic guitar-driven ballad guided by sweeping strings and emotive backing vocals. On the other hand, ‘I Am… You Are’ picks up the pace as a mid-tempo track characterised by a propulsive backbeat, dynamic shifts throughout, and even a violin solo.
Listen to ‘Gone’ and ‘I Am… You Are’ below:
“I loved the songs when they were written and in some ways they feel as fresh and perhaps more relevant all these years later,” said Lee in a press release about the new tracks, which were given fresh mixes by Rush’s longtime producer and engineer, David Bottrill.
Lee recorded ‘My Favourite Headache’ during Rush’s hiatus between 1997 and 2002 with Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron and multi-instrumentalist Ben Mink, eventually releasing it in November 2000.
In November, Lee released his memoir, My Effin’ Life, which chronicles his formative experiences as a child, his experiences with bandmates and friends Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson, and his solo career beyond Rush. He is currently on tour promoting the book.
While in New York City, Lee opened up about his final interactions with Peart, who passed away in 2020 following a three year-long battle with aggressive brain cancer. He stated that in his last months, Peart “would listen to a different Rush album”, analysing it and noticing details he had not paid attention to before. As he got emotional, Lee told the crowd: “He wanted to tell me how proud he was of the music we have done together… some of this stuff is hard to talk about.”
Rush’s remaining members would later reunite – with Dave Grohl and Omar Hakim taking turns behind the drum kit – in 2022 to honour the late Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins, performing ‘2112 Part I: Overture’, ‘Working Man’, and ‘YYZ’.
Lee recently reflected on the experience favourably, even hinting at the possibility for Rush’s remaining members to tour again. He said, “It was nice to know that if we decide to go out, Alex and I, whether we went out as part of a new thing, or whether we just wanted to go out and play Rush as Rush, we could do that now.”
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