Thursday Throwback: “Limelight” by Rush

With this week’s DLC, we now have 14 different Rush songs (17 if you also include the covers) currently on the Rock Band platform. It’s no surprise that Rush is one of the most highly regarded bands in the Rock Band community. In fact, two of their songs have already been featured as Thursday Throwback picks here on the site; Closer to the Heart and Working Man (Vault Edition). The group has some excellent tunes to offer, which are all great on just about every instrument. It doesn’t really matter if your singing along to Geddy Lee’s vocals, playing his bass, Alex Lifeson’s guitar or Neil Pert’s drums, its always a blast to play. With a 3 pack of their songs Caravan, The Spirit of the Radio (Live) and Fly by Night released this week, it’s all the excuse I need to feature another Rock Band favorite: Limelight.
Limelight is part of one of the best albums released on the Rock Band platform, Moving Pictures. The song was released in 1981, and reached a peak of #4 in the U.S. Charts. It was one of five Rush songs inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010, along with Limelight, Closer to the Heart, The Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions, which coincidently, are all available in Rock Band! Harmonix sure know how to pick their songs!
So what about the song? It’s great! You want a longer explanation? The 2-tier guitar has its usual great tune, which is repeated throughout the song, with some brief chord sessions, and a unique sounding guitar solo (what else would you expect from Rush?). 2-tier bass, as you would expect from Rush, is fun to play, and rarely gets repetitive. 4-tier drums is the hardest instrument offered here, but if you have ever seen Pert’s drumkit, you know why. Although not as difficult as some of The Who offerings, you need to stay on your toes. Anyone who is familiar with Tom Sawyer on the original Rock Band disc (which is a very good cover and good vocals), will be familiar with Geedy Lee’s unique 1-tier vocals.
And here’s the full band rocking out to the tune:
And here’s an extra treat, you can read more about Carolyn (from Harmonix), explain why she loves RUSH.
I would appreciate it if you would have a look at my growing fansite, The Tribute Pages which features tributes of video games (including Rock Band 3), TV shows and movies. Thank you!
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I could nail those two disco beat drum portions (the first one starts after “beyond the guilded age”) on expert drums before the cymbals existed, but I still haven’t been able to wrap my head around doing what is basically the EXACT SAME THING with the cymbals on pro expert.
You misspelled Neil Peart’s last name several times.
Nick Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
At least he didn’t say “Getty” Lee.
Nick Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
Although on re-examination, he did say “Geedy” Lee.
RickC Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
We should be happy he did not try to spell Weinrib or Zivojinovich!
(No, I am not a Rush nerd, I just play one on the interwebs).
15 songs if you count The Hockey Theme