“In some ways they feel as fresh and perhaps more relevant all these years later”: Geddy Lee unearths and releases two solo tracks recorded in 2000
Gone and I Am… You Are were recorded during the sessions for Geddy Lee’s solo album, My Favourite Headache.
Credit: Mat Hayward/Getty Images
Following the November release of his memoir My Effin’ Life, prog rock darling Geddy Lee has dived into the vault and released two demo tracks.
Gone and I am… You Are were originally left on the cutting room floor during the recording of Lee’s My Favourite Headache, his first and only solo venture recorded during the 1997-2002 Rush hiatus. But the pair of tracks have now been re-mixed by Rush producer David Bottrill and unleashed into the world.
While Lee is primarily known for his work with Rush, the multi-instrumentalist’s solo record showcased the breadths of his musical prowess. The lost demos only serve to highlight and emphasise the musician’s musical versatility; the slow, pensive twang of acoustic track Gone builds into a glowing, weightless crescendo, while I Am… You Are takes on a darker tone, with a sharper riff and an immense, show-stopping violin solo.
The tracks, as well as Lee’s My Effin’ Life memoir, allow a closer look into the life of the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s creative and personal life.
“I loved the songs when they were written and in some ways they feel as fresh and perhaps more relevant all these years later,” Lee comments.
While Rush officially called in a day back in 2018, the 2022 ‘reunion’ of Geddy Lee and Rush bandmate Alex Lifeson at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts did spark a renewed interest in reforming in Lee’s mind.
Recently, Lee admitted that the idea of resurrecting Rush “had been a taboo subject”, following the death of drummer Neil Peart after his long battle with brain cancer. “Playing those songs again with a third person was the elephant in the room, and that kind of disappeared.”
“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.”