Transcript: "The Game of Snakes and Arrows" - Snakes & Arrows MVI Edition, June 26, 2007

18 years ago today, the Snakes & Arrows MVI Edition was finally released.  For those that don't know, MVI (Music Video Interactive) was a DVD-based means of packing audio, video and interactive visual content onto one disk, developed by Warner Electra Atlantic as a means to combat the mp3 download market by presenting an album digitally with exclusive additional content (it didn't work… the MVI program ended after 5 years, and as an aside, Rush's Snakes & Arrows was actually intended to be the first MVI released by WEA, but its release was delayed over a week which allowed Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight to beat them to the punch…)  The Snakes & Arrows MVI Edition includes the full album in 96kHz/24 bit hi-resolution stereo as well as 5.1 surround sound; the album bio written by Neil Peart; the lyrics and digital booklet; the ability to create your own mobile ringtones of all the tracks on the MVI; other digital extras including a photo gallery, wallpapers, IM icons, and poster, and finally and most importantly, "The Game of Snakes and Arrows"  45-minute documentary film which is transcribed here.  Once again I want to give a huge shout out to Anonymotron42 for having the patience to transcribe this documentary for us!

Transcript: "Geddy Lee - Off The Record with Mary Turner" - December 25, 1989

This week's new transcript is "Geddy Lee - Off The Record with Mary Turner" for Presto which was broadcast the week of December 25, 1989. Last week I shared Off the Record for Signals, and it's telling that 7 years later one of the first things Geddy mentions in this Off the Record for Presto is "We were talking about having a more kind of focused rock sound on this album, a bit more aggressive style of writing again. And, we wanted to kind of react against, I think, all those years of intense kind of computer arrangements, and synthesizers…" Thanks again go out to Anonymotron42 for transcribing this radio broadcast for us!

Transcript: "Geddy Lee - Off The Record with Mary Turner" - 1982

Transcribing radio shows is extremely difficult and time consuming, and takes a lot of patience, I know from experience. It is with that thought that I have to give a HUGE shout out to Anonymotron42, who has taken on the laborious undertaking to transcribe quite a few broadcasts that I'll be sharing with you over the coming weeks. First up is Geddy Lee on "Off the Record" with Mary Turner for Signals in 1982.

A great interview, and after reading this I feel the battle over keyboards obviously started during the recording of Signals and was driven by Geddy.... wouldn't you agree? "...we didn't hardly do any multi-tracking of guitars. We wanted a real natural ambient guitar sound that just sort of took up its own little space on one side, and we assigned the keyboard to the other side, like a real stereo. You know, like Phil Spector in the old days. And everything else we sort of put in the middle or wherever, so right from the beginning the guitar was gonna play a different role. It was, at times gonna be more rhythmic, and more...at times it almost plays a bass pattern. And then there's times where it really comes forward and shines. I think out of it, Alex has become a very flexible guitarist."

"Hemispheres Radio Special" - Fall 1978

Today's transcript addition is another radio special transcription found in the Spirit of Rush fanzine. This one is the "Hemispheres Radio Special" which was pressed to vinyl and sent to stations for broadcast in the fall of 1978. A relatively short show, it includes some interesting tidbits such as Neil's explaining of the inspiration behind the title track, as well how "Circumstances" was a last minute recording which "was a little bit bastardized from another song that I had ... the verses are from an old song and the choruses were brand new."