Music of the Day, 29 August 2023
synths, Alex?
It’s been a busy day full of chatter for me (for large values of “chatter,” viz.1, including the written word). On such days, I seek refuge in music even more than usual, so my thoughts turn to instrumental music. My favorite band, Rush, has loads of great instrumentals. Many of them command as much of my attention as their songs with vocals, though, so I opted for the next best thing.
“Mr. X” is from Alex Lifeson’s only solo album to date. Victor is sometimes described as being created during Rush’s six-year hiatus after the tragic deaths of Neil Peart’s daughter and wife, but that isn’t accurate. Victor was released in early 1996, months ahead of Test for Echo, which Rush released in September of ‘96. I remember being happy to hear “Mr. X” playing overhead as my brother and I waited for the Rush show to start at the Nutter Center (at Wright State University), but also noting in surprise that many Rush fans around us didn’t seem to recognize it.
It certainly doesn’t start out as a typical Rush song2, nor what one might reasonably expect from a guitar god like Lifeson, who’d had occasional battles in Rush to give his guitar parts their due. But for me, that’s part of the fun of the song—and all of Victor, honestly.
Victor is quite different from Rush’s output, but not lower in quality. Lifeson does spoken-word vocals on some tracks; guest artists sing on others.
At turns dark and funny, it has earned its place in my library. I listen to Victor more often than a few of Rush’s albums, in part because it’s that good, and also because it came out during an important transition in my life and fit my circumstances very well. I hope you like it too.
If any abbreviation highlights the laziness of English better than this one, I’d love to know it. “Viz.” stands for “videlicet,” which is itself short for the Latin phrase “videre licet.” See what I mean? (And how did that “z” get in there anyway?)
Whatever that is.