Alex Lifeson’s favourite guitarist of all time: “He should have been huge”
Some groups just don’t reach you in time, but Canadian prog trio Rush are rightly coveted as one of the most significant bands of their time. The band are never going to match Led Zeppelin or The Who, but their impact is huge.
Creating scintillating music that drew on a wide variety of disparate genres, the gilded status of Rush is attributed to the individual genius of its three former members: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. The members came together to create a forceful group that left a whole generation of listeners completely in awe.
All are considered a selection of the finest players ever to do it on their respective instruments, and the power of their combined force is one of the greatest indicators that a band setting should always be a collaborative effort. When there’s chemistry, the sparks it produces are quite simply life-changing.
Frontman and bassist Geddy Lee is one of the most consequential rhythm players of all time, and through blending complex hard rock with jazz, his almost lead-like style of playing the bass is like nothing contemporary music has witnessed before, providing the group with their energy.
Neil Peart, meanwhile, is one of the most technically gifted drummers ever to enter the recording studio. Ranking up there with the very best, such as Ginger Baker and John Bonham, he took his style from the likes of Gene Krupa and blended it with a modern, cerebral dynamism that gave Rush the ballast needed to bring their fantastical form of rock to life. As well as being one of the best drummers in history, Peart also doubled up as the band’s lyricist, reflecting the gravity of his intellect.
Then we come to guitarist Alex Lifeson, one of the best but somewhat overlooked guitarists in the pantheon of rock. Ostensibly the first alt-metal player, Lifeson counts a host of subsequent legends as his followers, including the likes of James Hetfield, John Petrucci, Jim Martin and Steven Wilson, with the exploits of these disciples vicariously denoting just how impactful Lifeson has been to popular culture.
Taking his cues from guitar-playing greats such as Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix, Lifeson has always had one eye on the classic rock that inspired him in the early days. Despite naming some of the most famous names in history as heroes, for Lifeson, there is one guitarist that he covets more than any other, and it’s a slightly surprising admission, with him explicitly maintaining that his pick is underrated.
Alex Lifeson’s favourite guitarist of all time comes in the form of Dixie Dregs founder and former Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse. Sitting down with MusicRadar in 2014, Lifeson clarified his thoughts on the hard rock hero. He explained: “I’ve come across many players over the years and I’ve learned a lot from a lot of players, but I think one of the most underrated players – and he’s respected, but he just didn’t get the recognition he deserved – is Steve Morse.”
“I remember when we were playing with The Steve Morse band and he’d be there when we were there at soundcheck, at three or four o’clock in the afternoon, and I’d just watch him and he’d be wandering around the hall playing and warming up”, Lifeson continued.
He concluded: “They’d always play a different song every night for their soundcheck and he was just such an amazing player. He has such an amazing ability. I always thought that he should have been huge in whatever he did. He was definitely successful in whatever bands he worked in, but I don’t think that he ever had the kind of recognition that he so deserved. So I’d have to say Steve Morse.”
There’s a good chance that you could ask hundreds of famous guitarists for their favourite and nobody else would pick Steve Morse as their favourite. But, that just speaks keenly to Lifeson’s unique place within the rock and roll world. For Lifeson, Morse is the best, and he cares not to change his mind to fit in with any kind of fashion or expectation. That is not the Rush way.
