The greatest prog-rock album of the 1980s, according to Alex Lifeson
Alex Lifeson is one of those guitarists you have to admire, as he’s the perfect combination of technically amazing but also incredibly emotive.
A lot of the time, musicians are one way or the other. Consider the blues, for instance, a lot of the blues guitarists that we know and love, when it comes to technicality, pale in comparison to some of your heavy metal and prog guitar players. However, those same blues players are able to channel emotion within their music better than anyone, and so their approach to guitar playing is much more romantic.
ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons spoke about the magic of the blues, saying that despite a lot of musicians not playing the most eccentric solos, there’s still always something you can learn from them. “Well, the blues may only be three chords, but the complexity is fascinating,” he said, “I’ve listened to those old blues records forever. And I can still learn something from these guys. These giants.”
Of course, you have other guitar players who might not be able to inject emotion into their music quite as well, but are technically unstoppable. You get this quite a lot in prog rock, as bands are essentially playing rock music but with added elements, both in sound and narrative, which can make the songs incredibly complex, yet not allow much room for an emotive solo.
This is why Alex Lifeson is such an exceptional guitarist, for he plays incredibly complex music as one-third of Rush, but is also able to add his own inflexions, bends, and takes on a solo, which means even when songs are becoming convoluted, he can make listeners feel a certain way with his style of playing. Thriving in this grey area is incredibly difficult, and Lifeson’s ability in that regard just can’t be ignored.
His solo in ‘Limelight’ is a pretty great reflection of his approach to the guitar and ability with it. “I love the elasticity of the solo. It’s a very emotional piece of music for me to play,” said Lifeson, “The song is about loneliness and isolation, and I think the solo reflects that. There’s a lot of heart in it. It’s a feel thing: you have to feel a solo as you play it, otherwise, it’s going to sound stiff. I never had that problem with ‘Limelight’. The first time I laid it down in the studio, I feel a real attachment to it, and I could tell it was special.”
He continued, “Even now, it’s my favourite solo to perform live. I never get tired of it. Each time I’m about to play it, I take a deep breath, and I exhale on that first note. I guess that sounds corny, but for me, it releases something.”
With this approach to music, it shouldn’t surprise people that the prog rock albums he adores do something similar. When he was asked to name some of his favourite albums, one of the prog albums that made the cut was King Crimson’s Discipline, their eight studio album, which certainly had that complex prog sound, but also opened new doors for the band. They began experimenting with different genres, such as new wave and punk, which allowed them to branch out into something brand new.
The result was one of their more emotive albums to date, still with the layered sound that fans of the band had come to expect, but with added elements. It was King Crimson like people had never heard before, same quality but more feeling, and it’s a record that steadily became one of Alex Lifeson’s all-time favourites.
