I always thought Peart was the best. Who wouldn't? He's certainly one of the very best, and I doubt that anyone would disagree, no matter their musical tastes. And as for Rush, the memories are strong for songs like "Working Man", "Lakeside Park", "I Think I'm Going Bald", "In the Mood", "Bastille Day" and "By-Tor the Snow Dog". Man, now that I think about it, that's a long list and just from the first three albums. But of course, my favorites were the entire albums, "2112" and "A Farewell to Kings", especially "Cinderella Man", "Cygnus X-1" and "Closer to the Heart." Then again, the "Hemispheres" album was excellent and when Rush morphed ever so slightly into the 80's, their songs "Red Barchetta" and "Tom Sawyer" from the "Moving Pictures" album were both just really cool. God, there's just a lot of good material there. Maybe it's time to revisit Rush for a season.

Honestly, Rush was what I listened to when I felt a bit of "an edge" in my youth. Now days, there's another band that has this same technical metal feel, and it's like got an edge on an edge. I don't know if you listen to Tool, and it's probably a bit - to use a speaker word - it's a bit "forward". 'Nother speaker word, a little bit of "shout," like on Album 1, Track 2. Politely and misleadingly called "Hush." Politely played on my π's at 1200 watts when some guy over on HE starts bashing my buddies with his sockpuppets. I guess Ivan's right, I can cop a 'tude.

But Tool's good, when your day is moving too fast, coffee's flowing and adrenaline pumping. Then again, sometimes they surprise you with a song that's on the safe side of the cliff, and the contrast is then so strong, it makes the music sound as though it were two octaves lower than normal and abnormally slow. Here's one of 'em, and you gotta check it out, even if you aren't in to Led Zepplin or Tool. On their self-titled music/video box set, they do a version of Zepplin's "No Quarter" that is absolutely outstanding. I didn't think the rest of the material was all that great, and I've got everything that Tool and Perfect Circle did. But the one song is worth the price. Get it, and check it out - Tell me if you don't think that it's powerful.