The Big Money (5:36)
Grand Designs (5:05)
Manhattan Project (5:05)
Marathon (6:09)
Territories (6:19)
Middletown Dreams (5:15)
Emotion Detector (5:10)
Mystic Rhythms (5:54)
Geddy Lee: Bass guitar, synthesizers, bass pedals, vocals
Alex Lifeson: Electric and acoustic guitars
Neil Peart: Drums, percussion and electronic percussion
Music by Lee and Lifeson
Lyrics by Peart
Produced by Peter Collins and Rush
Engineered by Jimbo "James" Barton
Arrangements by Rush and Peter Collins
Pre-production engineering by Mr. Head
Recorded at The Manor, England, assisted by Steve Chase, at Air Studios, Montserrat, assisted by Matt Butler and at Sarm East, London, assisted by Dave Meegan, Heff Moraes, and Paul Wright
Mixed at Sarm East
Synthesizer programming by Andy Richards and Jim Burgess
Additional keyboards by Andy Richards
Strings arranged and conducted by Anne Dudley, recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London
Choir arranged and conducted by Andrew Jackman, recorded at Angel Studios, London
Management by Ray Danniels, SRO Management, Inc., Toronto
Executive Production by Moon Records, Val Azzoli and Liam Birt
Art direction, graphics, and cover painting by Hugh Syme
Photography by Dimo Safari
Tour manager and Lighting Director: Howard Ungerleider
President: Liam Birt
Production Manager: Nick Kotos
Concert Sound Engineer: Jon Erickson
Stage Left Technician: Skip Gildersleeve
Centre Stage Technician: Larry Allen
Guitar and Synthesizer Maintenance: Tony Geranios
Stage Right Technician: Jim Johnson
Monitor Engineer: Stve Byron
Concert Projectionist: Lee Tenner
Minister-Without-Portfolio: Kevin Flewitt
Concert Sound by See Factor: Jim Staniforth, Bill Fertig, Jason Macrie, Mike Sinclair
Concert Lighting by See Factor: Ed Hyatt, Jack Funk, Roy Niendorf, Frank Scilingo, J.T. MacDonald, Mike King
Concert Rigging by Southfire Rigging: Billy Collins and Tim Wendt
Laser Images by Craig Sprede(r)man, Glen Tonsor, Phil Valdivia
Busheads and Truckfaces: Tom Whittaker, Pat Lynes, Billy Barlow, Mac and Candy MacLear, Red McBrine, Mike Nervi, Larry Cole and Dennis Cricket.
In memory of Harry Smith
Big Thank You's go around the world: At Elora Sound: Bill, Linda, and Joanne.
At the Manor: Lynne, Mike, Barney, Patsy, (don't bring) Lulu, Jenny, Ian, Paul, Mark, Peter, Frank and Mrs. P., and Willie and Bowzer.
In Montserrat: Matt, Yvonne, Malcolm, Paul, George, Desmond, Franklin, Carlton, Leroy, Doreen, Felena, Razor Willie, Bosun, Veston, Fosforus, Scoozball, the King of Antilles Television, and HRH King Lerxst.
At Sarm East: Jo, Dave, Heff, Paul, and Rockin' Dave.
In Japan: Mr. Udo, Tommy, Yoshi, Nori, Tets, Kaz, and Tomo.
In England: Peter Mensch and Su Wathan, David Mallet, Nikita's, Bill Churchman, Debbie Collins, Simon Honnor, Mr. Big and the Royal Jamaicans, Zino Davidoff, the Launching Pad, Peter, Jenny, and Joe Flemming, Wimblestein, Rockit Cargo and Fireball XL-5.
On the road: Gary Moore band and crew, Red Rider band and crew, Seaship Brokers, Big Al, and the ubiquitous B-Man.
On the mound: Smitty, Gully, Bo, and El Animal.
At home plate: Ray, Val, Pegi, Sheila, and Bob.
Brought to you by the letter "M".
And to the technical assistance of: The Music Shoppe (Thornhill), the Percussion Centre (Fort Wayne), Jim Burgess, Wal Basses, Dean Markley, Tama Drums, Avedis Zildjian cymbals, and - the Omega Concern.
A special tribute to our magnetic poles
The firm support and surprising patience
Of our families
That's a wrap!
© 1985 Mercury Records © 1985 Anthem Entertainment
Notes
- Mercury/Polygram, October 11, 1985 (Canada), October 21, 1985 (USA)
- Highest Billboard Chart Position: 10 - Certified Gold by RIAA: December 18, 1985 - Certified Platinum: January 27, 1986
"The Big Money" video CD single (Mercury VCD 422-870-717-2) was released in 1985 to promote the album. The VCD includes The Big Money (full video), The Big Money (audio only), Red Sector A (Grace Under Pressure Tour video version, audio only), Marathon (audio only). All other versions of The Big Money (monopoly video) are edited for length.- The USA 12" promo of "The Big Money" was released September 30, 1985, while the USA 12" promo of Mystic Rhythms was released January 27, 1986.
- Reissued January 8, 2016 by Universal Music Enterprises on 200-gram, heavyweight vinyl with a download code for a 320kbps MP4 vinyl ripped Digital Audio album as well as high resolution Digital Audio editions in DSD (2.8mHz), 192khz / 24-bit, 96kHz / 24-bit.
"The Big Money" video CD singleIn Their Own Words
"I produced a track for Gary Moore, who was opening up for Rush in 1984-85, and as a result of that I got a gig with Rush. I did the Power Windows album, and I've done three more since then...When I first worked with them, they wanted to be involved with the technological breakthroughs that were happening in England at the time, the Trevor Horn sound that he'd achieved with Yes and Frankie and those sort of bands. So I was able to help them move into that area, and be a foil, a sounding-board for Neil Peart on the drums and push him into different areas. When I first got involved, Alex Lifeson had this horrible mismatched guitar pedalboard, which needed a lot of work -- or, rather, lot of work had been done to it, and that was the problem. It was just a question of coming in fresh, and getting them to change some things they'd always done. If there's somebody to say to them 'Guys, I think that section could be better, it could be more exciting, or it could be more laid-back,' or whatever, they like that. They like to be challenged. In the case of Rush, they strive to be better with every record, they strive to progress with every record. AC/DC strive to sound exactly as they did on their first record on their 14th record, and that's their strength, but Rush want to be different on every record and to progress. As human beings, that's the way they are, they're very interesting people, and they need continual intellectual and musical stimulation." - Peter Collins, Sound On Sound, March 2002
"Our producer works in London all the time. He's become very jaded about the Simmons drum sound. He didn't really want to hear it, so we found other ways of getting around that. There were times when I vocalized a little single-stroke roll, and that's exactly what you hear-my voice doing a single stroke roll." Neil Peart, Modern Drummer, January 1986
"We were working on a song that dealt with a bit of history, 'Manhattan Project'. We were trying to find a way to translate the dry historical facts to a lyrical format, and Geddy suggested we begin with the line 'Imagine a time...' That was a line he provided for me, and it really made it come alive. Then I began each of the three verses in that style, with 'Imagine a time...', 'Imagine a place...', 'Imagine a man...'. It was exactly the piece I needed, it was a useful construct. I'll come back to ideas like that time and again." - Neil Peart, Metro Weekend, October 17, 1996
"In 'Territories', the 'better beer' line is an inside joke. People are very chauvinistic about their beer. I swear everywhere you go they say: 'We have the best beer.' One thing particular to the drum part is that Neil used no snare. In the middle section we sampled my voice saying 'Round and round'." - Geddy Lee, Canadian Musician, December 1985
"'Territories'...was directly influenced by the Chinese attitude toward themselves. The title comes from an area around Hong Kong called The New Territories. I was struck by the sound of that word, and the territorial instinct. And what with the Northwest Territories being part of Canada, it was just the right sort of word to describe what I was after. Also it had the right poetic sound and visual contact. That's important to me in a title. So that was the essence of it. As for the opening line about the Middle Kingdom - that's still what China calls itself today. The reason for the Middle Kingdom is because it's a middle between Heaven and Earth. In other words, it's slightly below Heaven - but still above everybody on Earth. That's the way every person in every small town looks at the world, I think. [They believe] The people they know and the little neighborhood they live in is just a little bit more sane, a little bit more normal, and a little bit more special than anywhere else in the world. That seems, superficially, to be an innocent attitude, but in fact it's that outlook that leads to racism and natioalism, xenophobia and wars and persecution. Even as a kid in school, if you were from one neighborhood as opposed to another, you were considered an inferior subhuman. It seemed stupid at the time, and it seems even more stupid now, when you come to see it continue into adulthood with sports identification. If somebody wins something, it's as if everybody in that city personally won the Stanley Cup or the World Cup. It gets so pathetic. Look at what happens in England with the football riots; people murdering because they support their own team. It's the same thing that happens in Ireland because of religion and in South Africa because of race. And it happens in North Africa because of politics. Some people look at patriotism or nationalism as being the next best thing to loyalty to your family. I don't buy it." - Neil Peart, Canadian Composter, April 1986
"I chose the fictional town's name in a similar way - because there seemed to be a Middletown in every state (and I seemed to have bicycled through half of them). The other two guys wanted me to change the town's name at first, because it reminded them of a freaky teacher they'd had in high school, named Mr. Middleton - I was glad they got over it." - Neil Peart, Traveling Music
"Actually, I built the board for 'The Big Money' video, for Rush...I used to be in rock videos, building sets and stuff." - Les Stroud, The Late Show with Craig Ferguson, August 3, 2009
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This is a collection of transcripts of magazine and newspaper articles and other media related to this release or coinciding with the time frame surrounding it. This is an ongoing work in progress; feel free to email any suggested additions.