My very first rock album was "Presto" by Rush, purchased from a little store in Kathmandu, site of many memories (Kathmandu, not the store). I can still remember the powerful visual images the songs engendered in me, especially the title song, with the images of star dust and evening planes rising up over constellations of light. Much of my creative experience since then seems to have been defined by the early experiences with "Presto", "2112" and the live shows.

Rush returned to the studios in 2004 and gave us in "Feedback", not one of their trademark theme rock albums and not an electric funk-rock collection, but rather a brief, 28-minute, 8 song collection of cover versions of classic rock and blues songs from the 1960s and 1970s, when they were young and callow. Songs that they cut theit teeth on are now reframed through their own gifts of musical style and substance. The selection of pieces has been called a political statement by some, but it seems more like a collation of memories and formative experiences.

1. Summertime Blues - The Eddie Cochran classic, one of the 500 greatest songs of all time, as per the Rolling Stone list, is transformed into a breakneck very typical Rush speed scene, with fast bridges, vocals that rise above the wall of sound and hyperfast drums. Other versions of this classic have been by Joan Jett, T Rex, The Who, Van Halen and Olivia Newton-John. A social youth protest song, appealing to any rebel with a cause

2. Heart Full Of Soul - The Yardbirds hearbreaker is redone with a mellow, slow air, by Rush standards, that takes up the theme with strumming chords where the words leave off, communicating the essence of love, regret and need to be loved through a simple arrangement that repeats throughout the song. Very Beatles-like, and quite close to the original.

And if she says to you
She don't love me,
Please give her my message.
Tell her of my plea.
And I know
That if she had me back again,
I would never make her sad.
I've got a heart full of soul.

3. For What It's Worth - The Buffalo Springfield song from Woodstock dealt originally with the Vietnam war, then in the telling became a youthful resistance anthem against cops, the 'Heat' et al. The selection here by Rush might be a comment on the state of things today. Then again, it just might be a favorite song, reinterpreted for the zeitgeist. "Everybody, look what's going down"

4. The Seeker - This was a tribute song in its own right by The Who, invoking "Bobby Dylan, the Beatles, Timothy Leary" to help answer the fundamental questions of life. Surprising vocal range is displayed in this version, with a few brief, abrupt pauses that serve to set off the typical Rush slides into artistic, seamless fretwork.

I'm looking for me
You're looking for you
We're looking in at other
And we don't know what to do