Aside from the 1998 live set
Different Stages, not much was heard from
Rush after their tour wrapped up in support of their last studio album two years prior,
Test for Echo. But in 2000,
Rush fans starving for some new material got their wish when bassist/singer
Geddy Lee issued his first-ever solo album,
My Favorite Headache.
Lee is joined by ex-
Soundgarden drummer
Matt Cameron (who sounds almost identical to
Rush drummer
Neal Peart) and ex-
FM guitarist/violinist
Ben Mink, and both help
Lee craft a record that resembles what a new
Rush album would've sounded like. The album-opening title track is unquestionably the best cut here -- a cacophonic
Primus-ish hard rock section switches with a laid-back, symphonic piece -- while such rockers as "The Present Tense," "Working at Perfekt," "Home of the Strange," and the ballad "Slipping" could've easily fit on such '90s
Rush albums as
Counterparts and
Test for Echo.
My Favorite Headache will help hold over longtime fans of the Canadian prog trio. ~ Greg Prato