I think we're in a week of instrumentals, at least for the time being. I have been drawn to them for a long time, and while this wasn't the first one, this was definitely one of the most important ones in my formative years musically speaking. I have had the pleasure of seeing Rush twice, and both times they played this classic from 1980's Moving Pictures, one of my all time favorite albums. It is a complex song, starting with a riff built around a tritone (C-F#), which also is known as the devil's interval (or diabolus in musica), as it is 6 semitones wide. It is hard to work in harmonically, as it sounds dissonant - but as an opening riff, it really works well. The rest of the instrumental is hard rocking and filled with short fills by drums, bass, and guitar - and the live version on Exit... Stage Left has a great early drum solo by Neil Peart. While his solos have gotten more and more melodic and expressive, I still have a soft spot for the solo from YYZ. However, today is a day for the original studio version of this fabulous instrumental - quite possibly my favorite instrumental ever. Here is YYZ, named after the airport code for Toronto International Airport.
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