My Favourite Headache

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