4/29: Moto Perpetuo (LIVE)

One of my fave drum solos (and a fitting one, too)

Drum solo time! This one comes right after “Caravan” in the Time Machine 2011 set list, and its performance (as featured on the Time Machine Blu-Ray) is one of my favorite solos Neil ever wrote. You can hear his signature machine gun precision, the rhythms nested in rhythms—in my opinion, this is quintessential Peart.

What I like about this solo in particular is that it threads the needle between technicality and narrative—it doesn’t have a melody, like some of his other ones; it just is. Motion, in perpetuity.

Which is precisely what a “moto perpetuo” is: a fast, instrumental solo made of notes of equal length, with distinct sections intended to be repeated without disrupting the “motion” of the song.

Moto perpetuo, if Wikipedia is to believed, were really popular in the 19th century. Often they were performed as vituoso encores, with the tempo increasing with each repetition. Since Clockwork Angels takes place in a Victorian-esque steampunk universe with starships as well as airships, it makes sense that Neil would use the moto perpetuo structure to follow “Caravan” (perhaps a hint of the album to come).