My Favourite Headache (also published as My Favorite Headache, especially in the US) is the debut solo album by Geddy Lee of Canadian rock band Rush. The album was released on November 14, 2000, by Anthem Records in Canada and Atlantic Records outside of Canada. Both the title track and "Grace to Grace" received play on mainstream rock radio, and the album itself peaked at No. 52 on the Billboard 200.[2]
| My Favourite Headache | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 14, 2000 | |||
| Recorded | April 2000[1] | |||
| Studio | The Peasant's Tent and Reaction Studios, Toronto, East and West and The Factory Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Studio X, Seattle, Washington, Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, hard rock | |||
| Length | 48:06 | |||
| Label | Anthem | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Geddy Lee chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
editAlthough Lee wrote the majority of the album on bass, he was not just writing melody lines, he was also playing chords. In some cases, he multi-tracked basses into different layers of the arrangements.[3]
Lee said of the album: "I think I backed into this project. I've never had a great desire to make an individual statement, and I certainly didn't want any more attention. I satisfy so much of my musical self in the context of Rush, so I don't have any great frustrations from that point of view. But once in a while, you'd wonder, 'What's it like out there? What's it like to work with other people?'".[3]
Lee explaining how he wrote the lyrics for My Favourite Headache: "Most people are like this: They think of stuff during the day. The mind goes to certain places, they remember things, and they try to figure things out. To remind yourself to write that stuff down is a great benefit. Then you come back to it and you analyze it days later, and lyrically shape what you felt when you wrote it down. For me, how I feel about what I wrote down turns into a song."[3]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 58/100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| Classic Rock |  [6] |
| The Daily Vault | A[7] |
Track listing
editAll lyrics by Geddy Lee, all music by Lee and Ben Mink.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "My Favourite Headache" | 4:45 |
| 2. | "The Present Tense" | 3:25 |
| 3. | "Window to the World" | 3:02 |
| 4. | "Working at Perfekt" | 5:00 |
| 5. | "Runaway Train" | 4:30 |
| 6. | "The Angels' Share" | 4:33 |
| 7. | "Moving to Bohemia" | 4:25 |
| 8. | "Home on the Strange" | 3:46 |
| 9. | "Slipping" | 5:06 |
| 10. | "Still" | 4:30 |
| 11. | "Grace to Grace" | 4:59 |
Personnel
editPersonnel per booklet.[8]
Musicians
edit- Geddy Lee - bass guitar, vocals, guitar, piano, programming, percussion, string arrangements, producer, engineer
- Ben Mink - guitars, violins and violas, programming, string arrangements, producer, engineer
- Matt Cameron - drums
- Jeremy Taggart - drums on "Home on the Strange"
- John Friesen - cellos on "Working at Perfekt"
- Ed Wilson - additional programming
- Chris Stringer - additional percussion
- Waylon Wall - steel guitar on "Window to the World"
- Pappy Rosen - backing vocals on "Slipping"
Production
edit- David Leonard - producer, engineer, mixing at Metalworks Studios
- Adam Kasper, Dennis Tougas - engineers
- Sam Hofstedt, Sheldon Zaharko, Chris Stringer, Tom Heron, Jeff Elliot, Joel Kazmi, Ian Bodzasi - assistant engineers
- Daniel Séguin - computer technical assistance
- Howie Weinberg - mastering at Masterdisk, New York
Singles
edit| Information |
|---|
"My Favourite Headache"
|
"Grace to Grace"
|
"Home on the Strange"
|
References
edit- ^ Lee, Geddy (2023). My Effin' Life (1st ed.). HarperCollins. p. 409. ISBN 978-0-06-315941-9.
- ^ "My Favorite Headache Billboard Albums". AllMusic. Rovi. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
- ^ a b c Giles, Jeff (November 14, 2015). "When Geddy Lee Went Solo with 'My Favorite Headache'". ultimateclassicrock.com. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ "My Favorite Headache". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- ^ Prato, Greg. "Geddy Lee - My Favorite Headache review". AllMusic. Rovi. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
- ^ "Geddy Lee: My Favourite Headache album review". Classic Rock. November 23, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
- ^ Rusk, Bruce (2019). "The Daily Vault Music Reviews : My Favourite Headache". dailyvault.com. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- ^ My Favourite Headache (booklet). Geddy Lee. Anthem Records. 2000.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)