The Conan and Jordan Show – Geddy Lee

0:18Well, that iconic song can only mean one thing. It's the Conan and Jordan show. And I'm joined. I'm, of course, I'm Conan O 'Brien. I don't think that shouldn't have to be said. And I'm joined by my enemy, my friend, my frenemy, a man I loathe, a man I love, Mr. Jordan Schlansky. Yes, hi. You've been in my employ for how many years now, Jordan? Decades. Okay. Yes. Nice. And you bring up that iconic song, Tom Sawyer by Rush, that starts our show. I would like to point out that longtime listeners of our show may have noticed something a little different today in that our engineer Eduardo graciously played my preferred mastering of that song.

1:02This is not the readily available mastering that any fool would get on a streaming service these days. Any fool? Okay. I have put a lot of time and money into seeking out the best version of all of my favorite music. I have bought probably 20 versions of that album on various media. Right. Right. Well, better that than have your kids go to college. Yeah. These are hobbies. We all have our hobbies. Okay. Okay. These are benevolent pursuits. You spend your money on various hobbies. I believe you have a collection of guitars. No, they were all given to me. I understand. Well, that's impressive. That's cool.

1:38When you just know famous people, they give you guitars. Yes. Well, we can all aspire to that level. So this is a special, cut to the chase. This is a, what's different about this pressing of that song? Okay. Like all of us, I like music. Some say the language of music is older than the word language itself. Music is a great unifier, much like food. Okay. When we all disagree on so many things, we all appreciate music. I go one step further. I like to have the best version of music to listen to. I like my music to sound as good as possible. Back in the 70s, when you were growing up, you might have called me a hi-fi guy.

2:14Okay. So for any given music release. I'd have a different term for you now, but this goes out to families, so I'm not going to do it. So, again, I'm going to try and get you to the point rather than taking us to. Well, this is a radio show. We talk. That is our that is our venture here. We are here to talk. What is different about this pressing? You interrupt my talking, but that's the whole point of the show. What's different about this pressing? OK, there are many back in the day before things were standardized. You keep going back to the day. I just want to know what's different about this pressing.

2:42This is a spoken word program. Is that correct? Yes. OK, so I am speaking words. All right. That is what I was told the assignment was. All right. I'm here to complete the assignment. All right. Today, we're going to spend, I don't know, a half hour talking about different. Guess what? You just passed that mark. Different CD pressings. OK, so now things are kind of standardized in the digital age. But back in the 80s and 90s, my preferred musical genres, any given CD pressing might have a different sound to it. If you bought a CD of a given album in Japan, it would sound different than one in West Germany.

3:14Yes. OK, so Rush Moving Pictures is the album in question. 1981. It was released on various media, of course. Vinyl. Now, that's very expensive. So keep your greasy fingers off of it. You can touch the. Yeah, you can touch the case. I don't want it on the disc. OK, I'm going to touch the disc. And I how did you know that I had liquid grease for lunch? Well, I've known you for decades and we've had these experiences before. So basically, I have an quest. This is actually a very well-recorded album and very well-mixed. A lot of dynamics. But in recent releases, those dynamics are squashed. There's a trend to make digital releases of music sound as loud as possible, okay?

3:51Nobody wants their song to sound quieter on the radio or on the streaming service compared to the song next to it. You know, your body language makes me feel a bit rushed. This is going to take a while, okay? Okay. Yeah. This is not punchy stuff. This is a slow burn. No pun intended. I did not mean to rush you. Yeah, you got something? Do I have something? Yes. Okay. I have a little - I guess this is more important than what I was talking about. I think you're gonna agree that it is. Okay. I have a special guest for you today. Okay. He's joining us right now. All right. Let's get him in here. I think this is a big moment.

4:24Okay. There he is, Geddy Lee. Oh yes. What do you mean, oh yes. Yes. Speak of the devil. This is your God. Come on. Yes. Geddy, how are you? Great to see you. I can't believe I just bring Getty into the conversations and you go, oh, yes. You're a freak. Okay. For anyone that doesn't know, we've been joined by Getty Lee. I believe your original name was Gary Levy. Toronto, Canada, perhaps. A man of Willowdale. Yes. I was born Gary Lee Winegrove. Okay. And changed it to Getty Lee, which is a long story. Yes. Where are you right now, Getty? Where are you zooming into us from? I'm at home in Toronto, Canada.

5:09Lovely. And first of all, let me thank you, Getty, because you are an iconic musician. You're a big deal. And for you to join our ridiculous show is very cool. And so thank you so much for doing that. The reason I wanted you to join is I I talked to Jordan. We've traveled the world together. we have a famous relationship I think 40 % of the time Jordan is trying to talk to me about you, your music and it's very flattering but I thought you should come together now and you should talk to Jordan because Jordan claims that this pressing is much better of superior quality. Can you hear the difference Getty?

5:54I'm learning so much today I can tell you from Jordan, just to see you guys talk about this stuff. There was a time I could hear the difference. I couldn't swear to hear the difference today because I'm a little bit older and my hearing isn't what it used to be. But audiophiles know far more about that quality of sound than the guys that actually make the records, I think. Isn't that incredible? Jordan is basing his whole life. It's like a religion to him that this is the only version that can be played. you, Geddy Lee, can't hear the difference. I understand that. Nevertheless, I appreciate what he's done.

6:30And now I want to hear his work in the best way possible. It's really honoring him and his bandmates. Okay. Okay. All right. So I like a dynamic version. Now, my favorite recording or mastering of moving pictures was actually an original Dutch vinyl record. And there is a famous digital rip of that online. And I requested permission to play it on air and I was unable to obtain that permission. Are you feeling at all unsafe right now? Are you feeling that you're in the presence of, I don't know, a madman? Someone who... I'm very impressed. And I understand that the Rush fans are quite nerdy, as I am myself.

7:10And this is sort of living proof of that, I think. If you know the Dutch pressing of one of our records, if that doesn't qualify for nerdism, I don't know what that is. Thank you for identifying the exact nature of the illness. Well, you're a nerd. These men and their engineers at Les Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec, in 1980, 1981, spent a lot of time to get a certain sound. Okay, they experimented with different techniques. Digital technology was new at that time. Their drummer, Neil Peart, wore a microphone taped to his chest to get a drummer's perspective. You know, it might be interesting to hear Geddy Lee talk about Rush.

7:49getty would you like to say anything about those days and some of the innovations and what the sound you were going after are we going to let r2d2 over here spit out this bullshit go ahead you have the microphone i'd be happy to chime in yes but but yes jason you're correct yes it's jordan by the way when we recorded at the studio um we were one of the first bands certainly in the genre of music we were making to use a digital mix down system and and uh you know computerized mixing was kind of a new thing in 1980 so uh we experimented with a lot of that kind of stuff and and uh it was not easy because you're wrestling with new technology but you're you're quite right that uh rock bands were not doing that because they were one of the last of the genre to convert from analog to digital and a lot of people were questioning the validity of right digital music for heart rock uh anyway um it was a hell of a good sound a hell of a good noise that we ended up with and we spent weeks, if not months, at the studio in the snow in the winter of 1980.

9:10So, yeah, it was, and Neil did indeed have a microphone tape to his chest, particularly I think for the song Vital Signs, so we can get the sound that he hears in terms of, there's a certain impact a drummer gets from his drum kit sure that nobody else can hear because they're in front of the drums and not sitting behind the kit so we wanted to blend some of that in so so all those nerdy facts are true um and thank you for doubling down the nerdy thing but getty um i'm curious uh did you could you have had any idea back in 1980 you're up in quebec that all these years later, I mean, here we are, um, some 44 years later and that someone like a Jordan and, and Jordan is not, I mean, Jordan's very peculiar, but Rush fans really know this stuff.

10:06That's gotta, it must blow your mind to think that what you guys were doing back then is now, uh, chapter and verse. It's, it's like talking about something in the Bible or the Talmud. It's, it's got to be kind of freaky for you, huh? Yeah, it is. The level of knowledge that our fan base possesses is quite daunting. And they, like you did at the beginning of the show, talking about pressings, et cetera, et cetera. But we've been lucky to have such a dedicated fan base. I don't think we would have ever made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame without their fervent pleas to put us in there. But certainly I'm grateful to their level of nerdism and their fanaticism.

10:55But they do know more about us than we can even remember. I can assure you that. Now, Getty, this is an awkward question. But say Jordan were to show up outside your home in Toronto. Would you invite him in and let him stay for a week? Buck, no. Sorry, am I allowed to say that?

11:18Oh, that was the greatest thing that ever happened. Geddy Lee, thank you so much. Jordan, I'm sorry, but that's just the answer. That's the answer. It's the way it's going to have to be. Look, I appreciate the music. I understand that we don't need to know each other in real life. I respect that professional distance. Nevertheless, I appreciate the music. I have many things to say, which will go unsaid today and stay for another day. You have a chance to ask him anything you want. Yeah, this is your chance. This is your big chance. Shoot it, fire away. More so requests than questions. I've educated myself on most of the knowledge base out there.

11:54But of course, there are requests, a certain material I would like to see. There was a 1990 concert at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan on the Presto Tour. It was shot by the in-house cameras at the venue, and parts of it were released on a special album release a few years ago, but it wasn't the entire concert. I'd like to see the entire concert on video. of that presto show because so that was my first concert april 1990 do you know what he's talking about getty uh vaguely actually uh i think uh some of those venues did record our shows back then there is a show um that we did record in 1997 in toronto at the amphitheater that we have yet to release but there is some talk about doing something with that but uh time will tell but I don't remember that particular footage that you're talking about.

12:47Yeah, it was released under the name Through the Rabbit Hole. And I understand the artist doesn't necessarily oversee every aspect of this. That would be incredibly tiresome. And that's not his responsibility. His responsibility was to make the music, and then he has the right people that he trusts to take it from there. And I respect that. I'm not requesting that you handle it personally, but if it ever comes up in discussions, there is a call for that by the fans. And I would like to see the last some of the later albums, such as Vapor Trails and Clockwork Angels, released in a more dynamic form in 2015.

13:21The Abbey Road engineer Sean McGee remastered most of their catalog from their Mercury years and then some of the later releases as well. But he never got to those two. And there isn't really there aren't really good dynamic releases of those. I would like to hear those at some point in the future. Thank you for your time and attention. dude you need to send me a list yeah yeah getty it doesn't seem to be he's not writing any of this down yes by the way i'm well aware and i did notice he has like me he has a button in his study yes that alerts security and he's been leaning on that thing for about 10 minutes yes um getty you are a very good sport uh in addition to being an incredibly talented musician and a great guy and uh it was very nice of you to drop in and and and speak to jordan i worry about jordan frankly and i think after this conversation you're a little worried about him too in all seriousness i understand it's his birthday so uh or or coming up to his birthday is that recently passed recently passed yes okay well i just want to wish you a happy birthday thank you thank you for being a fan thank you uh i really appreciate it and hopefully we will get to meet on a more human level than through the Zoom machine.

14:35Yeah, and with maybe security present. Yeah. It's also my bar mitzvah today, Getty. So if you want to say a word about that. Okay, yes. Getty Lee, thank you so much. It's very kind of you to call in and our regards to your bandmates and to all the good people in Toronto. That's one of my favorite towns in the world. So thank you. Thank you, Conan. It's great to be here. It's nice to meet you too. Likewise. Big fan. Take care. Take care, Getty Lee. Thank you very much. thank you

15:11what an incredibly nice guy that was a really that was a really nice treat that he could drop in here were you how did it feel had you spoken with Geddy Lee before I met him a few times he's incredibly well spoken he's enjoyable when you listen to him speak in interviews just the way he forms words those are called sentences yeah yeah But the way he puts words together. Yeah, that sentence. He's a verb. He's an adjective. He has the man's very intelligent, well-spoken. I enjoy listening to people like that. I don't know. I mean, I listen to him. You seem like a nice, smart guy, but I think I'm just as intelligent.

15:43But, you know, the idea... I make words, too, and put them into sentences. I think there's a conflation with the idea of fandom. So most people are fans, and they feel like they need to meet the person. They need to hang out with the person. I'm a huge fan of Rush, but I don't feel the need to hang out or even meet him. Guess what? That feeling is shared by, I think, by Geddy Lee and the rest of the members of Rush, which I think works out nicely. You don't feel the need to meet them. And he does not want to meet you and shouldn't really meet you. Right. Based on this presentation, based on what he was given, I would not want to meet me either.

16:18So you understand. Right. What I'm saying is he's seeing a very limited side of me. No, no, no. He's not seeing a limited side of you. That is you. No, he is seeing what was just presented to him. What was just presented to him is you. We have many aspects to our personality. No, you don't. No, you don't. What I'm saying is. You're a fucking floor lamp that I've been looking at for years. I've walked around it. I've pushed it on and I've turned it off. And now you're saying there's many sides to me. There are many sides to me. And I think he would appreciate some of that. First of all, I don't care if he would appreciate them because I have no interest in bonding with him.

16:51Nevertheless. That's so rude. This guy just called into a shoe a happy birthday. And suddenly you're saying, I don't give a flying fuck. My birthday passed two months ago. I was being polite. Now listen to me. Wait. Now listen to me. Oh, so Geddy Lee has to know your birthday exactly? What fool in this room told Geddy Lee that my birthday was right now and I have to play along like a jackass because I'm not going to be the asshole that tells him, no, you're wrong. That's going nowhere. You did tell him. Well, I was polite. You told him it passed. That's the best I can do. I'm not going to flat out lie and say yes, today is my birthday.

17:21I think within two months is a fairly good shot. There are 12 months. Two months? That's a sixth of the year for God's sake. So what? He came within a sixth. He came within a sixth. What kind of scale are we on right now? If I got within a six of Bridget Bardot, I'd be fucking happy. Now you listen to me, you son of a bitch. What I'm saying is - You ingrate. We just arranged, you know what it costs for us to get Geddy Lee on the phone? Nothing. $600 ,000. What I'm saying is the man likes wine, okay? He has a preference for French wine. I have a preference for Italian wine. Nevertheless, there are things that we could connect on should either of us want to.

17:51I don't want to. I don't want to. Oh, stop saying that. No offense to that man. I enjoy listening to his music and I enjoy listening to him. but I don't make any pretense that him and I would ever go hang out. Nor would I. I'm an introvert. I fear human interaction. I avoid it. Like you have a radio show. Yeah. I have one human being here and some nice gentleman over here, but I'm not talking to large quantities of people. Okay. First of all, you're saying that if you passed a cafe, if you were walking, strolling along, right, you were strolling along and you passed a cafe and Geddy Lee was sitting there and he happened to remember you and he said, oh, Jason.

18:29And you went, what's Jordan? Yeah. And he said, have a seat. Let's share a bottle of French wine. You wouldn't join him. OK, first of all, of course, I would be polite. Secondly, if I walked by. Wouldn't you be honored if I walked by and he didn't recognize me and he was sitting there, I would absolutely not approach him either before or after this experience. OK, I would give the man his space. I have no interest. It doesn't do anything. I'd rather go home, put my headphones on at 3 a.m. and listen to my favorite pressing of moving pictures and get lost in it than sit down at a cafe with a man that clearly wanted to be alone.

19:04No, I'm different than you. I want to know the man. I'm someone who likes people. I interact. I know we're on this spinning blue globe we call Earth for a short time. And so, no, I don't want to huddle off in the dark and, you know, put my headphones on and have the same technical experience that I've had many times before. You know, I find that. Well, you and I are different. Maybe you're you're somehow consumed by the idea of fame. Nope. And also doesn't interest me at all. And also, as you'll know, a lot of artists, he's actually a very friendly, gregarious man with great social skills. But there are many artists are kind of at the other end of the spectrum and are more introverted like myself and don't necessarily want to connect with people.

19:49Of course, they do it out of obligation to their fan base. But yeah, so I don't need to impose myself. I'm gonna give you my takeaways from what we just experienced. Your favorite band of all time, Rush, Geddy Lee. I surprised you with Geddy Lee. And you went, ah, yes. Which stunned me because unbelievable. What did you expect? What would you have expected? I thought you would crack a smile and go, oh my, oh, whoa. Oh, hey, whoa, this is... Fumfering, you wanted fumfering. That to you shows that, wow, I've done well. You've got the fumfering from me. I'm saying I saw him. I acknowledged him. I understood.

20:29You acknowledged him. I understood the situation. You acknowledged him like you went into a supermarket. Yes. You were looking for, you know, you were looking for a bag of Snickers bars. Yeah. And you went in the candy aisle and you went, oh, there they are. Yeah. Yeah. That's the reaction you gave. You saw, you know, you saw some nutter butter cookies you were looking for. Yes. There they are. There was no, that's all. And I thought, I found that to be unusual. Well, the other takeaway is you go on and on and on about the difference in these audio pressings. He didn't know. He didn't know what you were talking about.

21:01I didn't expect him to know. I wouldn't expect that's not his job. He passes that off to other people. I don't have access to those other people. You put you put him up on a screen. So he's the man I made my case to. If you put the the head of their catalog up on screen, I would have made a better case to them. OK, now, listen, I've had the experience of, you know, being an artist. I have a great, vast body of work going back. I mean, even before 1993. Oh, I'm familiar with it. Well, North Report. Yeah. Let's not go that far back. Not necessarily the news. Okay, now you overdid it. The Groundlings.

21:34Well, Lampoon before that. So what I'm saying is I've been making comedy pretty much steadily since 1981. Even earlier since. You as a fan probably have liked to go back sometimes and watch my old work. Yeah, I do it regularly as part of my career. No, no, no, no. As a fan. Yeah, I do. I'm a huge fan of the show. I was happy to work on it for so long because I was a fan of it. But I'm going to say very clearly, I have no interest in famous people simply because they're famous. Yes, you do. You must sometimes you must sometimes when you and I are walking around together, be thinking, oh, my God, this is Colin O 'Brien.

22:09That thought does occur to me based on situations that happen around me. But I don't reject you or accept you simply because you're famous. I don't seek out famous people. I don't feel any more exhilaration talking to a famous person than a non-famous person. Liar! Now, there are some famous people that I am infatuated with that I've never met, okay? Neil Diamond, Tristan Rogers from General Hospital in the 1980s. Jesus, what a list! There are certain... What a list! Yes, there are certain... Neil Diamond, Tristan Rogers from General Hospital? I can count on one hand the amount of famous people I was very interested to meet.

22:45John Williams, I've met him a number of times. James, of course, the famous composer. He was a big one for me. Neil Diamond. I never had the chance to meet John Ritter. I did meet a wonderful guy. He was wonderful. He was on. He was on my list. And Rogers, Tristan Rogers. He's Australian. Yes, he certainly has a beautiful voice. I don't know how old he is. 78. OK, that sounds about right. He I modeled my personality after him. I watched General Hospital religiously in the 1980s. It was him. It was John Riley who played Sean Donnelly, who I met at the Grove once, the late, great John Reilly. Hold it, hold it, hold it.

23:19Stop for just a second. Okay. You're saying that you didn't have a personality. You were an empty vessel and you decided to, you watched a soap opera and you saw a person acting on a soap opera and modeled who you are after that person. You certainly extrapolated a bit, okay? No, no, that's not... That's an exact description. I think you embellished the core of what I was saying, okay? I just repeated what you said. The man spoke like music. You listen to the words that come out of his mouth in his Australian accent, and he speaks like music. He could play it all. He could play the mystery. He could play the drama, love, anger.

23:57That episode with him and Bert in December 1986, Bert Ramsey, his former police commissioner that betrayed him and became head of the mob, when he yelled at him at the end of that episode, that was like stunning. That changed me. Can I say something? Yes. What boy your age is watching these soap operas? These soap operas were meant for housewives. There was a time I sought out those old episodes of General Hospital. I tried to get the footage. It was unavailable everywhere. They would put out little retrospectives on VHS. I'm like, Luke and Laura's wedding. No one gives a shit about that. We've all seen it 50 times.

24:28I want to see the Aztec treasure. 1984. I want to see the Asian corner from 1985. So your whole life is chasing lost footage that no one else gives a shit about. You just said you had one question for Geddy Lee. Yes, yes, we gave a concert. 1991. 1990. 1990. I'm sorry. Oh, I missed it. I missed it by less than how she missed your birthday. And you know what I'm saying? Two months. Unacceptable. And I saw you guys perform on the rooftop of Beth Israel Hospital. And I just want to say, I've seen most of it, but there's a section where you guys take a bathroom break, and it's missing. And so you're asking for that footage.

25:04He doesn't know what the fuck you're talking about. I know he doesn't know what the fuck. I'd rather meet Tristan Rogers than getting late, God damn it. There, I said it. I said it. Get Tristan Rogers. Get Tristan Rogers. Get Tristan Rogers up on that. I want Tristan Rogers. Okay. So your list is Neil Diamond. Will you be excited for Tristan Rogers? No, no, no. I'll do an impression of him. I'll do an impression of you bringing him up. Oh, guess what? We have a treat for you. The person you modeled your entire personality on who you've never met before. And here he is. And you go like, oh, yes, that's what you're going to do.

25:34Okay. First of all, let's pretend that as human beings, We're not influenced by the media figures we're exposed to every day. Like Tony Hopkins said in the Silence of the Lambs, we covet what we see every day around us. OK, I saw him every day shouting. I found him compelling. He had charisma. The charisma that I have, I learned from him. Oh, OK. Well, then guess what? He should be shot. OK. He should be sued. What do you mean the charisma you have? This man is cool as ice. OK, I don't equate somebody's talent. by their level of fame, their level of objective fame, okay? He may not be the most famous person in this town, but to me, he's the most compelling.