ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE

This is an excellent live album. I always knew Rush was incredible live, and this is no exception. This is probably even better than Exit...Stage Left. Its much more alive than most of the live album produced, but, unfortunatly, there is no footage of any All the World's a Stage, unlike many other albums soon live DVD's. This is great, and no Rush fan should live without it. I will rate each song, or grade each song, on a scale from 1-10. 10 is being the absolut best that there can be, and 1 being the absolut worst that there can be.

Bastille Day- This is one of the best versions of this song. Geddy sounds really nice on this, as does his bassing skills. The guitar sounds really loud in this recording, which is really great. Neil pounds on his drums very loudly, so it really sounds great on the record. It also, may I mention, sounds almost exactly like the studio version, but with the live spark that you get with Rush's performances. 10/10

Anthem- Another really great track from the live record. This, like Bastille Day, is very close to the recorded version, but has the spark and flare of being live. The notes sound absolutly perfectly, and it was an effortless performance, but still great. 9.5/10

Fly By Night/In the Mood- I've really liked Fly By Night live, but I've never cared for In the Mood live because Geddy always makes everyone clap, but its okay, because the record itself sounds almost flawless. The crowd seems to be digging when they swithed off to In the Mood after Fly By Night. A great set of tracks, I should say, on the record. 8/10

Something for Nothing- The spark is still clinging, but barely. I really don't care for this live, though it sounds great, I'm just not a big fan of it live. I really like the acoustic doubled by the electric on the studio record, but I really don't get the spark that I really do when I listen to it on the studio version. But, the performance is still pretty good. 6.5/10

Lakeside Park- I really like Geddy's voice on this one. The bass also sounds pretty nice, something that I really admire about Geddy Lee. Alex plays pretty well, with a cool little ending with him using his taping skills to get into the mass of 2112. Lets get back to Geddy. The reason I love how he sounds on this song is because his voice is really raspy, very nice, just the way I love it, but It has a very soft and calm feeling about it. Great track, I hope you love it. 9/10

2112- This is one of the best live performances of 2112. Only problem with the version of 2112 is that its not complete, because Rush took out the Discovery and Oracle portion of the song in the live performances, which brings the grade down a little bit. All-in-all, its a masterpeice on the studio version, and its really just a great treat on the live recording as well. Another extra that I would love to share is that Geddy holds out the long notes pretty long, which sounds great on the record, and is captured perfectly, along with the performance itself. 9/10

By-tor and the Snowdog- I've never been fond of By-tor and the Snowdog, and I really don't think the live version will change my opinion. I think its a little boring, to say the least, live, but Rush still tries to put on a very good performance, but they lost it in By-tor and the Snowdog. 7/10

In the End- I really love the live version of this song. The guitar starts of very quiet, so the audience gets into the mellow, and settling down mode, I should call it. You can hear in the recording when its about to go hard-rock, Geddy starts to chant One...Two...Buckle...My...Shoe which is really very great. This is a gem live, as with the studio recording. 8/10

Working Man/Finding My Way/Drum Solo- I really think its way to much to put together live, but they play it pretty well, I just think that its a little to much to cram into one huge song. But, non-the-less, a stellar performance on this song. The drum solo, in my opinion, should be a seperate song, like in many live recordings that Rush has made, I think it would really be a little much less crammed into one song. 6/10

What you Doin'- I love the live version of this song, much like In the Ends version live. The intro is really amazing, lots of feedback and lots of distortion are the way to go when your playing this live in Canada. The bass is really very noticable in this part of the record, which is really great, I really love it so much, it gives me chill down my spine. This has to be the best performance of What Your Doin' so far, that I have heard of in my lifetime. 9.5/10

Overall, its a very good live recording by Rush. Its not perfect, but its really great.