ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE

The sound of RUSH in their first albums was a combination of Heavy Metal Rock with some Progressive Rock arrangements and some long songs which had lyrics with stories. This is a very good live album, recorded in Canada in 1976, when RUSH wasn`t still very known in other countries, I think. So there is an "atmosphere" in this album as being recorded before dedicated fans in their own country. I listened to this album in 1983. One friend lent me this album and the "Exit...Stage Left" album, and I recorded both albums in cassettes (I later bought both albums in the L.P. format). The main differences between both live albums are the "raw" power of the 1976 band, Geddy Lee`s Heavy Metal vocals and the absence of sequencers and synthesizers in comparison to the "Exit..." album. The sound of RUSH became more Progressive and less Heavy Metal by the time of the release date of the "Exit..." album, but this 1976 live album is still enjoyable. My favourite songs fom this album are: "Something for Nothing", "Lakeside Park", "2112" (the most Progressive of all), "In the End" (including a xylophone played by Peart), and the Side Four of the original 2 L.P. album: very improved live versions (in comparison to the original studio versions with drummer John Rutsey) of three songs originally released in their first album:"Working Man", "Finding My Way" and "What Are You Doing?". In these three songs the influence from Led Zeppelin is very clear. Neil Peart added a lot of power to these songs, including an impressive drums and percussion solo (by "the Professor of the Drum Kit", as Lee introduced Peart to the audience).