DIFFERENT STAGES - LIVE

Somehow this huge 3CD encyclopedia of Rush live recordings was a big disappointment to me. The first two discs contain recordings from their "Test for Echo" tour bring us a wide palette of their 1990's songs, which are good as compositions, but they don't sound specifically interesting to my ears when compared to the studio versions of these tracks. Also "2112" was probably a great experience to listen in the concert, but from the stereos I prefer the original studio version with multitrack recordings. Especially the beginning gets quite flat without three guitars. Then 1978 concert seems unnecessary bonus material here, as it doesn't offer for the listener the best outtakes from this period of the band which I have heard, so this box set is in my opinion outshadowed by many other official live releases of Rush: "Exit...Stage Left", "A Show of Hands" and "Rush in Rio". Maybe releasing these two lives as two separate releases would also have been fairer, as some fans of this band who like their 1970's material don't like their 1990's stuff. Though many reviewers are very excited about this live set, I would personally recommend you to prelisten this expensive box before buying it blindly.