A SHOW OF HANDS

With recordings from several different shows from both their Power Windows and Hold Your Fire tours A Show Of Hands is actually a live compilation, yet this does not disrupt the flow and the record is very consistent. Its almost remarkable how good Rush make heavily overdubbed and complex studio songs such as Mission, Prime Mover and Time Stand Still sound here and surprise oddball number Witch Hunt enjoys a makeover in the form of a craftily inserted flurry-of-notes solo from guitarist Alex Lifeson. Inevitably it is Closer To The Heart, complete with improv-guitar/bass jam, that receives the well deserved best reaction from the crowd and raises the question about why more vintage Rush material wasn't included. Peart's solo, dubbed The Rhythm Method, is as inventive as always and when even the band themselves have been quoted as calling this a great achievement on which everything comes together perfectly its hard to disagree. An engaging journey into the sound of Rush live in the mid/late 1980s.