TIME MACHINE 2011: LIVE IN CLEVELAND

Oh dear:.... never mind the less than perfect video that buyers are already complaining about on Amazon, 24 hours after release.... let's talk about the audio ..... On first listen I thought this was mastered at the wrong speed, so LOW are Geddy Lees's vocals .... actually my first thought was "Who is this awful bar-band singer pretending to be Geddy? Yes, I know he had a cold ... but honestly ... i think it's time for Rush to call it a day if this is how the once great man now sounds ... It hurts me to say it, but this is easily the worst official Rush live recording on the market ... it's not just the fading vocal abilities ... the whole grungy sound of this recording does not do the band any justice ... I went to one of these show (Glasgow) s, and it is not without irony that I tell you the sound was dreadful there too! It is a real shame this has been released - but, I suppose, it had to be released given the enthusiasm generated by the initial anouncment to film the Cleveland show. This is emphatically NOT Rush at their best. Geddy had a cold, the sound is rough, the visuals are less than pristine too. ..... eventhough the band look like they are having fun. I love this band. Always have .... but have to award a shocking 2 stars for this .... ..... AFTER A FEW MORE PLAYS .... I THINK I'VE BEEN A LITTLE HARSH!!! LETS CALL IT 3 STARS - BUT IT'S STILL THE MOST DISAPPOINTING LIVE RELEASE FROM RUSH - BEARING IN MIND I CONSIDER THE OTHERS AS 4 STAR RELEASE

The Time Machine tour was highlighted by the celebration of the Moving Pictures's CD 30th Anniversary. The band played the entire cd at the beginning of the second set. Also they decided to play back some songs that have not been play for a long time, like "Marathon" and "Time Stand Still". For the first time, we can hear the song "Presto", live. The rest of the set contains classics songs covering all the decades, including the two new songs; "BU2B" and Caravan". The playing of the entire Moving Pictures cd was a opportunity to hear for the first time in 30 years, "Camera Eye". But at the same time, we have to endure again the same songs that the bands put on all his tours, i am talking about "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight", who are favorites among the majority of fans, but not for me. The two new songs are not great songs, but had to be put on the set list here.

For the performance, the band was full of energy, happy to be there, if we take a look at the cameras that was catching the looks and funny faces that each member through at each other, especially obvious in the song "Free Will", with Neil and Alex. The editing filming is excellent by giving us some camera shots at the right spot and at the right moment.

The picture quality on the Blu-Ray is very good, maybe not as good as Snakes and Arrows, but this is not a issue here. The DTS-HD sound is excellent with a full surround sound and a clear mix of all instruments. As for the extras, it's rather short and not memorable. I would have prefer to see more recent footage instead of some old archives stuff where the picture quality is poor, like they did on Snakes and Arrows.

So this Blu-Ray is excellent, because it's made by a great band that have survived together all these years with a impeccable musicianship. I can only be a little fussy about the set list, that's what happened when you listen too much to a band's music... Recommended!

Rush have released a lot of DVD's in recent years including the excellent Snakes and Arrows so I did wonder whether the world needed another. Rush do have a rich history to call on though that helps them to at least dig out songs like Marathon that the fans havn't heard for a while. The appeal of this particular set of songs is that it includes the whole performance of what many regard as their best album Moving Pictures. The first four songs of that masterpeice are on regular rotation when Rush tour but the last 3 songs(Camera Eye ,Witch Hunt and Vital Signs) not so much. I guess they must have had a discussion about playing one of those and in the end thought why not play the whole thing? And why not! They are excellentsongs recorded at a time when Rush was at its inventive peak.

So the performance- Is it any good?Rush as everyone know are an intensely professional band. They would never undertake anything unless the detail was right. This is certainly no different and in terms of their playing from an instrumental perspective is top notch. Peart is as fluid as ever (even though he is noticeably packing a few extra pounds nowadays),Lifeson is probably the best live guitarist in the world while Lee on the bass is awesome as ever. The concerns, as already raised, have been about Geddy's voice which perhaps is not holding up as well as one might hope. He is notably straining on some of the songs which might be down to having a cold (as one reviewer has already mentioned) or may be down to natural wear and tear.To be fair most of the time I wasn't too bothered but occasionally it becomes an issue.

I do have one bone to pick with this over the sound quality. That dreaded drum sound! Why do all Rush DVD's have this horrible tinny thin snare drum sound? I just hate it and have remarked on it before.The best live recording of Rush in my opinion is the Different Stages CD which has a wonderfull full drum sound. Why they veered away from this I don't know but its been on every single DVD they've released since Rush In Rio. Oh well.

Overall you have to wonder whether the performance of all of Moving Pictures is enough of a reason for yet another Rush DVD. If you are after a blue ray of Rush I would recommend Snakes and Arrows.This is not bad but perhaps the issues with Geddy's voice make this slightly less appealing.

The sad ending of an once great singer?

Wnen you are a great singer and get old you can turn into one of there three categories: becoming another singer in the same body (Greg Lake from the 90's onwards), struggle the whole concert with the notes you can't reach anymore (Steve Walsh from the later eighties till today) or keep your magnificent voice even if your power has diminished a little (the late R.J. Dio, David Gilmour, Mark Farner).

After watching this DVD I believe that our beloved Geddy Lee fits in the second category. From the first notes of TSoR you can notice that he's not going well. Actually he's not singing bad but his problem is that he has to match some parameters made by himself in the 70's and 80's.

I know he was suffering from some cold or whatever this day. When you listen to a bootleg from this same tour (but in 2010) you can notice that he's struggling with the high notes the whole show but not as hard as in the dvd. Unfortunatelly this is not enough to make him render justice to his own standards.

My son loves Rush and ask for them all the time. But when I played the majestic "A desert passage" bootleg to him early in this morning he ask me if the singer was the same as in the dvd. He's almost three years old now and not a genius, so my point is clear I think (by the way the bootleg mentioned above is probably THE best Rush show ever, the full Hemispheres and AFtK minus one track plus 2112 highlights and early tracks).

Although the dvd wasn't released here in Brazil til the time I'm writing (one web friend lend me one) I'll probably buy it for their historic valour and the bonus videos. But it isn't the best Rush dvd even if its track list is very good.

A final point: the band is playing hard and well. They seem to enjoy the show, what makes more hard to quit their career right now; maybe shorter tours and shows with more days inbetween could help Geddy but it'd be a shame to continue the way it is shown on Time Machine. He and the Rush legacy don't deserve this.