EXIT... STAGE LEFT

RUSH has thanked MAX WEBSTER in the liner notes of each album from "A Farewell To Kings" up to "Moving Pictures". Kim Mitchell the lead guitarist and vocalist for MAX WEBSTER has said for years that they were RUSH's little brother. They opened countless concerts for RUSH in the early days and like the members of RUSH they have a great sense of humour, especially Kim. They called them the MAXOIDS when they thanked them in "Permanent Waves" and the MAX LOBSTERS in "Moving Pictures" but on "Exit Stage Left" it's just R.I.P.MAX WEBSTER as they had called it quits as a band. RUSH thanks again FM and if you don't have "Black Noise" by FM, do yourself a favour and get it. I also think it's really cool that on the front and back covers of this live album they have a reference to all their past records in one way or another. 4 of the songs here were recorded live in the UK while the remaining 9 were recorded live in Canada.

"The Spirit of Radio"s pretty faithful to the original and I don't know if it was the best choice to lead this record off with it as it seems uninspiring to me compared with the other songs. "Red Barchetta" sounds great as usual. Just a cool story that's all with amazing musicianship. "YYZ" is all about complexity and of course the incredible drum solo. It just sounds so intricate and interesting and i'm not into drum solos. Fantastic ! "A Passage To Bangkok" opens with the dark, evil guitar that sounds so great. Alex is truly on fire during this song. "Closer To The Heart" as Sean Trane says, really fills me with pride too, when you hear the audience singing along word for word. Very uplifting.

"Beneath, Between & Behind" features some great vocals from Geddy on a song i'm surprised is on here, but i'm thankful it is. "Jacob's Ladder" is freaking amazing ! From the mournful guitar to the way the song builds to the intoxicating main melody 4 minutes in. Oh, and the synths are terrific. "Broon's Bane" is a beautiful, tasteful guitar solo that blends beautifully into "The Trees". The bass on this one is nice and fat. This song seems to climax and climax. "Xanadu" is the longest tune here and words just do not do the song justice. Amazing ! "Freewill" is just the best song ever recorded. Geddy again is just awesome on bass. And after Alex's guitar solo the crowd roars it's approval. "Tom Sawyer" features some more ripping guitar from Alex as Neil does his other-worldly thing. "La Villa Strangiato" is the most amazing ride i've ever been on.Turn it up ! Again it's the best instrumental I have ever heard.

So there it is. It has it's flaws and it's not my favourite live album any more, but it's the live record I have played the most and I will continue to enjoy this excellent release. This sadly is the end of my favourite stretch of music. The five studio albums that precede this live one are unmatched in my opinion.