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Rush - Exit... Stage Left CD (album) cover

EXIT... STAGE LEFT

Rush

 

Heavy Prog

4.05 | 644 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

UMUR
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Exit.....Stage Left is the second live album from Canadian progressive rock act Rush. The album primarely covers songs from their second era ( A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures) with a few exceptions (Beneath, Between and Behind from Fly by Night and A Passage to Bangkok from 2112. A Passage from Bangkok is only included on the Mercury CD remaster from 1997. Itīs not on the original LP).

The performance is perfect. Too perfect IMO and I think it lacks passion and bite. Even some of my favorite Rush songs like Red Barchetta, Freewill and Tom Sawyer comes out sounding a bit weak compared to their studio counterparts. The songs are delievered in versions that are 100 % true to the originals and I could have wished for a few changes here and there to make this performance stand out. YYZ has a drum solo in the middle thatīs actually one of the few drum solos I really find great. But itīs not really a surprise. Iīve always praised Neil Peart as one of my favorite drummers. Broon's Bane is a short acoustic guitar intro to The Trees. Good but nothing special.

The musicianship is outstanding. That three men can create such a complete sound live is amazing IMO. I could have wished for a more passionate vocal performance from Geddy Lee but itīs allright just nothing special.

The production is not very good. It needs punch, bite and more high end.

Iīve been searching for the right way to express how I think this album sounds and my best explanation is that is sounds like Iīve got cotton wool balls in my ears while listening to the original versions from the studio albums. These live versions of the songs are simply too close to the originals and they are delievered without much passion IMO. This makes for a pretty mediocre live album from Rush that from the outset looked so good because of the song selection. I canīt give more than 3 stars for Exit.....Stage Left and I would recommend that you purchase and listen to the four studio albums I mentioned above instead.

UMUR | 3/5 |

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