Rush at 50 by Daniel Bukszpan

Author:Daniel Bukszpan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Motorbooks
Published: 2024-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

33

FOUR STUDIO, ONE LIVE

The walking wounded try to press on

Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and Neil Peart at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on February 20, 1978. The recording is among their best and was released in full on the fortieth-anniversary edition of A Farewell to Kings.

Rush always had a set way of releasing live albums that they stuck to very closely. It was four studio albums, then one live album. Four studio, one live. Four studio, one live—et cetera.

This kept them in good stead when the late 1990s rolled around and the band’s entire future was in doubt. They had recorded the Counterparts and Test for Echo tours so they could use the audio for whatever live album they would make next, but after the deaths of Peart’s daughter and wife, the recordings stood a good chance of being the last thing the band ever released.

Peart had left the band behind and hopped on his motorcycle, so he had no involvement in the album’s production. Lifeson told the Calgary Sun that he and Lee were not about to pressure him and ask about his plans. He acknowledged that he and the bassist had discussed the band’s uncertain future—maybe the two of them would still play together in some capacity, but the one thing they knew for sure was that if Peart didn’t come back, Rush were over.

In the meantime, there were hours and hours of tapes to sift through. The band had recorded every date on the Test for Echo tour, so if anyone wanted to distract themselves from the heartbreak with work, this was a grand opportunity.

Lee told the Toronto Globe and Mail that Lifeson wasn’t involved in putting the album together. He and coproducer Paul Northfield took on the Herculean task of going through all the recordings and choosing the right ones for the album. Despite the circumstances surrounding the group, the album that emerged, Different Stages, was one of their best live packages ever.

The sound quality is top-notch, the performances are excellent, and the set list features a comprehensive cross section of the band’s catalog. They even included a third disc containing highlights from the band’s 1978 performance at London’s Hammersmith Odeon to sweeten the pot.

Most of the performances on the first two discs come from a single date at the World Music Theater in Tinley Park, Illinois, on June 4, 1997. The opening track, “Dreamline,” is a good representation of what to expect from the remainder of the album. It’s performed with high energy and more discernable interplay between the musicians.

It was a very good night from which to cull performances, even regarding the audience levels in the mix. The applause and fan commentary are never intrusive, although on “Driven,” one dude is very aggressively in the left speaker, so he got his money’s worth.

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