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6 illinoisentertainer. com may 2025
RUSH R50 Deluxe
( Mercury / UMG) This 7xLP set is a roughly chronological walk through a half century of Canadian progressive rock trio Rush. It ' s 50 songs that include at least one track from every studio, live, and official reissue release. Diehards will come for the handful of the band’ s earliest recordings, including the first reissue of the 1973 Moon Records single“ Not Fade Away.” The band’ s debut studio track diverges from the Buddy Holly original and the Rolling Stones’ rhythm and blues interpretation, laying the blueprint for the focused hard rock heard on the band’ s selftitled 1974 album and 1975 sophomore release, Fly By Night. Other early non-album nuggets include“ Not Fade Away” B-side“ You Can’ t Fight It”( a rowdy rocker never before reissued since a brief run of 7” singles in 1973) and live versions of blustery bluesburner“ Bad Boy”( bearing scant resemblance to the Beatles’ pop version) and the chugging“ Garden Road.” These aren’ t a comprehensive collection of the band’ s output with original drummer John Rutsey. Old fans may still pine for elusive tracks like“ Losing Again” or“ Fancy Dancer.” Others like“ I’ ve Been Runnin’” appeared as bonus material on the R40 DVD.
The Black Sabbath-meets-Led Zeppelin riffer“ Working Man” appears in a studio incarnation from Rush’ s self-titled debut album sessions, but in a“ Vault Edition” with an alternate take of the 20-year-old Alex Lifeson’ s extended Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck-inspired soloing. The album’ s“ Need Some Love” and“ Before and After” are pulled from a live recording filmed for local television at Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario. Bassist and singer Geddy Lee’ s performance bristles with raw, youthful energy, and the band provides evidence of its love for bands like Led Zeppelin and Cream.
Although Rutsey was a perfectly capable
hard rock drummer, the sea change is evident as the band launches into a live performance of the challenging“ Anthem” from Fly By Night. Even as a relatively young drummer, Neil Peart’ s cymbal work and fills were more intricate and interconnected with his new bandmates’ instruments. And the change from barroom / bedroom lyrics to the song’ s philosophical manifesto of selfreliance is a harbinger of things to come, even if the group ultimately outgrew Ayn Rand’ s self-centered objectivism. Rand’ s views would be reflected in later fare, including the 1976 album-side epic“ 2112” and elsewhere.
A compilation of this nature is bound to miss any given fan’ s personal favorites, and there may be those who are dismayed that Fly By Night only provides its jangling, upbeat title track to R50. However,“ By-Tor and the Snow Dog” and its musical duel between bass and guitar arrive after the“ 2112” suite, with the instrumental battle pulled from the band’ s first live album, All the World’ s a Stage. Lesser-heralded album Caress of Steel is only represented by the potent“ Bastille Day.” There’ s no sign of the nostalgic“ Lakeside Park,” much less the wry“ I Think I’ m Going Bald.” There’ s no studio version of“ Freewill,” a standout from the crucial album Permanent Waves, although a hot live version appears later in the set. Following the album version of multi-genre love letter to free-format radio“ The Spirit of Radio,” listeners get a live version of the ambitious and comparably hidden gem“ Natural Science.”
Absences are a common conundrum, but R50 defiantly omits what might have seemed obvious choices in its 50-song overview, particularly among later albums. Single“ Show Don’ t Tell” or the emotional“ The Pass” might have been clear picks from 1989’ s Presto, but the album is instead represented by album cut“ Superconductor,” perhaps in homage to
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