When Rush finished their Caress Of Steel tour (otherwise known as the “Down the Tubes” tour), the band was at a crossroads.  Their record label wanted something more marketable and radio friendly so they could sell some units, but our Canadian prog heroes decided to double down on their musical experiment from the previous record.  Determined to go out on their own terms, they crafted an album that is very much like Caress Of Steel but with the ideas a bit more realized.  Again, they crafted a side-long piece that was broken up into suites, but this time they were going all in by having it appear on side one.  On the second side, the band decided to give us five more straight-ahead songs that, while adding prog bits here and there, appealed to fans of their Fly By Night record.  At the time, I’m sure this was a risky move due to the commercial failure of the previous album, but this time the gamble paid off.  Due to the more focused nature of the title track, this disc connected with the rock fans and thrust Rush into a whole different level.  Of course, they would see more success in the not so distant future, but this record certainly moved the needle with regard to Rush’s popularity.

Most iconic albums get an anniversary deluxe treatment, and this one is better than the 2012 Deluxe Edition.  That one had a few bonus live track but on this one we get a whole disc of previously unreleased material and a bonus DVD (more about that in the next paragraph).  This is the first of the new Rush anniversary releases, and it is worthy of your hard earned money.  Don’t miss out on this gem, unless of course the band puts out a 50^th anniversary edition but I wouldn’t hold my breath as I feel there isn’t anything left in the vaults.

As an added bonus to this great release, they threw in a DVD of “must-have” material as the third disc.  The best part of the DVD is the pro-shot live concert from the 2112 tour, although it is black and white.  This was a house feed at the Capitol Theater in New Jersey when Rush were support for Foghat.  This show has made its rounds in bootleg circles, but it was officially released in the R40 box set.  For those of you who don’t want to shell out the hefty price tag for that release, it is presented here where it fits in nicely.  You also get a video of the “Overture” cover by David Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, and Nick Raskulinecz and some behind the scenes studio footage of Billy Talent recording “A Passage To Bangkok."  The final chapter to this DVD is an interview with Alex Lifeson and Terry Brown discussing the record and trying to remember things about the songs, album and just that time period.  There are some cool little tidbits of information that even die-hard fans might not know.  The DVD is a nice accompanying piece to an already great anniversary set.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2024  Volume 2 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2024.

The record begins with a 20-minute prog epic that encompasses all of side one.  While there are easily recognized suites, this is listed as one track and also is referred to the title track.  Suite one titled “Overture” starts with a spacey synthesizer sound that ushers in this start/stop heavy riffing.  Once this instrumental starts going, it is a heavy prog rock track captures everything Rush was in the mid-70s.  As the suite races towards the finish, it gets a bit frantic and concludes with the sound of explosions.  After a very somber bridge where Geddy Lee sings “And the meek shall inherit the earth," the band launch into a metallic "The Temples of Syrinx," which is quite a short part clocking in just over two minutes.  When performed live, these two suites were always done together whether the band played any of the other parts.  Finishing off this portion is a very light acoustic piece that fits in nicely with the acoustic opening of suite III "Discovery." The sound of nature and running water from a river starts this part which tells the tale of the main character discovering an instrument (which I assume is a guitar).  Suite IV “Presentation” starts with the same acoustic guitars from the previous section but quickly get heavier with a back and forth from the main character and “The Priests." When the main character is “talking”, the music is subtle and almost jazzy but when “The Priests” are answering, the music is bombastic and harsh.  There is a great guitar solo in this part courtesy of Alex Lifeson.  A very dreamy guitar starts off the shortest of all the suites.  "Oracle: The Dream" may start off slow and dreamy but it quickly gets the prog metal treatment with a similar bombastic sound from the previous suite.  Since it is so short, it is over before you know it.  Also, oddly enough, this suite was always omitted until the 1996 tour where they added it back when performing the track.  The sound of running water starts off "Soliloquy" but also goes back to that bombastic sounds of the previous sections.  Lifeson puts in a great performance again with a very emotional solo that fits the main character’s state of mind.  The last suite almost bookends the song by being another instrumental section that builds into a crescendo of all the instruments.  I’m not counting the spoken words “attention all planters of the solar federation” as lyrics.  The track ends with a droning sound as it fades