On March 21st, UMe/Mercury and Anthem Records label groups celebrate the half-century milestone marker for Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame icons with Rush 50, a wide-ranging 50-track super deluxe anthology that encompasses the entirety of the band’s long and storied career for the first time across all the band’s label groups, bookended with the first ever reissue of their debut 1973 single and a live recording of the last song they ever performed together as a band at their final concert in 2015 at The Forum in Los Angeles.
Rush 50 will be available to fans in five distinct configurations, including the (1) Super Deluxe Edition, (2) Rush Store Exclusive Super Deluxe Edition, (3) 7-LP Deluxe Edition, (4) 4-CD Deluxe Edition, and (5) Digital Edition.
Watch the Rush 50 unboxing video below
Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee commented: “50? Is that all?…seriously…it’s a cool collection…but look at all those songs — I’m exhausted just reading the effin list!”
In July 1974, bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist/vocalist Alex Lifeson, and the late, great drummer/lyricist Neil Peart came together to solidify RUSH‘s lineup that brought the world at large many multiple decades’ worth of masterful progressive-rock-leaning musicianship and scores of rock radio masterpieces, iconic lyrics and storytelling. Rush 50 serves as a complete career-spanning Rush anthology on seven LPs and four CDs, featuring 50 tracks in total — seven of them previously unreleased — alongside numerous choice selections from every studio album, live release, and deluxe reissue the band has officially released over the years. Among the Holy Grail unreleased tracks are the first-ever official CD and LP reissue of Rush‘s very first single on Moon Records from 1973, Not Fade Away and You Can’t Fight It, a pair of early gems that Rush fans have been clamoring to be released officially for decades — newly remastered from the original analog tapes. Other studio rarities found on Rush 50 include Vault Editions of 1974’s Working Man and 1978’s The Trees, both of which showcase alternate guitar solos byAlex Lifeson, with the former track only having been available as a digital single while the latter cut has never been officially released beyond its appearance on instrument-based video games.
Additionally, five unreleased live songs have been culled from some of Rush‘s most legendary performances. Four of them — including two non-album cuts, Bad Boy and Garden Road — originate from a pair of the band’s earliest live shows at (1) Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, on May 15th, 1974, and (2) the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 26th, 1974. The two live tracks from the Ontario show include original drummer John Rutsey (Need Some Love and Before and After),while the other two from the Cleveland gig feature Neil Peart behind the kit (Bad Boy and Garden Road). Rush visited New York’s iconic Electric Lady Studios in December of 1974 with their unreleased performance of Anthem being presented here. The Rush 50 collection’s last unreleased live offering comes from Rush‘s final career performance with Peart that took place at The Forum in Los Angeles, California, on August 1st, 2015 — a masterful, nuanced medley construction of What You’re Doing / Working Man / Garden Road newly mixed from the multi-tracks by longtime Rush producer and engineer Terry Brown.
Besides these long-sought-after rarities, Rush 50 embodies the full arc of Rush‘s growth and ultimate prowess in the studio setting, as evidenced by the restless nomadic manifesto of Fly By Night, the vulnerability linchpin Closer To The Heart and the crackling energy of the airwaves in The Spirit Of Radio and Tom Sawyer. The collection continues to showcase at least one studio track from all 20 official studios albums while also spotlighting officially released live recordings such as YYZ, La Villa Strangiato and two Neil Peart masterpiece drum solos.
The Super Deluxe Edition includes four CDs, seven LPs, and new artwork from Hugh Syme, the band’s longtime creative director who has designed the collection’s brand-new 50th anniversary graphics along with 29 new illustrations that celebrate the vibrant essence of RUSH‘s songs. The seven high-quality 180-gram audiophile black-vinyl LPs each feature additional new artwork from Syme in premium tip-on jackets. Each LP in the Super Deluxe Edition has been cut via Direct Metal Mastering and they have been pressed at GZ Media in the Czech Republic. The included 104-page hardcover book sports detailed essays from noted rock journalists David Fricke and Philip Wilding, who both recount their individual experiences with the band and convey their crowning achievements — and all of it is centered around incredible career-spanning photos of the band in action. Exclusives to the Super Deluxe Edition are 20 new illustration lithographs by Syme — showcasing one song from each studio album, and a second hardcover book, the brand-new 100-page graphic novel The Fullness Of Time. Written and illustrated by Fantoons, the graphic novel visually brings to life a conversation between Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reflecting on the trials, tribulations and successes recording each studio album with contributions from many of the producers and engineers who were instrumental in the evolution of Rush‘s sound over the years — Terry Brown, Peter Henderson, Paul Northfield, Peter Collins, Rupert Hine, Kevin “Caveman” Shirley, Stephen W. Tayler and Nick Raskulinecz. Finally, all of the contents in Rush 50 are housed in a premium box with rotating lid and a Rush 50 golden jubilee emblem.
The Rush Store-exclusive version of the Super Deluxe Edition of Rush 50 will offer everything noted above plus four bonus lithos showcasing Rush through time, newly illustrated by Fantoons from the characters created for the graphic novel depicting the band in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2000s.
The third configuration of Rush 50 will be released in a seven-LP Deluxe Edition, which is the vinyl-only equivalent of the Super Deluxe Edition with slightly different outer gold graphics, and it also features the 104-page hardcover book with the aforementioned essays, photos, and new Syme artwork in tow.
The fourth Rush 50 configuration will be the four-CD Deluxe Edition, which features all 50 tracks from the Super Deluxe Edition, and it includes Syme‘s new artwork and the contents of the 104-page hardcover book as well.
Finally, the fifth configuration, the Digital Edition, is the digital equivalent of the Super Deluxe Edition.
As evidenced by the power and the glory of the elements that embody Rush 50, the true spirit of Rush lingers over every note, arrangement, and lyric heard in this truly historic career-spanning 50-track collection.
Rush 50 track listing:
1. Not Fade Away**
2. You Can’t Fight It**
3. Working Man (Vault Edition)**
4. Need Some Love (Live at Laura Secord Secondary School, St. Catharines, Canada – May 1974)**
5. Before And After (Live at Laura Secord Secondary School, St. Catharines, Canada– May 1974)**
6. Bad Boy (Live at Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio – August 1974)*
7. Garden Road (Live at Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio – August 1974)*
8. Anthem (Live at Electric Lady Studios, New York – December 1974)*
9. Fly By Night
10. Bastille Day
11. 2112: Overture / The Temples Of Syrinx
12. By-Tor & The Snow Dog (Live at Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada – June 1976)
13. Something For Nothing (Live at Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada – June 1976)
14. Closer To The Heart
15. Xanadu (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London – February 1978)
16. Drum Solo (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London – February 1978)
17. The Trees (Vault Edition)*
18. La Villa Strangiato (Live at Pink Pop Festival, Netherlands – June 1979)
19. In The Mood (Live at Pink Pop Festival, Netherlands – June 1979)
20. The Spirit Of Radio
21. Natural Science (Live at Manchester Apollo, Manchester – June 1980)
22. A Passage To Bangkok (Live at Manchester Apollo, Manchester – June 1980)
23. Tom Sawyer
24. Limelight (Live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada – March 1981)
25. Vital Signs (Live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada – March 1981)
26. YYZ (Live at The Forum, Montreal, Canada – March 1981)
27. Subdivisions
28. Red Sector A
29. Witch Hunt (Live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada – September 1984)
30. New World Man (Live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada – September 1984)
31. The Big Money
32. Time Stand Still
33. Distant Early Warning (Live at NEC Arena, Birmingham – April 1988)
34. Superconductor
35. Dreamline
36. Stick It Out
37. Test For Echo
38. The Rhythm Method (Live at World Music Theatre, Tinley Park, Illinois – June 1997)
39. One Little Victory (Remixed)
40. Cygnus X-1 (Live at Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro – November 2002)
41. The Seeker
42. Between The Wheels (Live at Festhalle Frankfurt, Germany – September 2004)
43. The Main Monkey Business
44. Workin’ Them Angels (Live at Ahoy Arena, Rotterdam – October 2007)
45. Freewill (Live at Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio – April 2011)
46. Red Barchetta (Live at Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio – April 2011)
47. Headlong Flight
48. Manhattan Project (Live at US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona; American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas; AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas – November 2012)
49. Jacob’s Ladder (Live at Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada – June 2015)
50. What You’re Doing / Working Man / Garden Road (Live at the Forum, Los Angeles, California – August 2015)*
* Previously unreleased
** Previously unreleased on CD and LP
6 Responses
$374.98 for the super deluxe.
$249.98 for the 7 LP deluxe.
$99.98 for the deluxe cd set.
I was interested in getting the vinyl. But I just can’t justify paying these outrageous prices any more. Being a music fan and collector has become a rich country club man’s game. How do these even hold value? If you open it and listen to it, which you should, the value is gone. So later on in life when you pass away, your spouse or any loved one who inherits it is stuck with it and probably won’t be able to sell it for anywhere near what you paid for it. I have a very nice music collection. Very few things are still sealed. But I keep inventory on an excel spreadsheet of everything I own, what I paid and what I perceive to be the value. I do this just in case something happens, my wife won’t just take everything to the local pawn shop or record store and get 10 cents per item. But she still won’t get anywhere near what I paid for it either and that’s sad.
RPS, I, too have a nice vinyl collection. Just to share a few, I have two G n R Uzi Suicide EPs (one is sealed), G n R “Appetite..” press with the now banned rape cover, Crue “Too Fast…” Leathur pressings (one first press, two second presses), Metallica “Fade to Black” glow in the dark EP….and a bunch of rare NWOBHM private press singles..bands like Virtue, Charger, Blitzkrieg, and Hammerhead. The older i get, the more often I think of the same things you do. I don’t listen to these records anymore, as I’ve gone full compact disc. And I have all these recordings on CD, so no need to ever play these records.
Also, I find myself buying less as I get older. I guess I think the new records I buy won’t appreciate in value enough to make it worthwhile. I don’t know….One day, maybe in 10 to 15 years, I will sell my collection on Ebay or Discogs. But right now, the records remind me of my youth and that makes me happy.
Those prices are insane – what’s next, giving up your first born?
I 100% agree
Music has always been my thing. I listen to at least one vinyl or cd daily if not more. I don’t see myself ever selling off my collection while I’m alive. As you said, Rattle, it makes me happy.
RPS, I listen to music every day, too. It’s a huge part of me. Recently I’ve been listening to alot of Top 40 from the 1970’s. When I was a kid, these were the songs that really got me into music, and I still really enjoy them. When I first heard Aerosmith’s “Draw the Line”, that’s what really turned me on to hard rock.