Published on Jul 18, 1999
If you’ve followed the career of the Canadian band Rush, you’ll
know that they’ve always followed a pattern of releasing four
studio albums, followed by a live set. Following the release (and
corresponding success) of their one-side concept album
2112, Geddy Lee and crew took to the road, and recorded
their live show in support of the album.
The end result,
All The World’s A Stage, is an interesting look at one of
the all-time greatest band’s early days, but also shows some signs
of age.
With only four studio albums under their belt (and their days of
hit singles still lying a few years ahead of them),
bassist/vocalist Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart
did their best in putting together a set representative of where
Rush was in 1976. And, let’s face it, you can’t go wrong with an
almost complete presentation of “2112,” though I honestly would
have preferred to have heard the entire song. (Only one or two
movements get cut, so it’s not like the song has been terribly
butchered.)
And, honestly, when was the last time you heard such historical
nuggets as “Lakeside Park,” “In The End” or “Anthem” played in
concert? Granted, a few tracks have not aged as gracefully as I
wish they had (like “Anthem”), but these cuts are still full of
life and bring a smile to my face each time I hear them.
The first big mistake on
All The World’s A Stage is the inclusion of the monstrosity
“By-Tor & The Snow Dog,” a song that I never liked on
Fly By Night. The whole song gets its due – which is much
too much in my book. Sure, it filled time in the show, but there
were much worthier songs on the other studio albums that could have
filled this time. To make matters worse, they cut parts of “2112”
and left this in its entirety – no fair.
Mistake number two is something that Rush continue to do even in
recent shows: medleys. I happen to like both “Fly By Night” and “In
The Mood”, and would have liked to have heard them played in their
entirety. Why merge them and take away power from each track. Same
thing goes for “Working Man / Finding My Way,” two amazing tracks
from their debut album.
But, for the most part,
All The World’s A Stage still is more pleasing than
frustrating. Hearing an early drum solo from Peart (who Lee calls
“the professor on the drum kit”) is exciting, and proves that Peart
could well be the greatest living drummer. Tracks like “Something
For Nothing” and “What You’re Doing” still send chills up my spine,
even though the songs haven’t seen the concert stage in some time,
to the best of my knowledge.
Even though this album is now 23 years old, it is an accurate –
and sometimes frustrating – picture of a band on the verge of
superstardom. If you happen to like the early works of Rush, then
All The World’s A Stage is an album you should check out. If
you’re more schooled in the songs you hear on the radio, you might
wish to first pick up either the older albums or one of the
anthologies, just to get a taste for them first.