Rush: Bootleg/CDR page

"The Fifth Order of Angels" (CDR; 8/24/74, Agora Ballroom, Cleveland)

  1. "Intro"--spoken word (0:30)
  2. "Finding My Way" (5:07)
  3. "Best I Can" (3:03)
  4. "Need Some Love" (3:24)
  5. "In the End" (6:19)
  6. "Fancy Dancer" (3:54)
  7. "In the Mood" (3:25)
  8. "Bad Boy" (5:41)
  9. "Here Again" (8:02)
  10. "Working Man" (9:13)
  11. "Drum Solo" (3:09)
  12. "What You're Doing" (4:33)
  13. "Garden Road" (3:07)

It didn't take long for my zero-tolerance policy on copying official CDs to be tested, as I got an offer from a Rush fan who teased me with some SWEET bootlegs from the band's earliest days, including this one. However, the only thing he wanted in return was Saxon, and when I said no and explained why, all he replied with was, "Okay, thanks anyway!" I suppose he was expecting me to get all apologetic and change my mind, but hey, if he's too fucking CHEAP to bother spending hundreds of dollars on rare and expensive import CDs (like I did!) then fuck 'im, after all he's not the only Rush trader in the world! And I was right...no more than a week later, a more traditional trader offered me a copy of this show, and the trade went smooth as a greased weiner dog. (Now if I could only find someone to trade boots for the Caress of Steel or Hemispheres eras...)

In any case...this show is a true gem, coming from the earliest recorded days of Rush's existence, or at least one of the earliest shows featuring Neil Peart on drums. It's an A+ soundboard/radio broadcast, featuring six of the eight songs from their debut, plus two early versions of Fly by Night tracks, and MOST IMPORTANTLY the only known documentation of UNRELEASED TRACKS which never appeared on a studio album...three of 'em, even! Geddy's not very imaginative with the stage banter, though, as he begins each song with, "We're gonna do a number now called..." Hmm, come to think, he never did get that much better at it...

"The Age of Wonders" (CDR; 6/25/75, Massey Hall, Toronto)

  1. "Finding My Way" (5:35)
  2. "Best I Can" (3:57)
  3. "Anthem" (4:40)
  4. "Beneath, Between & Behind" (3:14)
  5. "In the End" (8:36)
  6. "Fly by Night" (4:06)
  7. "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" (10:18)
  8. "Working Man/drum solo" (16:57)
  9. "In the Mood" (3:12)
  10. "Need Some Love" (3:53)
  11. "What You're Doing" (5:14)
  12. "You Can't Fight It"--studio track (2:55)

An ancient bootleg recording released in 1997 by Prism Records...hey!! It's that same Mike Bahr guy that stirred up a ton of controversy in the Dream Theater world! I wonder if he ever pulled out an obscure Jimi Hendrix tune and passed it off as an unreleased Rush track...probably not, since Rush is one of those bands with almost NO unreleased songs, and the few that do exist are all accounted for. (Geddy Lee is fond of saying what a disappointment it would be to their record company if they were all killed in a plane crash one day, since there's no material stored in a vault somewhere to use for box sets, remastered albums, etc.) "You Can't Fight It" is indeed one of those numbers, the B-side to their 1973 non-LP single, "Not Fade Away" -- however, the version here is extremely scratchy and distorted (and cuts off the first note, shades of Moving Pictures below...) and my mp3 version contained on Digital Puppy #6 (along with all the other rare Rush tracks I could find) is much, much better.

The sound quality of the live tracks (B+ audience) is pretty darn good, considering its age, although people unused to bootleg recordings would probably object. Highlights include rare performances of "Best I Can" and "Need Some Love", as well as the full-length version of "Fly by Night", which was soon whittled down to a one-verse medley paired with "In the Mood", as appears on All the World's a Stage.

"Experience to Extremes" (2CDR; 6/25/84, Mecca Arena, Milwaukee WI)

    disc one:
  1. "Intro/The Spirit of Radio" (5:58)
  2. "Subdivisions" (5:36)
  3. "The Body Electric" (5:43)
  4. "The Enemy Within" (4:47)
  5. "The Weapon" (8:09)
  6. "Witch Hunt" (5:10)
  7. "New World Man" (4:35)
  8. "Between the Wheels" (5:50)
  9. "Red Barchetta" (6:39)
  10. "Distant Early Warning" (7:10)
  11. "Red Sector A" (5:25)
  12. "Closer to the Heart" (3:06)
  13. "Afterimage" (5:03)
    disc two:
  1. "YYZ"--instrumental (3:16)
  2. "The Temples of Syrinx" (1:52)
  3. "Tom Sawyer" (5:44)
  4. "Red Lenses/Percussion Showcase" (11:04)
  5. "Vital Signs" (5:12)
  6. "Finding My Way" (1:12)
  7. "In the Mood" (2:07)
    Madison Square Garden, NYC, 9/17/84:
  8. "Kid Gloves" (4:26)
    pre-release tracks; Radio City Music Hall, NYC, 9/21/83:
  9. "Red Sector A" (4:59)
  10. "The Body Electric" (4:36)
  11. "Kid Gloves" (2:56)
    Montreal Coliseum, 12/1/77:
  12. "A Farewell to Kings" (6:02)
  13. "Cygnus X-1: The Voyage" (10:03)
  14. "Cinderella Man" (4:29)

Rush was the very first band I saw in concert (without my parents, at least) so it's not surprising that this excellent audience bootleg brings back some sweet memories. A shame that Geddy's voice was kind of shot that night, as he has problems with the high-pitched songs, particularly "Spirit of Radio" and "The Devils of Syrinx" ...err, I meant "Temples". :) Highlights include the ENTIRE "Fear" trilogy, and many, many songs from Grace Under Pressure that were never played again on future tours. "Kid Gloves" comes from a later concert, but the source is rather bad by comparison...the "pre-release" tracks fare marginally better sound-wise, but the first half of "Kid Gloves" is missing completely. And the last three tracks, from 1977, aren't even worth mentioning, they suck so bad! (I guess they're only included because Different Stages hadn't been released yet, and Mike Bahr is so damn obsessive about filling up his CDs...)

"That's Entertainment!" (2CDR; 6/17/90, East Troy, WI)

    disc one:
  1. "Force Ten" (4:54)
  2. "Freewill" (4:05)
  3. "Distant Early Warning" (4:43)
  4. "Time Stand Still" (5:57)
  5. "Subdivisions" (5:32)
  6. "Marathon" (6:47)
  7. "Red Barchetta" (6:38)
  8. "Superconductor" (5:13)
  9. "Show Don't Tell" (6:45)
  10. "The Pass" (5:07)
  11. "Closer to the Heart" (5:11)
  12. "Manhattan Project" (5:08)
  13. "Xanadu" (6:59)
    disc one:
  1. "YYZ"--instrumental (3:15)
  2. "The Rhythm Method"--instrumental (5:23)
  3. "Scars" (4:25)
  4. "War Paint" (6:03)
  5. "Mission" (5:49)
  6. "Tom Sawyer" (5:53)
  7. "The Spirit of Radio" (5:03)
  8. "2112: Overture"--instrumental (3:25)
  9. "La Villa Strangiato"--instrumental (4:58)
  10. "In the Mood" (3:18)
    Mecca Arena, Milwaukee WI, 3/24/86:
  11. "Marathon" (6:32)
  12. "YYZ"--instrumental (3:18)
  13. "Drum Solo/Red Lenses" (7:51)
  14. "Tom Sawyer" (4:52)

Since Presto had the misfortune of coming at the start of Rush's four-studio-one-live album cycle, a number of really good songs never made it to any official live album. Hence the need for this bootleg, a fairly good (if a bit tinny) audience recording that features "Scars", "War Paint", and a couple other goodies. This was also the first tour since GUP that I missed the band on tour (and I haven't seen them since, which puts them in a five-way tie with Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Jethro Tull, and W.A.S.P. [of all things!!] for bands that I've seen the most times in concert, at three apiece.) Once again, this bootleg was released by Prism Records, courtesy of that wacky Bahr guy. The biggest defect is that the "Xanadu"/"YYZ" medley is split right down the middle, since Mikey just HAD to squeeze on four useless tracks from the Power Windows tour...(and isn't it interesting how BOTH of these shows, plus the one from GUP, came from Wisconsin? He must have had a source there...)

"Rush-N-Roulette" (silver 2CD; 1/30/92, Oakland Coliseum, CA)

    disc one:
  1. "Force Ten" (6:04)
  2. "Limelight" (4:27)
  3. "Freewill" (3:02)
  4. "Distant Early Warning" (5:35)
  5. "Time Stand Still" (5:32)
  6. "Dreamline" (6:01)
  7. "Bravado" (6:28)
  8. "Roll the Bones" (6:43)
  9. "Show Don't Tell" (6:16)
  10. "The Big Money" (6:19)
  11. "Ghost of a Chance" (6:21)
    unlisted tracks, venue/date unknown:
  12. "A Passage to Bangkok" (3:58)
  13. "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" (5:42)
  14. "Something for Nothing" (4:32)
    disc two:
  1. "Subdivisions" (4:21)
  2. "The Pass" (4:54)
  3. "Where's My Thing?"--instrumental (5:17)
  4. "Drum Solo" (7:28)
  5. "Closer to the Heart" (4:48)
  6. "Xanadu" (6:32)
  7. "Superconductor" (5:12)
  8. "Tom Sawyer" (6:12)
  9. "The Spirit of Radio" (5:02)
  10. "2112: Overture"--instrumental (3:20)
  11. "Finding My Way" (2:09)
  12. "La Villa Strangiato"--instrumental (3:18)
  13. "Anthem" (1:45)
  14. "Red Barchetta" (1:13)
  15. "The Spirit of Radio"--instrumental (1:40)
    unlisted tracks, venue/date unknown:
  16. "Subdivisions" (5:25)
  17. "New World Man" (x:xx)
  18. "Red Sector A" (x:xx)

This is an excellent bootleg, with soundboard quality that sounds identical to a professional release! (Legend has it that the band made this tape as a gift for Primus bassist Les Claypool, but the tape got "misdirected", hehe.) Unfortunately I can't give it an A+ rating due to many irritating "dropouts" in the sound, often in the middle of songs like "Show Don't Tell" and "Xanadu". (Apparently the show's been remastered as Mirrors, but that's not a silver CD, now is it?) The performance itself is fantastic, and contains one of the best ending medleys they've ever done! Although Geddy did have to sing "Anthem" in a lower key...

Each disc comes with three bonus tracks that aren't listed anywhere in the package -- the disc one tracks sound very good, if a bit raw, and sound like they're from the All the World's a Stage era. The disc two tracks are a complete waste of space, as they're defective.

"Critical Mass" (2CDR; 3/22/94, Auburn Hills, MI)

    disc one:
  1. "Intro/Thus Spake Zarathustra" (1:25)
  2. "Dreamline" (4:58)
  3. "The Spirit of Radio" (4:55)
  4. "The Analog Kid" (6:13)
  5. "Cold Fire" (4:49)
  6. "Time Stand Still" (5:33)
  7. "Nobody's Hero" (5:10)
  8. "Roll the Bones" (6:09)
  9. "Animate" (7:47)
  10. "Stick it Out" (5:15)
  11. "Double Agent" (4:56)
  12. "Limelight" (4:38)
    disc one:
  1. "Mystic Rhythms" (6:13)
  2. "Closer to the Heart" (5:25)
  3. "Show Don't Tell" (6:44)
  4. "Leave That Thing Alone"--instrumental (4:34)
  5. "Drum Solo in 3/4"--instrumental (7:23)
  6. "The Trees" (5:04)
  7. "Xanadu" (6:44)
  8. "Hemispheres: Prelude" (4:15)
  9. "Tom Sawyer" (5:34)
  10. "Force Ten" (4:38)
  11. "YYZ"--instrumental (5:10)
  12. "The Pieces of Eight"--instrumental, studio track (4:52)

One would assume that a bootleg from the Counterparts tour would be completely unnecessary, considering how badly that album sucked...but surpise, surprise, this one's actually pretty damn good!! It's an A+ soundboard recording (sounding almost as good as any professional release), and once again comes from Prism Records, and while it's not recorded in Wisconsin, they came pretty damn close. :) (I should mention here that the Rush Bootleg Guide, hosted by The Digital Rush Experience, says that Prism's bootlegs are far and away the best for any given tour...with the exception of 1978's Cygnus, which is better left unmentioned!) The band is in rare form on this night, as they make even the crappy songs from Counterparts sound good (with the exception of "Nobody's Hero", natch); "Cold Fire" is even preceded by a short country ditty that has very occasionally turned up on Rush ROIO's over the last twenty years...apparently, until this tour, it was only played whenever Geddy or Neil had a technical problem. :) Alex even fools around at one point by introducing the band as "Sparky Anderson, Ted Nugent, and Lee Iaccoca!!!" (Who the hell is Sparky Anderson, though? Must be some local Detroit hero...) And...BEST OF ALL...for the first time in 14 years, they include "Hemispheres" in the ending medley!!!!! It's just the prelude, of course -- and it also answers the question WHY they've never resurrected that song before, since the vocals are waaayyy out of Geddy's range these days. Ah well, at least they tried.

Luckily, the sheer length of this concert spares us from any more crappy, incongruous "bonus tracks" like the other Prism ROIOs...except for a Neil Peart solo tune called "Pieces of Eight", which amazingly sounds like a real SONG, despite being played entirely on percussion!! Basically, it's an extended version of the well-known xylophone line from "The Rhythm Method"...but what I *really* want to know is, did Neil perform the whole thing at once?? He certainly is Godlike enough to pull it off! (On the other hand, there's an annoying 10 minutes of silence preceding the track...not even Mike Bahr was immune from the most pretentious, asinine, and pointless CD mastering trick of all time...)

Previous Band Back to Index Next Band