Customer Reviews

Chronicles

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The 2-disk set "Chronicles" by Rush covers the years 1974-1989. True to the title, the disks are arranged in chronological order with about two cuts from the Rush debut through Presto. Personally, I like the order, because you get to trace the development from album to album, and you get the cream from each release.

For the casual Rush fan, all the essential tracks are here, such as "Working Man," "Closer to the Heart," "The Spirit of Radio," "Tom Sawyer," "Limelight" and "Subdivisions." Some of the longer pieces have been left off, such as "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" and "Xanadu" and "2112" is only an excerpt, but with each disk clocking in around 74 minutes, there's still nearly 2.5 hours of music!

In trying to include at least one track from each release, there will inevitably be favorite tracks left out, but this collection is still very strong.
There are also two separate "Retrospectives" releases from the 1990s that include some key tracks left off this compilation.

I recommend this set for new Rush fans who want a taste of the back catalog, those not ready to purchase all the older disks, or those who just want a "hits" set for road trips, etc.

Chronicles (1990). Rush's first double-disc compilation set.

To me, Rush is one of the greatest bands in existence. I just discovered them last year after buying four of their albums, and on the first listen, I was hooked. They show an incredible devotion to stunning musicianship and each bandmember is at the top of their game. Geddy Lee can sing well (albiet a little higher than normal), he can play bass, handle pedal synthesizers, and play keyboards all in one! Alex Lifeson is a master guitarist, creative as both a soloist and rhythm guitarist. And Neil Peart is an incredible songwriter and drummer. Never before has listening to a trio play their instruments been so fun to listen to.

Anyways, this collection was the first one released and to this day, it is probably the best one as well. Let's take a look at a few pros and cons this collection provides:

PROS:

-For the most part, Chronicles covers a little bit of every album. It offers some of the shorter famous Rush songs that people are familiar with on the radio. That means you get to hear Fly By Night, Closer To The Heart, Freewill, Tom Sawyer, Subdivisions, Big Money, and Time Stand Still. It shouldn't fail to please any new Rush fan.
-There are a couple of unreleased tracks on here! These include the live tracks Passage To Bangkok and What You're Doing. This gives the bigger fan some reason to look into Chronicles.
-Even some of the underrated Rush albums like Caress Of Steel, Presto, and Grace Under Pressure get equal coverage.
-A compilation with the song Show Don't Tell! Most compilations stop right after the album Hold Your Fire, but Presto gets a little representation as well.
-2 discs means that you get a lot more music, and it's affordable. They also do a good job of filling up the disc space.
-Also, there is a nice bonus DVD that the collection comes with. Not essential to have, but a nice bonus for the bigger fans.

CONS:

-As a huge Rush fan, I must agree with everyone who says that any sort of compilation can NEVER do the band justice. While it covers their radio hits well, a number of masterpieces never get to see the light of day. Where are the songs By Tor & The Snow Dog, Xanadu, Cygnus X-1 & 2, La Villa Strangiato, Natural Science, YYZ, Witch Hunt, Analog Kid, The Weapon, After Image, Between The Wheels, Middletown Dreams, Marathon, Open Secrets, Prime Mover, or Turn The Page? The point I am trying to make is that you are seriously missing out on some phenomenal music by restricting yourself to a greatest hits collection.
-The live version of Mystic Rhythms is not nearly as good as its studio counterpart.
-Since this compilation was made back in 1990, there won't be any coverage from the albums Roll The Bones, Counterparts, Test For Echo, or Vapor Trails, which all came out after Chronicles.
-Although the bonus live tracks are great, they aren't enough for old fans to warrant purchasing an entire collection.
-2112 HAS BEEN DRAMATICALLY SHORTENED! WHY?? I understand that more disc space needs to be reserved for more songs considering that the full version is 20 minutes long, but the 2112 overture MUST BE HEARD IN ITS ENTIRETY.

BOTTOM LINE:

Chronicles is a decent compilation which should appeal to stricly and only to very casual fans or newbees. The music on here is priceless material which by itself deserves 5 stars, but since the compilation is lacking a bit, I deduct a single star. However, if you must go with only one collection, make it this one. It's a lot better than shelling out twice the cash for the Retrospective discs, and MUCH BETTER than the awful new single disc Spirit Of Radio greatest hits compilation. RECOMMENDED ONLY FOR NEW FANS.

Many of these songs must be heard off of their prospective albums, and so to anyone who finds themselves really liking Rush, just buy the albums. If you don't know which era you like, it'd be best to go with Moving Pictures(1981) or Permanent Waves(1980). If you like their progressively long epic material, go with Hemispheres(1978) or A Farewell To The Kings(1977). If you like their early stuff, start with Fly By Night(1975). Or if you find yourself loving the 80s synth era (my personal favorite), Power Windows(1985) and Signals(1982) are your best bets. To those who listen, enjoy.

Maybe it doesn't say much for my choice of friends in college,but I always seemed to have male friends who absolutely adored Rushand could literally sit for hours and argue over esoteric meanings of songs on "2112." I never understood it, anyway. That's probably why I enjoy "Chronicles," as will anyone who's only familiar with Rush from AOR radio. Never a band for three chords and a beat (not even in their early days), Rush's music is intricately arranged, occasionally to the point of being a little too busy. Neil Peart is definitely one of the best drummers on the planet, Geddy Lee is his match on bass, and Alex Lifeson is a throwback to the days of Clapton in Cream. Peart's lyrics can be quite interesting, but often sterile, particularly in their 80's heyday. The first disk covers the band from their blues rock beginnings in the early seventies, through the concept album trio "2112," "Hemispheres," and "A Farewell To Kings" (warning: if the only songs you know from Rush are "Tom Sawyer" and the like, the songs from the concept albums will be VERY heavy going) to the beginnings of their true commercial success with songs like "Spirit Of Radio" and "Freewill." The second disk will be the most familiar to non-Rushheads, including the omnipresent "Tom Sawyer," "Limelight" (arguably the best song they ever did), "Subdivisions," and "Distant Early Warning," just to name a few. There are a couple of gems casual fans will enjoy, namely "Closer To The Heart," and the lovely "Time Stand Still" (listen for Aimee Mann doing ethereal background vocals here). A good investment if you don't own any Rush albums and/or are not familiar with their early work; major fans probably have all the albums!

You wanted a Greatest Hits package from Rush-You Got it! It has everything from the beginning, "Finding My Way", until 1990's "Show Don't Tell" from "Presto". It's a great value with 28 songs and is perfect for someone on a budget and want music from Rush from start to finish (as of 1990, however). I highly recommend this along with "Moving Pictures", "Permanent Waves", "Hold Your Fire" and "Presto".

Chronicles is a very good way for non-fans to learn more about this fantastic progressive hard rock band. All of their radio staples are here (Tom Sawyer, The Spirit Of Radio, Closer To The Heart, etc.), plus some other good (if lesser known) material.

There are some true Rush classics that are missing from this album. I wish they could've stuck By-Tor And The Snow Dog on this somewhere, and maybe even Hemispheres: Prelude. Also, does Manhattan Project really need to be on here? Mystic Rhythms is so much better than that, and the live version included here doesn't do it justice.

$ is waaaaay to much to spend on this double CD set. Either buy both Retrospectives compilations for the same price or buy Chronicles used. Retrospectives does a much better job of focusing on the BEST of Rush, not just the singles. Retrospectives has By-Tor, Xanadu, Mystic Rhythms, The Body Electric, Mission and The Analog Kid, all of which need to be on a "best of Rush" collection.

Also, Chronicles isn't remastered, so the sound quality suffers. Retrospectives has been remastered.

Still, though, Chronicles introduced me to what is now my favorite band. And I guess it has the potential to do the same for anyone.

Any Rush fan can say that they heard it all, from 1974's self-titled album to 1989's Presto. They might be wrong, though. This collection, compiled in 1990, documents Rush's extensive array of fabulous music of numerous genres, which proves that Rush is nothing more than extraordinary.

The collection features 2 discs of 14 songs each, totaling 28 tracks of pure Rush, with well-known hits such as "2112", "Tom Sawyer", and "New World Man", along with other essentials such as "Working Man", "Red Sector A", and "Show Don't Tell". Not only that, three live tracks are featured, which are "What You're Doing", "A Passage To Bangkok", and "Mystic Rhythms", each are taken from each live Rush album throughout their 30-year history.

All in all, this worthwhile collection is for any Rush fan that wants a true collection of the best from one of the finest bands that this world has ever seen. A fantastic find. Get it!

Back when I bought this double album from a used music store, I had only gone by an employee's recommendation. Needless to say, I was slightly unprepared for some of the finest-sounding rock music from Canada's leading rock group. Up to then, the only songs I knew by them were "Limelight", from a local rock station, amd "Tom Sawyer", from a Music CD-ROM program, the latter nowadays being ridiculously overexposed on movie soundtracks. Anyway, the majority of this band's material from 1974-1989 is extremely superior to the mid-and-late-'90's drivel that passes for "alternative rock" on today's stations. My favorites would have to be almost all of them, except for their first "hit", "Finding My Way", which I very much so dislike, for it's just the wrong style of rock then what I like better. The three so-so tracks are "La Villa Strangiato", "The Spirit Of Radio", and "Red Barchetta". However, "Fly By Night", "Bastille Day", "The Trees", "Closer To The Heart", "Tom Sawyer", "Limelight", "Subdivisions", "New World Man", "Red Sector A", "Time Stand Still", and "Show Don't Tell" are my favorites, with the excellent rock ballad "The Big Money" being my absolute favorite. So, if you like rockin' music ballads, and may just be from Canada to boot, pick this compilation up. Some may feel this material is dated, but I will always come back to good ol' classic Rush. Get it today!

I've always been a fan of their music. I don't know what I like more about them, is it their mystics on life in music? Or is it a fact that three, I mean THREE members can totally lay into a track, or even sell out any performance. The incredible guitarist Alex Lifeson, never gets old, the multi-tallented bassist-keyboardist Geddy Lee, and of course his high toned voice, plus keeping the beat and every beat Neil Peart, just awesome. Well anyways all the tracks on this album I like, there is nothing on this album I despise at all. From your favorites like Tom Sawyer or even Red Barchetta, both from good previous album 'Moving Pictures'. You also got crowd favorites 2112, or even Bastille Day. If you think this album is good, most likely you'll end up getting the rest of them, and it's well worth it. I strictly recommend getting 'Caress Of Steel' and also '2112'. And if you like the later years I would recommend even 'Signals' and even 'Grace Under Pressure' along with 'Moving Pictures', hell like I said, just get all of them, they're good, like this one is.

Before I tell you why, let me explain that Rush has rereleased this compilation including the chronicles video dvd collection previously available only separately on vhs. Since longtime fans, such as myself, would generally not need Chronicles, it makes the entire package more valuable for the elder fans of this legendary band. Allthough the more recent Rush videos for Mtv were never the best, some of the older live material is worth having. All in all if you are a tried and true Rush fan. then you have to have it.
This being said, I would suggest the new rereleased version of Chronicles is nice for the collection for any Rush fan. If you are a Rush first-timer and have heard the regular radio rotation songs, Chronicles gives you a little more indepth listen during the band's career from the beginning untill 1990. Most of the radio staples are there along with a song or two from each record untill the record Presto, which was released the year prior. If you like what you hear so far, there is alot of GREAT material you haven't heard yet. So explore the catalogue of Rush material as I did when I was growing up in the late 70's. Rush is a Hall of Fame caliber band and Chronicles just scrapes the surface. Rush anthems such as Xanadu, Bytor and the Snow Dog, La Villa Strangiato, Natural Science, Cygnus X-1 and 2112 in it's greatest form...it's entirety, are just a few that are not included in this compilation. Since Chronicles only includes material untill 1990, there are also four studio recordings and two live recordings since that you might want to give a listen to. If you are planning on purchasing something after Chronicles, try Different Stages, which covers a wide spectrum of songs recorded live from shows during the 90's and 70's. You will not be denied!

"Chronicles" serves the same purpose as any other collection does, to offer the bands best or most popular work to newcomers and fans alike. At this it succeeds greatly. 2 discs in chronological order, and taking a couple tracks from each album. Included is "Fly By Night", "Closer To The Heart", "Tom Sawyer", and "Time Stand Still", among many others. Plus a few decent live tracks as well. My two favorites might be "Red Barchetta" and "New World Man". If this is too much "Rush" for you, check out the 16 track greatest hits "Spirit Of Radio". It's the best of the best.