Exit Stage Left [Live, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Rush | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1997)
• Original Release Date: 1981
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000001ESR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (117 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,199 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

RUSH EXIT...STAGE LEFT

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Killer songs and performances., July 26, 2001

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exit Stage Left (Audio CD)

Suitably enough, Rush recorded a live album to top off the most successful period in their careers. Permanent Waves and especially Moving Pictures had secured reams of popularity for the power-prog trio, so a high-energy live compilation was the perfect coda to this hallowed chapter in the band's history.

The tracks here cover a fairly broad range of Rush's catalogue up to this point, but skip over the debut and Caress of Steel. Although this collection largely covers the band's shorter, more commercial songs, they never forget the progressive rock wings on which they once soared. I'd say the song selection is perfect. Alongside hits like "Freewill," "Tom Sawyer," and "The Spirit of Radio" are progressive epics like "Xanadu" and "Jacob's Ladder." One of my favorite moments on the album comes with "La Villa Strangiato," an astounding instrumental tour-de-force that concretizes the band's standing as musicians' musicians. Live, this song SMOKES. Lifeson's first solo in this song is infused with tenfold the passion of the original, and I can't help but get chills up and down my spine listening to it. Still, while the energy is there and the songs are great, overdubs render the album a wee bit too polished, and the band's blazing live ebullience is diluted somewhat.

Still, this album many wonderful moments. The precise, stunning drum solo during "YYZ," "Closer to the Heart" with the entire crowd joining in with Geddy on vocals, the ultra-high energy performance of "Red Barchetta," the serene melodies of "Broon's Bane" as a seque into the hard-rocking "The Trees"...the list is endless.

I was kind of disappointed by the album's dubious representation of the concert experience. At the end of most tracks, the sound fades out and then comes back in for the next song. It's like it's taking snippets from several concerts instead of capturing the seamless performance. Most live albums cut superfluous crowd noise and chitchat, but blend crowd noise together so that it flows smoothly from song to song anyway. This works better in preserving the feel of the actual show. Annoyingly, here you'll often hear silence between the tracks and it creates a frustrating disjointed "concert" experience.

But it's not so bad. As a high-energy live "greatest hits" type package, Exit Stage Left can't be beat. Rush rules the world, and this captures them at their best.

(Oh, and make sure you get the Remastered edition, which has "A Passage to Bangkok," a rockin' song that was not included on some of the earlier pressings.)

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not the best live album ever, yet insanely good, April 29, 2004

By 

Manny Hernandez "@askmanny" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Exit Stage Left (Audio CD)

There are several things you can judge a live album for, and this one ranks quite well on most of them. Some of the ones where it's "weak" are: mix (uneven at times, leaning a bit more toward Geddy Lee's bass), sound quality (between songs, specially) and the general live feel (arguably, there weren't too many mics pointed at the audience, so you don't hear very loud "roars" between tracks).

On the flip side, the album ranks so well on so many other fronts, that the downsides pale by comparison. The musicianship, above all things, is bound to leave you speechless: Geddy Lee's basswork and Neil Peart's drums are out of this world (take the "YYZ" looooooong solo by the latter as the best example, easily making the entire album worth buying). The fact that the band sounds just as well live as they do on the studio says so much about their work too. Some people argue this is bad: I dare to say this is where a musician gets to prove him/herself, by matching or exceeding the studio work.

All in all, given the items mentioned before, while not the best live album EVER, this is a great piece to add to your music collection to sum up the band's work as well as to enjoy outstanding performances of several of their classics which by now have become prog rock standards.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rush rockets to stardom with Exit...Stage Left, August 30, 2000

By 

J. Patuto (Lebanon, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exit Stage Left (Audio CD)

Considered not only the finest live album by Rush, but the finest live album by any artist, Exit...Stage Left shines like no other.

Rush shows how their musicianship has evolved and improved since their first live cut (All the World's A Stage).

Tracks from their finest CDs to date appear throughout this exceptional collection, and some outdue their studio counterparts.

Case in Point: YYZ. The studio version of this incredible instumental was fantastic. The live version is unreal. Neil Peart's drum solo is...impossible. How one many can generate so many sounds still boggles the mind.

You have to hear (and feel it - subwoofer up to 12) to appreciate it...and even then you'll be left speechless.

Every accolade Rush receives is well deserved as this spectacle proves.

Crank it up!