Retrospective 2 (1981-1987)

Rush | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 3, 1997)
• Original Release Date: June 3, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000001EVD
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,900 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not an exceptional album, but a decent sampler, August 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Retrospective 2 (1981-1987) (Audio CD)

Basically this album doesn't make much sense, because Rush were an album-oriented band and this claims to be a sort of "Greatest hits"-collection. "Retrospective II" contains ever three tracks from their 80's-album from "Moving Pictures" to "Hold your Fire". Some of the tracks chosen from "Grace.." and "Power Windows" are definetely not the best ones on these albums! Nevertheless, this odd compilation provides a good overview of the band's best-known work in the 80's. But if you are really interested in Rush-and after having heard this album you certainly will!-you'll have to buy the original albums as well.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great... But BUY THE ALBUMS, May 30, 2000

By 

Bill R. Moore (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Retrospective 2 (1981-1987) (Audio CD)

As with Chronicles (and the other disc in this compilation) it is impossible to argue with the fine music, some of the best prog ever committed to tape, no one doubts their quality. However, since Rush is, and always has been, an album band they are better served by buying some of their great albums (I reccommend 2112, Kings, Hemispheres, Moving Pictures, Permanent Waves, and Signals as their absolute best, and first purchases, although they have many other fine albums as well.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Chronicles is better, April 24, 2002

By 

The Scenario (Roseville, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Retrospective 2 (1981-1987) (Audio CD)

This album and its companion volume Retrospective I: 1974-1980 are rather pointless exercises. Rush had already released an admirable comprehensive retrospective back in 1990, the excellent double-disc Chronicles, which took two songs from each of their studio albums (three in the case of Moving Pictures) and augmented them with selected tracks from each of their three live albums at that point in their career. Now years later, Rush's money-grubbing manager Ray Danniels convinced them to milk their past again by releasing two separate (and therefore more expensive when purchased together) compilations rehashing most of the same songs and adding in a few other interesting songs ("The Analog Kid", "The Body Electric", "Mission", "Marathon") which didn't make the cut for Chronicles. I know Danniels is the mastermind behind this, because when he later became the manager of Van Halen he tried to convince them to do the same, releasing two volumes of greatest hits separately compiling the David Lee Roth and the Sammy Hagar eras. He lost that battle, only managing the milk the fans for a single-disc VH best-of.

Diehard Rush fans will tell you to skip both Chronicles and the Retrospective volumes and instead purchase all of the Rush CD's, since these songs were meant to be enjoyed in the context of the respective albums for which they were created. As an in-betweener, I can tell you that the Chronicles set is a more broad overview, even if it's at the expense of some of the songs included here (plus, Chronicles includes the excellent "Manhattan Project" and "Show Don't Tell", missing here).

3 stars because it's still great material, but the way it's been repackaged yet again is kind of shameless.