Exit...Stage Left [LIVE] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Rush

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1997)
• Original Release Date: 1997
• 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 (110 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,397 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #7 in	Music > Rock > Live Albums > Progressive Rock
  #46 in	Music > Classic Rock > Live Albums
  #49 in	Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Progressive Metal

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Throughout their existence, the Canadian power-prog trio has steadfastly released a lengthy live collection every fifth album. Released in 1981, Exit is Rush's second (and best) such release, and it captures the band at the very top of its artistic (and commercial) curve--before keyboard and synthesizer work became central to its sound as opposed to providing mere accents. When they embarked on this tour, Rush had just released Moving Pictures, which continued their move away from longer suites and featured more streamlined song craft. Exit, however, offers a perfect blend of winding, fusion-leaning, virtuoso instrumentals ("YYZ," "La Villa Strangiato"), extended sci-fi epics ("Jacob's Ladder," "Xanadu"), sentimental ballads ("Closer to the Heart" in unison with the whole crowd, "The Trees"), and tauter songs ("Free Will," "Tom Sawyer," "Spirit of Radio") that represent the best of all worlds. Musically, they generated a huge amount of sound for three men (especially Geddy Lee's mammoth bass lines and Neil Peart's octopus-like percussion); lyrically, Peart's fantasia may be pseudo-poetry, but it is poetic, and it may be adolescent wisdom, but it is wise. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 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 (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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.)

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly good- and trippy, too, November 2, 1999

By	Thurl Jacobson III ([e-mail]) (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews

Exit Stage Left contains the most real and moving conveyances of emotion through music that I have ever heard. Some songs, like La Villa Strangiato, you have to listen to several times before you can even grasp the level of proficiency that these three musicians are playing on. Neil's drum solo in YYZ is almost impossible to believe- in fact, it is what inspired me to take up drumming a few years ago. I have enjoyed this CD since I got a hand-me-down of the old version back in '94. The addition of "A Passage to Bangkok" is just one more incentive to buy the newer version. IMO, anyone who rates this CD lower than a 4 either didn't give it a thorough listen or isn't very musically inclined to begin with.

7 of 7 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)

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!