UMUR "A Show of Hands" is a live double album release (double vinyl/single CD) by Canadian progressive rock act Rush. The album was released through Anthem Records/Vertigo Records in January 1989. The track selection on the album predominantly represents the four studio albums released in the years 1982 - 1987: "Signals" (1982), "Grace Under Pressure" (1984), "Power Windows" (1985), and "Hold Your Fire" (1987) with only "Witch Hunt (Part III of Fear)" and "Closer To The Heart" being excursions into the earlier part of the band´s discography. Rush had already covered the pre-1982 era of their career on the 1976 "All the World's a Stage" and 1981 "Exit.....Stage Left" live albums, so the tracklist makes perfect sense. A video featuring the same title as this live album was released in February 1989, but features completely different recordings and a tracklist which varies from the tracklist of this release.

Most of the material on "A Show of Hands" was recorded during the 1988 tour supporting "Hold Your Fire" (1987) in both the US and in England. "Mystic Rhythms" and "Witch Hunt" were however recorded in East Rutherford, New Jersey, during the 1986 "Power Windows" (1985) tour.

Stylistically this is Rush at their most keyboard/synth heavy, but their power trio rock instrumentation of guitar, bass, and drums are still the core of their sound, along with the distinct sounding voice and vocal delivery of Geddy Lee. The live versions of the tracks generally don´t differ much from the studio versions, but tracks like "Subdivisions", "Turn the Page", and "Mission" which are culled from "Signals" (1982) (the former) and "Hold Your Fire" (1987) (the two latter) are more powerful sounding than in their original studio versions. It´s always hard to satisfy anyone with the track selections on a live album, but since the premise is predominantly selections from the four albums mentioned above, I think Rush made some decent decisions (the least interesting are described later in the review). The only track I´m missing is "Prime Mover" from "Hold Your Fire" (1987), which in my opinion is THE highlight of that album, and one of the highlights of the 80s-era Rush releases.

Personally I´m not a big fan of drum solos and the inclusion of the drum solo track "The Rhythm Method" is not a plus in my book. Sure it was probably a blast witnessing the master himself and his incredible playing skills if you attended the actual gig and maybe it makes more sense when watching the DVD version of "A Show of Hands" (which also features the drum solo), but here it´s not that interesting. I´m also a bit critical of the inclusion of "Closer to the Heart" if it was included to represent the 70s part of the band´s output. Yes it´s a decent enough track, but it´s arguably not a highlight from that part of the band´s career, and I can name quite a few other tracks from that era (which didn´t appear on any of the two previous live albums) that I would much rather have had included on "A Show of Hands". With that in mind I´m actually happy Rush opted to include "Witch hunt (part III of Fear)" from "Moving Pictures" (1981), because that track is given a lift in quality and appears here in a more interesting version than the original.

Rush aren´t exactly the most daring or experimental live act out there and on "A Show of Hands" they seem more or less content with reproducing the sound of their studio albums. Even the tracks which feauture a more warm and heavy sounding production in the live versions compared to their studio counterparts, are played very true to the originals here. It could have been interesting to hear musicians of this quality challenge themselves a bit more...maybe re-arrange the tracks or do something a bit different, but that´s not what you are going to hear on "A Show of Hands", which actually works better as a 80s Rush best-of compilation than as a live album release. Still the quality of the recordings is so high and the musical performances on a level beyond what most other artists are able to produce, that a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is still deserved.

Warthur The title here is a bit of a misnomer - the packaging says this boxed set collects seven albums, but really it's six albums plus an EP (Feedback). In any event, it's a one-stop pick to collect all the studio output of the band from their Atlantic Records era. The clamshell box is solid, the albums come in card sleeves (not as nice as the mini LP replicas from the Sector 1, Sector 2, and Sector 3 boxed sets collecting their Mercury Records period, but these albums were from the era of CDs so lavish LP packaging wasn't really part of the order of the day anyway), and a booklet with the lyrics for all the songs bar the cover versions on Feedback.

Of the material collected here, Counterparts, Feedback, and Snakes and Arrows are pretty solid albums, though none of them are classics on the level of Farewell to Kings or Moving Pictures, and whilst Presto, Roll the Bones, and Test For Echo don't quite match the same standard but all have some nice moments to recommend them.

Fortunately, the balance of the collection skews more towards "good" than "OK with some good moments" thanks to the inclusion of the remixed version of Vapor Trails. (Indeed, this box came out at around the same time the remix was also made available separately.) It's often been said that the mix on the original release of Vapor Trails did the album no favours, and the remix proves that to devastating effect, turning a murky album into a pretty damn good one.

Getting seven albums for the price of about two, in a compact space-saving format, is a pretty decent deal. None of the albums here consist of Rush's A-material - but their B-material's still very, very good, and their C-material has enough interesting about it to make me glad to have it. Unless you are a hardliner for whom Rush ends with Hold the Bones (or Grace Under Pressure, or Signals, or Moving Pictures, or...), I would say most Rush listeners could do a lot worse than this set: it's not like many people are going to be clamouring for a super deluxe multi-disc reissue of Presto or something, and this package manages to be cost-effective without feeling outright cheap.

Warthur The days when Rush would majorly evolve their sound over every four albums or so were long since over when Snakes and Arrows came out - to a large extent, this is a continuation and refinement of the same general musical direction they'd been taking from Counterparts onward, which by and large had served them well, bar for some lightweight moments on Test For Echo and the botching of the original mix of Vapor Trails. Still, as a polishing and further refinement of that approach, Snake and Arrows is very good - perhaps the best of this era of the band. If you don't like anything they've done since 1993, it's not going to persuade you otherwise, but if you're at all open to conceding the merits of the run of albums from Counterparts to Vapor Trails you will likely find a lot to like here, and probably less to dislike than on the weaker parts of those albums.

Warthur Rush's Feedback EP was a little something they put out to celebrate their 30th anniversary. There's not much that's very proggy about it, and that's intentional - they're just doing cover versions of songs which influenced them when they were starting up, and that means bluesy hard rock is more or less the order of the day, with some doses of psychedelia and garage rock on the side.

That said, the Rush of now isn't the Rush who put out their debut album - Neil Peart wasn't in the band at that point, for one thing. For another, Rush on the debut album were largely ripping off Led Zeppelin, whereas they're able to capture the spirit of a wider variety of acts here. They don't try to mess with what works, but they don't try to mimic the originals slavishly - it very much sounds like a well-honed group of musicians doing great covers of fantastic 1960s songs. Don't go in expecting any prog epics and you won't be disappointed; take it on its own terms and it's 27 minutes of pure fun.

Warthur After Hold Your Fire and A Show of Hands, Rush realised they'd pushed their synthesiser-dominated post-Signals sound as far as it would go and it was time to shake things up. Presto sees them scaling back the use of synthesisers dramatically - restricting them to a few textures here and there - but though the return to guitars-bass-and-drums is welcome and refreshing, they aren't quite out of the 1980s yet.

In particular, Neil Peart's drum sound has a very dated sound to it (he definitely isn't banging on cereal boxes, you can't pull off some of the technical tricks he does here on those, but you might be fooled at some points).

In terms of the songwriting, what we have here is not a full-throated return to the ever-memorable and exciting Rush of Moving Pictures or A Farewell to Kings so much as an attempt to make an album using Hold Your Fire-era songwriting practices using Permanant Waves-era instrumentation. It's a little change, but a refreshing one after the sometimes sterile sound of that album; I wouldn't call the album brilliant, too many of the songs blend into each other a little, but I would say it's the point where the course correction starts to kick in.

AtomicCrimsonRush "Replay X3" is a terrific box set of the 3 earlier Rush VHS concerts and it has been mastered to provide great picture though not all widescreen unfortunately. The sound is excellent without any noteable dropout unlike the VHS antiques. The packaging is excellent, booklets included and all original art prints on the seperate covers. There is also a bonus CD of Grace Under Pressure which is worthwhile.

DVD 1 is Exit...Stage Left, a 1 hour concert from the early years or Rushtory when they had long hair, and features a strong setlist with the likes of Limelight, Tom Sawyer, and a rare appearance of the brilliant Xanadu. The usual suspects are here such as the wonderful Red Barchetta and quintessential Freewill along with lighters in the air stalwart crowd pleaser Closer To The Heart. It is always great to see them having fun with the instrumental YYZ and a real treat is to hear the medley at the end with By-Tor And The Snow Dog, In The End, In The Mood and 2112 edited together masterfully. The VHS or DVD delivers what it promises, Rush in their hey day with great quality sound and editing. The band look young of course and jump around a lot more and there were no signs of chicken rotisseries or clothes dryers back then, but a heck of a lot of lighting and laser effects more than makes up for it. The concert also comes with a lot of interview footage and voice overs between songs, and some footage of the band backstage while the songs play and that is a treat compared to the usual straight concert footage. Too short but quite sweet. A real blast from the past that will please Rushaholics.

DVD 2 is Grace Under Pressure, another of the earlier concert performances of Rush running for about an hour with a lot of songs from "Grace Under Pressure" of course and it is nice to hear these. It begins with a glorious opening with The Spirit Of Radio, and a noticeable glowing effect on the band especially the white shirts, as if Vaseline had been rubbed on the lens. This is the 80s and this effect was prominent on film clips of artists such as Nik Kershaw and Dire Straits or Duran Duran. It looks kind of weird on Rush as they were never pretty video boys. Unfortunately the fuzzy effect is prevalent throughout the recording, and it kind of annoys me, especially the way the bright lights phase over constantly. Lifeson wears a white sports jacket looking like the mad scientist of metal, Peart has a white T and red cap that he loses later, and Lee wears grey suit jacket and white T. The hair dos are 80s personified; Peart has a rat tail, Lee has a mullet and Lifeson has a Flock of Seagulls quiff. Oh well, it is what it is. The music is brilliant.

The Enemy Within is rarely heard live but sparked my memory and it's a great song. The Weapon is always fantastic, one of my favourites, and it begins with a Dracula character on screen telling people to put on their 3D glasses. Witch Hunt begins with a screening of a bunch of cultists burning books with torches. It is a great song from "Moving Pictures" recently heard in the Time Machine concerts. Lee's vocals are excellent throughout and the guitars are incredible. New World Man is another one rarely heard live recently and it is OK though not one of the better tracks from "Signals". Synths are heard here though no one seems to be playing them, so I suspect some recorded music was used. It was the age of the video clip and a clip is shown of some animation and a boy looking up to see a huge airship in the sky. Distant Early Warning follows and it is a great song from GUP, that has become a concert favourite. The clip shows the boy riding a missile and the laser light show follows.

Red Sector A is an awesome song and I loved hearing it on this DVD again, with one of the strongest melodies of the Rush catalogue. The laser show looks great here. The lyrics by Lee are terrific and when Lee sings "smoking gun" a massive explosion goes off causing the crowd to roar. The lyrics are actually based on family experience and is a homage to his mother and father that survived the holocaust. Though Lee re wrote the lyrics to have a broader perspective that it may apply to any holocaust like situation such as Rwanda. Closer To The Heart is always a crowd pleaser and the crowd know it well enough to drown out some of Lee's vocals. There were no mobile phones back then but plenty of lighters go up in the air.

The obligatory medley is here with a terrific merging of some classics, YYZ, Temples Of Syrinx, and Tom Sawyer. During YYZ the crowd are obsessed with air drumming throughout. Tom Sawyer features the Moving Pictures animation on the screen. It is nice to hear Lee be able to reach those high notes too in the chorus.

Vital Signs is one I have not seen live on other concerts till the "Moving Pictures" live concerts of recent years. When Lee takes off his jacket his white T glows like the rest of the band's halos. It is a weird effect really and perhaps the worse part of the DVD. It ends with Finding My Way and In The Mood, from the earliest album. it is a great crowd participation song with the crowd visible throughout, a guy even lights up a pipe at one stage. Overall, this is a great snippet of songs from the Rush 80s years, worth checking out for certain even if for nostalgia if nothing else.

DVD 3 is A Show Of Hands, a 90 minutes concert experience and as such way better than the previous DVDs available, namely "Exit Stage Left" and "Grace Under Pressure". It is excellent also due to the use of animations on the big screen and the overall setlist. The songs are from "Hold Your Fire" mostly and I believe they are better heard live than on that album so that is a drawcard of this particular DVD. It also has a very solid quality sound throughout and the band look great and have heaps of fun. From "Hold Your Fire" the songs appear, Mission, Prime Mover, Force Ten, and Turn The Page so there is a lot from their latest at the time.

Closer To The Heart is always present of course along with quintessential Tom Sawyer, and The Spirit of Radio. I always love to hear the magnificent Red Sector A and hard rocking Force Ten, and it was great to see them play Mission, another one rarely heard live on these DVDs.

Marathon, Territories and The Big Money from "Power Windows" are good rockers for the crowd to get into. The drum solo by Peart is terrific, with his vibes section and patented cymbal jazz splashes along with some incredible triplet work though his drums are still stationary in this era, and not as many.

The concert ends with a brilliant medley 2112, The Temples Of Syrinx, La Villa Strangiato and In The Mood. Overall a strong concert, one of the best live documents of the band and worth getting hold of above the rest.

The Grace Under Pressure Bonus CD, is a previously unreleased audio from the newly remastered Grace Under Pressure concert soundtrack and it is a fantastic Rush sound.

"Replay x3" is definitely worth getting as it houses 3 very good concerts of the early years and these are only available now with this set released in 2006.

AtomicCrimsonRush Exit...Stage Left is a 1 hour concert from the early years or Rushtory when they had long hair, and features a strong setlist with the likes of Limelight, Tom Sawyer, and a rare appearance of the brilliant Xanadu. The usual suspects are here such as the wonderful Red Barchetta and quintessential Freewill along with lighters in the air stalwart crowd pleaser Closer To The Heart. It is always great to see them having fun with the instrumental YYZ and a real treat is to hear the medley at the end with By-Tor And The Snow Dog, In The End, In The Mood and 2112 edited together masterfully. The VHS or DVD delivers what it promises, Rush in their hey day with great quality sound and editing. The band look young of course and jump around a lot more and there were no signs of chicken rotisseries or clothes dryers back then, but a heck of a lot of lighting and laser effects more than makes up for it. The concert also comes with a lot of interview footage and voice overs between songs, and some footage of the band backstage while the songs play and that is a treat compared to the usual straight concert footage. Too short but quite sweet. A real blast from the past that will please Rushaholics.

AtomicCrimsonRush This 3 CD package is a great concert experience that I will return to often. Everything works - from the excellent sound quality to the crystal clear picture. The stage itself is massive and there are incredible lighting effects, lasers and fire effects. The 3 split screens at times show each band member, and sometimes a visual effect to enhance the track being played. There are weird Rush-ian gimmicks, namely the 3 huge ovens full of rotating chickens that glow ominous red throughout the night. There is no reference to these except Lee says at the end of CD1 that they are no longer spring chickens so they need to take a break. At one point a weird chef appears to turn the chickens over. Similar in fact to the washing machines with rotating clothes in the 'Live in Rio' show. Other subtler things are on stage such as flanks of flowers around microphones, plastic dinosaurs around Lifeson's stacks and the piece de resistance is the miniature Stonehenge rock on Lee's keyboards - a nod in Spinal Tap's direction for sure. We see crowd shots and Lee takes home movies of them screaming Hello Canada - in fact we see many versions of him doing this from other shows. Peart is featured with a sizzling drum solo that is well above what normally occurs in solos. He uses gamelon style blocks and sound effect drums to enhance the solo and his kit rotates to add depth. I love when the jazz band kicks in and he plays full blown jazz metrical patterns - there is a standing ovation after this.

There are no lengthy lead solo sections where Lifeson plays by himself but there is a nice acoustic piece following the drum solo. Lifeson effortlessly plays all the songs with precision and finesse. Surely one of the greatest guitarists in the world.

Lee's vocals are excellent and as clear as ever. His bass pounds on every track. I noted its all mostly hard rock on this live show. The band play old favourites that every Rush fan adores such as 'Spirit of Radio' and 'Tom Sawyer' but they focus on 'Snakes and Arrows' album, virtually playing every song. This could have been problematic but I find these live versions even better than the studio versions. I was never a huge fan of S&A but this live concert really brings something special to these tracks. I like the film clips that break up the songs such as South Park's Cartman singing Tom Sawyer and the weird clips of babies in prams and a game of snakes and ladders.

The bonus features are fun, such as watching the clips without the band shots and the making of the clips which show Rush at their kookiest. Some of the extra live tracks are great too so overall this is a must see for any Rush fan. I recommend this as well as 'Live IN Rio' which are completely different experiences. This is not as good as 'Rio' due to the set list, but it is still a fantastic DVD package.