Canada’s Rush has had no problem getting their name in the news during the last decade with a constant push of either back catalog material in various forms of greatest hits releases, live CD packages, cover albums, tours, appearing on The Colbert Report, The Trailer Park Boys, and making a performance cameo in the film “I Love You, Man”, as well as even having their song “Limelight” appear in a Pepsi commercial.
Even in the midst of just that short list there were 3 books penned by lyricist/drummer Neil Peart, a drum solo instructional DVD from the master percussionist, a DVD on Peart’s recording and re-arrangement of “The Hockey Night in Canada” theme song (which is only 2nd to O’Canada as far as national anthems are concerned), and Peart even found time to play on the latest release from 90s rockers Vertical Horizon.
So where is the new original music you ask?
Well…it’s here…kinda…sorta…tucked between older songs in a set list that has been seen and heard for the most part on the last five or six Rush tours.
“BU2B” and “Caravan” are two tracks coming from the forever delayed “Clockwork Angels” album that Rush actually began work on in late 2009 and are featured in live performances on the brand new “Time Machine: Live in Cleveland” package due in stores on November 8th.
Rush has managed to squeeze out all of TWO original complete records since 2002 with “Vapor Trails” and 2007’s “Snakes & Arrows”. Combine those records with “BU2B” and “Caravan” and you have an entire decade that has seen Rush release 28 new songs in total.
A big difference compared to the previous out put from the band over their career…and it shows.
Rush is given a pass for the absence of new music from 98 through 2002 due to the tragedies that consumed Peart’s life. Fans were thrilled to have the band back performing in any respect by the time they returned to the studio and then the road finishing with the epic final night of the tour which is documented in their “Rush In Rio” DVD set.
But watching “Time Machine” becomes a bit of a “been here, seen that” to say the least. When one views the set list of the tour and finds that yes “The Spirit of Radio” is on ANOTHER DVD, so is “Tom Sawyer”, “Red Barchetta”, “YYZ”, “Limelight”, “Witch Hunt”, “Vital Signs”, “2112”, “Working Man”, “La Villa Strangiato”, “Leave That Thing Alone”, “Marathon”, “Subdivisions”, “Working Them Angels”, “Closer To The Heart”, “Far Cry”…yep…all here…AGAIN.
I get it. They were out there doing an anniversary for their release of 1981’s “Moving Pictures” which spawned off 4 or 5 radio staples, so they pulled out the always absent but yet always requested ” The Camera Eye”, so they could say the magic words of marketing “Moving Pictures In Its Entirety”.
Ahhh…music to the ears of promoters everywhere of course.
Truth be told…Rush has been playing all of “Moving Pictures” sans “The Camera Eye” forever. A true “time machine” would have had Rush breaking out much deeper gems and songs that the hardcore base has been begging decades for instead of giving a show of songs that for the most part have been part of every tour they have done for the last 20 years.
A nugget is tossed in early with the return of “Time Stand Still”, which used to be a concert staple until shelved after 1994’s “Counterparts” tour. Also, Rush brought out the title track to their 1989 release “Presto” and “Stick It Out” last played in 1997, as well as the “We left this off our last tour because we played nine songs from the record so here is a tenth….”Faithless”…it’s one of our faves.”
Rush does deliver as usual…no doubt about that. The light show is stunning in HD although it does feel that the band has taken a few steps back with regards to presentation. Rush used to be one of those bands who was on the cutting edge of lighting, lasers, and presentation. Today, bands like Tool and Nine Inch Nails (see their Lights tour) have become bigger spectacles in the presentation department.
While it is nice to have a recorded document of the last Rush tour to own, it really felt more like an “R:36″ tour more than any kind of “Time Machine”…and they know it.
Let’s hope the R:40 tour will provide fans with a set list that is given more thought than a feeling of a cash grab. We are blessed to still have these 3 guys playing for us every summer, but we need some new material and a new set list boys…and soon.