• Main
  • Fiction
    • Going Back
      • One Hour Before
      • One week before
      • June 1978 – an extract from Going Back
    • Shore Leave
      • Shore Leave – an extract
    • A Little Bird Told Me
    • The Tip Run
    • Damnation’s Cellar
    • Tender Blue
    • The Flyer
    • Middletown Dreams
    • Morningside Crescent – an extract
  • Non Fiction
    • Dear Friends
    • 50 Musical Memories
    • Rediscovering Rush Intro
      • Rediscovering Rush
    • Left-handed under the Iron Curtain
    • Let’s do the show right here…
    • Home away from home – Alba
  • About
  • Blog
  • The 60at60 index
  • Mastodon
Richard Watt

Rediscovering Rush – All the World’s a Stage III

Posted on October 14, 2005 by Richard

By-Tor and the Snow Dog

OK, so from a technical point of view, how do they do all those effects?  At times it sounds like there are about 8 people up on that stage, and this all sounds pretty sophisticated for 1976.  I guess it’s actually normal for that time – this is the era of Prog, after all, but it still sounds pretty accomplished from here.  The live version of this is just as riveting as the original, and appears to have even more drums on it, if such a thing were possible.

In The End

I had actually forgotten this was on here. By now Geddy’s voice is sounding a little mellower – feeling the effects of an evening at full stretch, perhaps?  The introduction is positively laid-back, and then – “One, two, buckle my shoe”  – it’s on with the main event.  Now, this is definitely slower than the recorded version.  It sounds pretty menacing in places – and long, too.  A bit of a tour de force, this – I think I prefer it to the original.

Working Man / Finding My Way

We must be nearing the end, now – round things off with a couple of old favourites which they can play in their sleep by now.  Amazing to listen to the drums on this now – Neil’s playing takes this into another league – much more of a showcase for the whole band than just a guitar workout.  The instrumental passage is bubbling along nicely, then falls over the edge of a cliff into ‘Finding My Way’ – neatly done, and so is the climb back up into ‘Working Man’.  It all fits together really well, and just when you thought it was all over…

…”Ladies and Gentlemen, The Professor on the drumkit”.  I remember the first time I heard this; I was (and remain) blown away – every band has to allow the drummer a solo, none – I mean none – of them come even close to this for musicality and sheer joy of playing.  I keep expecting to hear blasts of horn, but this early version of the classic Peart solo has everything else, including the seeming ability to play four different rhythms at once.  Short, sharp and to the point, this leaves us wanting more (but then, all Neil’s solos leave me wanting more…)

Thank you.  Goodnight (then of course there’s an encore):

What You’re Doing

Yes, we’d like a little more, thanks – a quick blast through what now sounds like an old blues standard, and it’s all over, bar the offstage noises, which make me laugh out loud, because I’d completely forgotten about them.

Summary:

That was a blast – haven’t heard it in ages, but it’s a real snapshot of the time; halfway between gigging out of the back of a van, and full-length stadium tours, the guys have all the stagecraft, and seem to be really enjoying their day jobs.  Incidentally, I know it’s traditional to see this as the punctuation between phase one and phase two of the Rush career, but I tend to see Rush studio albums in groups of three, so this comes a third of the way through phase 2 for me – I can hear a difference between the ‘2112’ tracks and the others – but either way you look at it, this is a great live album – one of the best.

Posted in Rediscovering Rush | Tags: alexlifeson, alltheworldsastage, geddylee, neilpeart, RediscoveringRush, rush |
« Rediscovering Rush – All the World’s a Stage II
Rediscovering Rush – All the World’s a Stage IV »

Richard Watt

  • About
  • Home page

Archives

  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • December 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2016
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • December 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • March 2009
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005

Categories

  • 50 Musical Memories
  • 60at60
  • Beatles
  • Book Reviews
  • Dear Friends
  • Music
  • Pink Floyd
  • Rediscovering Rush
  • Shore Leave
  • Tangents
  • Work in Progress
  • Writing

Categories

CyberChimps WordPress Themes

© Richard Watt