ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE

This album holds a special place in my collection for being my first ever taste of progressive rock and as the introduction to, what is now a permanent member of my top 5 favourite bands list, Rush. This is the first live album for Rush and they did a good job selecting the songs; they are a good representative of the first four albums. There are at least 2 songs from each previous studio album on this live album.This album holds my favourite versions of the songs on this album.

This album (and the next few live albums) is a bookend for the sound Rush was making at that time. After this album they would go into their true progressive rock sound before moving on from there after the next live album.

Rush sounds better on a live recording than on the studio recordings. This is because the live versions of songs have energy put behind the music, something that cannot be wholly produced in a studio.There are two great medleys on this album; Fly By Night/In The Mood and Working Man/Finding My Way, the latter having a four minute drum solo from Peart.

This album is a great introduction for Rush for classic rock fans. It entices you with the hard rock of Bastille Day and Something For Nothing while feeding you prog with 2112 and By-Tor and the Snow Dog.

Overall this album is very enticing. It gives you Rush at the start of their peak prog period while not overloading the listener with too many long songs. The only thing that can put people off is Geddy's voice, but that always takes some getting used to no matter what album Rush album you are listening to. 4/5 stars from me for being my introduction to Rush and prog, and also because I feel it is a good representative of the band's sound on the first four albums.