SNAKES & ARROWS LIVE

As much as I love, adore, marvel, am energized by, and [insert gushing verb here] RUSH-- this new live album is about as unnecessary an entry into their catalogue as one can imagine; it offers the same-old- same-old live sound we've heard on their previous 3 (!) concert offerings, and in most cases is not as good as any of those.

It isn't that Snakes and Arrows Live is a bad recording. The band is a finely tuned music machine, precise and earnest in their delivery which only gets better with age; however, there is just something about this album which doesn't sit well with me.

It's not the group's playing, nor the set list: It's the lack of energy I felt throughout most of the songs-- something which was positively overflowing on Different Stages/Rush in RIO. Although Geddy plays his bass with surgical precision, his voice is disappointingly bland throughout, which seems to suck the life out of the tunes. Neil gets a new drum solo in here, but otherwise he and Alex sound like their running through the motions. Listeners coming from the group's other live albums will notice the difference immediately.

Moreover, releasing ANOTHER live album so shortly after the previous 3 (with only 2 new albums in between) makes Snakes and Arrows Live an exercise is redundancy. I would much rather the band invest their energy into making new music than on this incessant touring and concert releases.

I don't want to discourage RUSH fans from checking this one out-- especially those who dig the new album- - but for those newly investigating the band's live library I highly recommend that they NOT start with this one; it simply isn't as exciting or impressive as the other options.

3 stars for quality...

... but knocked down to 2 because of ethics. Get back to the studio, guys!

Setlist 3 Instrumental Performances 4 Stage Energy 2 Live Experience 2