RETROSPECTIVE II (1981-1987)

I love Rush and the 70's. I hate the 80's and their keyboards.

I don't own any Rush album from Signals to Hold your Fire and this collection made me the happy favour of putting together the best from those four albums. After hearing them a couple of times it just made stronger my view of that decade (from where I belong as a child - early teen) as probably the worst for pop music - or at least the music that I like.

All these 4 albums have good tracks worth of the Rush name but they are pale when compared to the work the band created between 1974 and 1981. And from Presto onwards, thanks God, the synths were put on a box (most of times) and we all had a better and stronger Rush back.

These considerations make this compilation a good purchase for those who love Rush but can't get along with New Wave like myself but the albums mixed here - apart MP, of course - probably represent the low point in their career. The commercial tactics of linking the Moving Pictures tracks to this selection makes sense because if Tom Sawier or Limelight were not here the newbies that are the target of this kind of package would run like the devil from Retro-II.

I recognize the excellence of Subdivisions, maybe the only track from the 4 albums I mentioned on pair with their previous work. But things like The Body Electric proves that our comrades are as human as we are and can do a lot of sh... too.

3 stars.