EXIT... STAGE LEFT

It is a very special album for me, for one simple reason, and im going to be honest with you, 3 years ago i used to dislike Rush, a couple of friends of mine were so excited with Rush, i simply didnt understand why, i dont like it at all, but suddenly, i listened to Exit.. Stage Left, a song with nice bass lines caught my attention, it was YYZ, but it only caught my attention for some minutes and i said, well, that sounds great. Then a second chance, again that powerful song with nice bass lines, but i wasnt really interested in the whole album and in the band. After all i think i listened to it at least 5 times and nothing changed, but mysteriously i put it in my CD Walkman, i listened to it more carefully than the other times and i said, wow!, what the hell was i thinking?, i immediately started to lear to play YYZ in my bass.

Is rare that a live album has caught my attention first than a studio , but with Rush it was the way ,so i listened to it more and more times, until now that i love it and im thankful with it , because it openned the door for my Rush`love, now i cant live without it and without Hemispheres and without A Farewell to Kings.

This is a great album, Spirit of the Radio is a nice song with great guitar and powerful drums, in fact all the albm has powerful drums, we know Neil Peart`s superbly, Red Barchetta is a nice song, not the best but good to hear it , then YYZ, what a great song, i love the most this version than in Moving Pictures, here in the middle of the song is a great drums solo, but i love Geddys bass playing, he is a monster, he has a particular way to play bass and it sound great, there are so many great bass lines, and also he is the singer, i was amazed with that, because he can play bass and sing at the same time very well, also he plays mini moog, wow! but returning, to YYZ, what a great song, and Alex Lifeson has too an incredible guitar sound, more hard edged.

Closer to the Heart is maybe the poppish song, is that song that everybody wnats to sing, and its good why not, i think in this concert they made an excellent track list, all the songs are in the best place, Jacobs Ladder is another excellent song, one of the best points of this concert i think, i like it so much because its softer and with a calmed guitar sound , but suddenly a great and powerful sound. And then, another great but great song is Xanadu, i get excited every time i listen to it, it has a beautiful calmed and atmospherical introduction that makes your skin colder, then Lifeson`s guitar preparing us to the exquisite sound and great time and tempo changes in this song, it is maybe the highest moment of the album.

But thats not the end, Freewill and Tom Sawyer were played too, a couple of popular and nice songs, after that, the last track, that incredible masterpiece called "La Villa Strangiato", what a truly masterpiece, actually that is my favorite song of Rush, in this case i love the most stiduo version in Hemispheres, because here the intro is not with gacoustic guitar, is with a powerful electric guitar, it sounds good but i prefer the other intro, anyway , the performance of this song is awesome, maybe the proggiest of the songs in this album, with so many changes and not only changes, but what a genial changes, the perfect song to ends this great album, now that i like Rush, i would prefered instead of Freewill maybe Limelight or The Camera Eye, and why not excerpts of 2112, and for this reason i think this album doesnt deserves to be a 5 star album, i love it and i highly recommend it to you.

Great!

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