EVERYTHING YOUR LISTENERS WANTED TO HEAR BY RUSH... BUT WERE AFRAID TO PLAY

The answer is: a bland collector's item. If you make a living off of collecting rare Prog releases simply for the sake of 'owning' them and having the satisfaction of having something that not many people have, then look out for this. However, it's not in massive stock, so it'll probably be worth a good bit more than a regular Rush CD. The question is however, why the hell would anyone buy this save to decorate their mantlepiece? This is a compilation of tracks from the first three albums ('Fly By Night,' 'Caress Of Steel,' and '2112') and it isn't even that great of a compilation to begin with. For starters, I definately wouldn't try to earn new fans by playing them a mediocre track like 'Best I Can.' And the fact that epics are diced up here is irritating, although the selections from the epics they use are pretty good.

I can't even say this is a fan's item, because if you're a fan, it would be so much better to simply buy the three actual albums. You get much more music, and get to experience the albums as a whole. This could technically be a 'Collectors Only' item (which is characterized as being a two star rating, technically) but as a collector, why not buy something that's worth listening to? And even if you're a collector who doesn't open the wrapping, and just likes to 'look' at them, what's there really to look at? There isn't even any album art!

There's really no point in buying this unless you really live, breathe, and bleed Rush. Otherwise, this is something that should be steered away from.