A FAREWELL TO KINGS (40TH ANNIVERSARY)

A Farewell To Kings is already an excellent album which almost all Rush fans will already be highly familiar with, but even Rush listeners of long standing may find something exciting here in the form of a complete live set from the Hammersmith Odeon in 1978. This is the same show which a 1CD abridged version of was put out on Different Stages, but that version is missing the performances of Lakeside Park, Closer To the Heart, and most particularly 2112 that this offers.

There's also a Neal Peart drum solo in between In the Mood and Cinderella Man; usually, I'm not much one for drum solos, but we all know that Neal was far from your usual drummer and his prowess there actually holds my interest to an extent few of his peers manage. In all, the restored material accounts for some 34 minutes of the live set (2112 accounting for a bit over half of that), with the result that this is much more complete than the Different Stages version, and considering the material that was cut I think this is preferable. A few other bonuses are provided, but it's really that live show that adds extra interest here.