Another box set.
Oh joy.
The Rush box sets ceased filling my shelves sometime ago. And the newly released Rush R50 50th anniversary box set will not take up any space.
You see the price of this thing?
Oh sure, you can always downgrade for something a bit more affordable but for what reason? Most of the 50 songs on R50 you have already. The estate did include a bunch of live cuts, again, you can find them on various recordings and perhaps the gem of this 50th anniversary R50 box set sits last on this 50 song set list. The final song(s) of the final show. Owning that on plastic worth a couple hundred bucks?
Not one of the box sets gracing my shelves have been opened since they were first opened. The last one, Hemispheres, I’m fairly certain I purchased just for the review factor. Read here. Funnily enough, many of the 40th anniversary releases now round the corner on 50 years. Will 2112 get another release for 50 years next year?
OK, Signals was actually pretty cool with the picture disc though little else was offered. But hey, what happened to Grace Under Pressure and now also this year the Power Windows 40th anniversary re-release? Hmm, maybe the guys at work should have kept those recordings of songs left off albums. Would love to hear those tracks that almost made Test for Echo a double album. I bet many in Rush fandom have no idea about that.
Here’s an idea. How about releasing the final show both on CD and DVD?
Here’s an even better idea! How about Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson make some music together? Yes, as Rush. They started without Neil Peart thus the two can continue and end without Peart.
Lifeson didn’t play for a year after Peart died in January 2020 and commented afterwards that he had wasted that time not playing. Will Lee and Lifeson eventually feel the same by not moving their jamming sessions at Lee’s house into the studio?
Hey guys, the 70s are the new 50s and many of your peers prove as much. Paul McCartney told you to get out and tour! I saw Styx earlier this month and they sound just as good as the last time – more than 10 years ago!
Enough with the book expedition. I haven’t even finished Lee’s memoirs. Stopped after the gripping chapter on the holocaust as I hesitate to dive into a period of time covering tours I missed and tours I attended. The passage of time can make one’s head spin, long for the past and realize children grow up and old friends grow older.
And good for Lifeson for stretching his wings a bit with Envy of None but it ain’t Rush and it ain’t Lifeson. The debut was good but, well, the sophomore release Stygian Wavz comes out a week from today, and the first single was a bit forgettable. OK, admittedly, the following two tracks dropped in recent months take it up a notch.
Though short, time remains. A Lee and Lifeson album and or, at the very least, some type of tour honoring the legacy of Rush as Rush offers a more far-reaching impact than any of these anniversary box sets. Rush at the Sphere? That would be something. Expensive too.
The R50 box set in its many forms more than likely surpasses all expectations. Lots of memorabilia stuffed inside and a bunch of out of print or at least hard to find early and live recordings but, really, adding that to my shelf simply because Rush released it does me no favors.
Listen. For those of us whose lives Rush greatly impacted and provided the soundtrack of our lives, we never got to grieve Peart’s death. Sure, we did on our own but when a friend dies, even a friend we never met, it helps to be around others who were friends with and, in some cases, family, with those who have passed.
And none of us got that chance.
Grade: Probably an A-
Grade if R50 included “Everyday Glory”: A+
Note: Baby steps I guess. I tried calling it a day for this site in 2022, then last year, but still wrote a couple of reviews in 2024. But since Rush was a big reason for me starting Drew’s Reviews it makes most sense to end with Rush taking the final post. Hopefully…
Thank yooouuu very much! I do hope to see you sometime again in the future.
