Another Little Victory
Where the hell do you start with a band like Rush. One of my fave bands of all time, I came to their party mid season, starting with ‘Hemispheres’ as my first ever purchase. In that time (28 years in Chesy years) I have worked out that this must be their sixth live offering. Apart from Pearl Jam who issued every single gig a few years back as a live cd, this must be some kind of record. They are keeping them (the live stuff) coming thick and fast. Since the turn of the new Millenium we have had ‘Live In Rio’, ‘30’ and now ‘S&A Live’ in various formats.
As usual the Canadian rockers output is exemplary. ‘Snakes & Arrows Live’ covers all of the bases when it comes to back catalogue highlights. Interesting info • the album was produced by a certain Richard Chycki (he used to have his own band ‘Winter Rose’, with a certain Jimmy The Cheese (James LaBrie) on vocals) who is a frequent collaborator to the Rush bandwagon.
‘Snakes & Arrows Live,‘ was recorded last October at the Netherlands’ Ahoy Rotterdam Arena during their lengthy world tour, which I add they are still on!
As usual their standard of playing is nothing short of impeccable and stunning. I’ve never been quite sure as to how a three piece can be as good as Rush are. There are a whopping nine songs taken from the Snakes and Arrows studio album, together with enough songs to please the long standing fanatics (Limelight, Freewill, Tom Sawyer etc) and the more technically demanding fanatic (Entre Nous, Natural Science, YYZ) . Geddy’s vocal range has changed a little to suit his age (lets face it who can wail like they did in their 20’s) and doesn’t disappoint as he’s still brilliant. Alex plays as good as ever, and Neil...well there’s only one Neil Peart. The cd does have Neil’s drum solo, and drum solo’s don’t always come across too well on a live offering, but its still good stuff (you had to see it to believe it!). The sound recording is excellent, and minus one or two clips from the show, its the full musical experience. Although if there was a DVD on offer I’d buy it just for ‘Lil Rush’s version of Tom Sawyer, ‘and a one, two, three...’
In summary another live album, giving another excellent live performance, and is a worthy addition to the ever expanding Rush catalogue. Keep ‘em coming guys!