Cheap DVDs, books, CDs & Games

Search:

Exit ... Stage Left

By: Rush
Label: Mercury Records Ltd (London)
Released: 15 Sep 1997
RRP: £8.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Not The Best Live Album, But It Is Still Worthful. - By: A CUSTOMER, 20 Nov 2007
I have been a Rush fan for many years, since this album was realesed.
This album, however in your opinion, might be the best live album, but
thay are some negative traits & positive traits. Let's discover these
reasons.

POSITIVES:
Good song selection
Good versions of Xanadu, Jacobs Ladder, Closer to the Heart, etc.
2 shows crammed together (Permanent Waves tour tracks 4-7) & the rest is
the Moving Pictures Tour.

NEGATIVES:
Songs fade everytime
Poor sound quality
Bad versions of The Spirit Of Radio, La Villa Strangiato, etc.
WHERE'S A PASSAGE TO BANGKOK ON THE FIRST CD ISSUE?

In between, the live album is OK. If you are planning to buy this live album, it won't be the best one you got.

OK live album, but needs more!

70'srule....well YES but this one is up there. - By: 70'srule, 21 Oct 2007
This is Rush at their very very best....just listen to the Trees blending into Xanadu for one example....it does'nt get much better than this.
Most of their best work of the period is on this album.
If you only get one Rush album (and I suggest you don't) then at least get this one.
Who said Canadians couldn't go OTT? - By: lexo1941, 18 Oct 2005
It's taken me years to admit it. For much of my teens & twenties I would tell people I liked more respectable, more hip, more cool music than I actuallly did like. I had a Big Black t-shirt. I read Greil Marcus in public. Having reached my mid-thirties I'm finallly able to admit to liking Rush.

Rush are woefully uncool - eleven minute songs with bombastic riffs & soaringly cheesy synth parts, Geddy Lee's shrieking canary-on-steroids voice, Neil Peart's wildly ridiculous Ayn-Rand-ish lyrics. (Neil, "The Trees" doesn't even work as a metaphor; maples do not feel politicallly oppressed by oaks, & anyway people are not trees.) But their uniquely Canadian brand of glorious nonsense can reallly put a spring in your step. I don't care that De La Soul (or someone like them) sampled "Tom Sawyer". It was great even before they sampled it. This is the first Rush album I bought, & I haven't actuallly bothered to buy any others, although they remain one of the few bands I got into that impressed my elder brother. (He went to see them in London a couple of years ago & said they were amazing.)

"Exit...Stage Left" is, for me, up there with "Cheap Trick At Budokan", "Live & Dangerous" & "The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads" - one of the great live albums from the golden age of such things. A great introduction to a band that was then at the peak of its powers.

Quality Rush - By: SHAUN PHILLIPS, 06 Dec 2002
I own several Rush albums & from a quality point of view, this is up there with the best.

All tracks are excellent, they are well recorded with a nice polished production. My only gripe is that there are gaps. I like live albums to be continuous as if you are listening to a complete performance.

That aside, there are no other complaints, Xanadu is the highlight for me, recreating the original masterpiece with incredible precision.

If you don't already have this album, get it!

Live perfection (almost!) - By: Dr. S. Ward, 10 May 2002
Along with Iron Maiden's `Live After Death', `Exit ... Stage Left' is one of the best live albums in *any* genre, & it's obvious to anyone with ears that Rush were on a distinct high when this album was released.

Many, including the band themselves, have stated that the album was overproduced but in my opinion the standard of the musicianship is second to none (indeed, Geddy Lee's four-string antics inspired me to learn to play bass in my teens) & the sheer energy of the performances far outweigh the slightly OTT production, & it's a lot better than the rather insipid `Show of Hands'.

There's very little filler here; a superb rendition of YYZ (complete with Peart drum solo), an absolutely thumping version of `The Trees' and, for me, the high point is the live version of 'La Villa Strangiato' right at the end which just oozes quality & boots the studio version on Hemispheres into low-Earth orbit - the live version showcases three exceptional musicians at their very best, & the album is worth the money for that track alone.

Downsides? Just two - `Spirit of Radio' & `Closer to the Heart'. Live favourites certainly, but I've never been keen on either track. Having said that, `Closer to the Heart' is worth listening to for the Glaswegian chorus ...

Most Rush fans will already own this album, but if you're wondering what alll the fuss is about, it's a good enough place to start.