Rush may be Canadian, but the classic rock trio has the perfect soundtrack for your Thanksgiving! On November 21, Universal Music Enterprises will follow their acclaimed reissue earlier this year of 1981’s Moving Pictures with the release of three separate six-disc box sets. Collecting the entire Rush output between 1974 and 1989, including both live and studio albums, the Rush Sector box sets span the entire historic Mercury Records tenure of Geddy Lee (bass, keyboard, vocals), Alex Lifeson (guitar) and Neil Peart (drummer). (John Rutsey drummed on Rush's eponymous Mercury debut.) Each 'Sector' contains five of their 15 Mercury albums in chronological order on compact disc. Every album has been freshly remastered, but the real attraction for many collectors will undoubtedly be in the inclusion in each box set of one title remixed into 5.1 surround.
In addition, each volume includes a new booklet containing photos, lyrics and credits. The surround titles will be presented in true high resolution 96 kHz/24-bit, 5.1 surround sound and stereo, compatible with both DVD-Audio players and DVD-Video players. Each individual album is packaged in a replica vinyl mini-jacket, with all three box sets forming a Rush CD road case.
The albums selected for the 5.1 treatment are Fly By Night (1975), A Farewell to Kings (1977) and Signals (1982). Based on the fine job of engineer Richard Chycki on the Moving Pictures surround mix, listeners equipped for 5.1 should be in for a treat. The inclusion of the albums as box set exclusives, though, may give some pause, as the trend is becoming more and more prevalent each year. (This year’s box set exclusive surround mixes include the quad albums of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, both from Pink Floyd, plus all of the surround components of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung and The Who’s Quadrophenia. James Guthrie’s 5.1 mix of Wish You Were Here will, however, be released as a stand-alone SACD.)
Hit the jump to rush into more information!
Sector 1 features the band in early flight, including Rush (1974), Fly By Night and Caress of Steel (both 1975), 2112 and All The World’s a Stage (both 1976). Sector 2 takes Rush through its biggest commercial and critical breakthroughs with Permanent Waves (1980) and Moving Pictures (1981) joined by A Farewell to Kings (1977), Hemispheres (1978) and Exit Stage Left (1981). Finally, Sector 3 brings together the final Mercury albums: Signals (1982), Grace Under Pressure (1984), Power Windows (1985), Hold Your Fire (1987) and A Show of Hands (1989). Rush, of course, followed its 15 years at Mercury with new commercial triumphs and a cannily updated sound at Atlantic; Audio Fidelity reissued the Atlantic smash Roll the Bones, from 1991, earlier in 2011.
The Sector boxes appear to roughly approximate the format of the acclaimed Genesis box sets, distributed in the U.S. by Rhino, which also collected the band’s complete works chronologically. What’s the major difference? Those boxes contained each and every album mixed into surround, whereas these only give the surround treatment to one album per box.
The three Rush Sector boxes hit stores on November 21 from Universal and Mercury. Full track listings and pre-order links follow!
Rush, Sector 1 (Mercury, 2011)
Rush (Mercury SRM-1-1011, 1974)
- Finding My Way
- Need Some Love
- Take a Friend
- Here Again
- What You’re Doing
- In the Mood
- Before and After
- Working Man
Fly by Night (Mercury SRM-1-1023, 1975)
- Anthem
- Best I Can
- Beneath, Between and Behind
- By-Tor and the Snow Dog
- Fly by Night
- Making Memories
- Rivendell
- In the End
Caress of Steel (Mercury SRM-1-1046, 1975)
- Bastille Day
- I Think I’m Going Bald
- Lakeside Park
- The Necromancer
- The Fountain of Lamneth
2112 (Mercury SRM-1-1079, 1976)
- 2112
- A Passage to Bangkok
- The Twilight Zone
- Lessons
- Tears
- Something for Nothing
All the World’s a Stage (Mercury SRM-2-7508, 1976)
- Bastille Day
- Anthem
- Fly by Night/In the Mood
- Something for Nothing
- Lakeside Park
- 2112
- By-Tor and the Snow Dog
- In the End
- Working Man/Finding My Way
- What You’re Doing
Rush, Sector 2 (Mercury, 2011)
A Farewell to Kings (Mercury SRM-1-1184, 1977)
- A Farewell to Kings
- Xanadu
- Closer to the Heart
- Cinderella Man
- Madigral
- Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage
Hemispheres (Mercury SRM-1-3743, 1978)
- Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres
- Circumstances
- The Trees
- La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise in Self-Indulgence)
Permanent Waves (Mercury SRM-1-4001, 1981)
- The Spirit of Radio
- Freewill
- Jacob’s Ladder
- Entre Nous
- Different Strings
- Natural Science
Moving Pictures (Mercury SRM-1-4013, 1981)
- Tom Sawyer
- Red Barchetta
- YYZ
- Limelight
- The Camera Eye
- Witch Hunt
- Vital Signs
Exit…Stage Left (Mercury SRM-2-7001, 1981)
- The Spirit of Radio
- Red Barchetta
- YYZ
- A Passage to Bangkok
- Closer to the Heart
- Beneath, Between and Beyond
- Jacob’s Ladder
- Broon’s Bane
- The Trees
- Xanadu
- Freewill
- Tom Sawyer
- La Villa Strangiato
Rush, Sector 3 (Mercury, 2011)
Signals (Mercury SRM-1-4063, 1982)
- Subdivisions
- The Analog Kid
- Chemistry
- Digital Man
- The Weapon
- New World Man
- Losing It
- Countdown
Grace Under Pressure (Mercury 818-476-1, 1984)
- Distant Early Warning
- Afterimage
- Red Sector A
- The Enemy Within
- The Body Electric
- Kid Gloves
- Red Lenses
- Between the Wheels
Power Windows (Mercury 826-098-1, 1985)
- The Big Money
- Grand Designs
- Manhattan Project
- Marathon
- Territories
- Middletown Dreams
- Emotion Detector
- Mystic Rhythms
Hold Your Fire (Mercury 832-464-1, 1987)
- Force Ten
- Time Stand Still
- Open Secrets
- Second Nature
- Prime Mover
- Lock and Key
- Mission
- Turn the Page
- Tai Shan
- High Water
A Show of Hands (Mercury 836 346-1/2/4, 1989)
- Intro
- The Big Money
- Subdivisions
- Marathon
- Turn the Page
- Manhattan Project
- Mission
- Distant Early Warning
- Mystic Rhythms
- Witch Hunt
- The Rhythm Method
- Force Ten
- Time Stand Still
- Red Sector A
- Closer to the Heart
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I can't believe they are only doing one album each in 5.1, and when 2112 isn't one of the albums receiving the 5.1, it is just insulting to us Rush fans.
How in the hell do they do "Fly By Night" and not "2112" (not that I don't like FBN but come on, it's a no brainer).
Other than that ... COOL!!!!
Any choice on whether DVD or bluray?
Wonder if the 5.1 mixes will become available on their own down the road.
There are already DVDs for both 2112 & Moving Pictures, which would be my best guess. So they've added a DVD that doesn't exist, which as a serious Rush fan, I'm happy about. Otherwise, I'd have the same feelings. Cheers.
My guess is that they are more than likely holding a 5.1 mix of 2112 back for some kind of standalone deluxe edition of that album.
Good call Hank. You almost sound like someone else I know (LOL).
No bonus tracks? That's really disappointing. I wish they had included live tracks and B-sides with each album, or at the very least made that the bonus disc.
I agree! One B-side I would like to see is the live version of Vital Signs which was on the New World Man Single. It would have been also great to see the alternate version of Working Man which is only available as an iTunes download.
Gonna hold out on this one. I just bought several of the first remasters which sound quite excellent and the blu ray of MP. Record companies stop trying to sneak in that extra on the price selling us an extra copy, knowing most of us big fans bought MP. If this followed the genesis pattern, each had 5.1 plus 1 rarities disc, I'd be all in. Hey warner! Heres your chance to shine on a later years box!
Nitpick alert: track 3 on Exit Stage Left is YYZ, not XYZ.
To be honest, there aren't that many rarities in the Rush vault, at least not that the band is willing to release. Most of their b-sides were live tracks. Then there's a remix of "Tom Sawyer" from the Small Soldiers soundtrack, and... that's about it, right?
"Take Off (To The Great White North)" SC-TV; "Battlescar" with Max Webster (Pye Dubois), and yea, there are a few other songs that would've been an interesting addition to the vaults - Lifeson performs some special guest solos for an obscure '80s Canuck glam-rock band as well as the newer prog-everything Porcupine Tree (though on Road-Runner)... They could've added a song each for Vitctor (Lerxst) & My Fave Headache (Dirk) as well as a Burning For Buddy w/ Pratt...
No true B-Sides, other than the Live Tracks as you mentioned, like "Vital Signs" backing Tom Sawyer...
But there are some other rare gems. Neil's great poetry-driven drum solo on "Guns" (+ 2 others) w/ the Canadian band Rheostatics. Neil w/ Jeff Berlin on Champions. The extremely rare "Pieces of Eight" - Modern Drummer Soundsheet, 1987 (& a similar rarity w/ Alex playing acoustic for Guitar Mag). I know there's others I cannot think of at the moment, which could make at least 1 complete CD or a very interesting DVD. All the rest... Cheers!
That's not the only difference between the Genesis boxes and these...the Genesis boxes feature HORRIBLY REMIXED (dare I say mutilated) stereo versions on the CDs. These appear to be the original mixes. Wish Genesis gave us that option.
With no extra songs, I'm already losing interest. I'll stick with the mid-1990's remasters instead.
Those at least restored the missing CD tracks from All The World's... and Exit Stage Left.
Rush remasters are rapidly approaching wallet-rape status. Most of us are now in the 3rd incarnation of this material (orginal album, original CD, remastered CD, now this...) Even at discount rates, I don't know if I'm willing to shell out another $150 or so for these albums...yet again. My hearing nowadays doesn't appreciate the subtleties of 5.1 mixes anyhow. I remember being excited to hear the fingers sliding along on the frets when the CDs first hit the market, though 🙂
Actually, I only got the second versions, never bothered with any of the first batch of Mercury CD's except Chronicles - LOL!!
I am already in the world of Blu-Ray Audio, and I expected Rush to continue with more releases in 5.1 on Blu-Ray. This is a definite disappointment, and especially to bundle the DVD-Audio discs with CD's. Marketing makes it sound fantastic that the transfer was done at 96k/24bit, but then shafts me with a CD which has less than half the resolution.