"one of my favorite live albums"

I think "Exit" was the first or second live album I ever purchased,and it's a very well played live album.I think "La Villa Strangiato","The Spirit of Radio","Xanadu",and "Passage to Bangkok come off very well,in my opinion.I have one problem with the album,which is the song selection.I think that they should have left "JACOB'S LADDER" off the album,and replaced it with "ENTRE NOUS" and "DIFFERENT STRINGS".Those two songs last almost exactly the same time as "JACOB'S LADDER".I have never really liked that song for some reason.I also think that they should have originally made it a 3-record set,instead of two.Then they would have covered most of their good material.This sound's a lot more smooth and refined,when compared to their previous live album "ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE".But aside from those objections,I think this is a "must have for anyone who is thinking about getting into RUSH".

Great live set.

Rush habitually ends every four album cycle with a live album, "Exit... Stage Left" is the live album following "Moving Pictures". Its interesting, given this habit, to compare the band's growth over the years and how they've changed as live performers. Featuring three songs each from "Moving Pictures" and "Permanent Waves", two from "A Farewell to Kings" and "Hemispheres", and one each from "2112" and "Fly By Night" (and one new song), this set is a good mixture of material by the band.



The performance is top notch-- by this point, Rush were so good at playing-- and more importantly playing TOGETHER-- that their shows had begun reaching an extraordinary level of quality. Of particular note are great readings of "YYZ" (with drum solo), "Jacob's Ladder", and "Xanadu".



The new track on here, "Broon's Bane", is a solo guitar piece by Alex Lifeson, and is its only release. The "bonus track" referred to on this album is actually "A Passage to Bangkok", which was not included on previous CD releases.



Comparing this to "All the World's A Stage" (released after "2112"), its interesting to hear both the evolution of material and performance-- gone are any vestiges of the sort of bad rock lyrics evident on "All the World's a Stage", gone are the noisy metal guitars, replaced with more focused distortion. Add to that the band being much tighter, a sense of subtlety in all the playing, particularly Peart's, and Lee's voice gaining a self-assured and relaxed quality (as opposed to his tense screaming on the last album) and you have a night-and-day comparison. The older songs in particular probably best show this off-- even the crunching intro to "A Passage to Bangkok" sounds positively polished in comparison to its original reading and anything on the last album.



Really this leads to the one possible complaint-- the band's performance is so top notch, so well honed, that there's almost a lack of expressiveness in some performances that so perfectly duplicate the studio albums.



Nonetheless, this is a great live album, and recommended for any Rush fan. If you're curious about the band, start with "Permanent Waves", "Moving Pictures", or maybe "Signals", then come back for this one.

The best from Rush... and it's live.

Exit...Stage Left represents Rush in one of its most creative times. The list of songs represents a lot of the most reconizable music Rush has put out. It's a good introduction to Rush.