In an age where even the most pathetic band or artist can get a
\n“greatest hits” compilation moments after reaching the top of the
\ncharts (and subsequently flaming out), it’s almost unbelievable
\nthat the Canadian hard-rock trio Rush didn’t get a best-of until
\nthey changed labels from Mercury to Atlantic in 1989. Of course,
\nnow you can’t turn a corner without being offered some new
\nvariation of a Rush best-of collection, but
\nChronicles<\/i> was indeed the first, and in some ways, the best,
\nof the batch.<\/p>\n
Now, anyone who has followed Geddy Lee and company for any
\nlength of time will undoubtedly find holes with any compilation –
\neven this two-disc set. But if you take an objective look at
\nChronicles<\/i>, you’ll find that every one of Rush’s 15 albums
\nto that point get fair play — including all three live albums,
\nwhich get one selection each.<\/p>\n
Whoever decided on the selection and running order of this set
\ndid two smart things right off of the bat. The first was keeping
\nthings running in chronological order – at least, in terms of the
\norder in which the albums were released. By doing this, not only is
\nthe listener given a comfort zone to take it all in, they’re also
\nallowed a fair opportunity to hear how Rush grew from the opening
\nguitar lines of “Finding My Way” to such complicated masterpieces
\nas “The Big Money” and “Manhattan Project.” In a way, it’s like
\nlistening to a time capsule; each song is a particular item
\ncarefully placed inside.<\/p>\n
The second smart thing – and, believe me, I’d love to know how
\nthey pulled this off – was to include “Show Don’t Tell,” a song
\nfrom Rush’s then-upcoming album
\nPresto<\/i>. Amazing\u2026 not only were they able to put the
\nfirst single from the new album on this set, but they were able to
\ndo it when the disc was being released on a competitor’s label. Who
\ncares if “Show Don’t Tell” wasn’t one of Rush’s strongest songs
\nfrom around that time?<\/p>\n
There really is only one thing lacking on
\nChronicles<\/i> — namely, the element of surprise. People like
\nme would pick up
\nChronicles<\/i> because we wanted to own every thing that Rush
\nreleased, and barring the inclusion of “Show Don’t Tell,” this
\npackage doesn’t throw the listener any rarities as a bone. I might
\nhave chosen to include the live version of “Vital Signs” which was
\nthe b-side of the “New World Man” 45 (remember those, kids?), just
\nto give the diehard fans a reason to part with $25 other than blind
\nloyalty.<\/p>\n
And while this set is a great place for someone new to the scene
\nof Rush to start off with, it sometimes does feel a little too
\nfamiliar. In defense of Rush and the record label, though, that
\ncould be blamed on rock radio, which has latched onto many of these
\nsongs and played them to death. Exceptions are granted, though, for
\ntracks like “Finding My Way,” “Anthem” and “Bastille Day” – three
\ntracks from Rush’s first three albums which almost never get heard
\nunless you’ve got the album cranking full-blast from the
\nturntable.<\/p>\n
Yes, diehards like me will look at
\nChronicles<\/i> and wonder why tracks like “YYZ” didn’t make the
\ncut (never mind the fact that “La Villa Strangiato” represents the
\ninstrumental side of Rush quite well, thank you) or why more tracks
\nunknown to the radio waves didn’t get dusted off for this set.
\nStill, one really can’t point too many fingers at this set, and
\nChronicles<\/i> does live up to its name as a true representation
\nof Rush’s best work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5697],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37601","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rush","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37601"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}