Rush Chronicles - The DVD Collection (1984) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a MAJOR Rush fan, having seen them some dozen times over the years starting with twice in one year on their Farewell to Kings tour in 1977. That's the Rush I fell in love with -- the one that created side-long epics like 2112 and the classic Cygnus X-1 and its follow-up, Hemispheres.
Sadly, my interest began to wane after Signals and almost totally petered out by the Power Windows and Hold Your Fire era, which was in large part their entire '80s catalog.
I began to gain new respect for Rush when they released Roll the Bones, Counterparts and Test For Echo, however, and now eagerly await the new album they're allegedly working on.
Like previous reviewers, I own the videos Exit Stage Left and Grace Under Pressure Tour 1984 and have been waiting -- along with all other fans -- for their first-ever DVD release.
Well, Chronicles The DVD Collection is out. And I have it. And it's really nice to see these music videos again, but -- as I said at the beginning -- I'm a fan of the older material. I liked Geddy Lee's Rickenbacker bass and Alex's cream colored Gibson ES-355 used on the Farewell tour!
The sound and picture quality are just about right, given what this collection is. You won't get perfection and it won't do you any good to whine about pictures and sound that aren't pristine.
All the big hits are here. It's fun to watch vintage Rush. (Check out the hair styles slowly getting shorter with each video...along with the instruments changing from Gibsons and Rickenbackers to Fenders and Wals.)
I couldn't ask for more regarding this collection. It is what it is. It's great, in fact. If you ask me what I'd LIKE to see, however, it's entire concerts on DVD, some from as long ago as their Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres period right on up through to their Test For Echo tour. Music videos are fun and interesting, but it's the live performances that really brought out the best in Rush. So, please, let's see some Rush concert DVDs released in the next year or two!

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Rush - Replay (1989) Review

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(More customer reviews)Rush Replay should be one of the best DVD concert releases of the Summer. (Technically very late Spring). This 3 DVD/1 CD box set will include the DVD versions of "Exit... Stage Left," "Grace Under Pressure," and "A Show of Hands." The CD in the box set is the unreleased soundtrack CD of the "Grace Under Pressure."
Before Rush Replay all three concerts were on VHS. These were extremely hard to get your hands on. Now, thanks to Alex Lifeson and Mike Fraser, you can enjoy these classic concerts in 5.1 surround sound and remastered visuals.
Exit... Stage Left:
The first DVD in Rush Replay is "Exit... Stage Left," which was filmed at The Forum in Montreal, Quebec. Anyone who owns the Exit... Stage Left CD knows how totally awesome the concert was. The CD and the DVD are radically different though. Lets look at the track listing of each.
Exit... Stage Left CD:
1. The Spirit of Radio (Not on DVD)
2. Red Barchetta
3. YYZ
4. A Passage To Bangkok (Not on DVD)
5. Closer To The Heart
6. Beneath, Between, and Behind (Not on DVD)
7. Jacob's Ladder (Not on DVD)
8. Broon's Bane (Not on DVD)
9. The Trees
10. Xanadu
11. Freewill
12. Tom Sawyer
13. La Villa Strangiato (Not on DVD)
Exit... Stage Left DVD
1. Limelight (Not on CD)
2. Tom Sawyer
3. The Trees
4. Instrumental (Not on CD)
5. Xanadu
6. Red Barchetta
7. Freewill
8. Closer To The Heart
9. YYZ
10. Finale: By-Tor and the Snow Dog/In The End/In The Mood/2112 Finale (Not on CD)
So in the end, the major songs missing on the DVD are, The Spirit of Radio, A Passage To Bangkok, and La Villa Strangiato. But in return, you get Limelight and the Finale.
Grace Under Pressure:
Out of the three concerts in Rush Replay, Grace Under Pressure is the only one without a live CD. (The CD as I mentioned earlier is part of Rush Replay). This DVD was filmed in 1984, at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada. Here is the DVD track listing:
1. The Spirit of Radio (A great song)
2. The Enemy Within "Part 1 of Fear"
3. The Weapon "Part 2 of Fear"
4. Witch Hunt "Part 3 of Fear"
5. New World Man
6. Distant Early Warning
7. Red Sector A
8. Closer To The Heart
9. Melody: YYZ/The Temples Of Syrinx/ Tom Sawyer
10. Vital Signs
11. Finale: Finding My Way/In The Mood
So Grace Under Pressure contains an unreleased version of The Spirit of Radio, the Fear trilogy, and two melodies. Also included in Rush Replay will be a CD with those ten songs.
A Show Of Hands:
Of the three DVDs, this is the longest one, nearing 85 minutes. It was filmed in late April 1988 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England. Unlike Exit... Stage Left, the A Show Of Hands DVD is similar to the CD version. Here is the A Show Of Hands DVD track listing:
1. The Big Money
2. Marathon
3. Turn The Page
4. Prime Mover
5. Manhattan Project
6. Closer To The Heart
7. Red Sector A
8. Force Ten
9. Mission
10. Territories
11. The Rhythm Method (Drum Solo)
12. The Spirit Of Radio
13. Tom Sawyer
14. Finale: 2112/La Villa Strangiato/In The Mood
So A Show Of Hands contains 8 songs from "Power Windows" and "Hold Your Fire." Closer To The Heart, Tom Sawyer, 2112, and In The Mood are on all 3 DVDs. Rush Replay also will also include mini reprints of the original tour booklets from the three concerts.
In the end, you get Exit... Stage Left, Grace Under Pressure, A Show Of Hands, the Grace Under Pressure CD, and three mini reprints of the tour booklets for a list price of $40. That's a great deal for three classic Rush concerts and a Rush concert CD soundtrack.
If you enjoy Rush Replay than you will also enjoy Rush In Rio and R30.
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Note: This is my updated review as of June 13, 2006. The previous part was my review as of April 17, 2006, before Rush Replay had been released.Rush Replay was released today and all I can say is, "It's excellent." It's been a long two months of waiting, but the waiting was rewarded.
First, let me talk about the Exit... Stage Left DVD. Limelight, Tom Sawyer, and The Trees start the DVD off, followed by Xanadu. Xanadu, on this DVD, is a classic. Because of advancements in technology, all Neil has to do nowadays is hit a MIDI trigger and the chime or bell sound is created. Here however, you get to see him running through the wind chimes, or hitting the bells. It's more realistic than he does on R30. Plus, both Alex and Geddy are using double necks, adding even more realistic sounds.
Another thing I missed to point out in April was that `Closer to the Heart' is different on the DVD than it is on the CD. Not much different, but a little.
The finale of `By-Tor/In The End/In The Mood/2112 Finale' is also a good melody.
For my mini-review of the Grace Under Pressure Tour, I'll start off with the Fear Trilogy live. This was the only tour, along with the Power Windows Warm-Up Tour, that featured the entire fear trilogy. Second, you get an awesome version of New World Man, instead of the Rush In Rio version. The YYZ/The Temples Of Syrinx/Tom Sawyer melody is approximately 9 minutes, 41 seconds long. The only song shortened in the melody is YYZ, which is cut down about a minute. Then you have Vital Signs, so, again, you don't have to listen to the Rush In Rio version.
The Grace Under Pressure Tour Soundtrack is the bonus CD. If you buy Replay at Best Buy, then you also get Limelight (Exit... Stage Left version), Closer To The Heart (Exit... Stage Left version), The Spirit Of Radio (A Show Of Hands verson), and Tom Sawyer (A Show Of Hands version) on the end of the soundtrack. (Note: When importing the bonus CD into your computer, the track listing, artist, album name, etc. will not come up, so be prepared to type them in.)
My notes for A Show Of Hands are as followed, Manhattan Project and Force Ten are awesome. I had been waiting to see Manhattan Project live for a long time. Later in the DVD are The Spirit Of Radio and Tom Sawyer, along with a 2112/La Villa Strangiato/In The Mood finale. Most of the A Show Of Hands DVD is excellent.
Also, all three tour books are great. The best on is the Hold Your Fire tour book with Neil's story "Fireworks (The making of Hold Your Fire)".
In the end, Rush Replay is just what I expected back in April, awesome. Everything from the remastered visuals to the remastered audio is excellent. Rush Replay is highly recommended for any classic rock fan.

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I Love You, Man (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)At the core of what looks on the surface to be a standard summer buddy movie is an intriguing premise: What does become of the overly sensitized male when confronted with the reality that all his closest friends are female and that he is at a complete loss to find any groomsmen, in particular, a best man, for his wedding? It's not an earth-shattering dilemma to address, yet the situation gives rise to a lot of amusing questions about what constitutes masculine behavior in our supposedly evolved society. Fortunately, director/co-writer John Hamburg (Along Came Polly) has fashioned a 2009 comedy (with co-writer Larry Levin) full of shrewd observations and hilarious gags that transcend formula and elevate the story into something fresh and genuinely likeable.
When sweet-natured L.A. real estate broker Peter Klaven decides to marry Zooey, his girlfriend of eight months, it dawns on both of them that he has no close male friends. Whispers about his manhood and her fear of him being too clingy as a husband lead Peter to set up a series of disastrous man-dates, one being the predictable mistaken gay date. However, it's at an open house at Lou Ferrigno's manse that he meets his personality opposite - Sydney Fife, a slovenly, blunt albeit socially observant slacker. As it turns out, their differences complement one another in a way that makes them best buddies almost from the get-go - that and a common obsession for the 1970's power band Rush. Naturally, Zooey starts to resent Sydney's burgeoning role in Peter's life - and things get complicated before the inevitable conclusion.
Two of Judd Apatow's familiar rep company star. Finally at the center of a major movie, Paul Rudd is ideally cast as Peter since the role takes advantage of how he combines his boyish charm and unpredictable nebbishness into a memorable character. In fact, he manages to give Peter's awkward attempts to overcome his social anxiety a certain emotional resonance. We feel every painful step he takes in replicating Sydney's free spirit, and it becomes easy to root for his success. Much better cast here than as the self-conscious lead in last year's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel offers his doughy likeability to a role that suits his casual, lumbering personality, even when he exposes an intimate secret between Peter and Zooey in a wedding party dinner toast.
If the interplay between Rudd and Segel feels familiar from Apatow comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, it is a coincidence that Hamburg takes full advantage of to keep the movie comically involving. Rashida Jones brings a raspy appeal to Zooey, although she is kept mostly at the sidelines. Also underused are Jaime Pressly as Zooey's tart-tongued friend Denise and as Peter's parents, J.K. Simmons (playing the same wiseass father he played in Juno) and especially Jane Curtin. Jon Favreau has a thankless role as Denise's alpha-male jerk of a husband, while Andy Samberg makes a most unconvincing gay as Peter's sleep-around, personal trainer brother. There are plenty of laughs throughout its slightly long 105-minute running time, but what may surprise you is the number of insightful moments that this affectionate, satirical comedy provides.

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In this wildly funny hit comedy, Paul Rudd (Knocked Up) gets engaged to the girl of his dreams but has not a single guy friend to be his Best Man until he meets the ultimate dude, Jason Segal (Forgetting Sarah Marshall). Rudd and Segal’s “bro-mance” takes male-bonding to hilarious new heights that keep you laughing until the unforgettable last frame.

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Rush - Beyond the Lighted Stage (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)Saw "Beyond" last night at a one-night special showing in a Minneapolis theater, and it is without a doubt one of the most interesting and entertaining films I've seen this year, and beyond. And yes, yes, I'm a Rush fan...but I'm not a RABID Rush fan. I'm missing a few of their albums and while I have a ticket to see them in concert this fall, that will be the first time. I say this only by way of stating for the NON-Rush fan: Don't let that deter you from seeing this great documentary. There is so little actual music in it, that anyone, even those just interested in human interest stories and biopics, will find plenty to love here. There is close friendship, tragedy, very comical moments, inspiration...the whole package. And how great is it to see "rock stars" who are intelligent and generally lacking an over-inflated sense of ego? I think my favorite moment in the film might have come when the trio was aboard a plane, heading, if I remember right, to their next concert, and they all three pulled out books and began to read. I didn't see what everyone was reading, but Alex was half through Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. I have a hard time picturing just about any other rock stars doing something like that--with the possible exception of Bad Religion's Greg Graffin.
One funny thing from the film showing of "Beyond." I arrived fairly early, and then three other guys sat down to my left, and then a few minutes later another guy was about to sit in the single seat remaining to my right, and I asked him, "Couldn't get your girlfriend to come either, huh?" And he said, "No, my wife wouldn't come." And the guys to my left said, "Yeah, ours either." So there we were, a row of middle-aged, none-too-thin white dudes, enjoying the hell out of this movie. It had a good tribal sort of feeling to it, bonding with like-minded strangers like this. So when you pop this into your DVD player, maybe have some buds around to enjoy it with you.

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2011 GRAMMY NOMINEE: BEST LONG FORM MUSIC VIDEORush is one of rock's most influential bands. Ranked third in consecutive gold or platinum albums after The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the band enjoys a devoted following by legions around the world and is revered by generations of musicians. Yet, their incredible success story has, up to this point, remained largely untold. Now comes the new documentary Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage, the first comprehensive exploration of the extraordinary power trio. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with notables such as Jack Black, Billy Corgan, Trent Reznor, Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Kirk Hammett (Metallica) and Gene Simmons, this film explores the forty-year career and phenomenon behind what could be the world's biggest cult band. This 2-disc DVD in deluxe packaging features over 3 hours of video, including a 1.5 hour bonus disc of never-before-seen live performances, special features, and deleted scenes from the film. A 12 page color booklet of rare and unreleased photos is also included.

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