My Amazon Reviews: Rush "Spirit Of Radio"

He's a signal turning green
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Mercury Records put this Rush anthology out to commemorate the band's 30th anniversary, basically a quickie release to capitalize on one of the label's best selling catalog artists who has since moved to another company. Yet as I write this, there's an article that the Tribeca Film Festival awarded their 2010 Heineken Audience Award to "Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage," a documentary on the Canadian rock band's 40th anniversary together. With the exception of John Rutsey (who left after the 1974 debut), it's still the same three men.

Each one contributes an essential component to the band's chemistry: Alex Lifeson's guitar, Geddy Lee's unique vocals, and from the second album on, Neal Peart's incredible drums and lyrics. And while the first three albums were basic power trio hard rock, by "2112," they hit the magic formula. Peart's sidelong story about a future fascist society brought to revolution by a rogue guitarist brought the band into their first successes in the USA. They had forged an unlikely fusion between progressive rock and heavy metal, a vein they'd continue to mine into the future.

Two similar albums ("Hemispheres" and "A Farewell To Kings") followed the science-fiction story line, then they made another major change on "Permanent Waves." While Peart's lyrics were still heavy on the cerebral quotient, the songs themselves were tighter. The approach paid off with the album become the band's first top ten and "Spirit Of Radio" just missing the Top 40. "Moving Pictures" was even better, moving Lee's keyboards up in the mix and delivering one of the great rock anthems in "Tom Sawyer." It was Rush's second creative pinnacle after "2112."

They had absorbed the current influences of the times and become even stronger for it. It's hard not to discern the influence of The Police on "New World Man," for instance. While following albums each have their moments (and they're all here, especially "Subdivisions" and "Time Stand Still"), Rush never hit that level again. They remain one of rock's virtuoso bands and still make superb albums, however this best of stops in 1987. It's a good sampler; those who want more could do better with Gold.