Rush-Exit stage left, 1981

This was the band's second live album as the first was "All the world's a stage" (1976). This album contains Rush material from "Farewell to kings"(1977) through "Moving Pictures" (1981). Rush have gone through many different styles in their sound over the course of their long career. They went through a lot of style changes between 77-81, but I think it was some of their best material. I love their earlier stuff too because it's got an edge, but after "2112" they became a bit more refined, but I think they branched out a bit and most certainly grew as songwriters. So this live album captured the band during their 1981 tour and they were probably at their commercial peak during this time. These guys are by and large respected as musicians and there is good reason for that. I have unfortunately never seen them live, but they tend to have the reputation of being an incredible live band. I think this album serves in giving the listener a taste of what they do live, but I would imagination it's only taste. I think some bands have to do work to make their live sound better, but my bet is that Rush are overwhelming and live although I am not sure that they can totally be captured on a live album. Overall I think this is a solid album and one of the few live albums that I listen to fairly often. My favorite tracks are Spirit of radio, Red Barchetta, the Trees, Tom Sawyer and Xanadu.