exit... stage left (1981) – rush: mercury records, SRM-2-7001

The live album, like vinyl in general, is something that’s become an anachronism. Back in the 70’s, particularly, live albums were a staple of the record industry. Every band seemed to have at least one live album, and many had two or three. Not only was it a very cheap and easy way for the band to satisfy part of their recording contract obligation, but it was also a very cheap and easy way for the record company to make more money off the fans. Pretty much a win-win situation.

But it was actually a win-win-win situation, because the fans were able to get a front-row seat to a virtual concert by a band without having to pay the high ticket prices, and with the ability to re-live the concert over and over again.

Besides, live albums were cool. You got to hear some stage banter; the setlist was almost always awesome; many of the songs were often different interpretations or versions (usually longer with more exploration) than the original from the album; the roar of the crowd gave the music an added element of energy and vitality; and inevitably, the music was authentic – no studio enhancements or fixing mistakes. It was the band, their instruments, some amplifiers and a microphone. It was real. Or, at least as real as recordings from multiple shows at multiple venues, cobbled together in a studio and arranged by engineers and producers could be.

By 1981 Rush had released eight studio albums and, in a very polite manner, managed to become one of the biggest bands in the world. Exit … Stage Left was their celebratory live album.

Side 1: The Spirit of Radio Red Barchetta YYZ
Side 2: A Passage to Bangkok Closer To The Heart Beneath, Between & Behind Jacob’s Ladder
Side 3: Broon’s Bane The Trees Xanadu
Side 4: Freewill Tom Sawyer La Villa Strangiato

Now, Exit... isn’t Rush’s first live album. Five years earlier they released All The World’s A Stage, but the boys only had three album’s worth of material from which to draw, so the songlist was a bit limited. With Exit..., Rush had managed to expand their repertoire considerably, allowing them to put together a truly impressive set, in both size and quality.

Of course, with a larger repertoire comes the inevitable griping about what’s left out. In Exit... the the absence of songs like Working Man, Lamneth, 2112, and Limelight are as noticeable as the inclusion of songs like Barchetta, Bangkok, Xanadu, and Strangiato.

Damn, it’s tough when you’ve got so many kickass songs.

What is interesting is that, in a very clever little bit of design, the album jacket pays homage to all eight previous studio albums, despite the fact that the songlist completely ignores their first and third albums, only includes one song off their second and fourth, and has a song that isn’t on any at all. Still, Exit... is quite a little journey through Rush’s first seven years of life. More than that, it does a great job capturing the band at their musical and creative peak.

The flow of the album is also quite well thought out. Side one opens with what is essentially side one of Moving Pictures, the album for which this tour was in support. All three songs are energetic and immediately set the proper mood. Side two begins to form a transition between the new and the old, and the fun and thoughtful. Side three features the more navel-gazing songs, where the band gets to wallow in their musical fetishism, much to the listener’s appreciation. The album wraps up with a one-two-three lineup that can only be called awesome, ultimately closing with perhaps one of the most incredibly indulgent pieces of music ever, begging the listener to whip out a bic lighter and hold the flame high.

I admit that as a kid this album got a lot of play, and it’s one of the albums to which I listened consistently throughout the years. So this listen didn’t so much reignite any long-buried memory as much as rekindle my affinity for live albums, and a reaffirmation of just how cool they are.

Up next: Movement of Jah people.