UPDATE - 3/23@12:29PM: John at Cygnus-X1.net has transcribed the liner notes and made them available online here.
TOMORROW, March 21st is the official release of Rush's Rush 50 career-spanning compilation anthology in celebration of the band's 50th anniversary. Rolling Stone magazine posted a glowing review of the album earlier today, giving it 4.5/5 stars and concluding with the following:
... Along with the opening "Not Fade Away" single, the most historically notable track here is the final one - a previously unreleased document of the last 10-ish minutes that Lee, Lifeson and Peart ever spent onstage. Concluding their R40 tour, which featured a reverse-chronological-order set list, they flashed back to the early days, playing a medley of debut-album tracks "What You're Doing" and "Working Man," with a snippet of "Garden Road" to end. The renditions are strong, but hitting even harder than the music is what happens after: Midway through thanking the crowd and the crew, Lee says, "Whoa, what a surprise." As fans well know, he was reacting to the unexpected appearance of Peart at his side - previously, the drummer had always respected what he called the "back-line meridian," never joining his bandmates up front at the conclusion of a show. In preserving this emotional moment, Rush 50 commemorates a brotherhood as well as a discography, and concludes a suitably epic tour of one of rock's most fulfilling and rewarding journeys.
Rush 50 is available in five distinct configurations, including the (1) Super Deluxe Edition ($374.98), (2) Rush Store Exclusive Super Deluxe Edition, (3) 7-LP Deluxe Edition ($249.98), (4) 4-CD Deluxe Edition ($99.98), and (5) Digital Edition ($26.49). The Rush Backstage Store exclusive edition includes an additional four bonus lithos showcasing Rush through time, newly illustrated by FANTOONS from the characters created for the graphic novel depicting the band in the '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000s. You can secure your copy of Rush 50 via Amazon and other retailers, and get all the details regarding the different configurations and what they include, along with the full tracklist at Rush.com.
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[Rush 50 career-spanning compilation box set coming March 21st, now available for pre-order]
[Rush 50th anniversary Super Deluxe Box Set details, pricing info and release date]
[Rush 50th anniversary cover feature and new interview in February issue of Classic Rock magazine]
[Rush 50th anniversary Super Deluxe compilation now listed on Apple Music with a February release]
