UPDATE - 9/29@5:00PM: MusicTAP made mention of these earlier this week as well, but doesn't add any details.

UPDATE - 9/26@1:03PM: Reader Dave C has access to the Universal Music business site and noticed that they have the box sets listed as 5 CD/DVD Combos. I'm not sure if that means 5 CDs plus 1 DVD or 5 of each. Interesting...

According to 3 listings at Amazon.com, Rush will be releasing a set of 3, 5-CD box sets on November 21st named Sector 1, Sector 2 and Sector 3 respectively. All we can tell from the listings at this point is that the format is CD, the label is given as Mercury, and the cost is currently $60.97. Given this information and the tight timeframe for release, it looks like these will not be remastered in any way - especially not 5.1 - and is likely just another attempt by Universal to capitalize on Rush's back catalog. Indeed, when Rush was with Mercury Records they put out a cycle of 4 studio albums followed by a live album 3 consecutive times - making a total of 15 albums released under their label. So we can probably assume that the 1st box set would contain Rush, Fly by Night, Caress of Steel, 2112 and All the World's a Stage; the 2nd box set would consist of A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures and Exit ... Stage Left; and the third box set would have Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire and A Show of Hands. Again, this is all just speculation based on the information we currently have. But all signs point to these just being a re-packaging of Rush's Universal back catalog. I'm also guessing that they'll include some fancy packaging and possibly some new liner notes to justify the price. More information as we learn it. Many thanks to Richard S for the heads up.

NOTE: Posts over 10 years old are partially archived. All comments, images and other embedded media have been removed.