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Rush is a Band

A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Fri, Nov 22, 2024

Rush and Rock Band update; Moving Pictures released next week, The Trees vault edition for Rock Band 2

Thu, Aug 21, 2008@12:29PM | comments removed/disabled

UPDATE - 8/22@12:08PM: I just realized that I am a dumbass. :) The blog post on the Rock Band forum explicitly states that the album is comprised entirely of original master recordings. So there you go.

UPDATE - 8/21@4:32PM: Here's the official posting at the Rock Band forum:

As we have announced in the first issue of the Rock Band Community Zine, next week's DLC - for Tuesday, August 26th, will be Rush's Moving Pictures.

Here's the track-list:

Tom Sawyer (Original Version)
Red Barchetta
YYZ
Limelight (Original Version)
The Camera Eye
Witch Hunt
Vital Signs

The album, which is comprised entirely of original master recordings, will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms and will cost $10.99 (880 Microsoft Points) for the full album, or $2 (160 MSP) for the individual tracks.

I'm still trying to find out if only Tom Sawyer and Limelight are master track originals or not.

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UPDATE - 8/21@2:17PM: More stuff is coming in ... Part 2 of the Rock Band interview with Rush is now up at the Rock Band website at this link. Part 1 can be viewed here in case you had missed it. The guys appropriately discuss their album Moving Pictures; the individual songs as well as the making of the album.

UPDATE - 8/21@2:03PM: I just received the first issue of the Rock Band Community eZine and they confirm that Moving Pictures will be released next week. They indicate that Tom Sawyer and Limelight will be the Original Version. Both songs are already available for the game as cover versions. They don't indicate that the other 5 songs are also the original versions, but maybe they just wanted to emphasize that the previously released songs are master tracks. I'll try and verify this.

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A couple of months ago I'd mentioned that the next full album to be made available for download for the Rock Band video game would be Rush's Moving Pictures. It had only been reported as a rumor in Game Informer magazine and no release date was given. However, according to a commercial that was aired today on VH1 Classic, the album will be released next week for both the XBox and PlayStation. Here's a transcript of the commercial followed by a grainy, no-audio video:

Now Rock Band rocks harder. All seven tracks from Rush's classic album, Moving Pictures - including "Tom Sawyer" and "YYZ" - can be downloaded from Xbox Marketplace on Tuesday, August 26 and at the PlayStation Store on Thursday, August 28. For more info, go to RockBand.com

Apparently the commercial was aired a little prematurely. Typically the weekly downloadable content isn't announced until Friday, and there's no news of this at all on the Rock Band website. Since all the recent downloadable Rush songs released for Rock Band (Working Man vault edition, Closer to the Heart) have been master tracks, it is assumed that the Moving Pictures tracks will be as well. Thanks to Byte for the heads up.

Last month we learned that Rush's The Trees would be one of the featured tracks on the upcoming successor to Rock Band, Rock Band 2. It now looks like this version will be a vault edition - much like the version of Working Man that was released last month. GameWorld Network was recently allowed to preview the game and wrote up a review with screenshots on their website. In one of the screenshots The Trees (Vault Edition) is listed. Although what this means exactly is unclear. The Working Man vault edition had an alternate guitar solo, but there's no telling what this The Trees vault edition may have. Thanks to David D for the heads up.

And lastly, on the Community section of the Rock Band website they are running a poll where they ask the question What would you most like to see more of as game tracks or DLC (downloadable content)?. The possible selections are:

1) Heavy and extreme metal
2) Punk and indie rock
3) Classic rock hits
4) Songs with female singers
5) Older (late 60s & early 70s) music
6) Brand new stuff
7) Rush
8) All the above

Rush currently has a respectable 7% of the vote, which is impressive considering they were the only individual band listed. I think this tells you a bit about how much the Rock Band developers love and respect Rush too. You have to be a registered member of the site to vote. So register and go vote for Rush!