Jaminbenb

I was in the same boat as well. The first few albums were great, they had a great live show, and Carter's playing was phenomenal! When the bass player passed away, and then the violinist got weird, they fell out of my rotation. I still pull some of the older stuff and some bootlegs out occasionally, but not into them anymore.

Not really a distilled spirits drinker by any stretch, but that's why I just grab the small bottle, and have one for him every year.

So what are your somber plans? As usual, I got a small bottle of The Macallan 12, and will watch something live... Just curious about what the rest of you do.

In 1976, I was at a friends house, and he was one of those guys that was always saying "Wow, you need to hear this"! Put an album track on and freak out, then say "whoa, here's another one"! And play like 30 seconds of a tune, not giving you enough time to just get into it. So one night, I was there, and he goes "wait...you're a drummer, right? You need to hear this guy!" So it was like less than a week after All The World's a Stage came out, and he drops the needle on Working man and says " there's a drum solo at the end of this, and you're going to be amazed"! So he actually let the entire tune play, and go into the drum solo, and I was TOTALLY blown away since up until that point, I've NEVER heard anything so wild!! he told me who the band was, and when I got home that night I grabbed the Columbia House catalog, and FOUND ATWAS and Caress of Steel in their albums, so I asked my mother to order them, and she did. When they came I think I listened to ATWAS like 10-15 times, before I put Caress on, and was totally hooked! SO in three years, I'll be a fan for 50 years! Archives was the next album I got, then when A Farewell to Kings came out, I got the new one the day it was released!

Only saw two opening acts... the first one was Y&T on the GuP tour, and they were pretty wild! Had some great stuff. The next time it was SUPPOSED to be Blue Oyster Cult, but I think someone in the band was ill, and they didn't play. On the Hold Your Fire tour it was Tommy Shaw... When he played Styx tunes, everyone was happy, but when he played one of his solo tunes, they booed the living sh*t out of him! You'd think after the second or third one, he would have just stuck to the Styx stuff...

Other than the odd song, I think that Power Windows through Test for Echo was a period where I wasn't as enthusiastic about their album releases. (other than Counterparts) There were tunes on each of those albums that were over the top (In fact Dreamline is probably one of my favorites to hear live) but on the whole, not great releases. Counterparts was the exception because they seemed to get back into a "trio" sort of vibe!

Yeah, I read somewhere the exact same thing.

I'm still hoping for a Moving Pictures anniversary set, hopefully coinciding with an Exit...Stage Left FULL concert version live part! (And hopefully mixed as a live album, not what they attempted with the original release) I still have a tough time listening to ESL.. I have bootlegs from that tour that sound better than that!

You have an inside source?

Nah...Spirit of Radio was probably the best opener! The one thing I DID love about these guys live was that they never really did the same setlist from one year to the next! From the time they came back on the Vapor Trails Tour, they really mixed it up from tour to tour! When they got to R30, I was a little disappointed that they didn't open the second set with another "overture". The first set was great because I never got to hear any off Bastille Day live, so.....

I guess the better question for THIS forum, is when are they going to release a 40th anniversary version of MP? (With an entire concert in better quality than Exit...Stage left) I still can't believe that they don't have alternate mixes of songs... I GET that they used everything in once way or another, but there has to be tape of the earlier mixes, and stuff (i.e. Sir Gawain before they scrapped it)

Yeah, had I known that I would have tried to get to MORE shows. My friend and I went to Bristow, VA since it was on a weekend and easier to get to from a "work" standpoint.... we both figured that there would be a second leg, and that we'd probably get another shot or two, but sadly that didn't happen! Kicking myself for not going to Philly

I've heard that before...awesome job! I was looking for something else on Amazon, and found a cd called Rockabye baby Lullaby versions of Rush songs.... It's cute, but as one of the reviewers said, after the first few it gets old...

At first it was just vinyl. I think the first CD I got was Hold your Fire. For the most part I would buy the LP and usually ran a cassette on the first pass so I had something to hear in my car. Late in 1988 I bought a car that had a CD player in it, and didn't need to make tapes anymore!! it was great going to the record store, buying a CD, then just popping it in the deck!! All I buy is CD's anymore....

Hmmm... I'll make it easy... Roll the Bones except! Dreamline Bravado Where's My Thing and Ghost of a Chance