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Rush Vinyl Collection...the Normal and the Abnormal


Kingdirk
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For over 40 years (and counting) Rush has given to its fans an immeasureable amount of musical content and collectible history. Fans from around the world can never seem to get enough of these guys, scooping up everything from vinyl to posters to buttons to some of the most bizarre memorabilia imaginable. When it comes to Geddy, Alex, and Neil, my vice starts with the music; and more specifically, vinyl. I love vinyl. The love the tactile sensation of holding on gingerly to the wax-like medium. I love the way it looks. I love the sound. Vinyl and what goes in to manufacturing vinyl, from the outer cover art to the actual grooves is pure magic. And I love Rush. Combine the two, and what you come up with a pretty nice (and still growing) collection. As with any type of entertainment collectible, there are the normal items (LPs and 45s), but every now and again, something pops up in the "least expected" pile. I stumbled upon one such thing the other day and being the completeist, I had to jump all over it.

 

These "discs" are seemingly very rare and obscure. Called "Flexi discs", the history shows that they were a relatively common promotional item that sometimes was attached to magazines to showcase an artist or an audible message. The disc I found was manufactured by a company called Budkon. I'm not sure if this is a Russian or Polish company, but back in the early '90s, they manufactured coloured flexi discs of several artists. Note however, that these disks were "unauthorized" (wink wink). These paper-thin, single track 45s were apparently produced in very limited numbers (possibly in the dozens) and notoriously produced horrible sound. While the songs are recognizable, the background noise truly makes these non-listenable, especially as most people have these tracks on better vinyl or digitally. The covers seem like they are printed or copied on computer paper. Check out the link below for more details (referring to Husker Du flexis, but offers a really good explanation).

 

http://www.thirdav.c...scog/budkon.htm

 

I managed to find not onw, but three from our favorite band:

 

Distant Early Warning (Live)

Driven

The Enemy Within

 

I don't plan to play these on my new turntable with my high end cartridge, but I felt like I had to share these with both the Rush and vinyl communities. Hardly high-quality, but nonetheless, some really interesting pieces of Rush history. Do you have anything in your vinyl collection that is "out there"?

 

http://i.imgur.com/RUOOUX3.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GW28MnC.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ymlNgxw.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/6iRPNis.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/T1rwNB9.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/utn0hFc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/UtqBYTL.jpg

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Long ago I had the "pieces of eight" Flexi disc that came from an issue of Modern Drummer. I don't know if it's still somewhere inside another of my rush albums or buried in my parents' home somewhere or just long gone in the trash. It was a lot more involved and interesting than the little tidbits of it that he used for years in his solo. It was recorded professionally, so it sounded good even on that paper thin square record.
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My pleasure...

I have a whole pile of rare and not-so-rare (but still pretty cool) Rush vinyl items that I'll post through the coming weeks (as soon as I can get pictures uploaded).

I've found that in the collecting process, there are sparingly few images and websites that provide other collectors with valuable insight into what's "out there". Hopefully, this forum can help other collectors identify the items that are out on the market.

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Great disc though. There were a couple variations of this disc aside from the picture disc. It was released in Germany, Holland, and Colombia (as far as I know...maybe more countries...not sure). Which one graces your collection?
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I don't think there are any differences. For me though, to know that the album I'm holding comes from somewhere on the other side of the planet is pretty cool. Its neat when you look at Spanish language releases from places like Columbia or Venezuela and the labels are different; sometimes the titles of the songs are in the native language. To a collector, these are pretty awesome to have in the collection I think.

 

I have a Malaysian copy of Led Zeppelin II and a Taiwanese copy of The Song Remains The Same...its just really neat to now where these musical artifacts came from.

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Cool, vinyl!

 

As you can see by my name, I may have a record or two kicking around the house! ;)

 

Still looking for that mint copy of 2112, but I have everything else stored nicely in my collection. I listen to my records constantly, so I tend to go through copies of records as the years go by. Lately, Power Windows is in high rotation my my decks (Two Technics 1200 MK3D). The production on PW is STILL impressive to me, all these years later; sounds amazing on vinyl!! :)

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Welcome to the forum VinylJunkie! :hi:

 

Had you guys heard the chimes play on your Fly By Night albums, after By-Tor, when the needle is going round and round next to the label?

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VinylJunkie Welcome!

 

Animate...I couldn't agree more about the "hunt". Searching for those rare promo singles, or stumbling upon that coloured vinyl or picture disc...its awesome (and expensive sometimes). I've had some "grails" arrive on my doorstep over the past couple of weeks and when they arrive, I'm often dumbfounded as to "how did I actually get these?". There is a lot of history with this band (and many other bands for that matter) and its a joy trying to get your hands on as many pieces of musical history as you can.

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VinylJunkie Welcome!

 

Animate...I couldn't agree more about the "hunt". Searching for those rare promo singles, or stumbling upon that coloured vinyl or picture disc...its awesome (and expensive sometimes). I've had some "grails" arrive on my doorstep over the past couple of weeks and when they arrive, I'm often dumbfounded as to "how did I actually get these?". There is a lot of history with this band (and many other bands for that matter) and its a joy trying to get your hands on as many pieces of musical history as you can.

 

I've got a whole bunch of stuff, but not those.

 

I know about them, though. I think they are of Polish origin and I'm not sure if they are legit or pirated copies. Definately on the rarer side of the scale.

 

 

This is probably a good place to ask a question I thought of a few days ago when I was going through some vinyl wondering how much of this stuff I really NEED. (Kind of like pruning the garden I guess.)

 

 

 

Anyway, the question I have is which Rush 45's were the first to get picture sleeves in the US and Canada? (I know other countries printed them sooner.)

 

I'm guessing that Tom Sawyer was the first 45 in both countries to get its own picture sleeve, but I'm not completely sure because I don't have a complete set. I think anything earlier than that just had the generic record company sleeves. (Actually, I think the first ever Anthem pressing for Archives had it's own sleeve in Canada now that I think of it.)

 

Anyone know for certain?

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ytserush...I know for certain that they aren't..."legit". Apparently the Russian market for vinyl died a very quick and painful death in the early 90s and the only ways to get anything legit was to import (marginally risky) or travel outside the country to pick things up. But I look at these little pieces of plastic as a snapshot in time...an attempt by someone somewhere to make some ill-gotten money through a sub-standard highly-illicit scheme. Call me crazy, but I thought they would be pretty cool to have in the collection.

 

Without having my collection in front of me to flip through, I seem to recall Closer To The Heart being produced with a picture sleeve earlier than Tom Sawyer. I believe it was a Mercury pressing out of the US...but I could be completely off-base on this. I have earlier singles going back to Fly By Night (unfortunately, Not Fade Away has eluded my collection...and my wallet!) and they all typically have the generic, or sometimes the corporate Mercury or Philips outer sleeves. Then you also have to consider whether the singles were promotional.

 

Great discussion...I'd like to know a bit more if anyone wants to chime in...let's keep the history lesson going!

 

One more thing...Congratulations to the "Boys" today. No matter how long the road was, Rush can finally enter the "official" gates of rock and roll immortality today. Time to celebrate!

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I've got a CD of The Pass still sealed with a When You Play It Say It sticker on it. The sticker is meant to promote radio stations to say when they're playing new music. It was part of a two year test plan that proved to be to costly.
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That's a nice little collectible.

The Pass, as a vinyl single, was only released in Australia...with Presto as the B-side. Its one of my "grails" if for no other reason than I LOVE the song "The Pass". To have it as the only known released single on Earth...well, yeah...you get it.

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As promised, here is another piece of "long lost" Rush vinyl history...the 1981 promotional release "Rush n' Roulette" (another forum on this site has addressed this disc as well). From all accounts, this item is extremely rare and from a vinyl production point-of-view, wonderfully unique. Mastered using a special technique called "parallel" or "concentric" grooves, this disc lives up to its name. Originally released as a promo to radio stations, this disc has become one of only a handful of popular music releases to feature this strange and distinctive playing ability. Simply put...there are six tracks on this disc (identical on the reverse) that are 2:00 minutes each. When you drop the needle on the outer edge of the disc, the needle randomly selects which track its going to play. Do it again and you might get a different song...or perhaps the same one. Bizarre! And sooooo cool! Month Python and De La Soul are perhaps the two most widely referenced examples of this type of mastering. I managed to find a near mint version of this release. How many were released? Who knows, but with promotional items, you have to imagine that the release amount was pretty limited. Factor in years-gone-by and poor storage...how many are left? Who knows. I tried to capture a photo of the grooves so you could see how they were different from a conventional pressing. Enjoy!

 

More coming in every day...more pics to follow!

 

http://i.imgur.com/IgmnPgh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/I7ZJ6uh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/iPD6zAP.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/QaBO7Wh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3jVokae.jpg

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oh wow! now that is cool!

 

I assume there are 6 "entry points" for the needle on the outer ring, each one going into one of the 6 separate tracks, which spiral in parallel to the center, and then exit. So the arm ends up in the center of the record from each track? Only problem being that every song has to be the same short length.

 

You should make a video of it playing, and put it up on youtube :) yes!

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That's exactly what happens. The songs are actually 2:00 "snapshots" from Exit...Stage Left. I have no idea what the purpose of this promo was. Most radio promotional materials included complete tracks to play on the radio...this one seems a bit odd though. It seems more gimmick than practical...almost like picture discs (I have a couple of those that I'll feature shortly.)

 

I've been planning to record some video of my Rush collection for a while, but alas, time is simply not on my side. Rest assured though...this one is definitely on my to-do list to showcase.

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ytserush...I know for certain that they aren't..."legit". Apparently the Russian market for vinyl died a very quick and painful death in the early 90s and the only ways to get anything legit was to import (marginally risky) or travel outside the country to pick things up. But I look at these little pieces of plastic as a snapshot in time...an attempt by someone somewhere to make some ill-gotten money through a sub-standard highly-illicit scheme. Call me crazy, but I thought they would be pretty cool to have in the collection.

 

Without having my collection in front of me to flip through, I seem to recall Closer To The Heart being produced with a picture sleeve earlier than Tom Sawyer. I believe it was a Mercury pressing out of the US...but I could be completely off-base on this. I have earlier singles going back to Fly By Night (unfortunately, Not Fade Away has eluded my collection...and my wallet!) and they all typically have the generic, or sometimes the corporate Mercury or Philips outer sleeves. Then you also have to consider whether the singles were promotional.

 

Great discussion...I'd like to know a bit more if anyone wants to chime in...let's keep the history lesson going!

 

One more thing...Congratulations to the "Boys" today. No matter how long the road was, Rush can finally enter the "official" gates of rock and roll immortality today. Time to celebrate!

 

That's the great thing about some of this stuff. Cetrtain pieces resonate more with some people than others. While not as rare as those that you have. I think the Korean pressings of 2112 and Signals (Never found Grace Under Pressure) are pretty cool because of the censorship issues. Not having a Red Star on 2112 is a stark contrast and is very thought provoking as to why it's missing.

 

Thanks for those 45 answers. I don't have the Moon single either for obvious reasons. I don't recall ever seeing a US Closer To The Heart picture sleeve, but that doesn't mean they didn't exist. I can't recall now if that Canadian picture sleeve was for Closer to the Heart or Fly By Night (as reissued with the Archives collection)

 

It's funny, if you really want one you can find one because they always seem to be available if you're willing to pay the price, but there are other 45s that I've never seen before but supposedly existed at one point.

 

I'd be the first one to tell you that the indictment (induction) didn't mean anything to me, but after seeing the effort that a lot of people made to make it happen and two watch those clips, it was a really cool way to honor them for the evening. Nothing will ever top Hartford in 2002, but this was nice, especially for the people that wanted it to happen in the worst way. So yeah..Celebrate the moment!

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That's exactly what happens. The songs are actually 2:00 "snapshots" from Exit...Stage Left. I have no idea what the purpose of this promo was. Most radio promotional materials included complete tracks to play on the radio...this one seems a bit odd though. It seems more gimmick than practical...almost like picture discs (I have a couple of those that I'll feature shortly.)

 

I've been planning to record some video of my Rush collection for a while, but alas, time is simply not on my side. Rest assured though...this one is definitely on my to-do list to showcase.

 

 

I love this (picked one up myself early on in my fandom as this is one of those collectibles that really wasn't pressed with the idea of collectors in mind)

 

Thre ONLY thing I get hung up on with this is that they fade out after 2 minutes. Couldn't this have been with closer proximity to full songs?

 

The concept is AMAZING, but I think a better job couldn't have been implenting it. Of course, maybe the idea was back then that it wasn't meant to be functional, but just used to create buzz about the band in a time where they approached the mainstream. Of course, if this was sent out a few months in advance of the record, I can see how it would have been useful. So maybe that got lost in the sands of time.

Edited by ytserush
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