Rush Snakes & Arrows

2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Rush's eponymous debut album. This deluxe collector's box set brings together live performances by Rush from each decade of their career. It includes 'Rush in Rio,' 'R30,' 'Snakes & Arrows Live,' 'Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland,' and 'Clockwork Angels Tour,' plus a spectacular bonus disc of previously unseen and unreleased live material stretching from 1974 to 2013. The bonus disc features over two hours of unreleased footage including their masterpiece '2112' in its entirety, the Laura Secord School performance with John Rutsey from 1974 that features two unreleased Rush songs and a cover of 'Bad Boy' made famous by the Beatles, the closing tour film 'I Still Love You Man' from the Time Machine Tour with Paul Rudd & Jason Segel, and the monumental 2013 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony with Dave Grohl & Taylor Hawkins. The 6 disc set is presented in a hardcover book containing rare, unreleased photos and memorabilia.

Over the course of their decades-spanning career, Canadian power trio Rush emerged as one of hard rock's most highly regarded bands; although typically brushed aside by critics and rarely the recipients of mainstream pop radio airplay, Rush nonetheless won an impressive and devoted fan following, while their virtuoso performance skills solidified their standing as musicians' musicians.

Clockwork Angels has been a long time coming. Rush foreshadowed it in 2010 by releasing "BU2B," and "Caravan" to radio. The next single, "Headlong Flight," didn't appear until 2012. Co-produced with Nick Raskulinecz (who also worked on 2007's Snakes & Arrows), Clockwork Angels is a return to the concept album by the band that perfected it on 2112 in 1976. It centers on a loose narrative about a young man following his dreams. He struggles with inner and outer forces of order and chaos; he encounters an expansive world where colors, images, territories, and characters are embodied by pirates, strange carnivals, rabble-rousing anarchists, and lost cities. His enemy is the Watchmaker, a ruthless authoritarian presence who attempts to rule the universe and all aspects of everyday life with fascistic precision. Neil Peart's lyrics embrace notions of alchemy and steampunk sci-fi in his thematics…

Feature-length documentary about the band + full-length, never-before-seen performances of: "Best I Can" and "Working Man" (with John Rutsey, performed live at Laura Secord SS, Spring 1974), "La Villa Strangiato" (live at Pinkpop 1979), "Between Sun And Moon" (recorded at Hartford, CT, June 28th 2002), "Far Cry" and "Entre Nous" from the Snakes & Arrows tour and "Bravado" and "YYZ" from the R30 tour.

Few bands warrant, let alone deserve, a three-volume retrospective. Rush, however, make the case. As a concern, Rush are still going strong – perhaps stronger than ever as a live attraction – and their studio albums in the 21st century have been as heavy as anything they've ever cut, and very consistent in terms of quality. Rush have issued many compilations, but this makes three that bear the title Retrospective. The first volume covered the years 1974-1980, which addressed the period between their self-titled debut long-player and Permanent Waves; the second covered 1981-1987, bookmarked by the recordings Moving Pictures and Hold Your Fire; and this set covering 1989-2007 tracks the full-lengths Presto through Snakes & Arrows…