Rush Sigmals

It's unfortunate that Tom Rush's third album has such a strong reputation among rock listeners – not that it doesn't deserve it, but it sort of distracts them from this album, which was as natural a fit for rock listeners as any folk album of its era. Rush's debut album is filled with a hard, bluesy brand of folk music that's hard on the acoustic guitar strings and not much easier on his voice; he sings stuff like "Long John" and "If Your Man Gets Busted" with a deep, throaty baritone that's only a little less raw than John Hammond's was while doing his work of the same era. Rush had the misfortune to be equated with Bob Dylan, but he had a more easygoing and accessible personality that comes out on numbers here such as Woody Guthrie's "Do-Re-Mi" and Kokomo Arnold's "Milkcow Blues," which are thoroughly enjoyable and quietly (but totally) beguiling. Additionally, he isn't such a purist that he felt above covering a Leiber & Stoller number such as "When She Wants Good Lovin'."

Although Albert King is pictured on the front cover and has the lion's share of tracks on this excellent compilation, six of the fourteen tracks come from Rush's shortlived tenure with the label and are some of his very best. Chronologically, these are his next recordings after the Cobra sides and they carry a lot of the emotional wallop of those tracks, albeit with much loftier production values with much of it recorded in early stereo. Oddly enough, some of the material ("All Your Love," "I'm Satisfied [Keep on Loving Me Baby]") were remakes – albeit great ones – of tunes that Cobra had already released as singles! But Rush's performance of "So Many Roads" (featuring one of the greatest slow blues guitar solos of all time) should not be missed at any cost.

Neatly chopping up the band’s career into three segments, Rush’s Sector series of box sets breaks the Canadian prog rockers' early musical legacy into easy-to-digest morsels. On Sector 2, we find the band transitioning from its early developmental period into mainstream success with the albums A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, and the live album Exit…Stage Left…

Digital (Web) version contains one bonus track A Passage to Bangkok (Live in Manchester). To celebrate 40 years of Permanent Waves, Rush has reissued their iconic studio album as a super deluxe edition box set containing 3 LPs, 2 CDs, and several fan collectibles. These live tracks come from three stops on the Permanent Waves World Tour 1980: Manchester Apollo, Manchester, England; Hammersmith Odeon, London, England; and Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri. Permanent Waves is the band’s first of many iconic visits to Le Studio recording studio in Morin Heights, Quebec which has been nicknamed Rush’s Abbey Road Studios.

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…

Bobby Rush got dirty on 2013's Down in Louisiana but with 2014's Decisions, he returns to his slick blues-funk ways, but this doesn't mean it's a rote affair by any means. He has teamed up with the band Blinddog Smokin' and, for the first time in his career, recorded with fellow Louisiana legend Dr. John. Mac Rebennack shows up on the opening "Another Murder in New Orleans," a deeply soulful and searching portrait of the violence that often plagues the Big Easy but, really, that's the only instance when good times aren't on Rush's mind. He leers about being a "Funky Old Man" and winks about what happens on "Bobby Rush's Bus," two songs that set the pace and attitude for much of the rest of Decisions.