Rush

…Covering three CDs, this is one of those documents that can make a punter wonder why he ever doubted the glory, majesty, and heavy, overblown, pretentious rock power of Rush. Opening with thunderous crowd noise, "Tom Sawyer" – with complete audience participation from the git – it is somehow awe-inspiring to hear 40,000 people singing the song with Geddy Lee….

Rush's career reached an important milestone in 2011 – the 30th anniversary of the release of the band's masterpiece, Moving Pictures. Its U.S. sales of more than four million copies shows that this is the album that even casual fans like. (Even those who don't "like" Rush tend to like "Tom Sawyer.") The Canadian trio celebrated the 1981 best-seller with the Time Machine tour, featuring a performance of the album in its entirety. The two-CD set Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland captures Rush's sold-out concert on April 15, 2011, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Previous live albums were recorded outside the United States, so Rush decided to do this one in the first major city to embrace the band after its hometown of Toronto…

Breaking into the R&B Top Ten his very first time out in 1956 with the startlingly intense slow blues "I Can't Quit You Baby," southpaw guitarist Otis Rush subsequently established himself as one of the premier bluesmen on the Chicago circuit. Rush is often credited with being one of the architects of the West side guitar style, along with Magic Sam and Buddy Guy.

Rush Clockwork Angels Tour captures the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers' 2012-2013 sold-out tour from a unique point-of-view approach to filmmaking utilizing distinct composition and a voyeuristic style that at varying moments puts the viewer on the stage, at the side of the stage, and throughout the arena…

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.

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'."