Rush have announced a career-spanning 50-track anthology collection. Rush 50 traces the band’s career from their debut single in 1973 to their last performance in 2015. The massive collection is out March 21 via UMe/Mercury and Anthem Records.
“50? Is that all?…seriously…it’s a cool collection…but look at all those songs – I’m exhausted just reading the effin list,” says Geddy Lee.
Rush 50 includes selections from every studio album, live release, and deluxe reissue that the band has officially released. The collection includes seven previously unreleased tracks, beginning with the first-ever official reissue of Rush’s debut 1973 Moon Records single “Not Fade Away” and “You Can’t Fight It.” Other rarities include Vault Editions of 1974’s “Working Man” and 1978’s “The Trees,” both of which showcase alternate guitar solos by Alex Lifeson.
Order the career-spanning Rush 50 anthology now.
The collection features rare live cuts from some of Rush’s earliest shows. The non-album tracks “Bad Boy” and “Garden Road” were performed with Neil Peart behind the kit at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 26, 1974. A pair of live tracks—“Need Some Love” and “Before and After”—are taken from a show at Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, on May 15, 1974 and feature original drummer John Rutsey. In December of 1974, Rush recorded an unreleased version of “Anthem” at New York’s Electric Lady Studios.
Rush 50 concludes with a previously-unreleased recording of Rush’s final career performance with Peart at The Forum in Los Angeles, California, on August 1, 2015. Together, the band played a masterful medley of “What You’re Doing / Working Man / Garden Road,” which are newly mixed from the multi-tracks by longtime Rush producer and engineer Terry Brown.
Rush 50 will be available in five configurations. The first is the Super Deluxe Edition, which includes four CDs, seven LPs, new artwork from the band’s longtime creative director Hugh Syme, and a hardcover book with essays from rock journalists David Fricke and Philip Wilding. Exclusive to the Super Deluxe Edition are 20 new illustration lithographs by Syme and the new graphic novel The Fullness Of Time. Written and illustrated by Fantoons, the book is based around a conversation between Lee and Lifeson reflecting on the creation of each studio album.
Other ways to experience Rush 50 include the Rush Store Exclusive Super Deluxe Edition, which comes with all of the above as well as four bonus lithos representing the band in different eras. Both the 7-LP Deluxe Edition and a 4-CD Deluxe Edition arrive with Syme’s new artwork and the book of essays and ephemera. Finally, all 50 tracks will be available on the album’s digital edition.
Order the career-spanning Rush 50 anthology now.
