Back to ’84 as the Rush guitars get turned back up on a new remaster of Grace Under Pressure.
FORTY YEARS ON…
In a galaxy far away…. Not content with the news of the Fifty-something Rush tour that heads around North America later this year and into Europe twelve months further on, the reissue/remaster/renewal of the Rush catalogue continues unabated, doing the forty year reappraisal.
An album that’s a sign of its times – the sounds and the fashions – and yet so was 2112 – the Canadian trio always keeping abreast with the new technologies and sartorial splendour. Whilst not our favorite Rush album of the Eighties – a reminder of what we think – (a lowly seventh out of seven on Mike’s list) the shiny new version might go some way to upping its status. Over 40 years after its original release, Grace Under Pressure gets the Super Deluxe Edition treatment. The key feature being the brand-new Terry Brown album mix commissioned by Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson themselves.
The keyboard dominance which had started to creep in during Signals and would be a key feature of the Rush Eighties work gets reined in by Broon. There seems to be a general pushing up of the faders on Alex’s guitar parts and of course, a couple of Rush classics which are/have been staples of the live set lead the line. Red Sector A might have more credence given the Geddy Lee autobiography which details his family struggles against oppression which as expected, Neil Peart writes of with such eloquence.
Between The Wheels is a monster – I always picture this song accompanied by the moving lighting rig during this song on a latter tour. Otherwise, the abundance of slashing chords and dubby rhythms that started with Vital Signs on Moving Pictures and continued on Signals play an increasing part, making GUP one of the Rush albums with, in football terms, less strength in depth.
GUP PLUS
GUP comes with the usual inclusion of a live show of the era – sadly missing on the Signals re-packaging – in the form of the first-ever complete concert film and album of the gig in Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, from September 1984. Some of us might have the bulk of this material already, albeit in edited form, in previously released packages. The set is sharply focussed on the ‘new era’ with a couple of medley/late set crowd pleasing trips to the Seventies, and we do get the full sequence of the Fear trilogy…which is nice!
Having dipped his toes in the authorship waters with his My Effin’ Life memoir Geddy Lee’s first-ever liner notes give his insight and having never been overly impressed by the original cover art, Hugh Symes’ rebooted and renewed artwork – as it always has been on the reissue series – is a delight. However, bottom line might be that at £250+ for the package, the lack of a more budget friendly option – the sort offered offered with previous releases of the likes of Hemispheres or Permanent Waves – might give some of the more casual fans food for thought.
Here’s a taste of the live offerings on the set:
Rush: Website