Chronicles - Rush (CD 1990)

It always amazes me that a band of this caliber exists and it always amazes me even more that a band of this caliber can go through so many changes and still sound just as incredible today as they did when they first started!

Chances are, if you're looking at this review, you already have some clue as to who this band is. Since I've written their history in several of my past reviews, I'll spare you from the long version. Here's a very abridged version -

Rush (for argument sake) was officially formed in 1974. After their first album, they replaced their drummer with Neil Peart, their present drummer/lyricist who, it can be argued, changed the direction of the band towards a more Progressive style.

From 1974-1991 Rush released an average of one album per year, all of which have gone at least gold. In the 90's they slowed down a bit, releasing only 2 additional studio albums and one live, triple disc performance. For the purposes of this review, all you need to concern yourself with is the pre 90's era.

This band, having been around and active for so long, has a huge library of songs, many of which indicate a different phase the band was going through at the time. In 1990, they released a compilation album entitled Chronicles. This featured most of the popular tracks off of their last 16 years worth of albums. How anyone can decide which songs should be featured on this album with such an extensive library, is beyond me, but somehow it happened. This video is a compilation of the videos from this album.



The first few songs represent Rush during their earlier years - circa 1977. The three members, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, look almost unidentifiable when compared to their appearances today. In all honesty, they look rather similar to Queen during this same era - tight, shiny white outfits and long hair.

These first videos are just scenes from a tour that obviously hasn't been released as a separate album. (It might be interesting to note that on Neil's video "A Work in Progress", a short clip of him is shown playing Xanadu looking very much like he does here.)

After this, the band moves into the 80's, starting off with some rather drab videos of them in the studio (Limelight) and again performing live (Tom Sawyer & Red Barchetta). It's around this stage that we also see the trio closer to the way they look today only much younger (notice Neil's ponytail, Geddy's haircut - or lack thereof - and the tight jeans?)

During the next era, we see Rush move into the mid 80's. With the introduction of Subdivisons, we see some non-studio, non-concert based footage of a birds-eye view of a suburban community. This video's the first in a string of videos that the band put some time and effort into producing. This video's especially neat for picking out the old arcade games and saying, "I played those!" or the math text and saying, "I had that book!"

After this we move into the mid/later 80's. Around this stage is where we see the budget and the qualities of the videos improve a bit - but only a bit. Although the videos are well thought out, some of the scenes are almost humorous. One of the "cute" videos that stands out here is Big Money, which takes place on a 50x size Monopoly board.

A little treat they threw in at the end of this video for us is a deviation from the "Chronicles" record, where Show Don't Tell is replaced by Lock and Key two different albums, but in my opinion, a much better song.

Chances are, if you see this video you'll think at some point or another, "Haven't I seen this before?" Don't be alarmed, several of Rush's videos simply followed the mainstream video of the day. Some examples of this would be comparing Rush's Big Money video with Dire Straights' Money For Nothin' video - different layout, but similar format. Both of them were released around the same time. Another example would be comparing the Mystic Rhythms video with Genesis' Land of Confusion video - again, different, yet similar styles.

Speaking of the Devil, one of the best quality videos on this video is Mystic Rhythms. The quality is sharp, the effects outstanding and the surrealism of the video fits in with the song perfectly. The three members are also in good form in the video as well, another bonus!

For Rush fans, this is a MUST have. For slight Rush fans, this is a good addition to the starter's collection, as it spans over a decade's worth of music and gives a good picture of some of the physical changes the band went through. For a non-Rush fan, this video might allow you to see just how talented these guys are, especially in their live videos - "Yes", Geddy plays Bass, Keyboards and sings all at once and "Yes" Neil actually does play all of those drums at one time or another.

Enjoy and happy listening!