Exit...Stage Left (1981)
1.The Spirit of Radio
2.Red Barchetta
3.YYZ
4.A Passage to Bangkok
5.Closer to the Heart
6.Beneath, Between & Behind
7.Jacob's Ladder
8.Broon's Bane
9.The Trees
10.Xanadu
11.Free Will
12.Tom Sawyer
13.La Villa Strangiato
This one tends to be a bit of a head-scratcher for me, because I know I’m in the minority here. Ask most fans where Exit... Stage Left ranks in the Rush catalog—studio albums included—and you’re likely to get something close to a top-five nod. Personally? It doesn’t even come close. And if we’re just talking live albums, it might actually be near the bottom.
Now, to be fair, I have a bit of history with this one. Exit... Stage Left was one of the very first Rush albums I ever bought. Late 1981. I remember taking it home, dropping the needle, and instantly wondering if my copy was defective. The sound was...off. Muddy. Lifeless. I found myself turning the bass knob all the way down (yes, knobs were still a thing) and the treble all the way up just to squeeze some clarity out of it. And I wasn’t alone—these things mattered in high school, and I knew several others who had the same gripe. When Geddy introduces the first track with “This is The Spirit of Radio...,” it doesn’t feel like you’re inside the arena with 15,000 fans. It feels like you’re standing outside the venue with your ear to the wall. The crowd is barely audible throughout the record, which might appeal to fans who like their live albums “clean,” but for me, part of the fun is the crowd—the noise, the energy, the shared chaos. None of that is captured here.
To its credit, the later CD pressing seemed to clean things up a bit, and the song selection really is top tier. This is essentially a highlight reel of “phase two” Rush—1977 through 1981—which most fans would argue is their finest era. Even the band later admitted that the production on this one was a little too “fine,” a little too sanitized. And most of these tracks would get re-released in later years on various live albums and DVDs, and in every case, I’d rather listen to those.
That might be my biggest complaint, actually. For a band that built its reputation on being one of the most electrifying live acts in rock history, Exit... Stage Left just doesn’t capture that magic. If you’d never seen the band live—and I hadn’t, at the time—this album didn’t exactly give you an accurate preview of the spectacle.
Still, the fanbase continues to adore it, and there’s no denying the strength of the material. So, as always, give it a listen and decide for yourself. Just don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting a bit more grit in the mix.
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