Working Men Live

12 tracks, all but one previously released on live Rush albums of recent vintage. It is hard to imagine what purpose this album serves, except to keep Rush product on the shelves while the band is on break during the Christmas season. While the music is excellent (obviously), it is hard to imagine a Rush fan that would play this single-disc album before listening to the actual live albums that the tracks were sourced from.

Here's a tracklist, and a breakdown of where these tracks were lifted from:

1. "Limelight" (From Snakes & Arrows Live)
2. "The Spirit of Radio" (From R30)
3. "2112 Overture/The Temples of Syrinx (From Rush in Rio)
4. "Freewill" (From Snakes & Arrows Live)
5. "Dreamline" (From R30)
6. "Far Cry" (From Snakes & Arrows Live)
7. "Subdivisions" (From R30)
8. "One Little Victory" (From the R30 tour) (Previously Unreleased)
9. "Closer to the Heart" (From Rush in Rio)
10. "Tom Sawyer" (From Snakes & Arrows Live)
11. "Working Man" (From R30)
12. "YYZ" (From Rush in Rio)

"One Little Victory", a stormy firecracker of a version, is the lone previously unreleased song. Is that one song worth your $15? You decide. I can tell you that "One Little Victory" is basically all you're going to get for your money. There is no booklet and there are no liner notes to speak of. The cover art, once again by Hugh Syme, is quite nice however, hinting at past works.

The songs fade-in and fade-out, which to be honest I prefer when a CD is taken from multiple sources, although you may not. The songs that are selected lean heavily on oldies as opposed to newer tracks, which does not really reflect what a Rush concert is about these days. Clearly, this is to entice consumers who want songs they have heard frequently on the radio. At least the running order is well sequenced for maximum firepower.

I can't recommend this album to anybody except completists and Rush diehards. Everybody else would be well advised to spend their money on Rush In Rio, R30, or Snakes & Arrows Live. While Rush are on break, be sure to catch Alex Lifeson with Mike Smike, Jean-Paul Trembley, and Robb Wells in the new TV show, "The Drunk And On Drugs Happy Funtime Hour".

2 stars, not for the music, but just because it's a bit of a Christmas cashgrab.

Where to begin? Well let's just say there's no Rush to buy this. Enough with the sarcasm already, a compilation of live stuff is quite simply not a great idea and it's a new concept to me, never before have I heard of a band with a compilation of live material. Considering that they released "Snakes & Arrows Live" (2008) just a year before this it somehow seems worse.

However "Working Men" could have been better had the selection of songs been less of what you've come to expect: Tom Sawyer, The Spirit of the Radio, Freewill... If they would have released a live collection of songs that have never had a live version released before then maybe fans would like it more, just saying. Also the versions of the songs selected for Working Men are in most if not all cases not the best versions that were released, they're pretty good yes but not the best versions. For instance the best live captured performance of Freewill is from the 1981 live album "Exit Stage Left" and that's not what we get here. Why do I care? I care because I'm a fan and this is simply not worth it. If Atlantic wanted to put out an album of past live songs than why not put out the best versions of those songs? Simply because record companies do what they want when they want and they can release as many compilations as they want with the content they want while also trying to milk the most money possible out of loyal fans. By the way I'm pretty positive that a new fan won't want to buy a live best of.

What do those 13 live songs offer Rush fans? Well not a lot it turns out, if you're a hardcore fan who owns everything including the live albums then you already own all this. "Working Men" has 1 song that has never been released before, a live version of One Little Victory from R30. I listened to One Little Victory online (I wasn't going to buy this just so I could listen to one song!) and I have to say that it's not bad but it's not great either, certainly not worth buying this best of live performances album for that one song. Seriously? The record company is so desperate that it has no idea what to put out. As much as I love Rush I simply can't understand this and if you're an objective fan you must admit yourself it was a pretty dumb idea. I don't have any other choice, it may have the Rush name on it but this is a one star for me. If you were interested in just about every Rush albums then you have just found one in which you won't be interested.

Aside from one track, this will end up in the discounted bins because there is nothing really new. Yes, only R30 had a CD version released officially, but this release wasn't necessary.