As Rush dawned on their 30th Anniversary, their old label Mercury(Who they disbanded with in 1987) decided to release a compilation to commemorate the event. Taking songs off the many
Rush albums between 1974-1987, it manages to incorporate at least one song from each album released during that time period except for Caress of Steel, an underrated gem. Although this
album says "Greatest Hits", none of these songs reached billboard success except for "New World Man", which peaked at #16. Essentially this is a "Best Of" compilation, gathering up all the radio staples such as "Limelight", "Tom Sawyer", and "Subdivisions"(Really you can hear all the
songs on this compilation on the radio!), and adding in fan favorites such as "Time Stands Still", "Distant Early Warning", and "Force Ten". The CD's packaging is also quite nice, with a Booklet that tells all
about their CD's and the singles on this compilation, and it proves to be quite an interesting read. If you are a fan of Classic Rock, I cannot recommend Rush enough. Making a compilation for the greatest band of all-time can prove to be quite a formidable task, so read on below to find out
how Spirit of Radio stacks up:

(By the way, thanks to Der Kommissar for the format!)

PROS:
ALL THE SONGS ARE CLASSICS-Without a doubt, every single song on this compilation are some of Rush's best, and they will not fail to satisfy even the stingiest of tastes. If you are a fan of
Classic Rock, there is no way you cannot like this!

THIS RUSH COMPILATION IS CHEAPER THAN ANY OTHER ONE AVAILABLE-At
most CD Stores, you can find this CD for a mere 11.99$, which is basically a steal. The other Rush compilations, Chronicles and Retrospective 1 and 2, are more expensive.

PERFECT FOR A CASUAL FAN-If you just want all the radio staples without the fan favorites, this Rush compilation is for you!

INTERESTING BOOKLET-The cover booklet gives interesting info on all of Rush's albums and each and every song on this album. One of the best booklets for a compilation(Other than Judas
Priest's Metalworks).

Cons:

MISSING MANY GREAT SONGS- This compilation blatantly excludes "Bastille Day", "Lakeside Park", "By-Tor and the Snowdog", "YYZ", and many others. Most or all of those
songs I just mentioned are played on the radio in regular rotation, and they are all classics, so it's a
shame they weren't included.

DOESN'T COVER CARESS OF STEEL- Although Caress of Steel certainly isn't Rush's best album, this compilation covers all the albums EXCEPT this one, and they could have easily
added the songs "Bastille Day" and "Lakeside Park".

NO SONGS FROM PRESTO OR THE 90'S CDS-Since this compilation only covers the CDs released on the Mercury label, you get NO songs off Presto or any of Rush's 90's material, which is just as notable as their earlier work.

FALLS FLAT ON ITS FACE COMPARED TO CHRONICLES-Compared to Chronicles, which mentions all the songs I wanted above, plus songs from Presto and Roll the Bones, and many more classic songs("Something For Nothing", "Anthem", "Mystic Rhythms", "La Villa Strangiato", and many more), Spirit of Radio almost seems like an afterthought compared to Chronicles.

Overall, a this compilation gathers all of the most popular Rush songs, but omits many undeniable classics, and contains no material from the 90's, therefore severely degrading it. What's here is great though, and if you don't want to spend more than 15 Dollars on a Rush Compilation, this CD is for you. ALSO, DO NOT GET THE RETROSPECTIVE CDS, THEY ARE RIPOFFS!THEY ARE JUST 2 OVERPRICED VERSIONS OF CHRONICLES! But if you are looking for a TRUE retrospective, this album is not for you.

RECOMMENDED IF YOU WANT A CHEAP RUSH COMPILATION, NOT
RECOMMENDED IF YOU'RE GETTING INTO RUSH, INSTEAD GET THE MUCH
BETTER CHRONICLES! Thanks for reading!


Let's put this CD in Retrospect...   February 16, 2003
 36 out of 36 found this review helpful

Rush was recently on Rockline promoting this CD, and came right out and said they had virtually nothing to do with this CD, and that their record company more-or-less mandated its release. The first 100,000 copies printed have the limited edition DVD, which has nothing that isn't on the Chronicles DVD. As a HUGE Rush fan, some previously unavaliable videos such as the newer ones (Driven, Half the World, Show Don't Tell, Stick It Out, Roll the Bones, etc.) would be more of a "bonus" as far as I'm concerned, since you can't get them anywhere. As a collection of music, it's all good, that's why I'm giving this a 5-star rating. However, if you're already a Rush fan, it's useless, since any self-respecting Rush fan owns whole-album sets and not just greatest hits. This CD is basically a record company marketing scheme. SAVE YOUR MONEY FOR THE LIVE IN RIO DVD THIS SUMMER! IT WILL FEATURE A BONUS BEHIND-THE-SCENES DVD AS WELL AS THE ENTIRE SHOW THEY PERFORMED DURING THE VAPOR TRAILS TOUR!!!!


Why?   February 13, 2003
 14 out of 23 found this review helpful

This album has tracks which can be found on at least two other Rush retrospectives: "Chronicles" and the two "Retrospective" disks. And all of the videos on the DVD can be found on the "Chronicles" VHS or DVD. I would recommend keeping your money and buying a Rush gold disk or two...


The Poets Laureate of Hard Rock   February 19, 2003
 13 out of 13 found this review helpful

I remember when Rush's first album appeared on the Canadian music charts when I was in high school. It entered at #100 and 2 weeks later climbed all the way up to #99. This, I thought with my usual accuracy for prognostication, is a band going nowhere.

I wasn't alone. When Rush were nominated for Best New Band at the Junos (Canada's Grammy awards), they lost to the ever popular Myles & Lenny. Inexplicably nominated in the same category the next year, they lost again.

But someone was listening...

Rush toured and toured, putting on phenomenal shows, playing with ever-increasing virtuousity and writing the most intelligent songs in the hard rock genre.

They hold the record, by a wide margin, of most consecutive Billboard top 10 albums by a heavy metal act. Including Led Zeppelin.

Several reviewers have complained that the tracklisting for this set is also available on Chronicles, a 2-CD set. True, but this set isn't for completists. The songs alone rate 5-stars, regardless of how often they are repackaged.

Ironically the song "The Spirit Of Radio", for which the album was named, was the slogan of radio station CFNY in Toronto. The station played an eclectic mix new wave, punk, and obscure album tracks, not the big heavy metal acts of the day that Rush, rightly or wrongly, was categorized as being amongst.

CFNY never played Rush.

But most other Toronto stations did, effectively giving free advertising to a competitor.


Was this cd necessary?   February 13, 2003
 12 out of 16 found this review helpful

Great! Yet another "compilation" of the same songs from Chronicles and the Retrospective cds. I guess this is a "best of" the previous "best of's". There really is no reason to buy this cd if you already have Chronicles or Retrospective. Wait a minute...There's a bonus dvd in there. And it has...5 songs from the Chronicles dvd! Horray! Being a die-hard Rush fan, I just don't understand why this is being released. The dvd should have at least had some of the videos that came out after Chronicles. The only reason anybody should buy this cd is if you don't already own Chronicles or Retrospective. If you've never heard Rush before and you're curious, then yes, this cd would be the perfect one. In that aspect, I give it 5 stars. It has all their hits.