RUSH – Red Stars of the Solar Federation (X-Rekords, Live at Montreal Forum May ’81)
I found this bootleg when I was unceremoniously transferred from one location to another. When I started at the other location, this was among the first CDs that came in that I just had to buy. It’s a Rush bootleg from the legendary Moving Pictures tour. In fact this CD is the audio of the Rush video Exit…Stage Left, which is a different audio from the LP. It sounds like a vinyl rip. Otherwise the sound quality is pretty good. The audience is shrill and very loud. There are also clearly speed/pitch issues with the audio. (This could be corrected in Audacity, but I don’t think I could do it by ear.) This CD is selling for over $70 currently on Discogs. I paid nowhere near that.
Between the songs are interview snippets from the band, same as the video. It features a few tracks that were not on the Exit…Stage Left album: “By-Tor”, “In the Mood”, “In the End”, and “2112” which is unlisted. The rest of the songs are completely different recordings, anyway. I guess that’s why the asking price is $70. They are no less perfect; no less electrifying.
“The Trees” and “Xanadu” take up one massive 17 minute track on the CD, and it’s a monument to perfection of performance and craft. I can barely remember the sequence of all the different parts of Xanadu; I can’t imagine how Rush can play a set full of this stuff with precision and feel all the time! All this while Geddy has to remember complex lyrics about searching for the lost Xanadu.
I love Peart’s slamming drums on “Red Barchetta”, a song I simply never tire of. What is it about Rush songs? They don’t burn out like so many other bands. Not even “Closer to the Heart” has burned out on me yet, and it’s always a pleasure hearing a less familiar version.
On to “By-Tor”: it features a nicely noisy and meandering Alex Lifeson solo, surely a highlight of the entire performance. This segues directly into a truncated “In the End”, also from Fly By Night. This then is butted against “In the Mood” from the first Rush album in an awkward transition. Geddy appears to change the lyrics from “Hey baby” to “Hey Cookie”. Even this song is shortened, and segues into “Grande Finale” from 2112. Alex ends it with some noise-laden blasting on his axe, almost stealing the spotlight from his two bandmates. It’s a perfect storm of musical excellence and heavy rock.
Sonically, Red Stars of the Solar Federation is vastly inferior to the current Exit…Stage Left DVD. Yet I have a geeky love for an oddball CD like this. While I can’t say it’s worth $70, I can say it’s worth:
3.5/5 stars
mikeladano.com 
Geek out dude!
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Who are you calling a geek? ;)
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Enjoyed the not worth $70 but worth a 70% score!
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I’m glad liked and noticed that mathematical trick!
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Cool review Mike,never ever heard or seen this one…..anything with By Tor on in it is worth the price of admission !
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Glad you liked the review Deke! I don’t know if By-Tor is worth the price of admission with a $70 price tag though!
I have no record of what I paid for this. Probably $7.99.
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$7.99 a steal…never would pay $70 for a boot!
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Nice review, Mike. I’m also quite surprised to learn that a boot could cost so much! In the days of internet – particularly archive.
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Nice find! A no-brainer purchase for Lebrain.
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Yeah exactly. It said RUSH on it. That’s all I needed!
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Wow, what a great review of the Rush performance at Montreal Forum! The energy in that show must have been incredible. I’m a big fan of Rush and their live performances, especially from that era.
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Glad you enjoyed the review!
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I really enjoyed reading your review of Rush – Red Stars of the Solar Federation. The live performance sounds incredible, and it’s great to hear your perspective on the band’s energy and presence. Thanks again for the great review!
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Thanks, I am glad that you enjoyed it!!!
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Fantastic review! I really enjoyed how you captured the raw energy of Rush’s performance at the Montreal Forum — especially your insight into the Red Stars of the Solar Federation segment.
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Thank you for this comment! I made a slight edit to remove the spam, but everything else is appreciated!
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Fantastic review! I really enjoyed how you captured the energy of Rush’s performance at the Montreal Forum — it’s amazing how their live sound could be both so precise and so full of emotion. Reading this almost feels like being there in 1981.
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Thanks for the comment, which you copied and pasted from the previous. I deleted all the spam from it.
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