The Spirit of Radio
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Fly By Night (3:21) 2112 Overture / The Temples of Syrinx (6:48) Closer To The Heart (2:54) The Trees (4:41) The Spirit of Radio (4:57) Freewill (5:23) Limelight (4:22) Tom Sawyer (4:37) Red Barchetta (6:10) New World Man (3:42) Subdivisions (5:35) Distant Early Warning (5:59) The Big Money (5:35) Force Ten (4:34) Time Stand Still (5:10) |
 Buy at Amazon.com Geddy Lee - Bass Guitars/ Additional Musicians: Mercury/Anthem, February 11, 2003 |
Notes:
- Certified Gold by RIAA: November 8, 2006 - Highest Billboard Chart Position: 62
- The third compilation from Rush's first 12 studio albums from their Mercury years (1974-1987), this single cd compilation is analagous to a condensed version of the previously released Chronicles (1990), as all songs on this collection are also found Chroncles, and both collections run in chronological order. In fact, all songs on this collection are also found on both of the 2cd compilations Chronicles (1990) and the subsequently released Gold (2006). While the 2CD compilations showcase at least two songs from the original studio albums, this single disk compilation has room for an average of only one song per album. Unfortunately, although three songs were included from Moving Pictures, and two each from Permanent Waves, Signals and Hold Your Fire, there are no songs from Caress of Steel begging the question, "where's 'Bastille Day'"?
- The Japanese release includes a bonus disk containing two tracks, "A Passage To Bangkok" from Exit Stage Left and "What You're Doing" from All The Worlds A Stage; two live tracks which were omitted from the original cd releases of those albums which were also included on Chronicles.
- To entice fans to purchase the cd, the first 100,000 produced included a bonus DVD sampler of the Chronicles DVD collection, containing videos of "Tom Sawyer", "Closer to the Heart", "Subdivisions", "The Big Money" and "Mystic Rhythms", plus lyrics to all the songs on the album.
- Unlike the two Retrospectives collections, which did not make the Billboard Top 200, this compilation fared better as it was supported by a big marketing push and released shortly after the Vapor Trails tour. Selling 28,538 in it's first week, this compilation entered the charts at #62 and stayed in the Top 200 for seven weeks before dropping off (62, 81, 101, 117, 136, 183, 198).
- "...part of a contractual thing with Paul Egram with Mercury Records from our previous deal with them, which expired in 1990. So they have the rights to do a number of greatest hits or packaged records." - Alex Lifeson, AT&T Celebrity Chat, Feb. 10, 2003
- "We did not have a lot of input in this. This was mostly a record company project. Our opinions were made known and they were very cooperative about doing good packaging for us." - Geddy Lee, USAToday.com chat, Feb 5, 2003