Different Stages
Track list:
1. Dreamline
2. Limelight
3. Driven
4. Bravado
5. Animate
6. Show Don't Tell
7. The Trees
8. Nobody's Hero
9. Closer To The Heart
10. 2112: Overture
11. 2112: The Temples Of Syrinx
12. 2112: Discovery
13. 2112: Presentation
14. 2112: Oracle: The Dream
15. 2112: Soliloquy
16. 2113: Grande Finale
17. Test For Echo
18. Analogue Kid
19. Freewill
20. Roll The Bones
21. Stick It Out
22. Resist
23. Leave That Thing Alone
24. The Rhythm Method
25. Natural Science
26. The Spirit Of Radio
27. Tom Sawyer
28. YYZ
29. Bastille Day
30. By Tor And The Snow Dog
31. Xanadu
32. Farewell To Kings
33. Something For Nothing
34. Cygnus X-1
35. Anthem
36. Working Man
37. Fly By Night
38. In The Mood
39. Cinderella Man
Suddenly you were gone
From all the lives you left your mark upon
Different Stages was dedicated to the memory of Neil Peart's daughter, Selena, and his wife, Jackie.
Released in 1998, much of the work fell to Geddy Lee in preparing the album for sale. He must have been mindful that he was probably working on the last Rush album since, although it fits neatly into the established 4 studio plus 1 live and effectively closes the 4th chapter of Rush, the future of the band was in serious doubt. No one was talking about even the most remote possibility that Neil Peart would return to the studio and the subject was firmly off the table.
The aforegoing perhaps explains why Different Stages received the treatment that it did. The album is a 39 track monster, spread over 3 CDs. The first two were mostly recorded during the Test For Echo tour at Chicago, with a few tracks from the 1994 Counterparts tour. The 3rd disk is a recording from the Farewell To Kings tour, recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, London in 1978. Farewell? Coincidence? I don't think so. I think Lee considered Rush to be finished and wanted to go out with a bang.
The album should have been a triumph, but at the time, there was a huge sense of loss. The greatest group in the galaxy was gone. I, along with thousands of other fans all over the world, dutifully headed for the record store to buy my copy, knowing that we had reached the end of an era.
History, of course, tells us that we were wrong to write off Rush so quickly, but having read Neil's book, and gained an insight into his thoughts and feelings, it's clear that the future of the band hung in the balance for quite some time.