The Holy Grail of Rush shows has finally been found. This show comes from the 11-15-75 performance at the Rockford Amory in Rockford, Illinois. It is the first and so far only Caress of Steel tour live recording to make its way into circulation. This production is taken directly from the analog master tape, so no generational loss here.

Now not everything is perfect with this recording. The vocals a quite buried and almost non-existent at times during the performance. But by the time Lakeside Park is finished, the sound gets much better. The guitar is mixed pretty well and the drums are decent enough. The tape itself ran slow in some parts and fast in other parts of the recording. This was compensated for as well as could be done as the majority of the recording runs at the correct speed. Those sections that don't are only off by an ever so slight margin that most people will never notice. There is one 3 second tape eat 3:45 into By-Tor. The crowd noise around the taper isn't too obnoxious and at one point it is quite funny. During the mid section of By-Tor someone yells "That's the way Geddy. Show'em who's boss!".

The real treat of this performance is a full version of the Necromancer. Not the tunicated version on the '77 tour. This version is worth the price of admission alone and is a must have for all old Rush fans. The version of By-Tor and the Snow Dog is also the longer jam version with Alex's solo before it got shortened as the opening to Xanadu in later tours. All in all, an incredible show that no Rush fan should be without. Special thanks to Powrcord for taping this show and allowing us to freely trade this to any and all Rush fans. As with all Digital Reproductions recordings, it's only available via free trade and never for sale. Just visit the trading links section to find people that will gladly trade this recording for free.    (1999-12-01)

Northern Reflections
   (Audio - 5.5)

After waiting some time for a legitimate CARESS OF STEEL recording, I didn’t know what to expect when STAINLESS STEEL came around. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the sound quality and, more importantly, the setlist! Although Geddy’s vocals are hard to hear during the first few songs of the set, the sound quality improves and we are treated to a full live version of ‘The Necromancer’ which is reason enough to get a copy of this show. It is somewhat chilling to hear Geddy introduced ‘Lakeside Park’ as the band’s latest single considering the band’s more recent feelings about this song. There is a brief Neil Peart interview at the beginning of the show during which he comments on the lack of success Rush was having during the DOWN THE TUBES TOUR and the recording closes with the announcer talking about merchandise availability for the opening act, KISS. Now that we have a legitimate recording from a CARESS OF STEEL show where Rush is the opening act wouldn’t it be nice if someone could locate a recording of a CARESS OF STEEL show where Rush was the headlining act!    (2000-01-01)

Ben
   (Audio - 5.5)

FINALLY!  Someone coughed up the Caress of Steel/Down the Tubes tour boot!  (we knew they were out there!) This one starts off with Neil reminiscing about the Down the Tubes tour and why it was called just that and segues immediately into Bastille Day.  Since Rush was the opening act for a lot of shows at this time  (Kiss on this particular outing) they were playing shorter sets than we have become accustomed to and therefore this one clocks in at just under 60 minutes.

Overall the sound isn't too bad!  Just a bit of hiss, a little distortion and occasionally you lose track of Geddy's voice, but it's really not too shabby! Not too much of a problem hearing all the instruments. The cymbals gets lost every now and then, but nothing to really complain about (hey, they all can't sound like Mirrors!)  One problem that comes to mind is there is a minor tape "eat" during By-tor, but it's not too drastic. It's a very listen-able show!

The best part of the disc (in this reviewer's opinion) is you get the WHOLE Necromancer!  All 13:39 of it! That's the one we've been waiting for! (well those of us old, hard-core, longstanding Rush fans that wore out 2 copies of Caress of Steel anyway) One thing that also stands out in my mind while listening to this, is the fact that they are sounding more like a band. At this point Neil has been with them for over a year and they have 2 albums under their belt, so things are tighter and they are coming across like one unit, which I've always thought was one of their strong points.

This show is definitely worth getting if you like older Rush, and a "must have" for those of us that are collecting!  Hopefully, this will start a trend and more of these shows will surface!    (2000-01-01)

Special Note