Record Label: Vitamin
Genre: Prog/Classical
Band Link:
Buy on Amazon.com link

I put “Rush (Tribute)” because there’s no band or group name listed or credited. I guess the selling point here is Rush, or maybe they were just embarrassed.

Unlike the symphonic take on Yes, which built upon the already-great music into a new ethereal plane with layers upon layers of texture, this quartet turns Exit Stage Left into flat, boring muzak.

It truly sounds like someone took the album and just fed it into a machine — every note and arrangement is identical to the original, only played by strings (and it’s not really a quartet: there are seven musicians collaborating, and a dozen instruments being played at any given time).

In fairness, some of it sounds pretty cool, especially on The Trees and Xanadu, where strings seem like they belong anyway. Only a couple of songs really miss, including YYZ which sounds like a Hungarian folk dance, but the rest of the album offers the same emotional intensity and listener reaction of muzak. In other words, you stop noticing the music within five minutes and forget it’s on until it suddenly ends and you’re blessed with silence.

Bottom Line: Boring, stale classical take on the greatest band ever.
Notable Tracks: The Trees, Xanadu
Overall Rating: