Rating: 
Summary: An excellent, but incomplete review of Mercury Records era.
Review: The Rush compilation album "Chronicles", released in 1990, was developed entirely by Mercury Records and completely to the disdain and anger of the band itself. The band had just broken from the label and signed with Atlantic Records and had no desire to be seen as has beens or a "greatest hits act". With that said, the album was excellently conceived, covering each of their 12 studio albums and all 3 live albums with the label. It even included a track off of their first Atlantic Records album "Presto". The only negative from the album, in fact, was the packaging which was terribly contrived. So, it was a complete surprise to me that the home video with the same title, "Chronicles", was such an excercise in utter incompleteness. Just 7 of their 12 studio albums are covered in the video. In addition, a few of the clips had been previously released on their home video "Through The Camera Eye". There have been many more clips made for songs off of earlier albums that were overlooked and live performances on shows such as Don Kirschner's Rock Concert that could have made up for albums in which no clips were ever made. There were a couple of clips that I had never seen before like "Limelight" and "Mystic Rhythms". The clips themselves were VERY entertaining. Rush has never translated that well to video, but I have always loved just watching the band perform so I am impartial to say the least. The 4 star rating comes on the strength of the band and the clips they made for the songs included. As far as for the people responsible for putting this video together...they get 0 stars from me. Too many missing pieces of the puzzle here for any consummate Rush fan.
Rating: 
Summary: If you want something done right...just get this video!
Review: A fabulous retrospective of Rush through the ages, this video gives a great sense of the progression and maturation of one of the greatest (if not THE GREATEST) power trios ever. See and hear Alex, Geddy, and Neil grow from young power rockers to true musicians in the matter of about an hour, and in the comfort of your own living room! Get this while you can; I hear it is no longer in print.
Rating: 
Summary: Vintage Rush Captured in '70s and '80s Videos
Review: Unfortunately, Rush's videos do not compare to their music, as is evident in this collection of songs from their greatest-hits album, "Chronicles". It opens with an almost comical "Closer to the Heart", each band member clad in KKK-like robes (sans hoods). One can get a good look at Geddy Lee's facility on the bass on a few of these tracks, as well as Neil Peart's intensity on the drum set. "Subdivisions" is illustrated well conceptually, but broken at a few points with a very fake Alex Lifeson's backing vocals. "Red Barchetta" shows just how dorky old videos can look nowadays, with a sound wave turning into a car and zooming off in the song's intro. The high point of the video is "Limelight", which is just straight studio recording footage. But it can't make up for the rest of the video. Considering how good Rush's music is, it shouldn't be a surprise that their videos are such a disappointment. For die-hard Rush fans only ...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent collection of Rush Videos
Review: MTV and VH-1 don't give nearly enough time to this great band, yet the videos rolled on... see many of them in this great collection. The videos cover many pre-Presto albums.
Rating:
Summary: Chronicles Good Collection
Review: This DVD compilation is a fine collection of the highwater marks in Rush's video-making history with Mercury Records. Beginning with Closer To the Heart (from 1977) and threading its way through Lock and Key (from 1987), a fan of this amazing trio will find themselves entralled, although in a few instances the videos are cheesy -- Distant Early Warning to name only one -- but you can blame that on the 80's -- everything was pretty cheesy then.
Nice additions that would make a person who already owns the VHS version want to buy it include the "in studio" version of Tom Sawyer (as opposed to the live version from the VHS version) and the bonus videos, Afterimage and The Enemy Within, which were not on the VHS version.
The sound quality is also top notch and the menus are easy to navigate.
However, I do have minor gripes : most fans know that the band have videos for Fly By Night, A Farewell To Kings, and La Villa Strangiato (song featured on the CD version of Chronicles) -- yet they are not available here. Yet Lock and Key (a song not on the CD version) is here. What?
But beyond that, this disc is a must-have for fans. Well worth the money. One can only hope that Atlantic will release a collection of videos from their post-Mercury years (starting with 1989's Presto).
Rating:
Summary: Rush Finds a Way to Work in the World of Music Videos
Review: The Rush "Chronciles" DVD is a re-release of a VHS version. "Chronciles" is a collection of 14 music videos from what is considered the "peak" period for the Canadian Rock Trio (1977-1987). The original VHS version contained 12 videos, but 2 additional videos are included as "hidden" videos. It was during this "peak" period for Rush that was the glory-days for music videos. Every artist - whether they wanted to or not had to make a music video to go along with their songs. I've never been a fan of music videos for a variety of reasons - namely they often ruin my own vision of the song. As for the band Rush, I was surprised that they would make music videos. The band always stuck me as being more concerned with making the music than the video production. I could never see Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and the ever private Neil Peart as wanting to transform themselves into quasi-actors for the purpose of making a music video. Rush also never struck me as even wanting to do anything with lip-syncing (which is a music video staple). These things might work for some artists, but it wouldn't work for Rush. The nice thing is that Rush finds a way to work to do music videos without being something they are not. This results in some interesting videos. You aren't going to see much that is innovative here or get anything special with this DVD other than the 14 music videos.
Videos fall into 3 categories - performance related, conceptual, and soundtrack. Performance related ones are basically when the band lip syncs in a pseudo live or studio set. They often were disappointing because for the most part, lip syncing is a bore to me and to see a band try to lip sync and give the impression they were live is a bore. Conceptual had the potential to entertain, but for the most part would spoil your vision of the song. . The third kind is the absolute worst - soundtracks. This is when they splice a video together with movie clips and some clips of the performer in an attempt to create a mini infomercial for the movie. The good news is that Rush doesn't do any of those soundtrack videos. Rush tends to fall into the Performance category of music videos. In other words, the focus is on Rush playing the instruments and doing the music. Rush doesn't totally ignore the Conceptual Videos. However for the Conceptual Videos, they do not do any quasi-acting. What they will do is continue to do what they do best - playing the instruments. They will leave the conceptual part to either other actors or themes that can tie into the theme of the song. I admit, there are times when I wonder what it would have been like to be those quasi-actors. Namely, I think Alex has the type of personality to make some very humorous videos. I also think it would be very interesting if Neil let his guard down and showed a side of himself we haven't seen before. However, it all comes back to that Rush can't be something they are not - and I have an enormous respect for them.
The interesting thing is the whole "Chronicles" aspect of the band. Just from looking at the appearances of Geddy, Alex, and Neil - you will see how they transformed from the 70s look - into the 80s look. You will also see how the music evolved to. The music starts out with "Closer to the Heart" (from the 1977's "A Farewell to Kings") through "Time Stand Still" and "Lock and Key" (from the 1987's "Hold Your Fire"). The music videos are presented into chronological order except for the two hidden/bonus videos ("The Enemy Within" and "Afterimage"). While it seems to be a trademark that Rush puts these Easter Eggs into their DVDs (they also put one in their "Rush in Rio" DVD set), it would have been nice to see these included as part of the chronological ordering of things.
There are two live cuts that are included as part of this collection. The live cuts are for "Red Barchetta" and "Red Sector A" which have already been included on other VHS video releases . It would have been nice if this set was expanded beyond 14 songs. Much of the reason why there was originally 12 songs is because of the limitations of the VHS medium (putting the collection on one VHS tape would be a challenge). With DVD, they could have easily fit more than 14 tracks. This could have opened the door to include additional live material. I saw another reviewer point out that selections could have been included from "A Show of Hands" - I completely agree with this point. It would have also been nice to see this a complete video collection of Rush, but again I realize this is a re-release of a VHS release.
For "Tom Sawyer", you will see a quasi "in studio" version of the song as opposed to a live clip (that was on the VHS). This "in studio" version was recorded in Canada at "Le Studio" in the same setting as the "Limelight" video. Despite being a bit "cheesy", "Distant Early Warning" is also included in the collection. This video features a boy I call "The Kid" giving the "appearance" of riding a missile. Another favorite of mine is "Time Stand Still". I like the fact that Rush went beyond their own rulebook and brought in Aimee Mann to be an outside vocalist.
The collection would have been nice if there were liner notes or extras to provide insight of the band. While Rush does a good job at working in the music video parameters, I still think the true Rush fan is going to prefer watching them perform live as opposed to a music video.
Rating:
Summary: Great video retrospective where is parts two and three
Review: Rush's Chronicles DVD compilation is a fine collection of the highwater marks in Rush's video-making history with Mercury Records.
Beginning with the 1977 promo track Closer To the Heart and threading its way through Lock and Key from 1987's Hold Your Fire.
Nice additions that would make a person who already owns the VHS version want to buy it include the "in studio" version of Tom Sawyer and the bonus videos, Afterimage and The Enemy Within, which were not on the original 1990 VHS version.
The band should re-release this as Rush Retrospective with these clips(Closer to the Heart(1977), the performance clip of The Trees from 1978, Limelight and Tom Sawyer from Le Studio in 1981, Red Barchetta from ESL 1981, Subdivisions from 1982, Distant Early Warning from 1984, Red Sector A live from GUP tour in 1984, Big Money from 1985, Mystic Rhythms in 1986, Time Stand Still in 1987 and Lock and Key in 1988) plus the 1977 promos of A Farewell to Kings and Xanadu, the 1978 promos of Circumstances and La Villa Strangiato, the 1981 in-studio clip of Vital Signs, Countdown from 1982, The Body Electric from 1984, Show Don't Tell from 1989, The Pass and Superconductor from 1990, Roll the Bones from 1991, Stick it Out from 1993, Nobody's Hero from 1994, Half the World from 1996 and Driven from 1997 for the Complete Rush video retrospective!
Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Could stand for a remix
Review: My only beefs with this dvd:
1. Why not mix it for better sound?
2. Why not dump more videos than the tape with 2 extras? It's a dvd, for crying out loud! Gimme more!!
Rating:
Summary: Great DVD
Review: I like anything by Rush. This is no different. Great to see the old videos on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Great To Watch or Listen
Review: Althought Closter To The Heart and The Trees are states as Live tracks, they definatley are not. As far as I recall only Red Barchetta from 1983's Exit Stage Left (Which I think was only on Laserdisc in Japan because that was the only VHS copy I could find)Live footage is incorporated, but they are Studio tracks recorded at Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec. This is a pleasent studio up in the Quebec mountains.. wonderful place. Anyways, about 3-4 of the songs show them in studio at Le Studio. So once again, only 1 live track... but who cares RUSH rocks! This is a defiante must have. Rush doesnt have many things like this (Oh I wish I could get A Show Of Hands on video or DVD) Hope everyone is looking forward to the Fall DVD of Rush Live in Rio!
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