FIRST PICTURES / Rush vinyl box

Universal’s ‘ReDISCovered’ vinyl box set of Rush‘s self-titled 1974 debut was released last week and we’ve taken some photos for you.

The set comes in a sturdy ‘lift-off lid’ twelve-inch box and there is some excellent artwork reproduction, with the inside of the box lid and base showing off the labels from the original two tape boxes (sides A and B of the album).

Contents include a repro of the original Canadian retail poster (only 500 printed back in the day) and three Moon Records publicity photos. If you are wondering what that big image of the tape reel is about, this is a circular card that contains reissue credits, your download code (MP3s only) and some info on the DMM (Direct Metal Mastering) process.

The album sounds wonderful (remastered at Abbey Road studios by Sean McGee) – very warm and very quiet. You really need to crank up the volume, which is no bad thing. It’s also very thick having been pressed on 200g vinyl at the Quality Record Pressings plant in Kansas (EU versions are pressed at GZ Vinyl).

This set is not fault free. Given the care that has clearly been taken with the remastering and vinyl pressing, we would have expected a proper poly-lined inner sleeve to protect the vinyl [8.5.14 update – the US pressings DO have poly-lined sleeves, only the EU versions don’t). Instead we get a thick plain white card sleeve, which is disappointing. Also, in design terms the Rush ‘Family Tree’ is woeful. It looks like something that has been knocked up in Word or Powerpoint in half an hour (see photo below).

This set was £38 for a while which definitely feels overpriced, but I think if you can pick it up for around the £30 mark or less, it represents reasonable value. The vinyl is not available at the time of writing without the box, so if you do want to check out the remaster then you don’t really have a choice.

 Rush ‘ReDISCovered, vinyl box is out now. Check out our photo gallery below.

This Rush box can be ordered via the Acoustic Sounds website (QRP pressing) or using the links below.

• • UK Pre-order: RUSH – ReDISCovered LP [Vinyl box set]
• • USA Pre-order: Rush – ReDISCovered LP [Vinyl box set]
• • CANADA Pre-order: Rush Re-DISCovered LP [Vinyl box set]
• • GERMANY Pre-order: Rush LP [Vinyl box set]