The new set features previously unreleased and newly restored bonus footage, original artwork and more.
Rush will release an expanded edition of 1978’s Hemispheres on November 16. The set is the latest offering from UMe/Anthem/ole label group’s extensive Rush 40th anniversary album series.
Said Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson about the record, the band’s sixth studio effort: “Hemispheres was one of our most challenging and demanding records to make. From its inception in a Wales farmhouse where it was written over a four week span to the very difficult mixing sessions in two London recording studios, it stands as a key transitional album in Rush’s long recording history.”
Hemispheres will be available in four configurations: a Super Deluxe Edition, a two-CD Deluxe Edition, a three-LP Deluxe Edition and a Deluxe Digital Edition.
The Super Deluxe Edition includes two CDs, one exclusive Blu-ray Audio disc, and three high-quality 180-gram black vinyl LPs. The set encompasses the Abbey Road Studios 2015 remastered edition of the album for the first time on CD, along with previously unreleased and newly restored bonus content consisting of the band’s June 1979 Pinkpop Festival performance in the Netherlands.
Unfortunately, the Pinkpop recording engineer failed to capture the first several minutes of “2112,” so an amazing, unreleased performance of the song during the Hemispheres tour from Tucson, Arizona in November 1978 appears here in its place. The third bonus disc is the album newly mixed from the original multitracks in 5.1 surround sound on a Blu-ray Audio disc, along with four bonus videos: three shot in 1978 as promo videos, and one of “La Villa Strangiato,” originally shot at Pinkpop with newly restored stereo audio.
Also included is a 40-page hardcover book with unreleased photos and new artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme; an extensive, 11,000+-word essay by Rob Bowman; The Words & The Pictures, a replica of the band’s rare 1979 UK tour program; a 24x24-inch wall poster of the newly created Syme art; a Pinkpop Festival replica ticket; a Pinkpop Festival replica cloth VIP sticky pass; and a replica 1978 “Rush” Hemispheres iron-on patch.
For full contents of the Super Deluxe and two-CD Deluxe editions, see below. Hemispheres can be pre-ordered here.
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Hemispheres Super Deluxe Edition:
CD - DISC 1
Original Album – Produced by Rush and Terry Brown
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres
Circumstances
The Trees
La Villa Strangiato
CD - DISC 2
Live at Pinkpop Festival – June 4, 1979
A Passage To Bangkok*
Xanadu*
The Trees*
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres – The Sphere A Kind Of Dream*
Closer To The Heart*
La Villa Strangiato*
In The Mood*
Drum Solo*
Something For Nothing*
Live in Arizona – November 20, 1978
2112*
BLU-RAY AUDIO – DISC 3
96kHz 24-bit 5.1 Surround Mix
96kHz 24-bit Original Stereo Analog 2015 Remaster
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres*
Circumstances*
The Trees*
La Villa Strangiato*
Bonus Promo Videos
48kHz 24-bit Stereo Only
Circumstances (1978 Promo Video)*
The Trees (1978 Promo Video)*
La Villa Strangiato (1978 Promo Video)*
La Villa Strangiato (Live at Pinkpop Festival: June 4, 1979)*
3-LP VINYL
LP 1 - SIDE A
Original Album – Produced by Rush and Terry Brown
1. Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres
LP 1 – SIDE B
Circumstances
The Trees
La Villa Strangiato
LP 2 – SIDE C
Live at Pinkpop Festival – June 4, 1979
A Passage To Bangkok*
Xanadu*
LP 2 – SIDE D
The Trees*
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres – The Sphere A Kind Of Dream*
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
