Rush - A Farewell To Kings (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (2017)

Canadian rock band Rush will celebrate the 40th anniversary of their fifth studio album, A Farewell To Kings, with a massive eight-disc super deluxe edition box set.

This set features new cover art and will include three CDs, a blu-ray audio (with a new 5.1 remix by Steven Wilson) and four vinyl LPs.

The 2015 remastering of the album (issued on vinyl at that time) gets its CD debut here and the other two CDs feature the full Hammersmith Odeon February 1978 show (never before available as a complete concert). This has been newly mixed by Terry Brown.

The third CD also features some bonus tracks – four cover songs from Dream Theater, Big Wreck, The Trews & Alain Johannes. Also included at the end of this disc is a studio outtake – a four minute instrumental sequence found on the original tapes. It’s effectively a longer alternate version of the electronic music used at the start of Cygnus X-1 and has been called Cygnus X-2 Eh.

The blu-ray audio includes Steven Wilson’s new 5.1 mix along with a hi-res stereo edition of the 2015 remaster. It also includes the studio outtake mentioned above in 5.1 and some promo videos.

The four-LP set that is part of this box repeats everything on the three CDs (including those bonus tracks. You can purchase a three-CD set or the 4LP vinyl package as individual standalone editions.

As well as the new cover art, this set comes with new illustrations for each song (by Hugh Syme) and Rob Bowman pens the sleeve notes (12,000 words). The box set comes with various trinkets, including a “King’s Ring” with “custom velvet pouch” and neck chain. You also get two lithos, a turntable mat and a replica 1978 tour programme. It’s worth pointing out that you get the slipmat with the 4LP vinyl set, too.

The 40th anniversary edition of A Farewell To Kings is released on 1 December 2017.