Martin Popoff’s New Rush Book: From Unauthorized to Authorized?

Well, we know Martin Popoff has been busy in the months since his new book, Rush: The Illustrated History, was announced: the cover subtitle has been changed from “The Unauthorized Illustrated History” to “The Illustrated History.” Click on the two versions of the book cover to see.

Pre-release version: click to enlarge

Released version: click to enlarge

Popoff’s book, which you can get for $22.99 on Amazon, is “a chronological overview history written by noted music scribe and Rush authority Martin Popoff” and “spans the band’s career from 1968 to today.”

Popoff’s first Rush book, Contents Under Pressure, was a walk-through of each of the band’s albums up to their 30th anniversary live album. The book was based on sit-downs with Alex, Geddy, and Neil, who reminisced about each of the albums.

Popoff’s new illustrated history includes album reviews written by music journalists and commentary from fellow musicians. It also includes a discography. Key to the whole thing, though, is its collection of photographs and memorabilia. As J. Cohen on Amazon says, “There are a TON I have never seen and I thought I had seen ’em all.” Cohen’s full comment is below. He’s the first person to post a review of the book on Amazon.

Here are a couple of comments from Rush is a Band, where I learned that the book had been released:

“What does “Rush: The UNAUTHORIZED Illustrated History” mean ? Someone is writing a story about Rush for their own benefit to make money, and the story creators (namely Rush) get no benefit ?”—bucklemyshoe

Well, that question might be answered now.

“Just got it in the mail, and I’ve read the first “chapter,” just before Neil joins the band. So far it’s really good. Lots of cool pictures. I’ve already seen some of them, but there are a lot of new ones. Well-written too.”—palidrummer11

Cohen’s full comment: “There are interesting stories and even a few I didn’t know, which is rare 🙂 As far as the pics go, there are a TON I have never seen and I thought I had seen ’em all. Really amazing book, well put together and terrific content. You can’t go wrong with this book—I promise you.”—J. Cohen

Previous coverage of Popoff’s book.

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