Cail's big honking Rush thread

[Cail]

Counterparts:

Or as I like to call it.....One of their best records, period. A brilliant re-imagining of the band's sound.

OK, so I'm like 19 years late to the party. The only exposure I had to this record prior to a few months ago was seeing the Stick it Out video on Beavis & Butthead, and then hearing that and Leave That Thing Alone on the TM tour. This has been, as much as my HYF review, a fresh listen as this is pretty much all new material for me.


Animate - What's this? Oh my God....This is finally recorded right! And Rush is.....they're......they're grooving. I can hear all three of them beautifully, and they're playing their asses off.....It's like someone gave Alex a case of Red Bull and cut him loose. This song flat-out moves unlike anything they've done before, and it's a perfect utilization of their skills. The keyboards are there in a perfect supporting role, and Geddy.....Jeez, Geddy is freaking singing! For sheer listenability, this is up there with Tom Sawyer and Spirit of the Radio. Fantastic album opener.

Stick it Out - This has been on the Big Rush Playlist since the TM tour, and it's staying there because it's so good. I can't say enough about Alex's playing, especially the little fills he has that are down low in the mix. Again, a perfect example of the band firing on all three cylinders.

Cut to the Chase - A trifecta. I can't think of another Rush album that kicks off this strong. No, neither MP nor PW grabs you like this. Utterly insane playing from Alex, especially when he's playing against the tempo. Love the lyrics...

I'm old enough not to care too much
About what you think of me
But I'm young enough to remember the future
And the way things ought to be

...And they work phenomenally well with the music. All three of these tracks are a perfect melding of lyrics and music.

Nobody's Hero - This song could easily suck, but the conviction with which Geddy sings, as well as the beautiful accompaniment by the band rescue it.

When I heard that you were gone I felt a shadow cross my heart....

That's used to such effect that it just drives the song home.

Between Sun & Moon - Well, nothing's perfect. Remove the lyrics and this song kicks all sorts of ass. Alex is channeling Pete Townsend and Won't Get Fooled Again, and playing with reckless abandon, but the words just don't serve it well, especially the "ahhhhhhh, ahhhhhh" parts.

Alien Shore - Back on form, though again the lyrics are the weak spot (lay off the love songs guys). They don't hamper the phenomenal musicianship on display. Listen to this with decent headphones and revel in Geddy's bass playing.

The Speed of Love - Really guys, lay off the love songs! This just doesn't work for me. It's a relatively conventional arrangement, and though there's nothing really wrong with it, it just doesn't measure up to the ridiculously high bar that's been set by the previous songs. Nice Gilmour-esque outro though.

Double Agent - OK, I like the lyrics plenty well, but Geddy's spoken-word stuff just seems.....Awkward. And the "So tight" that he sings in the first part reminds me of the Real Man of Genius commercials. Oddly, Alex's guitar sounds bizarrely reminiscent of Steve Clark's on Def Leppard's Gods of War (that's a good thing).

Leave That Thing Alone - This is one that took seeing live to really sink in. It's no YYZ or La Villa, but it's far, far better than Where's My Thing. It actually pulls a couple of elements from La Villa, and it's got some forward motion to it. Not bad at all, but not really necessary.

Cold Fire - Great, great, great....Awesome pacing, great lyrical delivery (Geddy singing!), Alex sounds like he was listening to JCM's Human Wheels record for his guitar work.

Everyday Glory - Very similar in verse structure to Speed of Love, but with (I think) more effective lyrics. Not a particularly strong album closer, but better than Rtb's closer. Still, I think they were trying a bit to hard for a "message" song. They can do that well (The Pass, Losing It), this just doesn't measure up.


Wow. I really missed out on this one. This is a fantastic album that bears almost no resemblance to their sound on RtB, much less anything else they've done. This is a textbook example of how a band can update its sound without surrendering to trends and fashion (like HYF, or the Stones going disco, or numerous other examples).

This isn't a bogus "return to form", as there's not really much here that bears any resemblance to their earlier work, especially the pre-PW "classic" Rush. This is a redefinition, a bold mission statement that works unbelievably well.

And God the production and arrangements are fantastic. By and large, these songs move. There's an undeniable groove running through them. Geddy's never sounded this good, and his stacked vocal tracks are used to excellent effect here. Alex has been let off of his leash and shreds his way through these songs. Silence and space are used to good effect, and truthfully I think this is probably the best the band has ever sounded from a soundscape standpoint.

Lyrically, it's less geeky than a lot of their other work, with (like RtB) a sense of ennui ruling the tone, though it's more focused on human relationships than spiritual ones.

Anyway, I freaking love this record, and I love the direction the band was moving in at this point. This is a really stellar effort.

[Zarathustra]

Counterparts, yet another "concept album."

This one is kind of an outlier. It doesn't fit the Rush format of hammering away on a style for three albums and then moving on to a new style. This is unlike either album that preceded or followed it. I believe it was a necessary step in the direction of 21st century Rush, but still very different. Very 90s.

I like all the songs you mentioned, though I'd add Sun and Moon and Double Agent, and subtract Nobody's Hero. I can't get over the first lines of NH. Hearing the word "sexuality" from the same band who raps "parallax" is just wrong. Hearing Geddy sing this line is fingernails-on-chalkboard for me. It has a nice tune, though.

I love Cold Fire and Cut to the Chase. Those are probably my two favorites. They get less attention than they deserve. Neither has been played live, but they're both awesome.

I love the bridges in these songs. From Cut to the Chase, I love part you quoted, how Geddy sings that with such intensity. From Stick it Out, I love this part:

Each time we bathe our reactions
In artificial light
Eath time we alter the focus
To make the wrong move seem right

It's not the lyrics or the singing, but the bass chords underneath it all.

The solo to Cold Fire is different from any solo I've heard Alex do. Very clean and melodic.

You're also right about the recording/mixing on this CD. It sounds perfect to me. I don't know why they ever changed it. They nailed it on this one.

[Mortice Root]

awwww crap! I'm three albums behind?

Presto was my first Rush album as well, and though I didn't take to it immediately, it was certainly one that grew on me.

I agree with some of things you guys mentioned - Geddy's singing is great throughout, and the toning down of keyboards was a good thing. It still sounds too thin, but sonically better than the other late 80's records.

I can't argue with Show Don't Tell, The Pass, and Presto being classic, kick-ass Rush songs. All outstanding. And it's interesting, when I first heard the record, Show was my favorite by far. Years later, Pass was the one I really connected with, and in more recent years, Presto has been the one that connects the most with me. (Probably says more about me than the music...)

I really like Neil's imagery in Presto -

I had a dream of a winter garden
a midnight rendezvous
silver, blue and frozen silence
what a fool I was for you

I had a dream of the open water
I was swimming way out to sea
so deep I could never touch bottom
what a fool I used to be

And Geddy's singing on those lines just elevates them so much. Alex's solo on Presto is one of his best too, IMO.

I also really like Superconductor. A more aggressive tune with it's interesting take on the entertainment industry as an industry - selling the entertainment. Which is given another layer because, of course, Rush, as a rock band, are also selling entertainment.... I love the part in this one just before the 2nd pre-chorus, where, underneath Geddy and Alex playing the verse (which is in 7, if I'm counting it right) Neil plays a repetitive 3 beat pattern. This constantly shifts the emphasis under the main riff, and gives it a really great drive, leading into the next section. Superconductor would be tops on my list of "songs I'd most like to hear live (that I haven't already heard)".

I'm surprised to hear the dislike for War Paint. While not great, it's certainly not bad. Yeah, the lyrics are juvenile, but they're supposed to be - evoking that 16 year old romantic relationship where neither party is entirely sure what they're doing. I think it works well.

I also really like Available Light, excellent singing, great arrangement - just works well all around.

Chain Lighting, Anagram, Red Tide, Hand Over Fist - These are all fine, certainly listenable songs, but nothing real special about them for me. Though I do enjoy that moment in HOF that Z pointed out.

And Scars - just doesn't connect for me. It kind of reminds me of Red Lenses from P/G, in that it seems like for these songs, the percussion track was written first, with the rest built around it. I just don't care for this one.

[Mortice Root]

Slowly attempting to catch up.....

Roll the Bones was the first "new" Rush I bought, within a week of it's release. Some of my love for this record is probably nostalgia based, because of that, but not all of it.

To start with the things I don't like:

Production. Again. Still sounds too thin. The difference really shows when you listen to Dreamline on the record compared to live. So much more power to it live.

Neurotica - Well,it's got a nice riff. But "Erotica - Hypnotica - Psychoctica - Chaotica" ?!? WTF?

You Bet Your Life -Ugh. Weak. Though the "armchair rocket scientist ...." section is lyrically clever. "hip-hop lite-pop-metalist...."

On to the good stuff.

Dreamline - Very good. Great guitar riff, wonderful transition to the power chords, another great Alex solo.... Love it.

Bravado - Wow. This one is outstanding.

We will pay the price
But we will not count the cost

A brilliant lyrical song about recovering from failures, overreaching, falling short and then moving on rather than dwelling on the bad. Intensely uplifting with great playing all around. The recent live version (on R30?) has an extended outtro section which shows some of the best group playing I've heard them do.

Roll the Bones - Again, love this one. Every bit of it. The funky groove, the brilliant lyric writing, in both the regular song, and those to the rap that Z pointed out. I agree that this is an anti-determinism song - chance is the major factor. And it's a very positive, uplifting take on it. Some very good points about these lyrics upthread. Two other things about this that I wanted to point out - It's damn funny. Humor always has been a big part of Rush, in terms of artwork, liner notes, etc. but never made it into a song before. I'm glad they did it. Also, on the live versions, I love listening to Alex noodling under the rap. His guitar is turned way down in the mix to allow the rap to come through, but he's got some really good improv-style solos there.

Face Up, Where's My Thing, Big Wheel - Not great but nothing bad either. Good energy level throughout, great riffs, especially on the instrumental. And while it's no where near as complex as YYZ or Villa it seems like a lot of fun. I don't like these three as much as I used to (when "I was only a kid" ) but I still enjoy them.

Heresy - Again this is a "wow" song. The end of the cold war. The waste of time involved - who's fault was it? How does it end? "At the counter of a store". Brilliantly done. I love Neil's use of military-style snare on this one, too.

Ghost of A Chance - Yes. Agree with Cail's take, totally. Beautiful playing from Alex, especially in between the vocal lines on the chorus. Outstanding riff that comes down, so nicely for the verse. Neil's lyrics here again, are great. "I believe there's a ghost of a chance we can find some one to love, and make it last." Make it last. Implies so much. We don't just fall in love passively and expect it to last forever. It takes work. We have to make it last. So much impact and meaning in that one word "make". And to capture that in a 4 minute rock song..... yeah, best band in the world.


Oh, and to the point of this being a concept record. Totally agree. It's a concept record not in the plot line, story style, but rather in the thematic style. Much like Dark Side of the Moon is about "Things drive you crazy" and Wish You Were Here is about "absence", Roll The Bones is about "Chance and Fate".

[Cail]

The more I think about Counterparts, the more I like it. While I'm not 100% in love with every track, it's a uniformly strong effort that is a dramatic change in style (as dramatic, if no more so than Permanent Waves). I think it stands with PW and MP as an example of just how good Rush can be when everything is in sync.

And I think that sync is particularly important in this case, since the songs are so markedly different from what has come before, yet they're still very strong songs. This is the first album where I really became aware of Geddy's stacked vocals, and I think they're used to excellent effect here. Alex is completely unleashed, and lives up to every bit of his reputation as a bona fide guitar hero....His playing is simply off the hook. This is also one of the last Rush records that really treasures and utilizes silence and space within the song structure to embiggen them (shut up, that's a perfectly cromulent word). This is highlighted beautifully in Cut to the Chase and Cold Fire, but it's all over the record.

I'm shocked that this album charted as well as it did, considering that I wasn't aware of it at all at the time. It succeeded at re-defining the band in a changing musical landscape in precisely the way Def Leppard attempted to do with the poorly-received Slang record.

Zar, I'll disagree with you in regards to your statement that this was a foundation for the post-sabbatical sound. This album is truly an outlier; it shares virtually nothing in common with either RtB or T4E.

In fact, I didn't find myself looking for things to write about in this review in the same way I have for other ones. This record is fantastic, and arguably the most exciting one I've reviewed to this point. I don't find myself making excuses or searching for superlatives. This is a kick-ass album from front to back, and one that finds itself getting played all the way through while I'm driving or riding a lot.

And I think the reasons are that:

- The production and recording are perfect; the best in the band's catalog, bar none. Not thin and reedy, not claustrophobic and dense.

- The songwriting is strong.

- The groove. This whole album moves forward at a fast pace. Animate is a song you can do cardio to and wear yourself out.

- The playing is just over-the-top good.

[Zarathustra]

Bravado - Wow. This one is outstanding.

We will pay the price
But we will not count the cost

A brilliant lyrical song about recovering from failures, overreaching, falling short and then moving on rather than dwelling on the bad. Intensely uplifting with great playing all around. The recent live version (on R30?) has an extended outtro section which shows some of the best group playing I've heard them do.

They did that on both R30 and Rush in Rio. It's a nice jam. They've extended several songs this way during that time period (which is odd, given how many songs they have to play, and how long those song can be already). On Different Stages they extended Test For Echo with a bass solo in the middle and Closer to the Heart with an extended ending, like Bravado. The CttH version is my favorite example of this technique.

Aside from the extended jam, I've never really liked Bravado. It's pretty, just not one that moves me.

Oh, and to the point of this being a concept record. Totally agree. It's a concept record not in the plot line, story style, but rather in the thematic style. Much like Dark Side of the Moon is about "Things drive you crazy" and Wish You Were Here is about "absence", Roll The Bones is about "Chance and Fate".

That's a great way to put it: thematic style. A collection of loosely related songs, connected thematically, rather than as a story (stories like: Tommy, The Wall, 2112, Clockwork Angels).

[Mortice Root]

Back on track and up to Counterparts.

You know, I may have to adjust my ranking list a couple of pages back, because this is better than I remember it being. A lot.

First off, I agree with both you about the production. It's fixed! Finally! This record sounds great. Absolutely brilliantly done.

I can almost picture an engineer or producer sitting down with the band before the record saying "now guys, if you continue with the sound you've had on the last several records you're going to end up on the adult contempo channel, sandwiched in between Phil Collins and Sting ballads, played as background music in a dentist's office. Or you can......." And thank god. Much as I like Presto and RtB, eventually that sound was going to go that adult contempo way. I'm glad they changed.

Animate - Holy crap! These guys rock! The best album opener in the catalog? It surely belongs in the conversation. That driving bass, the double bass drum rolls. I can listen to this one on repeat for a long time.

Stick It Out - Hello, dissonance! That chord of Alex's is just unreal. The lyric melody in the chorus isn't one of my favorites, but overall a fantastic song. Those lyrics that Z pointed out are some of my favorites also, along with the "heat of the moment, curse of the young" couplet.

Cut To The Chase - again fantastic energy to this one. I would love to see this live also. And again the lyrics that Cail isolated on this one I've always loved, too.

Nobody's Hero - A great change of pace with the switch to the acoustic opening. It's a good contrast to the more all out tunes elsewhere on the record. I agree with Z, I don't particularly like the first verse, lyrically, but the second one is powerful as hell.

Between the Sun And Moon - Cool as hell. Is Alex fingerpicking that opening riff? Sounds awesome. I like the non-lyric chorus lyric too - Ahh to yes section. Reminiscent of Led Zep's Immigrant Song and very different from anything they've done. The way the music stops on the first Ahh section is cool too. And Alex's solo is so unique and twangy (can't think of a better word ) again, totally different. Also fingerpicked? Great song!

Alien Shore - I don't like this that much. It's good, but the lyrics just bring it down. Geddy's playing is unreal on this though.

Speed Of Love - This is the only one I skip. Just dull. Safe lyrics, safe playing, safe arrangement. Safe. Ugh.

Double Agent - Most certainly Not Safe! Wow. This is utterly unique in the entire catalog. The quiet vocal/bass only opening, then that monster riff! Fantastic. And the spoken word section is totally different from anything before or since. Thumbs way up to this one!

Leave That Thing Alone - The best of the 90's instrumentals. Again not particularly complex, more laid back, but still very cool.

Cold Fire - Another great one. Kind of an "anti-love song" the way it takes typical love song tropes (diamonds, moonlight, tropical oceans) and offers up a heartless version. I like the way this is structured as contrasting the "reality" of love with the "fantasy" of love. Here:

It was long after midnight
When we got to unconditional love
She said, sure my heart is boundless
But don't push my limits to far

and here:

I said if love has these conditions
I don't understand those songs you love
She said this is not a love song
This isn't fantasy land

Great stuff! Oh, and Alex kicks ass, again.

Everyday Glory- I think this is one of the best album closers in the catalog. Uplifting and moving. I really like Alex's little riff over the verses. The darkness invoked in the verses is haunting. And the bridge is some of my favorite lyrics from any of their songs.

If the future's looking dark
We're the one who have to shine
If there's no one in control
We're the ones who draw the line

Though we live in trying times
We're the ones who have to try
Though we know that time has wings
We're the ones who have to fly

All in all, a great record.

Z, how do you see this one as "concept" record? What's the overarching theme for you? Not disagreeing that there is one, but it never struck me that way. But maybe you can point out something I missed and give me something more to listen to - which is always a good thing.

[Cail]

The theme is right there in the album's title and cover art...It's about interpersonal relationships; both how they work, and how they don't. Every single song is about relationships. Not a single one about mythical creatures, self-aware robots, or the end of humanity.

[Mortice Root]

Well, duh. You're right. It just never occured to me before. I probably didn't see it because so much of popular music is about interpersonal relationships that it just didn't strike me as odd. Of course it should of, because this is Rush, and for them to do more than one song on an album about the topic, is an unusual thing.

Talk about staring me right in the face.......

[Zarathustra]

Love and relationships are certainly one expression of the theme, but I think it's more general than that.

"Counterpart" is a unique class of opposites. They are not in opposition, but rather complimentary, from two opposite directions. Though the middle ground between them might be a region of tension, it involves tension precisely because of the joining or union that is happening between these different--but complimentary--forces. It's the "lake between sun and moon." The "space between wonder and doubt."

A few quotes, first from Between Sun and Moon:

This is a fine place
Shining face to face
Those bonfire lights in the mirror of sky
The space between wonder and why.

I believe one could read this song as about relationships, but I think that's just the particular of the universal here. Relationships are one form of counterpart where this space is found. But it's really all of humanity, between day and night, between two kinds of light, sitting on a planet contemplating the two sides of his sky. It's not strict opposites like black/white, because the sky is lit during both halves of our planet's revolution. It's the masculine and feminine in nature itself, the Yin/Yang externalized.

From Animate:


Goddeess in my garden
Sister in my soul
Angel in my armor
Actress in my role

Mistress of the dark unconscious
Mermaid of the lunar sea
Daughter of the great enchantress
Sister to the boy inside of me

My counterpart -- my foolish heart
A man must learn to rule his tender part
A warming trend -- a gentle friend
A man must build a fortress to defend

This song internalizes the tension between male/female. It's talking about the feminine "half" within each man, his heart, his vulnerability, his artistic yearning, etc. That's the part of me that polarizes, sensitizes, criticizes, civilizes me. It compensates me, animates me, complicates me, elevates me.

From Stick it Out:



Trust to your instinct
If it's safely restrained
Lightning reactions
Must be carefully trained

I believe this song is talking about the same paradoxical counterparts as Donaldson uses in the Chronicles: the tension between passion and control.

Cut to the Chase is a bit harder to fit into this structure, but I believe it's about the self-moving nature of human ambition. A kind of "perpetual" motion machine. A self-contained counterpart of mover and moved. The "rocket that ignites itself" and the "fire that lights itself."


Alien Shore is pretty obvious, but here's a few quotes anyway:

You and I, we are strangers by one chromosome
Slave to the hormone, body and soul
In a struggle to be happy and free
Swimming in a primitive sea

You and I, we are pressed into these solitudes
Color and culture, language and race
Just variations on a theme
Islands in a much larger stream

This song really emphasizes the "sameness" of these apparent "opposites," the really interesting thing about counterparts. Yes, they are in tension, but there is more similarity than difference.


Double Agent:


On the edge of sleep,
...
Caught between darkness and light...

The known and the nameless,
familiar and faceless
My angels and my demons at war
Which one will lose--depends on what I choose
Or maybe which voice I ignore ...

My precious sense of honor
Just a shield of rusty wire
I hold against the chaos--
And the cross of holy fire

Wilderness of mirrors
So easy to deceive
My precious sense of rightness
Is sometimes so naive
So that which I imagine
Is that which I believe

This song is really interesting. It takes the counterparts theme and applies it to Good and Evil. Most people wouldn't think of these are counterparts, but instead strict opposites. But that's because most of us think of Good/Evil as Absolutes. If we are the ones who define good/evil, if these are relative terms, then they are more like counterparts than strict opposites. We're a Double-Agent because we contradict ourselves, our hypocrisies, but also because we determine wrong/right.

Again, I see a lot of Donaldson in this, especially in the LC where the ends and means are discussed.

Cold Fire. Wow, what cool a concept (heh). I love the examples given in the song, especially the tense music during this passage, and the double-lyrics that are interwoven (like counterparts!) with each other:


DON'T GO TOO FAR--
The phosphorescent wave on a tropical sea
Is a cold fire
DON'T CROSS THE LINE--
The pattern of moonlight on the bedroom floor
Is a cold fire
DON'T LET ME DOWN--
The flame at the heart of a pawnbroker's diamond
Is a cold fire
DON'T BREAK THE SPELL--
The look in your eyes as you head for the door
Is a cold fire

This part is especially tense, musically and lyrically, because we're basically being given a series of "threats." These are usually silent, unspoken "threats" in any loving relationship. We don't really want to have to say them, especially at the beginning of a relationship, but they're still true, still there in the subtext. A line from Sun and Moon occurs to me here, "There is a fine line between love and illusion."

The coldness of this fire is quick sense of loss that can occur in a relationship--even when it hasn't ended, but just had a fight. The look in her eye as she heads to the door, it's fiery and cold. We all know that look! Contrast this with the heat of love, as another song (Speed of Love) states: "Love is born with lightning bolts/electro-magnetic force/Burning skinn and fireworks."

Really an awesome song. This is definitely a fine line, a tiny sliver between two forces, a subtle space between hot passion and the cold snap of its absence. Quite a snapshot of human experience. I love it.

[Mortice Root]

Wow, Z. That is a heck of an analysis! Much appreciated. Thanks.

[Cail]

Yup, that was damn good.

[Zarathustra]

Thanks, guys! Honestly, I've never analyzed the songs in that much detail even for myself. It was nice having an excuse to do it.

[Cail]

Test for Echo:

Or as I like to call it, an absolute masterpiece. Seriously.

This is a fresh listen, I'd never heard a single song on this record prior to June or July of this year. This album was nowhere on my radar when it came out, and other than having seen the cover at some point, I couldn't have told anyone anything about it prior to this summer.

I need to mention something that will seem off-topic here, but will gain importance during the review....The Def Leppard Lyrics Listening Strategy (DLLLS). As y'all know, I freaking love Def Leppard, and I have since the early '80s when they started to break into the American market. I could easily do a thread like this on them, with one major difference.....If you put a gun to my head and told me to write out the lyrics to Photograph, you'd have to shoot me. I don't know them. Sure, I know some of them...."I wanna touch you!" is in there. But by and large, I'm utterly oblivious to their lyrics because most of them are completely inane and nonsensical. I treat Joe Elliot's voice as another instrument in service of the melody and the song. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, there are a couple of songs that have lyrics that matter, but by and large, what comes out of that man's mouth are treated by my ears and brain as an instrument.

This listening philosophy serves me well for most '80s hair metal, and a fair amount of pop stuff as well.


Test for Echo - I'm not gonna lie, I love this song. Ostensibly about the movie Boyz in tha Hood and the pervasive media coverage of gang violence (which is, to say the least, an odd topic for a bunch of middle-aged white Canadians), it just flat-out rocks. I love the counterpoint between the softer sections and the jangly sections. Big, thick guitars from Alex, huge tribal drums from Neil, and a perfect use of the now-ubiquitous vocal stacking from Geddy. "Here we go" indeed, this is similar in structure to the Counterparts songs, but ramps up the frenetic energy to a new high. Like the Counterparts songs, not resembling anything from Rush's earlier works. Utterly killer drums.

Driven - Somewhat simple lyrics; great song to ride to. Again, brilliant counterpoint between the coarse main riff and the acoustic sections. Love the synth accent during the chorus(?), and the totally nonstandard structure. I'd love to see them play this.

Half the World - I initially discounted this song due to the repetition of the "half the world" lyric, but it's consistent with Neil's writing from Presto forward. And the music just flat kicks ass. Who doesn't love rock mandolin? I do, and it works to great effect here. This song just gallops forward, with an amazing bass/drum interplay. I've gotta keep the truck on cruise control through these three songs, otherwise I'll end up doing triple-digits.

The Color of Right - And then.....Actually, musically, this song is as righteous as the first three. The failure is the chorus(?)...."a quality of justice..." and so forth. That part of the song seems tacked on, and doesn't really work with the body of the song. Still, the playing manages to overcome the weak parts, and this still rocks.

Time and Motion - Wow. Hard. Hard. Off-tempo and discordant, brutal playing against the grain with that bizarre synth riff. Reminds me of Caravan sort of. Insane solo from Alex, full of fury and fire. Love the space and air conveyed....Then it comes back and punches you in the gut.

Totem - Ahhhh, a Rush-y Rush song about religion(s). A recognizable chorus and familiar ground for the faithful. Nice groove throughout. Not a standout, but a good, solid song.

Dog Years - WTF? Arguably the hardest song the band's recorded with some of the worst lyrics.....Terrible....Time to deploy the DLLLS. The problem is that Geddy Lee is no Joe Elliot and Rush is no Def Leppard. You expect more from Rush, and Geddy just doesn't have the voice to really pull off singing for melody.

Virtuality - It's a truism that any piece of entertainment from the '90s that references the internet sucks and is hopelessly dated. Strong music, but even the DLLLS can't save this clunker. There are some interesting musical ideas here, but they're buried by silly lyrics.

Resist - Another home run. I'd love to hear a straight acoustical version of this. Perfect fusion of music and lyrics, and another high point. Gotta love....

"You can fight
Without ever winning
But never ever win
Without a fight "

Just beautiful.

Limbo - Love the shoutback to 2112. Easily the best of the '90s instrumentals. Killer strummed bass, and great interplay between the three of them.

Carve Away the Stone - Oddly upbeat considering the lyrics. Once again, a relatively conventionally-structured song for the album. Not the worst, not the best. Perfectly serviceable, but not up to par with the tour de force from the first three songs.


Let's be blunt, this album gets all sorts of hate. I don't see it. This is as good of an album as they've done. I'd listen to this 100 times before I'd put in Signals, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Presto, or Roll the Bones. This is a bold, brash Rush, taking what they learned on Counterparts and refining it. Musically, this is arguably their best album. Lyrically it doesn't have a song that packs the punch of a Subdivisions, Middletown Dreams, Heresy, Time Stand Still, or The Pass, but except for two songs, there's nothing wrong with the lyrics. Dog Years is as awful as Tai Shan, only the killer music saves it from true cancer.

I love this record. It's dense. It's airy. It's challenging. It's also the real genesis of the post-hiatus sound, specifically Neil's drums. You can hear elements of Clockwork Angels songs in here, and Limbo is clearly the progenitor of Malignant Narcissism.

On the one hand, Neil's tragedies and the hiatus that afforded both Geddy and Alex to release solo records helped energize the band. Listening to Different Stages, and comparing it to the TM and CA tours, there's no question they sound better now. But damn I wish they'd directly followed this album through. The growth from Counterparts to T4E was good. I'd have loved to have seen where they went from here.

This is a magnificent record.

[Zarathustra]

Wow, couldn't disagree more, but you make me want to listen to it again. It was the only Rush CD that I ever bought and then sold after a few listens. I couldn't stand it. But when the Remasters came out, I took the opportunity to buy it again, gave it a few more listens, and still couldn't connect with it.

Driven was played live T4E tour (Different Stages) and the Vapor Trails tour (Rush in Rio). It has an extended bass solo that's pretty cool. Resist was done all acoustic on both the Vapor Trails and R30 tours as a break to Neil after his drum solo. (On the R30 tour, they'd also play Heart Full of Soul acoustically after that.)

Neil said at the time that this album contained his best drum work to date, and he made a DVD which detailed his composition and technique for the album. Many people have said they can hear echoes of CA in T4E, but I haven't listened to it enough to make that call.

Lyrically, this is one of their worst CDs ever. But I usually don't let that decide things for me. Like I said, I'll have to give it another go.

[Cail]

Yeah, lyrically this record is no Moving Pictures. It doesn't really matter though because the music is so damn good. Two lyrically awful songs, but there's nothing terrible about the rest. Totem, Chip Away the Stone, Resist, and Time and Motion aren't quite awesome, but they're good. Test for Echo, Driven, and Half the World just freaking rule, lyrics be damned.

No kidding, I think this is their best album musically. With a little tweaking to the lyrics (and something completely different for Dog Years and Virtuality), this would be my favorite Rush album, period.

[dANdeLION]

I see 'Dog Years' as a semi-humorous song. In that it's way better than their other attempt at humor, 'I Think I'm Going Bald'.

[Mortice Root]

Ah, Test For Echo. Yeah, I don't care for this one much. I still listen to it periodically (and did so recently) and some of it has grown on me, but others....

Well, starting with the good stuff:

Production is great. Everything sounds good, nice heavy bass, great drum sound, all the intstruments are clear.

Driven, Time And Motion, Resist: These three flat kick ass. They are fantastic songs! I love the weird snake-y riff in Driven, and the solo bass is cool as hell. Time and Motion is complex and hard, shockingly so. Very nice. And Resist is great also. I really like the percussion on this one (though I do have to say I like the folksy live acoustic version better). In addition to the lyrics Cail pointed out up thread, I like the preceding lines also:

You can surrender without a prayer
But never ever pray without surrender

Which, IMO, is about as succinct a description of prayer as I've seen. The fact it was written by a guy who is an aetheist.... just one of those bizzare twists, in life I guess.

Test for Echo, Virtuallity: I like these two. While not as good as the the others I mentioned, I still enjoy these. T4E presents an interesting take on the corprate nature of gang-land culture, with a very complex musical arrangement. I really didn't like this one intially, but over time, it's grown on me. And Virtuallity, for all it's out-dated lyrics is so damn cool, that (using my own version of the DLLLS ) I can ignore the words and just rock.

Dog Years, Carve Away the Stone: Ugh. Neither of these does anything for me, and I actively dislike Dog Years - not only are the lyrics awful, but the vocal melody of the chorus just grates on me. CATS seems just anemic, neither beauty (like Resist) or power. And the chorus feels very disjointed, like it doesn't fit with the rest of the song.

That leaves Half The World, Color of Right, Totem and Limbo. My reaction to these is a resounding "meh". Much like Speed of Love on Counterparts, they seem to me like non-descript rock songs, played by very good muscians. If they happen to come up on shuffle, I don't shut them off, but I'd never pick them out to listen to by themselves.

I do certainly agree that lots of elements of the post-millennial sound can be heard prominantly here, and that's one reason I find it interesting to listen too, even the songs I don't particularly care for. Lots of stacked vocal Geddys, and bass chords are coming more to the fore. Another thing that is very cool is the increased use of multiple rhythm guitar tracks. Many of these tunes have at least 2-3 guitars playing the rhythm, and they're not just doubling - Alex makes what sound like interlocking rhytm parts, where the seperate guitars blend in an amazing way to make the underlying foundation. This technique is of course, all over the recent records, but it's throughout this one too, especially on something like Half The World, where new guitars keep adding all the way through to the addition of the (very cool ) mandolins for the last verse.

All in all though, my least favorite record of theirs - a few killer tracks, two good ones, and the rest I find more interesting because of what comes later in the career than for it's own sake.

[Zarathustra]

You can surrender without a prayer
But never ever pray without surrender

Which, IMO, is about as succinct a description of prayer as I've seen. The fact it was written by a guy who is an aetheist.... just one of those bizzare twists, in life I guess.

Maybe you're reading it differently than I am, but as an atheist it makes perfect sense to me for another atheist to criticize prayer as "surrender." The song is called Resist, after all. I don't think he's being complimentary about the concept of prayer here. I don't see that as bizarre or a twist.

[Mortice Root]

Yup. I was reading it differently.

Of course, now that you say it, that's most likely the way it was meant. Way to go MR, Captain Obvious!

To me, as a believer, I was taking it as a positive thing - that prayer required a certain level of surrender. Also, when looking at the whole set of lyrics to that section, it seemed to alternate between a negative thing ("surrender without a prayer" and "fight without ever winning") and a positive thing ("never pray without surrender" and "never win without a fight") in that both praying and winning are positive things to strive for. You can have a negative surrender (without a prayer) and a negative fight (without ever winning) but you have to have a surrender to pray (positive) and you have to have a fight to win (positive).

Though, putting in it the song "Resist", and coming from Neil's perspective, you are probably right. Interesting though.