cygnadu

The first new Rush album released after I became a fan was Roll The Bones. I was in high school, a drummer, and in love with "YYZ". And any of the late 70's albums - still do. I'll put "Natural Science", "Natural Science" from Rush In Rio, and "Natural Science" from R30 together on a song list and put it on repeat. I would probably toss "Vital Signs" in there as well because that songs rocks harder than any Rush song ever. That's what I though about Rush in the late 80's. My primer to the band was Chronicles. From there I gathered all the tapes of the albums that Chronicles showcased. And, as a young rock drummer who loved Star Wars and comic books, I listened to Rush non-stop. An odd fascination to me was Signals - I loved "Subdivisions". Not to mention "Losing It" and "The Analog Kid". but the album was just so out of place sounding to me. Perhaps that was a reflection of long-time producer Terry Jones' friction with the band's choice to make Geddy's synth the front piece. It was dark and I liked it. I liked it the same way I liked The Police's Ghost In The Machine. It's got a lot of soul for an album composed byte by bit. Grace Under Pressure, though dreary both sonic-ally and lyrically, is still full of heart. Power Windows, my all-time favorite of the electronic era, is the culmination of heart and synthesizer rock at its best. I really don't know what happened on Hold Your Fire. Even with the same producer as PW, the album kind of falls flat - I feel the band just over-stayed the synth era by one album and went a little too far into pop production. What those albums lacked in analog they made up for in soul. And coming off the heels of the 'musical precision era' (2112 through Moving Pictures), each band member's mastery of his instrument was undeniable in all the songs. The combination of those two aspects created a magnifying glass for fans and the listening public in general to really hear how precise of musicians they has become. And all the epic lyrics and vocals of the past focused Geddy's singing abilities into the best of his career. It was a digital projection of the heart of Rush. Even though this is considered an uninteresting point in their discography, I am a proud defender of the "Synth Era." It was the part of their canon that my 16-year-old hormones latched onto - because they were playing some bad-ass off-time signatures and it was emotional at the same time. And that's why "Afterimage" and "Emotion Detector" are some of my all-time favorite Rush songs. [/i]

I love the entire Caress Of Steel album. I loved it when I first discovered it over 20 years ago and I continue to turn the volume up to ten when I listen to it now. I was a drummer in a small town when I grew up. Neil Peart's playing pulled me into the Rush phenomenon - his imaginative lyrics kept me there. I am a child of the Star Wars generation and love sci-fi and fantasy. Rush in the seventies appealed to me both musically and fantastically with songs like The Necromancer and The Fountain Of Lamneth. Lakeside Park is beautiful and touching. Bastille Day is anthemic - made for navigating the road when you need to get somewhere and there's a lot of bad drivers in your way. I Think I'm Going Bald was humurous when I first listened but once I read the lyrics it took on a more bitter-sweet meaning. I'll defend Caress Of Steel all day long.

All The World's A Stage is proof that Rush was overjoyed to be performing that show. Probably every show during that tour. After the nonperformance of Caress Of Steel, 2112 gave them needed and deserved validation. The band members seem almost ashamed of Caress Of Steel today. Each member has their reasons why. Personally, I feel they were simply hurt by the fact that they'd created the album that they'd long dreamed of only to have it scorned by the public. In hindsight they feel that they made a sub-standard album. Admittedly, a quick listen to "I Think I'm Going Bald" might cause the casual listener to liken the band to parody rock. But one only needs to read the lyrics to see that they were just as beautifully written as the execution and performance of the music. This album shows how masterful they were over guitar, drums, and vocals. (Vocals ESPECIALLY on "I Think I'm Going Bald" show a man who knew not only how to deliver that awkward chorus but deliver it with passion) Neil might also look back at that particular chorus and wince. I hope he doesn't. Because they obviously thought it was cool enough at the time to play their hearts out when they recorded it in the studio. That album is about an artist's journey of self-discovery and finding his path in the world. The youthful passion and masterful talent displayed on it are the perfect voice of that sentiment. The three had become one. They had become the epic band that they had hinted at becoming on Fly By Night. And they demonstrated the overwhelming joy that gave them through their playing. All The World's A Stage contains that same spirit only magnified by them rising from the ashes with 2112.