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I've got 4:07. Synchronized?

QUOTE (CygnusX-1Bk2 @ Dec 8 2004, 01:49 PM) Sorry, everytime I try to give this album a chance it always lets me down. Each song has a cool part, then an annoying part that doesn't fit with the rest of the song. Plus the whole thing sounds horrible and thin. The bass is bouncy and has no guts. Sounds rubbery and not solid or rocking. The guitars are especially thin and brittle. The drums sound ok. The words seem random, and unedited and lack the poignancy of other Rush lyrics. The keyboards reach an all time low and really wreck the whole album for me, with the exception of Force Ten. The performances are good. This album sounds uninspired and if they were ever going through the motions this would be the time. They had nothing to prove by this time and much of HYF sounds like leftover, less-than-inspired bits from Power Windows. This album made me speculative and weary about Rush releases ever since. Luckily they put out Presto and Counterparts afterwards. Good post, bro, but I don't think that's going to help Snowdog clear the dust off his copy. I totally get your perspective, though. I wonder what my reaction to the album would have been if I wasn't discovering them backwards. I didn't listen to this album until 1992. To me, it was awesome from the first listen. But if I were waiting for it as a new release and missing their earlier material, I could very well have hated it. The two I had the most trouble warming up to was P/G and VT. NOT an issue today.

Don't look at me like I have 12 heads.

I always heard about him. He Exists?

Things like this just make ya go all to pieces.

QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Dec 8 2004, 11:45 AM) Patrick Stewart... Great actor!! While I consider him quite distinguished and monumentally talented.... just can't go to the sexy realm.

It's the suspense that gets me.

QUOTE (neilpeart_gal @ Dec 8 2004, 09:33 AM) My suggestion is listen to the lyrics. Its 'Open Secrets' and 'Prime Mover' that sucked me in. "Anything can happen" Speaks volumes!!

If that's the best deal you can get - I say reshuffle.

QUOTE (circumstantial tree @ Dec 8 2004, 09:57 AM) I tend to love music that has memories attached to it, and Hold Your Fire definitely does. The album came out Sept 8, 1987, which was 3 months after my graduation from high school. When I hear Turn the Page, I always think about how all of us in our class have gone our separate ways. We all entered a new phase in life where we would go off to college and part ways with many of our long time school friends. At graduation, we all kind of realize that ya know? High school was hell for me and, I imagine, for many of us. I certainly didn't shed a tear on graduation night, for sure, but some time after that, I found myself realizing that we wouldn't see each other again, and as much as I was glad to be done with high school, there are times I kinda miss it. There's a certain poignancy to it, if any of this makes sense. "Turn the Page" just represents to me those times in our lives where changes take place and we must move on and forward, but never really forgetting the past. Paganoman mentioned earlier in his descriptions of the songs about the ending of "Turn the Page" and the really long fade out. That piece of the music really amplifies for me what I just described above - a leaving and changing of sorts. The music on this album makes me think of brilliant sunsets too. We saw a beautiful one the night of the Rush show on that tour. A snow storm had dumped so much snow on everthing, but the sky had been clearing and the sun as it was setting just made the landscape just beautiful. The campus at NC State made me really want to go to college as we arrived for the show. There was a sunset on the video for "Time Stand Still", so maybe that is another reason I associate sunsets with this record. I had decided to not go to college beforehand, but after getting to see the campus before showtime, I got this deep rooted desire to go - think of the song "Mission". And I found myself wondering if any of my high school classmates were there someplace. So, I get a lot of feelings deep within when I hear Hold Your Fire. My interest in the album has everything to do with what it conjures in my emotions and imagination. It has nothing to do with whether or not it "kicks ass" and makes me wanna groove.

QUOTE (Snowdog @ Dec 8 2004, 09:28 AM)Help me!! Help me!! I read all of these wonderful, warm, fuzzy feelings for HYF, but I do not particularly like this album, with a few exceptions (Ged's bass playing is extraordinary and I do kind of like Prime Mover and Turn the Page). But as a whole, I just never warmed to this album. To me, it is Rush Lite. Then again, I'm not big on extensive use of synth's, so this stands to reason. But I want to like HYF, I just can't seem to. Any suggestions from you HYF lovers? Not trying to imply anything - but try to listen to it as its own piece of work without comparing it to other releases. There is SO much to like about this album. I particularly like the style of recording on this record - especially the use of keyboards and sound effects which allowed each instrument to completely stand out on their own without fighting for position. I can listen to any single element and block the others out so easily with this record. These guys are masters at designing complex structures within their own camps, while complimenting the others and giving room for all to flex and breathe. I get the Rush Lite thing. Alex stopped plugging into amps on the studio floor and would record his parts plugged directly into the sound board with a set of headphones. It wasn't until Counterparts that he dried up his guitar sound and put it back in our faces. But so what? He SHINES on these records. I love the intricate guitar parts in HYF. He proves you don't have to be a power chord god in order to show strength. As far as Neil goes, this was a time period for him where he really got to perfect his blending of electronic drums and triggered sounds into his parts. I go nuts over the way he changes patterns completely to impact the mood or emotion of the song. And Geddy? whew this guy truly proves he can do 28 things at once. Pedals, keyboards, bass, vocals. It's one thing to layer yourself in a studio but now you have to go out there and play this stuff live. He's got to be thinking about that when putting this stuff together. But it's Geddy - he makes it seem easy. His baselines ROCK on this album. Then there are the words. They take me to places I can't even identify. I get lost in them. The music was so well crafted to fit what the words had to say and vice/versa. Here is where Neil started becoming much more flexible at receiving feedback from the other two with regard to the lyric and how it should be designed to fit the sound. HYF is a triumph - a creative masterpiece. Find that connection to it - either through the emotion of the music or the message in the lyrics. Once you let it grab you, you'll be gone!!

Not for nuthin', but that's what I'm sayin'. Hmph.

Matt Damon is on Leno right now. Umm... He's hot?

So many subtle highlights in this album. More than just about any other album, imo. Here are just a few. There are so many others. Time Stand Still - The band goes into this energy charged drive leading into the final vocals. With the music are some sound effects I go crazy over. At 3.07 there is this ghostly, yet angelic keyboard effect that comes out of nowhere and builds louder and louder. YES!!Time Stand Still - same section of music. A percussion sound effect at 3.11. There's a rac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac sound just before Neil's snare fill. YES!!!!!! THE BEST!High Water - The Strings sounding keyboard in the second half of the song. Thank you Rolinda.Turn The Page - The way the song ends. Such high energized build up abrubtly cut with that keyboard hit which echos and takes a year to fade. I f'ing love that!Prime Mover - The baseline in that song is almost unmatched.Lock And Key - Neil just need to kick our asses and closes out the song with a BANG. Enough for now - Leno is on. I'm going to listen for more tomorrow, cause there are loads. DA420, tell us your favorite moments of the CD.

QUOTE (Disco @ Dec 3 2004, 03:08 PM) Anyway, my favourite sound is the bright chiming keyboard sound in The Enemy Within that plays the descending 3 or 4 note line after (before?) the chorus. Yeah that keyboard is an awesome part of the song!! Very crisp.

QUOTE (DoubleAgent420 @ Dec 7 2004, 10:32 PM) I just had to come and say this. Up until now, I haven't ever been a fan of HYF. I joined this board only recently, and ended up reading posts here and there occasionally about HYF, talking about how cool it is, what you like about this song, that song etc...... Well you guys encouraged me to give it another listen. I've owned HYF for about a year and I didn't listen to it very much, but after listening to it again (and I liked it so much that I listened to it yet again just a few days later!) I must say that not only do I LOVE this album, it has become one of my favorite albums of all time by a long shot. All because I read so many good things about it on this board! So thanks to all who post here, for opening my eyes to this beautiful gem of an album! What a kick ass post. You just made my night!! HYF is such a great album. So glad you were able to discover it and hear things you never heard before.

Great site!!! I love this stuff.

What are we supposed to tell the kids?

And there, beyond the light, was the way.

He may have to settle for the bronze.

Only time will tell, for those who remain.

It's always the quiet ones.

Look deep.. very deep. Only there will you find it.

They no longer take calls about this.

What's it all coming to?