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Revisiting Every Rush Album In Order: Hemispheres (1978)


Segue Myles
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An album so complex, intricate and profound it took me nearly eight years to digest.

 

I have had a strange relationship with this record, but it finally clicked with me this year and I must say, it went from near the bottom of the pile to a contender for the very top!

 

I don't really know how to write about this album, because I am fully aware that the majority of this forum reveres it highly.

 

But that hasn't stopped me so far!

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1. Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres

 

"Let the truth of Love be lighted

Let the love of truth shine clear

Sensibility

Armed with sense and liberty

With the Heart and Mind united

In a single perfect sphere."

 

The closing lyrics to this song are perhaps my favourite of their entire first decade.

 

I used to really despise this song. I found it everything that AFTK wasn't. It is loud, it is excessive and abrasive, the vocals are insanely shrill. It sounded for the longest time like a hot mess.

 

Well...I remember that's what it used to sound like but the song I am listening too now sounds completely different to my memories. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. They followed AFTK one year later with a bold, brilliant and exceptionally skilful follow up. The first side is by far the bands greatest achievement when it comes to their epic songs. Everything about it is executed perfectly! It carries no trace of the meandering, slightly inconsistent nature of The Fountain Of Lamneth. Unlike 2112, this doesn't feel as immediately episodic in the narrative. And much like the two shorter epics off AFTK, Xanadu and of course the first Cygnus X-1, Hemispheres feels like a fully realised narrative and musical journey. It is a magnificent song.

 

But there is one thing I would argue in the defence of 2112, as to why it may still remain my favourite sidelong Rush epic. You see, whilst I do truly think Hems is a masterful work of art, and it's true that it is peerless mjsically, the storyline of 2112 is more immediately captivating and the storyline moves me on a much higher level than almost anything else in the history of the arts. But enough of the comparisons because each and every great song deserves to be awarded merit for its own achievements. And once again I find myself saying that this is another masterpiece from a band that seems to cough up classics at this point as if it is the most ordinary and mundane thing to do.

 

This song is a bloody treasure!

 

The marching rhythm, the spiralling riffs, the groove of the percussion and drums. The atmosphere. This is metal perfection!

 

Again I find myself declaring that RUSH IS HEAVY METAL!

 

10/10

Edited by Segue Myles
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Tempted to play this song again but I must proceed!
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I’ve always complained there isn’t enough bite to the epic, and it gets a bit repetitive, but perhaps Hems is to AFTK as classical is to medieval, trading the pointed for the rounded, the assymetrical for the well ordered. At any rate it’s a great, balanced song with a captivating story and atmosphere. Maybe not my favorite, but great for certain.
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2. Circumstances

 

My experience with the second side is much like the first: I thought it was overblown and overrated.

 

Well...shit. I love it now! Circumstances is another short, sharp metal attack from Rush. It has a fierce vocal performance from Geddy and it is fast and very thrilling. It wouldn't surprise me if Iron Maiden took influence from this song!

 

It features another of my favourite lines from Peart:

 

"The more that things change

The more they stay the same"

 

I always imagine this refers to time. If we stand still, time moves on. Each day brings change, but do we progress with it?

 

"These walls that still surround me

Still contain the same old me

Just one more who’s searching for

The world that ought to be"

 

We need to be the change we want to achieve! We cannot confine ourselves to the walls of time, the restriction we put on ourselves. If we want our circumstance to change and allow us to progress, we need to make that move! Move with time, do not stand still!

 

I love the lyrics to this song. An absolute classic musically and lyrically.

 

10/10

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3. The Trees

 

Racism spoken through via metaphor. This conjures a little of that medieval atmosphere from the precious album, and for such a short song, it has the musical depth and weight of one of their finest epics.

 

Another classic. I cannot fault anything about this album. Outstanding solo work from Lifeson.

 

10/10

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2. Circumstances

 

My experience with the second side is much like the first: I thought it was overblown and overrated.

 

Well...shit. I love it now! Circumstances is another short, sharp metal attack from Rush. It has a fierce vocal performance from Geddy and it is fast and very thrilling. It wouldn't surprise me if Iron Maiden took influence from this song!

 

It features another of my favourite lines from Peart:

 

"The more that things change

The more they stay the same"

 

I always imagine this refers to time. If we stand still, time moves on. Each day brings change, but do we progress with it?

 

"These walls that still surround me

Still contain the same old me

Just one more who’s searching for

The world that ought to be"

 

We need to be the change we want to achieve! We cannot confine ourselves to the walls of time, the restriction we put on ourselves. If we want our circumstance to change and allow us to progress, we need to make that move! Move with time, do not stand still!

 

I love the lyrics to this song. An absolute classic musically and lyrically.

 

10/10

 

Neil borrows alot from other writers

The more that things change is from a french dude a long time ago

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4. La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise In Self Indulgence)

 

For a band famed for each members technical and musical prowess, it seems somewhat surprising that it took them six albums to finally provide us with an instrumental.

 

And the wait was worth it!

 

Mindblowing and epic in the most authentic use of this words, this is Rush closing off their most elaborate and expansive album yet. A major fan favourite, it is perhaps to this day still the finest instrumental Rush track, and an essential listening experience for anybody even slightly curious about what this band sounds like.

 

When I found myself disliking Hemispheres, I never had an issue with this particular track. It closes off a perfect album with the best cut off the whole damn thing.

 

10/10

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2. Circumstances

 

My experience with the second side is much like the first: I thought it was overblown and overrated.

 

Well...shit. I love it now! Circumstances is another short, sharp metal attack from Rush. It has a fierce vocal performance from Geddy and it is fast and very thrilling. It wouldn't surprise me if Iron Maiden took influence from this song!

 

It features another of my favourite lines from Peart:

 

"The more that things change

The more they stay the same"

 

I always imagine this refers to time. If we stand still, time moves on. Each day brings change, but do we progress with it?

 

"These walls that still surround me

Still contain the same old me

Just one more who’s searching for

The world that ought to be"

 

We need to be the change we want to achieve! We cannot confine ourselves to the walls of time, the restriction we put on ourselves. If we want our circumstance to change and allow us to progress, we need to make that move! Move with time, do not stand still!

 

I love the lyrics to this song. An absolute classic musically and lyrically.

 

10/10

 

Neil borrows alot from other writers

The more that things change is from a french dude a long time ago

 

Peart takes a quote and expands his ideas. I am highly impressed with this song!

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2. Circumstances

 

My experience with the second side is much like the first: I thought it was overblown and overrated.

 

Well...shit. I love it now! Circumstances is another short, sharp metal attack from Rush. It has a fierce vocal performance from Geddy and it is fast and very thrilling. It wouldn't surprise me if Iron Maiden took influence from this song!

 

It features another of my favourite lines from Peart:

 

"The more that things change

The more they stay the same"

 

I always imagine this refers to time. If we stand still, time moves on. Each day brings change, but do we progress with it?

 

"These walls that still surround me

Still contain the same old me

Just one more who’s searching for

The world that ought to be"

 

We need to be the change we want to achieve! We cannot confine ourselves to the walls of time, the restriction we put on ourselves. If we want our circumstance to change and allow us to progress, we need to make that move! Move with time, do not stand still!

 

I love the lyrics to this song. An absolute classic musically and lyrically.

 

10/10

 

Neil borrows alot from other writers

The more that things change is from a french dude a long time ago

 

Peart takes a quote and expands his ideas. I am highly impressed with this song!

 

Yeah

Super great tune. Imo their best short song.

 

Hemispheres is my fave. Glad you are getting into early rush.

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Hemispheres is the perfect album. But for all its greatness (four 10/10 songs is nothing to scoff at considering this is a four song album), I do still find myself rating A Farewell To Kings marginally higher. For everything Hemispheres gets right, I would argue that AFTK has the more enticing atmosphere and at least two better songs than anything here (not that it truly makes a difference considering the absolute perfection that the majority of the last three albums have been). But this is not to say that Hemispheres suffers in comparison to the likes of A Farewell To Kings or 2112. I have awarded all three 10/10 on the basis that on each albums own terms, they deserve it. And pitted against each other, it is clear to see that all three offer something very unique and special. Comparing Rush albums at this point is truly like comparing the senses. All are absolutely essential and we would be at great loss if one was missing.

 

Although I have discussed my marathons are in batches of four studio plus one live album, I do truly feel that with their sixth album, Rush finished the first era of their style completely. Even though the next album, Permanent Waves, has a lot in common with the earlier era, they by that point had started to shift their general direction towards new paths. Listening to this album, it is hard to believe that just around the corner we have a song such as Spirit Of Radio, or Limelight, coming.

 

I do not feel that this is a bad thing. Rush consciously made the effort to distance themselves from the full on epic styling of their last four albums for practical reasons: it could become predictable and perhaps even a tad cliche. But they ended this era on a major high. After listening to Hemispheres, which I think is the pinnacle of all their musical ambition that first showed it's true origin just three years previously on the rather naive sounding By-Tor And The Snow Dog, there is nowhere else this particular style could go.

 

Rush made a wise move: to evolve and to adapt. But I must say, after listening to these albums so close together and so attentively, I now fully understand why many fans feel that a little something was lost once the band started to shift direction elsewhere.

 

But the journey is far from over, and though Rush had already proven by this point that they were never a one trick pony, the very near future had many surprises ready to challenge their fanatical and at this point loyal fanbase.

 

10/10

Edited by Segue Myles
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http://www.classicrockreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/1978_Rush-Hemispheres.jpg

 

An album so complex, intricate and profound it took me nearly eight years to digest.

 

I have had a strange relationship with this record, but it finally clicked with me this year and I must say, it went from near the bottom of the pile to a contender for the very top!

 

I don't really know how to write about this album, because I am fully aware that the majority of this forum reveres it highly.

 

But that hasn't stopped me so far!

 

I've always had mixed feelings about this one. Side 1 doesn't really click with me until the middle part, with the "gods in battle rage on high" atmospherics. But side 2 is killer.

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I do agree with your assessment that 2112 makes for a better story. Hemispheres is pretty abstract.

 

They are both strikingly different, and for me the great qualities that make each of them up are not very easy to compare, so it boils down really to which epic to I genuinely love most: 2112 wins, but I think Hemispheres is the more technically accomplished and ambitious of the two.

 

By album number six, it becomes clear that Rush were at a level of greatness that gave each album the ability to stand on its own, separate from the rest.

 

Hemispheres is the bands creative peak, as far as their proggier side goes. They would proceed on the path of greatness by continuing to try new things. Because to my ears, Hemispheres is far from being the final Rush masterpiece. But it ends a streak of uninterrupted greatness alongside indisputable creative growth and expansion.

 

See my thread for Permanent Waves to get what I mean by that.

Edited by Segue Myles
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Hemispheres is the only Rush album that’s ever usurped my #1 position usually held by Moving Pictures.

 

La Villa Strangiato is my favorite instrumental of all time, Rush or otherwise.

Cygnus X-1 Book 2 is my favorite epic (depending on how you define “epic”) of theirs.

The Trees is likely in my top 10 Rush song list.

And the weakest link imho, Circumstances, is still an “A” grade song.

 

This album is the prime example when you tell someone, “Rush is the greatest band in the galaxy!”

Edited by JohnnyBlaze
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Hemispheres is the only Rush album that’s ever usurped my #1 position usually held by Moving Pictures.

 

La Villa Strangiato is my favorite instrumental of all time, Rush or otherwise.

Cygnus X-1 Book 2 is my favorite epic (depending on how you define “epic”) of theirs.

The Trees is likely in my top 10 Rush song list.

And the weakest link imho, Circumstances, is still an “A” grade song.

 

This album is the prime example when you tell someone, “Rush is the greatest band in the galaxy!”

 

I agree except i prefer circumstances. Its my fave short rush tune. Best epic, best instrumental.

 

My fave longer but not epic tune is natural science.

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Hemispheres is the only Rush album that’s ever usurped my #1 position usually held by Moving Pictures.

 

La Villa Strangiato is my favorite instrumental of all time, Rush or otherwise.

Cygnus X-1 Book 2 is my favorite epic (depending on how you define “epic”) of theirs.

The Trees is likely in my top 10 Rush song list.

And the weakest link imho, Circumstances, is still an “A” grade song.

 

This album is the prime example when you tell someone, “Rush is the greatest band in the galaxy!”

 

I agree except i prefer circumstances. Its my fave short rush tune. Best epic, best instrumental.

 

My fave longer but not epic tune is natural science.

 

Circumstances has great lyrics! My favourite song off Hemispheres, I think.

 

My favourite "short" epic is either Xanadu or Cygnus X-1. Favourite epic? Yikes...2112 but it's very close with Hemispheres.

 

I like Natural Science a lot. Love it even! It may still grow on my even more than it has already.

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