It's obvious why Tai Shan and High Water

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Why are Tai Shan and High Water so much weaker than the rest of Hold your Fire? I mean they're ok, not as hideous as some people make out on here, but they are a steep drop off from the rest of HYF. So why is that? Well I think it's pretty obvious...

 

In 1987 albums lengths were expanding to fit in with CD capabilities for holding data. When Rush came to record Hold your Fire it must have been decided that at least 10 songs were required. Rush had been used to 8 song albums or less; the previous 3 were 8, then 7, 6, 4 and so on. The first 8 tunes on HYF are all excellent but the two "extra" tracks that they had to come up with in the same studio time as usual don't quite cut the mustard. Ok 6 months longer between records as the previous few, but then everyone was going 2 years between records by then...

 

So am I right or am I right?

 

Totally! Even though the two offending tracks weren't among the last written, it still makes sense that if you have to come up with two more songs, or nearly ten more minutes, of music than you usually do, some of it will probably fall flat. Those two probably wound up at the end so fans could just stop at the usual 8 if they wanted without having to skip anything in-between.

Aye!

 

That was a blast from the past post, 2007? You probably weren't even born then!

 

Do your math, Duck! I was born in 1998! lol