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Who here does NOT hate Hold Your Fire?


fraroc
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Fans that love it typically like pop music (in some form or fashion) as well. Fans that don't love it are typically those that only listen to hard rock or metal and believe Rush should "stick" to that format. (I'm sure to get blasted by others by this comment).

 

I am a pop freak and still think HYF is the worst effort of the 80's. I was kind of let down after the brilliance of Power Windows. Too many keys, too many power chords, and the choruses don't flow as well as previous 80's efforts.(not all the songs but many) Sure there is some nice instrumentation, but I need more than that.

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I love Hold Your Fire. It's within my top 10 favorite albums. Force Ten, Time Stand Still, Mission, and Turn The Page are great, Open Secrets and Second Nature are underrated, and while the last two aren't good, it's always been a favorite of mine.
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I like it . . . sort of. I remember when it came out I called my best friend and gushed about it. I think the album jacket is very tasteful - I love the deep red and the simplicity of the design (you need the LP to fully appreciate it).

 

Force Ten doesn't blow me away - I don't like the industrial vibe, heavy synths and bass chords on that sort of awful sounding bass that sounds like someone farting in the bathtub, and the riff seems a bit too simple for them, and I don't care for Rush songs where the guitar seems to disappear entirely; however, when the song takes off I start to dig it. It's got a bit of the old Rush magic at around the 3:15 point, keyboards notwithstanding.

 

Time Stand Still is a decent enough tune—a very recognizable Lifeson riff although I'm not wild about the chimey sounding guitar. I like the drumming. I don't like how there are bits where Lifeson stands around with nothing to do. Lee's singing is pretty boss.

 

Open Secrets is a catchy enough tune, but again - too many synthy sounds. I'd love to hear the tune without them. I like the verse that begins "Closed for my protection." The solo is cool: Lifeson's mastery of the whammy is not to be disputed (reminds me of his solo in the Beyond Borders thing that he did with Emmett, Boyd and Bickert).

 

Second Nature starts out a bit gaggy. I don't mind the lyrics, but it's really watered-down Rush. This song does not rock. I'm listening for the rock, and it just ain't there. It's like a song some high school kid would write for a social studies project or something. I'd take High Water over this any day.

 

Prime Mover doesn't exactly kick ass musically, although it's an interesting song with some mildly interesting parts. I could do without Lee going "eeeeeeeeeee" (and even worse at the end, "oohh-ooohh-ooohh") and there's that bass again. I wish the guitar was heavier and more present (not to mention I wish it didn't disappear entirely in some parts), but we're just not going to get that in a post 84 eighties Rush album, really.

 

Lock and Key is a good tune, for a milder gentler Rush, I guess. At least it has a guitar solo - a pretty cool one, too, with a few seconds that hearken back to Freewill.

 

Mission . . . ah, f**k, I don't know. 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4...it's boring 80s Rush. It's got that moment that I have wait patiently for. At 2:45 they wake up from their nap and remember who they are until 3:40 when they go back to their nap.

 

Turn the Page has some life. At least Lee's got his fret hand moving. I think I liked this song best on the album, and I think that might still be true.

 

Tai Shan has had the snot kicked out of it by enough people, so maybe I should leave it alone. Some people think it's beautiful. I don't know, I guess it could be called that. Maybe if I stood at the top of the mountain I would get it. Maybe there is no music that could do justice to the words. Maybe it should have stayed in Peart's notebook. Some things are not meant to be shared, perhaps.

 

High Water, in spite of a sort of a sleepy beginning, wakes and builds into a pretty decently refreshing tune, in my opinion. I like the tightness of the rhythm. I wish the guitar would devour the keyboards and spit out the bones a little earlier in the song. Another tasteful little solo - it could be a little more dynamic and interesting.

 

I guess I am a bit lukewarm about the album. It could be so much more, but those goddamned synthesizers kind of spoil everything.

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HYF has got to be the most hated, shit on and underrated Rush album. I'm listening to it right now in it's entirety and let me tell you something, I like what I hear! You can't possibly convince me that Mission, Force Ten, Time Stand Still, and Lock and Key are bad songs. Is it as good as the Holy Tetrology? No, I feel it does lack something that MP, Signals, GUP, and PoW have. But I feel it's better than both Presto and Roll The Bones and MUCH better than Counterparts, Test For Echo, and Vapor Trails.

:rfl: :no: :tsk: :poke:

HYF is Power Windows rehash. Force Ten and Time Stand Still are ok and listenable. Mission has only become acceptable with time and Les Pauls.

 

Tell me why so many lyrics liken things to other things on that album.

 

The tones are brittle and thin. It is a spiral downward. It sounds like too much cocaine and alcohol and touring caught up to them. RTB is coming out of the haze. Presto is a return to good songwriting and Counterparts is Rush being Rush again. But like all Rush it's only a step in the progression. CA is a butt hair above HYF. Those two are the only blights on a brilliant catalog of material.

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While not one of their best, its certainly underrated. Many good tunes, the only one I skip is Second Nature.

 

And overall its a better listen than the overrated (on this board) Power Windows. The songs are better. IMO, of course.

Edited by greg2112
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I've probably said it previously in this thread, but it bears repeating. Hold Your Fire and Hemispheres are my two favorite Rush albums. And some people might call that a strange pair of favorites. I don't give a rip. Hold Your Fire, for personal reasons, for me, is also the most important Rush album ever made. In addition, the songwriting and the musicianship were both at an apex- in my opinion, of course.

 

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. And no one will ever convince me otherwise.

Edited by Blue J
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I love the album, with the obvious exception of 'Tai Shan'. I can kinda understand why some other people might not get into it, but what I don't get is the seeming universal disdain for 'High Water'. Not saying it's the best song on the album (or even top 5), but what do people find so awful about it?
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The first 8 are strong....

 

Thoes other two........Talk about tripping at the finish line, eh Narps? lol

 

Mick

Then throwing up.... :codger:
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The first 8 are strong....

 

Thoes other two........Talk about tripping at the finish line, eh Narps? lol

 

Mick

Then throwing up.... :codger:

 

High Water isn't horrid. The verses are actually kind cool.

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I love Hold Your Fire! Every song on it except High Water is great. Prime Mover is probably the best song, but I love Time Stand Still and Lock and Key, too. Very underrated album.
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The first 8 are strong....

 

Thoes other two........Talk about tripping at the finish line, eh Narps? lol

 

Mick

Then throwing up.... :codger:

 

High Water isn't horrid. The verses are actually kind cool.

I have tried on the last two. Just can't make it happen... :no:
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