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Hold Your Fire love-fest


G Lee
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Okay, long story short, I am VERY slow at absorbing Rush albums. I've just begun my real journey into HYF. Quite a few people on here have said it's their favorite album for various reasons (or not so much...). I haven't formed a real opinion yet (but let's just say, I think it's veering on deep like to possible love).

 

Just because I'm doing this kinda fresh, tell me what you think/feel about HYF in general. Also anything else you think I, as a newcomer to it, should know :P.

 

**And reasons for this thread also include: :beathorse: **

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Hold Your Fire may be soft, but the melodies and synth stuff is incorporated perfectly to form the masterpiece of the synth era. Geddy's playing on Turn the Page is inhuman, Open Secrets has deep and thought-provoking lyrics, Alex is phenomenal even though the mix kinda puts him down. I love Hold Your Fire! Edited by DirkPrattLerxst
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Hold Your Fire may be soft, but the melodies and synth stuff is incorporated perfectly to form the masterpiece of the 80's.

 

That's an interesting thought when compared to monsters like MP and Signals. I really like HYF so far and it intrigues me when I hear quite a few on here saying it's the best or their fave. I just wonder how it holds up to the other masterpiece albums.

Edited by G Lee
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Hold Your Fire may be soft, but the melodies and synth stuff is incorporated perfectly to form the masterpiece of the 80's.

 

That's an interesting thought when compared to monsters like MP and Signals. I really like HYF so far and it intrigues me when I hear quite a few on here saying it's the best or their fave. I just wonder how it holds up to the other masterpiece albums.

I meant masterpiece of the synth era aka Signals, GUP, PoW, and HYF. Signals and HYF are equal for me.

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Well, I like HYF a lot more than the album before it, but I prefer the studio album that comes after.

 

Mission, Prime Mover, and Time Stand Still have always been the gems for me. The rest is hit and miss...I'm tired of Force Ten these days. It's a nice and airy, clean sounding album, but it gets more love on TRF than I would ever expect.

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Great songwriting.

Lovely dated production with great bass/drums and a soundscape with a lot of emotion and variation

Great lyrics

Great cover artwork

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This is the only thing from Hold Your Fire that I really love:

 

http://youtu.be/ckonmsWBs4g

 

I would probably like the album a lot if it had featured this big heavy sound. Good songs but far too slick and bright for my tastes. I feel that way about a lot of material from the synth era.

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This is a list of superior Rush albums: Edited by Segue Myles
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HYF for me has some of their best moments.

 

"Everyday we're standing in a time capsule..."

"From the point of conception to the moment of truth..."

"Tough times demand tough hearts..."

 

They really went all out on the songwriting on this. Lyrics are brilliant. Every song gets love from me on this album. One of my favorites.

 

Yes the production is slick, kind of like Power Windows. But, being born in 1988, I find the production enjoyable, and transports me to the 80s in my imagination.

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I love Force Ten, Time Stand Still, Open Secrets, Prime Mover, and Turn the Page. Second Nature and Tai Shan make my worst of Rush list, and the rest I'm pretty indifferent on. Love the inside artwork too, but what a missed opportunity for a sweet gatefold.
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Hold Your Fire may be soft, but the melodies and synth stuff is incorporated perfectly to form the masterpiece of the 80's.

 

That's an interesting thought when compared to monsters like MP and Signals. I really like HYF so far and it intrigues me when I hear quite a few on here saying it's the best or their fave. I just wonder how it holds up to the other masterpiece albums.

 

I think it depends on what you consider their masterpiece albums to be. It is vastly different from anything they did from 1976-'81. But...I am one of those who never gets tired of raving about it. HYF and Hemispheres are my two favourite Rush albums, which a lot of people think is a curious mixture. (But I don't care :) ).

 

Hold Your Fire has much of the best songwriting they ever displayed. And the musicianship is as complex, in places, as anything they did in the early years.

 

In short...it's a bloody brilliant record!

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I to was a very, very, very late bloomer when it comes to HYF. It only took me a little over 25 years to actually listen to it. The only songs I knew already were Time Stand Still, Force Ten and Mission. Mission to me is tremendous. In my opinion the first 8 tracks are all good to great and the last two stink which works out well. Mission was always my favorite but Second Nature might be just as good or better. Just my opinion and those two are the best in my view... :)
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I like the sound of the Wal Bass on that album... but I don't like the Wal on other material (doesn't work)...

 

My first ever RUSH concert was on the HYF Tour... the view I had (right on the barricade):

 

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s282/rushbass/Rush1-27-1988.jpg

 

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s282/rushbass/Alex1-27-1988.jpg

 

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s282/rushbass/Geddy1-27-1988.jpg

Edited by rushbass
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My favorite album. And my favorite Rush concert. After having just graduated high school 3 months prior to the release, the album represents, in so many ways, my escape from that place. So, "Turn the Page" takes on a special resonance for me - a song, in my opinion, that speaks of moving on to different places, different people, and different circumstances. That's pretty much what graduation from high school means, but it could represent any other time in your life when you're about to make big changes.

 

As far as the concert, well, that was magical. Here in NC, we had just suffered a snow or ice storm. When we got to Reynolds Coliseum at NC State University, the late afternoon sun began to peak out of the leftover storm clouds, shining on the snow and ice. We met a guy cooking burgers on a big grill for the band, if I recall correctly. He was among all the tour buses and side entrance to the coliseum. We went to eat at Darryl's restaurant on Hillsborough Street across from campus. The place was packed with people, many of whom were Rush fans. I remember getting a taco salad.

 

We went to the show and enjoyed it. The red balloons malfunctioned in our section so I didn't get one. I left my tour program inside as we were leaving. I tried to go back and get it, ended up on the other side of the coliseum with other fans waiting for the band to emerge to leave. We were told they'd already left, but nobody believed that to be true. I never did get my program. We left and i remember seeing a very clear night sky full of stars and being very satisfied with the concert. Oddly enough we were playing side two of Pink Floyd's "Momentary Lapse of Reason" on the way home. Strange, but when I listen to that album, I'm reminded of that night.

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Time Stands Still has not aged well. It sounds really dated. High Water is not a favorite of mine either but the rest of the album is decent, even with the farty Wal bass tone.
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My favorite album. And my favorite Rush concert. After having just graduated high school 3 months prior to the release, the album represents, in so many ways, my escape from that place. So, "Turn the Page" takes on a special resonance for me - a song, in my opinion, that speaks of moving on to different places, different people, and different circumstances. That's pretty much what graduation from high school means, but it could represent any other time in your life when you're about to make big changes.

 

As far as the concert, well, that was magical. Here in NC, we had just suffered a snow or ice storm. When we got to Reynolds Coliseum at NC State University, the late afternoon sun began to peak out of the leftover storm clouds, shining on the snow and ice. We met a guy cooking burgers on a big grill for the band, if I recall correctly. He was among all the tour buses and side entrance to the coliseum. We went to eat at Darryl's restaurant on Hillsborough Street across from campus. The place was packed with people, many of whom were Rush fans. I remember getting a taco salad.

 

We went to the show and enjoyed it. The red balloons malfunctioned in our section so I didn't get one. I left my tour program inside as we were leaving. I tried to go back and get it, ended up on the other side of the coliseum with other fans waiting for the band to emerge to leave. We were told they'd already left, but nobody believed that to be true. I never did get my program. We left and i remember seeing a very clear night sky full of stars and being very satisfied with the concert. Oddly enough we were playing side two of Pink Floyd's "Momentary Lapse of Reason" on the way home. Strange, but when I listen to that album, I'm reminded of that night.

 

It's not too late to get that program!

 

 

http://www.rushbackstage.com/rushbackstage/media-260/tour-books/hold-your-fire-tourbook.html

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