RUSH Discography: Part Four

4. Clockwork Angels ( 4.5 )

3. Signals ( 4.5 )

2. Permanent Waves ( 5.0 )

1. Moving Pictures ( 5.0 )

     Leave it to RUSH to release an epic, Steampunk concept album, almost 40 years into their career. Later, Neil Peart would team up with sci-fi author Kevin Anderson to create Clockwork Angels novels and graphic novels based on this album. It was almost unheard of for a band at their age to still be recording at top form. This usually turns into the boring singer-songwriter phase of a band. But, Clockwork Angels is a dynamic hard rock album that still features their signature musicianship. I don't know if they knew this would be their final studio album, but it seems likely. It stands as one last statement by the band to cement their legacy. The last refrain of their final song, "The Garden", is "It's a measure of a life". That sounds like closure. Yet, they waited another three years to officially disband. It's crazy that it was almost 10 years ago. 

     One of the greatest three album runs in the history of rock music is Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, and Signals. On any given day I could have these albums in any different order. For the official purposes of this post I put Moving Pictures at number one. It's empirically their greatest achievement. Side One is 10/10; "Tom Sawyer", "Red Barchetta", "YYZ" and "Limelight". Side Two isn't chopped liver either. Signals may be Neil's best songwriting album. In my previous post, I said Grace Under Pressure was the first RUSH album I bought when it came out. As I think back, it must have been Permanent Waves. I clearly remember when "The Spirit of Radio" was all over the radio and picking up that album. I'm an old man, it's hard to recall things. The 80's was when RUSH transitioned from side-long prog epics to more concise rock tracks. However, that didn't stop them from recording mini-epics, like "Natural Science", "Jacob's Ladder", and "The Camera Eye". It's this era of RUSH that eventually got them inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When I started Sound Mind, they still hadn't been inducted and I spewed quite a bit of vitriol about that fact. Looking back, it was just a matter of time. There could not be a Rock Hall without RUSH. 

     Tomorrow I will post my top RUSH songs list. As I began to compile the essential tracks, it became obvious that if I wanted a career spanning list it would have to be 40-50 songs. Apologies in advance. As an appetizer, I give to you RUSH's studio instrumental tracks ranked, and their 5 Worst Songs. Peace.

INSTRUMENTALS

1. La Villa Strangiato ( Hemispheres )

2. YYZ ( Moving Pictures )

3. The Main Monkey Business ( Snakes and Arrows )

4. Malignant Narcissism ( Snakes and Arrows )

5. Limbo ( Test For Echo )

6. Hope ( Snakes and Arrows )

7. Where's My Thing ( Roll the Bones )

8. Leave That Thing Alone ( Counterparts )

WORST 5

1. Dog Years ( Test For Echo )

2. Tai Shan ( Hold Your Fire )

3. I Think I'm Going Bald ( Caress of Steel )

4. Twilight Zone ( 2112 )

5. Tears ( 2112 )

I WAS AT THIS SHOW!

RUSH Discography: Part Three

9. Grace Under Pressure ( 3.5 )

8. Vapor Trails ( 3.5 )

7. A Farewell to Kings ( 4.0 )

6. Hemispheres ( 4.0 )

5. Snakes and Arrows ( 4.0 )

     Grace Under Pressure was the first RUSH album I bought when it was newly released. That seems crazy. but it's true. I remember the sense of foreboding I had watching Friday Night Videos in 1984. It was two videos in particular; "Jump" by Van Halen and "Distant Early Warning" by RUSH. In fairness, RUSH had used keyboards quite a bit on previous releases, but it was becoming more pronounced. Then, seeing Eddie Van Halen playing keyboards put me over the edge. GUP is a good album, though. I like "Distant Early Warning" and the album cuts, "Afterimage" and "Between the Wheels". RUSH lost some fans who jumped on the bandwagon during Moving Pictures, but many of us stuck it out. 

     Vapor Trails is a complicated album. It was their return album after Neil's five year hiatus and the recording process wasn't smooth. The mix was murky and flat. Later, they remixed it and put out a reissue, which sounds great. The lead single was "One Little Victory", which features an insanely complex drum intro by Neil. Presumably, this was meant to show he was back at top form. Mission accomplished. Vapor Trails also marks a return to a muscular guitar, bass and drum sound. I saw them back-to-back nights in Detroit on this tour. Those shows were electric. The tour would be immortalized on the live release RUSH in Rio. 

     After another five-year recording hiatus, RUSH released Snakes and Arrows. The lead single, "Far Cry" was their best rocker in years. The whole album is rock solid, but lacks the high points that would raise it to 4.5 or 5 Stars. It does demonstrate that RUSH were still a vital, relevant band 30+ years into their career. Not many recording artists can say that. 

     I consider A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres to be the Rubber Soul and Revolver for RUSH. These albums marked RUSH's full on prog rock era. They were released a year apart and are 1a and 1b to each other. The culmination of these records is the brilliantly inspired instrumental track, "La Villa Strangiato". They also wrote a two part epic, "Cygnus X-1", that closed out A Farewell to Kings and opened Hemispheres. Throw in tracks like, "Closer to the Heart", "Circumstances", "Xanadu" and "The Trees" and RUSH had finally found themselves. But, as Neil once said, "Changes aren't permanent, but change is". Peace.

RUSH Discography: Part Two

14. 2112 ( 3.0 )

13. Counterparts ( 3.5 )

12. Power Windows ( 3.5 )

11. RUSH ( 3.5 )

10. Fly By Night ( 3.5 )

     I'm not a strong proponent of rating albums. My personal policy is when rating a discography I rate the albums against the other releases in the band's catalog. When I look at my scores for these RUSH albums, they seem harsh. I love this band. Why are these ratings so low? I'm trying to rank them by the standards of the band. It's possible these scores could be higher if they were compared to other releases from the same year. For the purposes of this exercise, I will have to live with these ratings.

     I posted about 2112 back in the day. I'm that guy who loves the Side One 2112 epic and dislikes all of Side Two. Nothing has changed there. However, Side One was RUSH's greatest achievement to that point in their career. It is a masterpiece and bought the band its artistic freedom from the label. It's arguably the most important record in their catalog. I personally own multiple formats of 2112. I still can't stand Side Two. 

     The only time I've ever gone to a midnight release was to buy Counterparts. The midnight release was actually for Pearl Jam's Vs., but Counterparts also came out the same day. At this point, RUSH was trying to Grunge their sound up, so I guess that was appropriate. I rarely listen to Counterparts, but it's my favorite of the 90's era. "Between Sun and Moon" is one of the best deep cuts in their discography. Musically, it's a strong album, but the songwriting isn't stellar. 

     The most difficult RUSH album to assess is Power Windows. I remember being disappointed when it came out. The lead single was "Big Money". It's a good track, but still too keyboard heavy. My favorite track is another deep cut, "Middletown Dreams". While I've warmed to Power Windows over the years, it was a divisive period for the band. They took almost as much in-coming for the mullets and skinny ties as they did for the kimonos. I'm solidly on Team Lifeson when it comes to the place of guitars and keyboards in RUSH. However, Geddy Lee is an immensely talented musical visionary and who am I to begrudge him exploring synths. After all, it was 1985 and keyboards ruled music. Even Eddie Van Halen was seduced. 

     I struggled with numbers 10 and 11. Part of me likes the Led Zeppelin influence on the debut more than Fly By Night's prog rock beginnings. In the end (pun intended), I couldn't rank the album that didn't have Neil Peart on it over the first album he appeared on. It seems blasphemous. So I didn't. That's not very objective, but music is a subjective topic. Peace.

RUSH Discography: Part One

      Alright, let's try something new. I'm going to post a five part RUSH discography. Four posts will rank their 19 studio albums and the fifth will be a top 20 songs list. Since 19 is an odd number, I will rank 5 albums at a time for three posts, then a final four. For this series, I'm going to reveal the rankings up front, then have a free form discussion of that group of albums. If this works out, I may attempt this with other discographies. By the way, if anyone is interested in my album rankings in general, I have a Rate Your Music account under tompaine88. If you would like to request a discography or propose a topic, my email is soundmindblog@gmail.com. 

19. Hold Your Fire ( 2.5 )

18. Caress of Steel ( 2.5 )

17. Test For Echo ( 3.0 )

16. Presto ( 3.0 )

15. Roll the Bones ( 3.0 )

     Typically, when discographies are ranked, the newer releases are rated poorly and the early albums get rave reviews. With RUSH, I'm all over the place. They had a long career with different phases. For instance, they had a controversial keyboard phase that culminated with 1987's Hold Your Fire, my lowest rated RUSH album. While I didn't have a huge problem with this era, Hold Your Fire was a bridge too far and Alex Lifeson finally put his foot down. 

     This marked a major transition for the band. They left Mercury for Atlantic and the guitars were coming back. However, the first Atlantic release, 1989's Presto, was a mixed bag. It rocked more than Hold Your Fire, but the songs were quite uneven. My favorite song on Presto is the down-tempo number "The Pass", which is a song Neil Peart wrote about suicide. The big single was "Show Don't Tell" and it featured some muscular guitar parts, but otherwise the tracks on Presto are weak. I did see them live, for the first time, on this tour, so that's something.

     At the dawn of the Grunge Era, RUSH released 1991's Roll the Bones. The first single, "Dreamline", is one of RUSH's best songs. However, the title track has that goofy rap section and detracts from the album. Roll the Bones was a slight improvement over Presto, but this was a difficult transitional period for the band. Their "Grunge" Era ended with 1997's Test For Echo, which included RUSH's worst song, "Dog Years". I saw them for the second time on this tour. Unfortunately, after this album, Neil's daughter died in a car accident and his wife died of cancer. He got on a motorcycle and disappeared for five years. You can read the story in his book, Ghost Rider. 

     I should also address my other 2.5 Star RUSH album, Caress of Steel. Although it's not very good, apart from "Bastille Day", it was an important transitional record that led to 2112. It's here where they attempt a side-long epic for the first time. RUSH had an unusual start. Neil Peart wasn't on the debut album, but joined right before the tour. He took over songwriting on the next album, Fly By Night, and they had some modest success. Caress of Steel was a step back and the record label was threatening to drop them. Defying demands for a hit from Mercury, they recorded 2112, with another side-long epic, and it was a huge success. RUSH had secured their artistic freedom. 

     It's a testament to RUSH that their fans have stuck with them through the transitions from the 70's to the MTV era, and then through the keyboard era to the Grunge era. They have always been a musician's band and virtuoso players. This has created a dedicated fan base that has survived the end of the band. I am one of them. Peace.

Rosali - Bite Down ( 2024 )

      This exercise of posting about my favorite albums of 2024 has reminded me that writing album reviews isn't my strong suit. I can't pull off being a pretentious Pitchfork reviewer. My analysis mostly consists of comparing new music to old music that I'm familiar with. And this post for Bite Down by Rosali will be no exception. Imagine, if you will, Crazy Horse fronted by Chrissy Hynde rather than Neil Young. That is Rosali in a nutshell. She is ably backed by the band, David Nance and Mowed Sounds. 

     The finest example of this sound is my second favorite song of 2024, "Change Is in the Form". This track features a wall of Neil Young guitars and some fine pedal steel by Colin Duckworth. I like the line, "Tears when we die, tears when we're born". Rosali has a gift on every track, including this one, for setting up the chorus and nailing it. The best transition to the chorus on this record is probably on the guitar fuzz drenched song, "Hills on Fire". "Hills on fire and still we climb. Lift my skirts, cover your eyes". This one is followed by the up-tempo, breezy "My Kind". Most of the songs on Bite Down are confessional and reference relationships. One of the best is "Hopeless", which features the line "It's one life for a minute, I let you be in it". Then there's the blunt line from "Slow Pain", "Fuck me or fight me, it's all the same". The lyrics on this album are brutally honest and painfully self-aware. However, rather than wallowing in the past there's a sense of moving on and not beating yourself up. This isn't typically a lyrical style I gravitate towards, but Rosali manages to make the intensely personal, Universal. 

     This will probably be the final post in this series. I don't enjoy writing these album reviews, and now that I'm back to my crazy work schedule I don't have time for things I don't enjoy. I will get back to listening to albums from 1980, and try to come up with some better premises for future posts that are more about "having a take". I think the next announcement of Rock Hall nominees should be happening in a couple weeks, so I'll beat that dead horse again. It's been a while. In case you were wondering, my favorite song from 2024 was "Petroleum" by, Yard Act. Peace.

The Lemon Twigs - A Dream is All We Know ( 2004 )

      The Lemon Twigs are one of those artists that I've tried repeatedly to like, but something elusive and hard to identify always got in the way. Turns out, the thing I was missing is lots and lots of 60's pastiche. Just plug in the Rickenbackers and give me some Byrds-ian jangle, or some Beach Boys inspired harmonizing, or some exquisite, baroque chamber pop, some random use of a theremin, and it's all good. I vehemently disagree with those who accuse The Lemon Twigs of being derivative on A Dream is All We Know. While I can point out the musical DNA of every track, The Lemon Twigs bring their own unique take on these songs. It's absurd to single them out as "derivative" when virtually all music this century has its precursors. And if you're going to wear your  musical influences on your sleeve, 60's pop is a great look. 

     That said, the influences are fairly direct on this set of songs. The title track and "I Should've Known Right From the Start" are unabashedly McCartney-esque. As I mentioned before, there are Beach Boys harmonies all over this album. The music video for "They Don't Know How to Fall in Place" is an homage to The Monkees, including a reenactment of the "pushing a bed down the street" scene from the opening sequence of their tv show. In the song, "Church Bells" they use the term Jerseyside, which I assume is a spin on Merseyside. "In the Eyes of the Girl" is straight up Beach Boys adjacent. "If You and I Are Not Wise"...The Byrds. And the opening track, "My Golden Years", is a mash up of these influences. However, this isn't an album of cover songs and The Lemon Twigs' unique personalities and lyrical content shine throughout.

     Interestingly, the closing track, "Rock On", is a Glam Rock stomper. Maybe their next record will be a 70's pastiche. We can only hope. Peace.

Jack White - No Name ( 2024 )

     The most impressive bit of viral marketing last year was Jack White's release of No Name. At first, he gave away white label pressings of the record with purchases at his Third Man Record stores. The media buzz was immediate. It was then leaked online. More buzz. It was heralded as his best album since The White Stripes. Then he started doing pop up shows with very little advanced notice. He sold limited edition blue vinyl pressings at those shows. Eventually, it was given a regular release for the rest of us slobs. But does the album live up to all the hype? Hell yeah!

     

     No Name opens with "Old Scratch Blues" which signals a return to White's garage blues sound. The guitars are distorted and the drums are played with a heavy hand and a lead foot. "Bless Yourself" is a song about the choice of putting your life in God's hands or taking charge of your own life. I love the line, "If you're a cop arrest yourself". However, the album really kicks in on the track "That's How I'm Feeling". This is classic Jack White. The verse is quiet and groovy, then the chorus comes in with buzz saw guitars and White's plaintive moaning. The next track, "It's Rough on Rats", is another Jack White song that pays homage to his guitar hero, Jimmy Page. If you've never seen the documentary, "This Might Get Loud" with White, Page and The Edge, you need to fix that. 

     Side One is called Heaven and Hell. It's full of religious content, like "Old Scratch", "Bless Yourself", and the track "Archbishop Harold Holmes", which sounds like Jack White delivering a sermon. Side Two is called Black and Blue. It opens with "Tonight (Was a Long Time Ago)", which is kind of a swaggering, Stones homage, if The Stones were a garage band. "Underground" is another song inspired by that Jimmy Page slide guitar sound. Then there's a run of three straight, pedal to the metal rockers, "Number One With a Bullet", "Morning at Midnight" and "Missionary". The album closer, "Terminal Archenemy Endling" has the best guitar performance on No Name. It's a slower blues number that's also super trippy. The sequencing on No Name is perfect and it's a 5 Star album. That is all. Peace.