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.