Rush
Test for Echo (1996)
1.
Test for Echo - Here we go… A lush intro chorus sets the stage before the song gains a pair of legs and begins a bit of a sprint. We modulate between heavier, more action-focused sections and slower, cautious ones. The guitar layers sound really good on headphones. Love the way the chorus changes twice into a pummeling, rolling monster; it’s a great contrast to the other calmer iterations. Lyrically this is about the sensationalism of hood violence and Neil actually has some good lines in here. That said, the song feels like it ends where it started without fully stepping out of its shell. I also question the constant repeat of the word “vertigo”. Did Neil’s thesaurus fail him for once?
6/10
2.
Driven - On my first listen to this album, I was thinking to myself, “Man, I’d love some classic complex Rush again.” And then this song came on and I was like what the fuck is going on?? This riff really fucks with you because it feels like it paces itself and then suddenly runs away from you. That constant switch between 4/4 and 7/8 absolutely boggles the mind - and then the chorus jumps into 6/8 with the introduction of acoustic guitar! I feel like this song also doesn’t fully bloom, but at the same time it’s not stale by any means, sticks in your head, and is always fun to listen to. I just wish it progressed further beyond the cool riff. The ending is a bit long.
7/10
3.
Half the World - Cool acoustic/electric hybrid riff. Geddy gets to sing the phrase “half the world” 28 times. Neil is commenting on how the weak are exploited by the powerful. It’s a decent song, but pretty one dimensional. The mandola in the final third is a nice touch though.
6/10
4.
The Color of Right - How do I even explain my problems with this song? Like, the band sounds good. They are all executing their instruments really well. There’s nothing
bad about this song. I just don’t care about it whatsoever. The moment it’s on I’m waiting for it to end. It’s so tepid.
4/10
5.
Time and Motion - Kinda like “Double Agent” from the last album, this song feels like the band is purposely trying to write an ugly song. I mean what in fuck is happening in that synth/guitar riff? I guess there’s a polyrhythm happening, but the guitar line is uninteresting and the synth sounds cheap as fuck. This band wrote “Tom Sawyer”! What is happening?! There are some cool ideas in this one though. I dig the “mighty ocean” bridge, where you get a cool heavy guitar stomp and then a luxious clean guitar passage. I would have built on that and drawn the song to a close, but the band decide we need to hear the wack shit again. Unfortunate.
4/10
6.
Totem - Better than the last two, but still not very memorable. Neil’s rhythms match his lines of dancing around a totem pole; they swirl at times and stomp at others. Lyrically his melting pot of religions is pretty fascinating. I love the final line of “
sweet chariot, swing low…” A very pretty ending for the song. Unfortunately, once again the track feels one dimensional and it gets stale pretty fast.
5/10
7.
Dog Years - There’s a lot of energy driving this song. Neil’s lyrics are completely atypical for him. He’s trying to compare a dog’s life with a human’s and uses some really wack phrases to get there. I don’t really mind it per se, but I do mind the chorus. It’s dumb, it loses the energy of the verses and feels like the band threw in a sing-songy moment because they felt they had to. Pass.
5/10
8.
Virtuality - A song about the internet in its infancy, I find the way the band tackles the topic to be utterly fascinating. The opening riff is about as heavy as anything Rush have done to date, with a big dumb swinging stomp to it that pairs well with the opening line about shipwrecked mariners. But the chorus softer, more tender, with the addition of acoustic guitars. Geddy’s delivery is actually really sweet, and I love the out-of-sync backing vocal in “
Put your message in a modem, and throw it in the cyber sea.” I think the song does a great job of portraying some of the wonder in this new technology without being totally uncritical of it. It’s a great song, easily the best on the album.
8/10
9.
Resist - With a title like “Resist”, I was expecting a much more in-your-face kinda song. Nope. Piano and acoustic guitar accompanies Alex’s electric work for a limp ballad. I think the bridge is okay, and the lines there are pretty decent. The rest of the song does nothing for me. The music is paced too fast for the lyrics to slot neatly into. The song also has a lackluster ending. It never properly takes off after the bridge. And while I’m being pedantic, right at the beginning Neil establishes that he can learn to resist anything but temptation, yet in the next verse he says he can learn to resist anything but frustration. Which is it, man?
4/10
10.
Limbo - Another instrumental track, this time not about a “thing”. It’s going more for atmosphere than the catchiness of “Where’s My Thing?” or the groove and beauty of “Leave That Thing Alone”. Some ambient Geddy vocals in the ‘chorus’. I think it’s decent, but there’s less for me to latch onto here than in those two previous songs and it also overstays its welcome a bit.
6/10
11.
Carve Away the Stone - Props where it’s due, the chorus here has been constantly getting stuck in my head. It’s not a great chorus, but it’s a decent one. I feel the same about the rest of the song. It’s a little lackluster and inconsequential, but it’s decent.
6/10
OVERALL
Post-
Power Windows Rush has been a bit iffy for a while now, but every album has either been overall a good one or at least solid.
Test for Echo is a dramatic fall from grace. Where great songs would at least balance out the weaker material before,
Test for Echo is constantly just treading water to get itself through. There’s nothing
wrong with the material, but almost nothing here is worth revisiting over any of the band’s other work. I don’t know if they were burnt out creatively or just phoning it in or if they were excited about ideas that they didn’t realize weren’t actually working or what. Maybe Alex used his best ideas for his solo album earlier that year. Regardless, this record is a dud. There is nothing offensively bad about it, it just never seems to really bloom. Sad.
For some years it probably seemed like this would be the band’s final album, given Neil’s tragic loss of his wife and daughter. Thankfully this would not be the case, but man, if it was, it would have been one of the saddest ways to end a career ever. Rush is better than this.
Total:
55%
Different Stages (1998)
Luckily, I am happy to report that the band's live album from this era is really cool!
Different Stages includes a lot of material from the previous four albums, plus classics, and an entire extra disc with material from the
Farewell to Kings Tour.
"Dreamline" is a fucking awesome concert opener, so much fun, and followed up immediately by "Limelight" is killer. We get to hear "Driven" with an extra bass solo; "Nobody's Hero" still hits hard, and of course the big event on Disc 1 is "2112" in its entirety for the first and only time in Rush live history. Unfortunately, I'm not really digging this downtuned version as much as the original. I'm glad Geddy doesn't have to struggle, but it doesn't quite hit the same.
Two more
Test for Echo songs on disc two, the title track and "Resist". No idea why they choose such a dud there when they could've done "Virtuality" which was played on the tour as well. Happy to hear "The Analog Kid" (with an extra chorus at the end); "Freewill" is awesome; Neil has a lengthy drum solo which cooks; and thereafter it's all bangers. "Natural Science" rules (not sold on their changes to it but it's not the biggest deal ever); "Spirit of Radio" and "Tom Sawyer" are always fun; and this version of "YYZ" is a delight.
Then we get to hear the band time travel back to '78 with "Xanadu", "Cygnus X-1", and other bangers from the
Farewell to Kings album. A cool time capsule inclusion.
The performances across this album are really, really good. It's hampered slightly by some setlist choices, but overall I really dig the record.
Total:
77%
