Until CA came out last year and blew me away, Grace Under Pressure was what I considered to be the last great Rush album. Power Windows comes close, but has a lot of material I don't particularly like, but more on that later. Anyway, P/G is the best of the synth era and a top 5 record for me. It has a really unique sound and I think it has the perfect balance of synth and guitar.
Distant Early Warning is a top ten Rush track. Highly disagree with Foro's comments. Especially when saying that the mood doesn't fit the lyrics. The guitar has this cold, distant feel to it, the keyboards giving it a dramatic texture. The chords under the chorus are very minor and the melody is sad, don't let the upbeat tempo fool you. Shifting meters in the main keyboard melody are also pretty cool. Nice to see that even with a more poppy sound, the prog roots are not completely gone.
Afterimage is another great track, maybe even top ten as well. Probably my favorite lyric on the album as well. Very poignant, to the point but with the classic Peart touch. This is one that they really need to bring back live, sometimes I feel that it doesn't get the attention that it deserves. It was also eliminated way too early in last year's survivor. Very atmospheric middle section too, with some melancholy guitar playing.
Red Sector A is another awesome song, though I don't hold it in the high regard that others do. Made top ten of the last few survivors but it wouldn't make mine. That said, it's still a cool song. The melody in between stanzas is one of their best, the chorus has a very driving feel to it that fits the lyrics. Something I've noticed about this album is that the music compliments the lyrics especially well.
The Enemy Within is my favorite of the Fear series. Very Police sounding, some great bass playing, which is nice to hear on an album where the bass is somewhat forgotten. I really like the synth melodies after the chorus too.
The Body Electric is another great one, really cool bass stuff on the intro. I also like Alex's chord voicing. The rhythm of the chorus is very cool too, the synthesizer used helps support the electronic theme. It almost has a Morse Code esque rhythm going on. Another song that would be really cool to see live again.
Kid Gloves is where the album starts to take a dive. This might be the only time in Rush's history where I don't like an odd time signature. The 5/4 almost sounds forced, plus that riff repeats itself way too many times. The chorus is a redeeming quality, which happens to be in 4/4. I'm obviously all for odd time signatures, but it just doesn't work here. It's like they wrote that riff and decided to add an extra note to it just so they could have an odd meter on the album. In fact, that riff comes back for the last chorus in 4/4. The whole song should've just been done that way. Though I don't think it would've given the song more points from me.
Red Lenses is the worst song IMO, one of those completely forgettable tracks. Just sounds like filler to me, not much to add. Kinda similar to Lessons from 2112 in that there's nothing inherently wrong with it, but it's completely unremarkable.
After a lull in awesome with Kid Gloves and Red Lenses, the album picks back up for a final ace track. I absolutely love Between The Wheels, another favorite of mine. Lots of tension in the keyboard offbeats, very great chorus. Some really cool guitar chords too. This song also contains a favorite chorus for me, melodically a predecessor to some of the best moments on the next album. An awesome way to end this great album.
