Rush Discography Discussion 2: Caress of Steel (1975)

Presto (1989)
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In 1989, Rush was coming to the end of a very lucrative decade, having several singles popular on both the radio and MTV and a slew of top ten albums, it was a good time for the band. However, Rush is not the sort of band that finds a sound and sticks with it, they are constantly evolving. With Presto, it was time for yet another change of pace in the Rush sound. As Neil Peart said: "Things can go too far in any one direction and then we correct ourselves". The band decided to make minimal use of pianos and synthesizers, focusing on their signature power trio sound. Geddy Lee making use of a Fender bass, Alex Lifeson going back to his Gibson Hollow body, and Neil Peart ditching the electronic drums, it was like Rush had returned to the 70's, but with a modern twist.

To help propel the new direction, the band (newly signed to Atlantic Records) hired producer Rupert Hine, who was also weary of the band's keyboard filled sound. While the band still used some keyboards for texture, they were never the center of attention like what was common in recent years. The focus was now on vocal melodies, but also on guitar and bass. Peart's drums also had more life to them than on the previous album. The result was a brand new sound for Rush and the precursor for the 90's.

Despite the lack of keyboards, Presto is still a pretty soft record. It features many of the songwriting elements found on the synth era albums but with a classic instrumentation. There are a few hints to the more hard rock sound to come on songs such as Show Don't Tell and Superconductor, but for the most part it maintains the pop sound found on most of their 80's albums.

A very lyrical album, Presto contains a strong focus on vocal melodies, appealing to a pop audience. Neil Peart seemed particularly inspired for this album, working hard on lyrics. The band even decided to drop the idea of an instrumental in favor of using lyrics for Hand Over Fist.

Even though Presto cracked the Billboard top 20, it charted lower than Hold Your Fire and proved to bey ve one of their less successful records, hinting at a less commercial decade for the band. They have since expressed some regret for this album as well, though not calling any of the material an "error", but rather showing disappointment for the overall sound.
Geddy Lee said:
Some records I'm not terribly happy with the sound of: 'Presto' is a disappointing-sounding record. From a sonic point of view, it could sound a bit bigger
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Neil Peart said:
I wondered, 'what about Presto?' Our album from 1989 that for all of us should have been so much better than it was. That's the one that I know that if we could do one again, it would be that one, because we still love the songs from it, but you can never make magic happen.
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Despite this, Presto is not an album they've forgotten, as they play material from it to this day. They even performed the title track live for the first time on the 2011 Time Machine Tour.

 
From the post-Power Windows until the pre-Clockwork Angels period this might be my favourite album, even though I realize it has some dips (but that says more of this whole period). So, basically I am talking about my favourite studio album from 1986-2011. Not 100% sure yet because I haven't played Test for Echo and Snakes and Arrows in ages. And Counterparts comes damn close.

The album has imo two stand out songs: Chain Lightning and Available Light. I love the groove (awesome riff in couplets) in the former and the melodies of the latter a lot. Very emotional. Great chorus that stays in your head, with the beautiful guitars underneath. And what a solo!

The Pass comes not far behind. Very good song as well. War Paint is imo the worst. Scars is somewhat repetitive but I like that bass-sequencer. I am not that fond of the title track. Superconductor has a silly chorus, but Anagram has quite a nice build-up. Red Tide is better again. Moody couplets and nice singing. But in the next song, Hand Over Fist, the vocal melodies in the couplets are really cool.

Not a wow album, but really a step up from its predecessor on which the lesser songs were too sweet sounding for me, and also way better than Roll the Bones, an album which features three good songs, namely the first three, and then it becomes forgettable (a word I rarely use).
 
I remember being very excited when this one was poised for release. The prerelease tracks were Show, Don't Tell and Superconductor, and goddamn if they weren't based on heavy guitar riffs. Rush was back!
Only they weren't, not really. As Mosh points out, the power trio arrangements may have been back, but the sound was not. Listening to it today, Presto sounds very thin.
Which is too bad, because a lot of the material is pretty solid.
In fact, part of me wonders if the different production values are the main difference between it and Counterparts, one of my favourite Rush records. Like the band, I wonder 'what if?'
As it is, I find Presto a decent, somewhat overlooked record, probably ranking somewhere in the lower part of the middle third of the band's discography.
I'll address the individual tracks later.
 
mckindog said:
Show, Don't Tell
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I forgot to mention this song. Initially I was not fond of it because I mainly focused at the dull singing in the chorus but now it seems to be a grower. Heavy indeed. And a nice instrumental part.

edit: I like the clean, or better: clear, light sounding production. Especially of the drums. The drum punches are razor sharp, instead of bashing their way on top of the rest, they stream as an icy river through the rest of the warm music. I think this sound fits well to the subtle nature of Peart's playing. I do not dislike heavy production but with a drummer like Peart I can take this as well, because it helps me focusing on details.
 
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The production is definitely the worst part about this album. It's so thin sounding, no punch and hardly any energy. There are a lot of moments on the album that could've used a more Counterparts style production. The 2011 version of the title track sounds so much better, there's a version of The Pass on Rush In Rio that's excellent as well.

As far as the songs go, Presto is an odd album, for me at least. There aren't any bad songs, it's one of the more consistent of the post Signals albums. But that's all it has going for it, just a consistent album. It doesn't have anything that gives me the urge to go back and listen and there's not a lot of great material, just good. That said, I really like The Pass and Available Light. I'll comment on the individual songs later.
 
Not sure if I've ever heard a Rush song with an arrangement as spare as Available Light — the couplets are three melancholy piano chords, those crisp, austere drums and an inconspicuous bass line barely audible in the mix. Not an aggressive fill, crunching rhythm guitar or touch of wankery to be found. Even when the keyboard swells come in on the chorus, they are as gentle and amiable as sunlight on a clear winter day.
And it provides the perfect surface on which to paint some of the most beautiful melodies and probably the best vocal performance of Geddy Lee's career. He goes from wistful to full-blown passion with dignity intact. Not bad for the singer a '70s critic once described as a dolphin in heat.

I never considered Available Light and The Pass as particularly similar before, but pretty much everything I wrote above applies to The Pass as well. Entrancing, emotionally draining, poetic — I think the best word that applies is poignant. Goose bumps live and lyrically among Peart's truest works. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if this song has saved lives. I'd love to hear a stripped-down acoustic guitar version performed by a truly special voice (Adele maybe?).

These are Presto's two standout tracks, and rank among Rush's best.
But they are certainly not the only worthwhile ones.

(PS: Not sure I agree wholeheartedly with your love of the drum sound Foro, but a very nice description)
 
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Show Don't Tell is a solid opener that never quite takes off, but has some power and tension that even the thin production can't disguise.
Can't say I remember this one live, but I imagine it would work quite well. I quite like the mid-section.

Chain Lightning also has its power sapped somewhat by the production. It sounds like a Power Windows song, with a touch of Permanent Waves in that one riff.
It also has a solid melody, a nice groove, a good variety of parts and an odd but interesting solo.

I don't mind War Paint. It gets and partially deserves a rep as being too...obvious, maybe?
It has a lot in common with the type of arena rock fist-pumper that is usually the property of lesser bands.
And that's made worse that those lesser bands can do it better, because the Presto production won't let it rock out.

The production, does not, however get in the way of Scars. In fact, it is well-suited to this type of rhythm-heavy song.
Not my favourite type of music, but I do think it works quite well on its own terms.

Presto is an odd one, especially considering they picked it as the title track. On an album that was striving overmuch (in its time) to sound modern, it could have fit on Farewell to Kings.
The melody and arrangement walk the line for me; there's a certain awkwardness there, but I sometimes find myself singing it after it's gone. It's another track from this album that sounds better live.

I like the riff for Superconductor. It's nothing special overall, but is a fun little rocker.

Fun in a different way is Anagram. The lyrics are quite clever and the melody pretty strong, but it's just a tad too much fluff to take seriously.
It's a song that should have been a treasured B side.

The couplets on Red Tide are solid and the build to the chorus is solid as well, but the keyboard-drenched intro and outro riff is on the obnoxious side.

The chorus of Hand Over Fist is a tad repetitive, but it also has some nice couplets and a nice bridge.

All in all, a lot of C-plus material on a C-plus album.
 
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Nice read again, special mention:
mckindog said:
Not sure if I've ever heard a Rush song with an arrangement as spare as Available Light — the couplets are three melancholy piano chords, those crisp, austere drums and an inconspicuous bass line barely audible in the mix. Not an aggressive fill, crunching rhythm guitar or touch of wankery to be found. Even when the keyboard swells come in on the chorus, they are as gentle and amiable as sunlight on a clear winter day.
And it provides the perfect surface on which to paint some of the most beautiful melodies and probably the best vocal performance of Geddy Lee's career. He goes from wistful to full-blown passion with dignity intact. Not bad for the singer a '70s critic once described as a dolphin in heat.
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:notworthy:

Great to see such a description of a song that was not talked about too often here.
 
Available Light is one of my favorite Rush songs. The only time they've come close to topping it as a closing track since is with The Garden. Mckindog's commentary is spot on. I have more to say, but I must sleep first.
 
Roll The Bones (1991)
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"Why are we here? Because we're here"


The beginning of 90's Rush; Roll The Bones could be seen as a companion album to Presto. It follows the same direction and has a similar production style. Though some songs have a bit of a heavier edge, it is still yet another soft sounding record. We're getting closer to a classic Rush sound, but still not quite there. So in that sense, Roll The Bones can easily be seen as yet another transitional album. Regardless of the end result, it's still nice to see Rush evolving almost 30 years into their career.

For this album, the band decided to once again go with Rupert Hine as the producer. They took a similar approach as Presto in that the guitar is becoming increasingly more dominant and the keyboard going back to a more supporting role. As a result, this album has more guitar playing and better represents the band as a power trio. The sound shows the band moving in a more alternative rock direction. This album also has their first instrumental since Moving Pictures; the funky Where's My Thing shows that even well past their prog days, Rush can still indulge in instrumental goodness. This song is also the first in a series of instrumentals with the subtitle "Part IV, The Gangster Of Boats Trilogy", despite the obvious joke in the title, there are 3 more entries in this series that would appear on the following albums. This album also (somewhat infamously) shows the band taking a stab at Rap in the title track. Despite being a piss take, it has since been the subject of some controversy among Rush fans.

While not explicitly a concept album, Roll The Bones follows a running theme of chance in the lyrics. Just about every song features lyrics about taking a chance or dealing with luck. While many Rush albums have a recurring theme, Roll The Bones may contain this the most out of all Rush albums (with the obvious exception of Clockwork Angels).
Neil Peart said:
No matter what kind of song you choose to play, you’re betting your life on it, for good or ill, and what you believe is what you are... No one can ever be sure, in this best of all possible random universes. That's why the essence of these songs is: if there's a chance, you might as well take it. So what if some parts of life are a crap shoot? Get out there and shoot the crap. A random universe doesn't have to be futile; we can change the odds, load the dice, and roll again…. For anyone who hasn't seen Groucho Marx's game show You Bet Your Life, I mean that no one but Groucho knows the secret word, and one guess is as good as another... Anything can happen. That is called fate
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Commercially, Roll The Bones was a far greater success than Rush's previous two albums. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts (the first album since Moving Pictures to make the top 5) and also cracked the top ten in the UK. The title track and Dreamline were both successful singles and were popular on the radio. Where's My Thing? was nominated for a Grammy, though it lost to Eric Johnson's Cliffs of Dover. While this album hasn't stood the test of time as well as some of the others, Roll The Bones marked another happy period for Rush. Several songs are still played live to this day, Dreamline in particular made an appearance on the recent Clockwork Angels Tour.

 
Besides Hold Your Fire, I forgot there is another Rush studio album I do not own. Here is the logical reason:

I'll begin with this ...
Forostar said:
Roll the Bones, an album which features three good songs, namely the first three, and then it becomes forgettable (a word I rarely use).
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... but will say a bit more about the opening three:
I really like the title track. Great chorus that stays in your head. I find it an uplifting song. Dreamline is an exciting track with captivating guitar melody in couplets and strong solo. Bravado I find a bit repetitive. Perhaps it is not more repetitive than the other two, but it feels like that, because I find the melodies and atmosphere less appealing.

Worst album of the nineties, for sure.
 
I can't think of another album like this one that gets progressively worse as it moves forward.
 
Fear Of The Dark does that, though it picks up with the title track. I agree with most of the comments here, though the album has a very strong start. Definitely not the worst of the 90's, but certainly toward the bottom.
 
Couldn't stand Roll the Bones the first time I heard it, and haven't listened to it since. 'Nuff said.

Wanted to briefly revisit Presto, as I actually like parts of this album very much, though it is inconsistent and uneven. "The Pass" is probably my favorite post-Signals Rush song, simply because I like the chorus so much. This is what is so subjective about music: for whatever reason, I love that chorus, though there is nothing objectively special about it. It's simple, it's emotional, and the combination of power chords and melody just WORKS. As much as I like Clockwork Angels, even it doesn't have a moment that good.
 
No love for Dreamline for Cornfed?
Best guitar song since Barchetta/Limelight. This time Hine got the production right — that clarity Foro talked about earlier is there, but some power is added to the mix.
Love the intro riff — so big, yet ethereal at the same, it's like the night desert sky. And then power chords with crashing rhythms.
Nice melodies and transitions and it rocks. Great tune.
 
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mckindog said:
No love for Dreamline for Cornfed?
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Actually, I think that one is okay. But don't love it. It has its moments, the choruses (the "we are young" and "on the run" parts) are quite good, but the lyrics during the verses tend to be thrown together awkwardly -- just cramming words in there regardless of melody. Guitar solo is pretty lame too.
 
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