Published on Mar 30, 1997
When I was a writer for HitsWorld, I managed to piss off people
in a couple of countries by daring to slam Rush’s latest release.
The general comments were that I was ignorant and had no idea what
I was writing about.
And while I always welcome feedback – good and bad – from our
readers, it pained me to be declared ignorant on the subject of
this Canadian trio. Sure I don’t know every single nugget about the
private lives of the band members – that’s what the Internet is
for.
But I felt that after I had ripped their most recent product to
shreds, I should present the other side of the coin. For your
perousal from deep within the Pierce Memorial Archives (I’m sorry,
Mr. Crosby, we’re not hiring), their 1984 opus
Grace Under Pressure.
It was actually this album that first got me interested in Geddy
Lee and crew – the video for “Distant Early Warning” was one of the
first I saw on MTV when my family got cable. The album contains
some of Rush’s most ambitious and adventuresome work ever. This may
be why the album did not fare very well on the market.
But the fact that Rush did not try to recreate the successes
they had with radio-friendly albums like
Permanent Waves and
Moving Pictures is admirable. The music is not a radical
change from the style they made popular. If anything, it is an
experiment in new rhythms and styles that make
Grace Under Pressure so exciting.
“Distant Early Warning” keeps some of the style that made Rush
famous – the spine of the song is the bass and synthesizer work of
Lee and the drums of maestro Neil Peart, undoubtedly the best rock
drummer ever. The difference here is in Alex Lifeson’s guitar solo
– it seems like the perfect match for the song, yet slightly
subdued. Not that Lifeson was ever a speed-freak show-off guitar
player, but this particular piece of guitar work seems to be his
forte.
A second song from the album, “The Body Electric,” almost sounds
like the work of Ray Bradbury or Kurt Vonnegut put to music. The
rhythm pattern is a shade different on this one, a pattern that is
harder to classify than others. But the use of synthesizers adds to
the futuristic theme of the track, and is enjoyable.
The difference is rhythms comes on “The Enemy Within.” The
rhythm has a touch of a reggae feel (though the song itself is far
from that style), and is interesting to hear both Peart and Lifeson
play off of it. Another song, “red lenses,” adds a dimension of
funk to Rush – wow! Lee’s bass work is perfectly suited for this
style.
Yet another sound is one that has a tinge of “pop” to it –
“Afterimage” sounds like it would have perfectly fit on the radio
waves at that time, while “Red Sector A” has become a concert
favorite.
Grace Under Pressure is one of Rush’s most overlooked works
– but ranks among their best efforts ever. I bought my copy in a
cutout bin twelve years ago, and would gladly have paid full price
for such masterful musicianship. (However, being a high school
senior at that time, it was damned near impossible for me to buy
many new releases at full price.) This is one that belongs at the
top of people’s Best Buy shopping lists. (This should also silence
the critics who think this old curmudgeon hates Rush.)