Rush Albums

Counterparts

Strangely enough, Counterparts reunites the producing team of RUSH and Peter Collins from Power Windows and Hold Your Fire. Even more interesting, this album has a completely new sound when compared with all their previous albums. Many refer to Counterparts as their ‘grunge’ album, but come on...it’s RUSH not PEARL JAM. Counterparts begins with a great drum rhythm into the chorus of Animate, one of the best songs on this record. Most noticeably, the guitar is not as clean and sports a new distortion sound that gives the new record kick and punch. Geddy Lee also tears up the bass more than he has in the latest albums. What an incredible start to this record, especially at an impressive six minutes and five seconds.

Stick it Out is an unbelievably gritty tune with a nasty Alex Lifeson riff that proves this is a different RUSH. I think this is where people get the ‘grunge’ impression from. Personally, I think RUSH fans got soft during the 80’s, and even with the last two albums and Stick it Out is a little too hard for them to digest. For me, this is where it’s at, especially when Alex breaks out the acoustic for the bridge and suddenly rips into it with a screeching wail of a solo. I also noticed more feedback on this song, something noticeably absent from other RUSH songs.

Bringing it down a bit is Cut to the Chase, but if you listen to the bass, Geddy still has something more in his playing than lately. The punch and changes of the chorus are a great compliment, or counterpart, to the pleasant groove of the verse. Noticeably, the verses and choruses have been balanced, whereas in Roll the Bones the chorus of nearly every song was much more impressive than its verse.

Nobody’s Hero is by far my favorite song on the album. Beginning quietly with great 12 string acoustic guitar chords, this is an extremely pleasing song to listen to. The chorus brings some weight to the song, and the instrumentation is absolutely perfect. Consider Alex’s guitar solo after the first and second choruses…perfection. Nobody’s Hero brings home the importance of all our lives, no matter how un-extraordinary our lives may be. If I were to guess, I would say Nobody’s Hero is an important song for the band.

Between Sun & Moon at first sounds too different after the pleasant Nobody’s Hero, but in fact it is the perfect song to pick up the pace. It is a welcome change, even if it isn’t the best song on the album. Alien Shore is a much better tune, and has a great groove, something important for the best RUSH songs! The Speed of Love sound more like a left over track from Roll the Bones and is pretty out of place on the album.

Double Agent is another perfect song, also beginning quiet with steady bass and Geddy singing the chorus. Then in an incredible change, the distorted, almost abstract chords begin, this is another nasty new tune. Geddy speaks the verses in this song, such an amazing counterpart to the wicked chords. Once again the verse, bridge, and chorus all sound like different songs, but RUSH successfully merges them into one of the most original songs ever heard. This sounds more like the band that wrote YYZ to me. This is an interesting song to listen to. Incredible!

Leave That Thing Alone! is RUSH’s instrumental for this album, and is infinitely better than the last. This is so satisfying to listen to, and isn’t extremely complicated or extravagantly composed either. It’s a real treat!

Cold Fire is another great song with a good hook, and more rock and roll than the rest of the album, and probably written closer to Roll the Bones than the rest of the album. Everyday Glory is a prefect end to the album; it really wraps it up.

Counterparts is difficult for some to digest because it is so radically different from RUSH’s previous albums. This record could be cut in two with one half fitting more with Roll the Bones, and the other a completely different sound, leaving the album a little less cohesive, but not noticeably.

At this point in their career, RUSH has released two compilation albums, Archives and Chronicles, as well as three live albums (All the World’s a Stage, Exit…Stage Left, and A Show of Hands inclusively). Fans sent rumors wild saying this was the final RUSH album and that they would go out with a bang after their year and a half, two leg tour. Regardless of the talk, Counterparts is the Canadian trio’s third best album behind 2112 and Moving Pictures.