|
Nearly three years after the outstanding
release of
Counterparts, RUSH
released Test for Echo, produced with Peter Collins. Test
for Echo is the lead track off this release, and is an amazing song.
The chorus begins the song, and has a lighter ambient feel, but shortly we
are treated to a nasty bass / lead riff as the main section of the song.
Noticeably, the ‘grunge’ distortion and feedback from some of the hits on
Counterparts remain in the
RUSH repertoire. This isn’t necessarily a ‘hard’ rush song, but it
thankfully isn’t the synthesizer dribble from the 80’s. What a great way
to start off this album.
Wasting no time, RUSH returns with
another great nasty ‘riff-alicious’ tune, Driven. This is the best
song on the album, hands down. It’s heavier and has a lot of energy, but
it also makes the use of an acoustic guitar for some parts when the
dynamics of the song come down from their high energy punch. This is just
an amazing song, a treat to listen to and absolutely flawless. Also, Geddy
Lee is singing conspicuously lower than normal. Apparently age doesn’t
allow him to reach the higher notes.
Half the World
is the song that received the most radio and MTV play on this album.
Half the World is a much more pop sounding song, which probably
accounts for the play frequency. The prominently featured distortion is
paired with an acoustic during the chorus, and it is obvious the guitars
are substantially overdubbed on this tune. I challenge everyone to try and
pin point each guitar in this tune. So far every song has been a hit in my
book.
The Color of Right
is a step down. It sounds alright, the instrumentation and sound is
identical to the others, but it is just a bad song with cheesy lyrics.
Also, Geddy’s vocals are mixed really poorly; they stick out from the rest
of the music too much. In fact the musical sections of this song are
great; it’s the lyrics that ruin the song. It makes me wonder if Neal
Peart is loosing his touch.
Time and Motion
recovers, and surprisingly has a synthesizer prominently featured. This
sounds more like RUSH from the
2112 era. The music and melodies sound very retro for
this trio. Perhaps that is why I love this song so much. Every part of
this song echoes the past.
Totem is a
mediocre song until the chorus. “Angels and demons dancing in my head,
lunatics and monsters underneath my bed” are great lyrics. The musical
breakdown is a treat, but I find myself waiting for the song to be over,
probably because I expect the album to get better. Instead, Dog Years,
is next. While Dog Years may start off sounding decent, listen to
the lyrics. “Doggie Heaven”…just blows my mind. But when the chorus begins
you realize this is an all time low for RUSH. It is terrible.
Finally, Virtuality saves the day. This
song is second to Driven and features rockin’ riffs and much better
lyrics. This is an amazing song to rock out to, and if you listen closely
you can hear the acoustic pop up here again. This sounds like Alex is
having fun playing with feedback. What a great song, so good in fact that
the previous lacking songs are forgotten…thankfully. Resist is a
much slower ballad and is a masterpiece. Resist features acoustic
guitars, great lead guitar melodies, and inspiring lyrics. Resist
pulls on everything RUSH has learned about music in the past
twenty-two plus years and it sounds like a combination of their different
styles. Very impressive.
Limbo is
another fantastic RUSH instrumental. It has been a treat to have
these instrumentals on the last few albums because there was such a long
period without them. Carve Away the Stone rounds out the album with
an unfortunate plop. It is pretty blah, making three lyrical mistakes for
Peart on one album!
Test for Echo
is a good follow up to
Counterparts, and keeps fans
waiting with baited breath for what is to come. This same year Alex
Lifeson released a solo album, Victor, which was incredibly
bad. So bad, in fact, that I haven’t even heard the album in its entirety.
With his solo project, rumors again flew wild that this album, and the
trios two leg tour that followed was their swansong. The following year
saw two Retrospective releases, essentially greatest hits
from
Rush
to
Hold Your Fire. A year after
that, Different Stages, RUSH’s three disc live album
was released as a sure end cap to an outstanding career. |
