Rush - Caress of Steel
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Free Music Notes for Caress of Steel
Free Music Review: My 2nd Favorite Rush album...
Hit: 5 Stars
...tied with P/G, and behind only AFTK, Caress of Steel is raw and powerful and moving. Track by track:1) Bastille Day: It would open numerous Rush shows in the future, this song was a staple of their live act, and one of the first "hard" songs I learned to play on the guitar. Solid lyrics (See them bow their heads to die!), cool riff. 4*
2) I Think I'm Going Bald: It amazes me that people consider this a throwaway song and that it's silly, yet they say they're big Rush fans; I thought Rush fans were the most intelligent fans out there! True, the music might not exactly fit the lyrics, but don't dare call it silly. The hard blooze riff belies the deep, sad lyrics of regret that really touch me. "Once we loved the flowers, now we ask the price of the land, once we would take water, but now it must be wine." For me, it's the impossible yearning of experience to return to innocence. 5*
3) Lakeside Park: Pretty, sweet song. Reminds me of 4th of July with my parents :) 4*
4) The Necromancer: The spoken parts are cool. Part I has a great mournful sound with super vocals by Geddy. Part III has a happy ending where By-Tor (wasn't he evil?) saves the day. But the best is Part II: so heavy, so cool. The anger in Geddy's voice, the spare drums, then the 2 jams following, that's hot stuff!! My favorite Rush song. 5+*
5) The Fountain of Lamneth: The first suite-sectioned Rush piece, a classic tale of a boy/man's quest for an elusive dream. Brilliant circle frame for the piece, I love a) the opening/closing acoustic, with touching vocals by Geddy, vocals which I think are tremendously powerful in spite of their softness, and b) No One at the Bridge, which I adore for Geddy's voice when he sings "Scream out desperation but no one cares to hear!" I LOVE that part! This piece also brings us my favorite Rush line: "Life is just a candle and a dream must give it flame." 5*
...and remember, don't call I Think I'm Going Bald silly!
Free Music Review: By far, my favorite !
Hit: 5 Stars
This album has always been close to my heart. There are so many flavors to choose from and it's an album where you truly feel that Rush really created it for themselves rather than trying to create an album for mass consumption.
Some of the pieces are without a doubt, Beautiful. PANACEA for example is a breath taking song of love from the perspective of someone who really knows what love is about - no fluff, no "i love you forever", just what seems an honest feeling about where someone is... No candy or sugar coating... A feel story of feeling... Excellent!
I THINKING GOING BALD... Wow! What a flavorful track - even my father who was born in 1943 took to this masterful piece about growing old - growing old in the hippest way :)
Speaking of 1943, there's BACCHUS PLATEAU and that "cask of 43'". What a wonderful uplifting piece of art this track is!
As you can probably imagine, I can go on and on about this album. Speaking of, I have the album - and the cassete - and the CD - and am going to nab a remastered version. Yeah for me, it's that good and worth my effort.
OK, my only gripe is what was side 2 of the album, THE FOUNTAIN OF LAMNETH where the CD combines what to me is 6 distinct tracks. Sure I understand conceptually, all 6 are part of a concept. It's just that having grown up on the album and cassette, that technology wasn't mature enough to keep all the movements in one package.
No matter though... I rip the CD into a WAV file then parse the tracks individually! Yes, not really what Rush intended and perhaps I am doing a disservice to the band and their work but at times, I really want to hear NO ONE AT THE BRIDGE !!!!!
Anyway, as you can tell, no real issue with the quality of the work and I still hold true that this album is a masterpiece and yes, by far, my favorite! :)
Free Music Review: An absolute MUST-HAVE!
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't see why this album is never included in Progressive Rock must haves. And I don't see why at the time of it's rlease it was deemd a commercial failure (and it was). This is the truely one of the crown gems of Rush! "Bastille Day" rocks on hard and loud! You can' go wrong with this one. "I Think I'm Going Bald" is kinda funny. It' about Geddy back in the day (when COS was released) would lose a lot of hair and he like only 20-something. "Lakeside Park" is a nice ballad, but my least favourite on the album. For all of you "LORD OF THE RINGS" fans, "The Necromancer" will please you. The three movements (most likely correlating to the 3 LOTR books) tell about 3 travelers, men from Willodale (Frodo, Sam and Gollum). The narrator (Neil) is a cool additon. The first movement is good, but the second and third movements are better! The second much more than a great rock/heavy metal type thing. It's superb! It will rock your world (probably instrumentaly depicting the Battle at Helm's Deep...)! The thrid part "Return of the Prince" is the other great part of the song. It is basically the resolution of Necromancer. Listen carefully (as I hope you are familiar with Fly By Night album) and we will see (actually hear) of an old 'friend..'The final song, "The Fountain of Lamenth" is probably one of the most unknown Rush songs. It tells the story of a man born ina valley, looking for the Fountain of Lamneth. My favourite movemnets are "In The Valley" "No One At The Bridge" and "The Fountain." The ending is kinda sad/oh well...It basically talks about his journey to the Fountain (but it's a lot more than that). This is a MUST have for anyone wantinga good prog album or any Rush fan!
Free Music Review: If I was on a desert island...
Hit: 5 Stars
If I was on a desert island, and could only have one Rush album to listen to, it most likely would be this one. Sure, 2112 would be the obvious choice, but as that album has been seared into my brain from listening to it for over 30 years now, COS is still the hidden gem that gets no props.
A bit underproduced, yes. But that's what makes it ever better-more raw than 2112 and everything after that. Alex's gut-grabbing guitar work on the Necromancer attacks my brain like nothing else. The Fountain of Lamneth is a masterpiece, pure and simple. The changes in mood and melody are perfect as it carries the story along.
As a bass player that learned to play these songs (well, TRIED to play is a better word), I love how you can hear each instrument clearly, no matter how many layers and effects are in play. The new Rush is still great, but more compressed and grungy.
You have to remember during this time in their career, they were touring 200+ nights a year and writing on the bus or backstage, whenever they could steal a minute. "Lakeside Park" and "I Think I'm Going Bald" may not compare to "Spirit of Radio" or "Limelight", but I still love them. COS is a natural progression from Rush and then when Neil joined, Fly By Night. "By-tor and the Snow Dog-another masterpiece; but I digress lol They were still writing about things around them and observations, then Neil kicked into high gear with the epic 2112 suite. But this album had to be made before 2112 could ever be imagined.
This is one of many CD's that once I start playing it, I HAVE to listen to it in its entirety.
One of their top five efforts, easily.
Free Music Review: Doesn't Get Enough Credit
Hit: 5 Stars
Now, I'm far from thinking that this is Rush's best album because it's not at all. The song has two Rush hits (Bastille Day & Lakeside Park) but the other songs on the album are vastly underrated. I mean the two longer songs (Necromancer & Fountain of Lamneth) are not the best epic Rush songs, they're not even in the top 5 but they are still amazing songs. Neil Peart shows off some of his best drumming in FOL and both songs have phonomenal lyrics. As "I Think I'm Going Bald" Peart takes a break from his more serious, brooding lyrics and settles for some stuff that is slightly humorous. Here's the tracks:
1. Bastille Day-5/5-One of my favorite Rush songs. The guitar is great.
2. I Think I'm Going Bald-5/5-Simalar to "A Passage to Bangkok" in the sense that Neil Peart steps out of form and just writes something really un-Peart like.
3. Lakeside Park-5/5-Awesome song, chorus is great. Peart's drumming stands out particularly on this song.
4. The Necromancer-5/5-Very cool Rush song. Turn the volume up and zone out.
5. The Fountain of Lamneth-5/5-This song is 1 second shy of 20 minutes long. It's very well done, the drumming rocks. It's amazing to listen to Neil Peart, most of the time I wondered to myself; "how does he do that?" The song is like "2112" and "Cygnus X-1 Book II Hemispheres" except not as comprehensive. It's very Tokien-esque and very good.
A-