I’ll admit to not being the world’s biggest Rush fan – I can take them or leave them. For me, this was the last album that held my interest (up until Clockwork Angels), as I thought they had lost the thing that made them interesting – all because they were hell bent on changing for changes sake. For some bands and artists, this can be a good thing, as it inspires them to new heights of creativity (Steven Wilson), However, Rush lost me completely after this record.
This album was a departure for them as well, and I remember Rush fans falling over themselves to hate this record when it came out. You can identify the time this album came out by just listening to it. It’s full of all the things that were popular at the time, keyboard heavy, lots of guitar effects, spacey vocals, and it sounded almost poppy in places – it even has a bit of fast reggae with The Enemy Within. The band also wanted a change from long time producer Terry Brown, and went with a modern producer in Peter Henderson. The emphasis is more on the song than the big instrumental sections, even though there are still moments of brilliance from Lifeson on guitar. There are quite a few highlights for me on this record, the opener Distant Early Warning, The Body Electric and Kid Gloves all hit the spot. It’s quite sad that they will no longer be around as it’s another part of my youth that is no more.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
