HOLD YOUR FIRE

Maybe not the best Rush album, but it is definatly the best album of this era. Its much more prog and much more challenging sounding than the previous recording because it's a little less electric sound, and much deeper sounding than the previous record. The bass lines are stunning, as Geddy is pumping so much out of that Wal bass guitar. Alex is making some really sweet guitar solo's, much faster and much more often than the previous recording. As always, Neil is really amazing, he is definatly my favorite drummer. The lyrics are much deeper sounding, to me at least. This album is great, so lets get into the details of the songs.

The opener, "Force Ten" is easily one of the top two songs on here. The bassline is amazing here, its so fast and far different from other Geddy basslines because he never really put in much chords into his basslines, but this is a great exception. For being a last minute song, its probably a good fan favorite and has gotten some airplay (around my area, anyways) and the lyrics are pretty interesting as well. Alex has a cool little "solo," I don't know if I should call it a solo (it's after the second chorus) but more like a musicial break, with Geddy still pumping the best riff ever. Neil has an interesting drum part at the beginning of the song too, its nice. "Time Stand Still" is a cool piece, its too poppy for me, considering some of the other songs here, at least. The basslines are sweet, but not guitar solo which can make or break a song, it kind of didn't need on though. The apperence of a female vocalist in this song as well, though some fans hate it, I find it very charming. "Open Secrets" is a forgeter, kind of boring, but its got some nice keyboards and a really nice guitar solo. The lyrics are excellent, but I find the music slightly out of my taste for this song, at least. "Second Nature" is stunning, beautiful piano on this song, in the intro. The vocals really nice, I think they are stunning on the whole album actually. The bassline is a little uninteresting, but the music overall for this song is very nice and interesting. The guitar is pretty nice, though, again, no guitar solo on this song. The line "I know perfect's not for real" really speaks to me in that song for some reason, really touching and very, very ture, though not very many people see it. "Prime Mover" is my third favorite song here, so stunning. The basslines are really interesting and astounding in this song, flooring really. The keyboards are definatly poppy sounding on this song, and very soulfull and fun. The guitar's are pretty nice, but they don't add or subtract. The drums, of course, are perfect because Neil is just great. "Lock and Key" is a sleeper, it takes me a while to get used to it, even though I've listened to it for a really long time. "Mission" is my second favorite song here. It's just the most passoinate thing ever, its just so beautiful and so loving that it just makes you feel so warm when you listen to it. The bass part is really great and percise, the guitar solo is amazing, and at the end they are so stunning I can't believe my ears. The drums are pretty interesting too. The lyrics are so personal and so touching, sometimes you just have to cry. "Turn the Page" has one of the best bass parts, and very nice textures and atmosphere. The lyrics are kind of stupid to me, but that is the only song. "High Water" and "Thai Shan" are pretty nice, but they are kind of forgettable, but still nice.

This album isn't the best Rush album out there, but its amazing and the best Prog-Pop album of the 1980's era of Rush that you have to get for your prog collection.