TEST FOR ECHO

The last Rush album for 5 years, "Test for Echo" was a disappointment (to put it mildly) to the majority of the band's fans, seen as it came out after one of their strongest efforts, the nearly perfect "Counterparts". I give it 3 stars on account of the few good tracks it contains, which are indeed worthy of mention even if they cannot completely rescue an album featuring the utterly awful "Dog Years", easily the worst Rush track ever - of which the less said, the better.

A real pity, as the album opens in style with the haunting, intense title-track: great lyrics and Geddy's priceless bass lines make it one of the best-ever openers for the band. "Driven" gives free rein to Alex's furious riffing, while Geddy sings splendidly. Unfortunately, things start going downhill from there, reaching a nadir with "Dog Years" . With this notable exception, though, many of the songs are not so much bad as nondescript. "Totem" has intriguing lyrics and a good closing section, "Time and Motion" is a heavier than usual effort (which I quite like), and the instrumental "Limbo", while obviously not on a par with masterpieces like "La Villa Strangiato" or "YYZ", features interesting basswork courtesy of Mr Lee. This leaves one of the album's standout tracks, the moving "Resist", whose lyrics pay homage to the sharp wit of the great Oscar Wilde ("I can learn to resist /Anything but temptation"), and which the band have taken to performing acoustically on stage (very beautifully, too). A final mention for the stylish, Eskimo-inspired sleeve with its cool blue tones and evocative stone figure.

After the release of this album (and of the subsequent triple live "Different Stages"), hard times were waiting for the band, especially for drummer Neil Peart. This not-quite- successful album risked being their last, which would have been a pity. Non-essential - though far from utterly disposable - is probably the best definition for "Test for Echo".