GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

Yes 5 big, fat stars!!! Sure this album has a lot of the much maligned synthesizers that polarized many Rush fans. Sure this is the album that dropped them out of mainstream rock. That was a good thing since hair metal was coming into prominence in 1984 and prog was as dead as dead gets as far as the mainstream was concerned. This album, being as dark and anti-commercial as it is and coming out during the time when Madonna and Michael Jackson ruled the airwaves, still cracked the top ten and went platinum. Based solely on the fact that it is a great album. People always say this is a commercial album using glossy synths. Make no mistake, this is a dark album reflecting on some bad times going on in the world and to the band themselves. But these are usually key ingredients to a great album and Grace Under Pressure is a great album. Nothing commercial about this record. It goes straight for the gut and never lets up. Neil Peart's lyrics tackle the issues of the cold war, environmental issues, death, decay and imprisonment with such fervor it perfectly embodied the zeitgeist of 1984. In fact that was supposed to be the name of the album until some other band who wouldn't know an Orweillian allegory if it jumped out of a Jack Daniels bottle used it. Alex Lifeson steps up a little more to the forefront on this album more than its predecessor, Signals. He sounds like a completely different guitarist than on previous albums. Amazing solos and rhythms that completely defy clichés. Always going through the back door and ripping original licks all over the place. The bass and drums are typically spectacular but its the original nature and the passion of the songs that carry this record. They were influenced by some New Wave, reggae and ska rhythms but were honed into a style all of their own. The first side, or the first 4 songs to the younger folks, has no weaknesses. From the power and fury of Distant Early Warning. The sad and raging reflections of a death of a close friend on Afterimage. The fear and horror of a prison camp depicted on Red Sector A to the probing of inner fears on The Enemy Within. The second side drops off a little but not nearly enough to pull this album down especially with the last song, the haunting "Between The Wheels." I bought this album on vinyl when it came out and despite thousands of spins, I still regularly go back to it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!