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After the excellent but poorly-selling Caress Of Steel, Rush was at a crossroads in their career--return to the more commercial sound of Fly By Night, or lay it all on the line, and "out-prog" even the previous album? Luckily, they risked it all by choosing the latter. This is a true classic of the genre, but not quite the peak they would reach in the next few years. Almost everything is in place here: Alex Lifeson's increasingly weird guitar styles (his solos are particularly angry-sounding on this album, especially in the title suite); Geddy Lee's virtuosic, musular bass licks; and Neil Peart's acrobatic, octopus-like drumming (though it would get much, much better in the following years).

Side 1 is stunningly powerful and surprisingly introspective, which I suppose is a trademark of progrock. The storyline is well-known, and I won't get into it here, but suffice it to say that this was not your average 70's hard-rock/metal act. Side 2 starts with the colorful "A Passage To Bangkok", a cleverly written ode to the finest cannabis growing areas on earth in the 1970's. While drug songs tend to be trite when looking back at them today, this one is covert enough - and intelligent enough - to be surprisingly well-aged. "Twilight Zone" is creepy, if a little silly. "Lessons" is good fun and is similar to "Making Memories" from Fly By Night. "Tears" is a bit of a snoozer, and one I usually skip, though it does feature some pretty keyboard work (by the designer of most of their 70's cover art, Hugh Syme). "Something For Nothing" is a good closer with some nice guitar, though it's lyrics are somewhat adolescent. Overall, this shows a definite forward progression for the career of Rush, but I believe it is not as good, musically or lyrically, as the incredible five-album streak that would follow next.