CARESS OF STEEL

On Caress Of Steel Rush started exploring Progressive ideas more in depth than on earlier releases. The result was a great often overlooked Rush album.

1. And 2. Bastille Day and I Think I'm Going Bald never really stuck out to me but are decent songs. 3/5

3. Of the three shorter songs on the Caress Of Steel, Lakeside Park was the most worthwhile listen. Starting out with a great drum fill, the Guitar comes in with a memorable riff and Geddy Lee's vocals come in shortly afterwards. Following that a mellower Flanged Guitar solo comes in. After that returning to it's exuberant mood and following around the same pattern with some altered chords throughout the song and finally ending in a peaceful way. 4/5

4. Now for the Necromancer. In the beginning a deep spoken word intro with dark Guitar and Bass parts add a mystery to the track that wasn't heard on the first two Rush albums. The backwards and ambient sounding backwards guitar helps add to this effect. The songs slowly, but surely starts getting heavier until Geddy's vocals come in at around the 2:30 mark. As his vocals start dying down the music keeps progressing in a heavier direction until another deep spoken word interlude at 3:50. This is where Rush's trademark heavy sound comes in. This lasts until about the 5:30 mark until a Funky guitar solo ensues. At 7:00 an odd sound effect ushers in an even heavier part. This ends very abruptly at the 8:35 mark and a much softer sound with another deep voiced narrative arrives, and a very happy and satisfying conclusion end the song on a good note. My favorite Rush song and definitely deserving of a 5/5.

5. The soft sound of the ending of the Necromancer continues during the start of The Fountain Of Lamneth. The vocals and guitar form a partnership that make the opening seem very sad. As the song continues it gets heavier and then dissolves into Lakeside Park type flanger part followed by another heavy part. Another flanger part ensues after that and progresses into an odd part with Neil Peart creating a fast drum solo and vocals and guitar fading in in an odd way. After the weirdness is over a slightly dangerous sounding part that reminds me of a hurricane comes into play a heavier part with the same backing guitar comes and then falls back into the part that it came from. More soft parts continue for a couple minutes and then a more typical Rush sounding piece sneaks up on us. The sound reverts back to what it sounded like earlier in the song and then it revisits the star and ends. That was pretty hard to review but still 5/5.

So ends my first review. I give the Caress Of Steel a 4/5. The first two songs brought it down from a five but the last 3 songs are definitely worth a listen.

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