CARAVAN / BU2B

I only began listening to Rush a couple of year ago, and I only began *listening* to them on year ago or so. As I was attempting to expand the range of my newly discovered love for Prog Rock, I evidently began listening to their earlier albums (A Farewell to Kings, Circumstances, Moving Pictures, Permanent Waves, etc.). As a result I am not familiar with their new sound which, so I have been told, is a lot heavier than their works from the late 70s early 80s. Thus, this Single is my first venture into this new sonority Lee, Peart and Lifeson have adopted. Ah, I should say I am familiar with Lee's new mellower voice, since I have the Snakes & Arrows blu-ray.

That being said: I evidently don't adore it as much as their earlier works, but it's definitely listenable.

Caravan is quite a good track. It starts off with a fantastic introduction and the rest of the song develops nicely. The hook is quite catchy (apparently Lee just "can't stop thinking big!"). Lifeson has a nice riff going on, and Lee is as awesome as always with his base. The track also benefits from a great instrumental interlude somewhere around the 3:30 minute mark, which is there to stop Lee's mellow voice from becoming repetitive, and it does its job. Also, the lyrics are as good as always, that's something that apparently hasn't changed.

BU2B is the band's second track whose title consists of turning caps lock on and randomly typing something on a keyboard with your eyes shut, then attributing some meaning to it (see YYZ: "IT'S THE AREA CODE FROM DURR HURR". Right.) That being said, I can't really adore this track. The more I listen to it the more I convince myself that if some other band had recorded this song and I listened to it, I wouldn't become a fan of the band. The song is repetitive and well... that's it. It's heavy as hell too, but I read that it's similar to the sonority in Snakes & Arrows? Again, I'm not exactly up-to-date with their works. Is there anything good about it? Yes, the lyrics. And the song in general, even if repetitive isn't *too* bad. It's just not great. And I'm trying to like it here, since I am a huge fan of this band.

In a final analysis, if the B-Side shared the same quality of the A-Side, I'd definitely love this single. Caravan is a song I definitely want to listen to again and again, but UB2ASDJ, or whatever they call it, is a heavy repetitive mess that somehow sounds OK. Thus, the final rating is 3 stars. As a matter of fact, I'll be one of those guys that goes "THREE POINT FIVE REALLY IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING ACTUALLY". I'd like to give it a higher rating, but I don't think I'll be listening to Be You Too Bee (is that what they meant?) a lot, albeit when I'll be trying my best to like it... more.

Also, I'd like to (yet again) remember anyone reading this that I am not familiar with this new sonority Rush have adopted (notice how I call an over-one-decade old thing *new*) and am still absorbing the shock. The only glimpse I had of what they sound like now was the Snakes & Arrows Live blu-ray, and I kind skipped to the songs I knew so...

Also, keyboards are back. I though there was none of that on Snakes & Arrows? Maybe I'm wrong.

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