ROLL THE BONES

This is actually one of the first full on Rush albums with which I became familiar, as it is one of my parents' favorites.

I must admit, however, that as I've grown older and been exposed to more music, I've come to find Roll the Bones pretty average in the scheme of the rock music overall. There are some great tracks and great things about this album, mixed with some mediocre of both as well.

The general sound is predictable with the band's general late 80s output. There's a lot of use of atmospheric keyboard pads, which I find work very effectively. There's almost a sense of hip-hop style to the album overall to, very rhythmic, meaty, chunky kind of rhythms, in really all the instruments and even Lee's singing. Though I like most of the vocal melodies in this album, I've never been a big fan the post-eighties Rush vocal harmonies, which are partly what kind of annoy me about where the band went with their sound . The guitar work is pretty solid too. Though... I never would have expected to hear rap in a Rush album... but there you have it.

The lyrical content isn't one to take lightly with this work, and I get a feeling it's actually a concept album, or at least an album with a recurring theme that rears its head in different ways. This concept or theme is about life and it's unexpected twists and turns, mostly due to the laws of probability, hence the title of the album. I honestly really love the lyrics in this album, they're very well written and kind of solemn. I get the sense of the band members feeling a stronger sense of their mortality, and that it reflects in the sound and lyrical content of the album.

I guess the quality of the tracks can be summed up this way: **** star songs: Dreamline, Bravado, Roll the Bones, Where's My Things, The Big Wheel. *** star songs: Face Up, Ghost of a Chance, Heresy ** star songs: Neurotica, You Bet Your Life

Where's My Thing is the instrumental of the album, and I find it pretty fun.

The Big Wheel is one of those songs with which I kind of have a personal relationship. Not really sure why, but I love it. I just wish it didn't cut into the chorus so quickly.

Conclusion: A good album with a lot of good stuff, but not exactly cream-of-the-crop material. If you generally like heavy prog, especially Rush, and don't mind a lot of chunky heavy rhythmic figures in your music, this is an album worth getting for sure.

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