GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

There are no really awful Rush albums; and I would sooner listen to this one than any others by many different bands. But... This has to be Rush's bête noire. If we were in any doubt whether Rush were headed in a different direction from the hard, prog rock sound of the late 70s, GUP puts this doubt to bed: Yes, they were. Oh boy, were they ever. Ok, cards on the table; personally, I'm a sentimentalist and it's the 'old' Rush of the late 70s I really love, with Caress Of Steel through Hemispheres being my no-holds-barred, all-time favorites. I'm not averse to a new direction altogether, and I like some of the later albums, but this one stinks. It reeks of synth pop and bad 1980s hair-dos. It's the pinnacle of their 80s phase, and that's where this museum piece should remain: in the 80s. One star.