HEMISPHERES

And it was beyond good.

The arrangement! Pure Power Trio bliss! This is the only band who has the bass louder than the guitar. Hell, I even used my "Karaoke" mode on my stereo to drown the screeching vocals only to find out that just the bass dropped out. This powerful, strident, roller-coaster proved that Rush was highly original for it's time. More so than what other prog acts force upon the listeners. Rush push through with some heavy jamming and a little Space Rock thrown in. Rush at it's Apex!

With Neil writing about the balance of the heart and mind, and with the band taking 18+ minutes to explain the plot in some pseudo-esoteric way, is the weakest point. With Geddy emotionlessly (sic) (as he always has) screaming of the plight of human existence in the disguise of this make believe world or a parallel universe.

The next 3 songs, more in keeping with the theme of the battle mentioned above (this is a pure concept album. You can figure it out), deserve the same accolades. More of the same, dare I say, Tour de force. Ooh la la. You can hear the Cream, Zep and 60's Psych influence rolled into a slickly produced and thrust laden sonic bombardment. Perfectly musically executed for the genre.

The final resolve within the heart and mind ring in Circumstances: going for the pursuit. The conflict withing existing with the balance shows in The Trees, coexisting with other's wants and showing the equality among them: the fascist rule (IMO), government red tape, violence or maybe self limitations. La Villa Strangiato, The Village of the Strange is maybe what they meant if fake Italian (strano is strange with -iato added to give it some sort of tense... why???), shows us the travel into the strange places one goes while inside other's ideas or dwellings.

Personally, I enjoy this period of Rush because Peart wasn't in full helicopter mode, Geddy had a full, thick percussive tone via amps and a Ric, and Lifeson was quite original using real guitars. They crafted good powerful, complex-ish jams that would make any odd-ball kid (like I was when I heard it... now I'm just a bit bitter) with an unorthodox imagination queef with glee.

Now, please excuse me while I go for a long drive and screech out the lyrics. It takes 3 hours to get to Hartford and I need something to kill some time.

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