HEMISPHERES

1. Cygnus X-1 Book II (18:04) -- This is certainly an amazing sequel to the previous Cygnus X-1 on A Farewell To Kings. Almost twice the length of its predecessor, this song goes through many themes and touches on some of the most complex music RUSH has every produced. This song is too long for me to go through every single part, but i will say that the only flaw with this song is that its fluidity is not the greatest as with other epics like Xanadu or 2112. It's not all the time, but sometimes themes are introduced out of nowhere or one thing will fade out and the next will begin with an un- epic-like transition (if that makes sense). But on a more positive note, RUSH does a great job at throwing in some old Cygnus X-1 themes during a spacey section toward the end of the suite. Amazing! (9.5/10)

2. Circumstances (3:40) -- I think the song is way underrated! This is a great upbeat rock song. It's also proggy contrary to most beliefs, enduring time changes, different themes, and tempo changes. After a very hard hitting rock section, it falls under a more gentle bells/keys section of odd times of 5/8 and 6/8. This is song is awesome. (8/10)

3. The Trees (4:42) -- Another great song! Probably the most popular on this album, the Trees is another short proggy song, much proggier than Circumstances with lyrics concerning a fight between the trees (typical fantasy prog environment, haha). Another song of odd time signatures, changing themes, and varying tempos... this one deserves to be considered one of RUSH's finest. (9/10)

4. La Villa Strangiato (10:34) -- By far the best on the album! This is my personaly favorite RUSH song and seems to be very popular among most RUSH fans. It begins with a mysterious spanish-flameco guitar provided by Alex Lifeson, then dives into an electric guitar assault before settling on a serene foundation for the rest of the band to build on. The first main section is hard rock and upbeat, and then it comes down into a gloomy and mysterious 7/4 section of ominous guitar sounds echoing about. After this, we come into a more hard hitting rockin jazz section featuring some small outburts from Neil Peart on drums and Geddy Lee on bass. After this change of pace, we found ourselves coming back into the original hard rock theme before diving into the conclusion of this amazing instrumental. Simply amazing!!! (11/10)!

I know the prog polls seem to say that Moving Pictures or Permanet Waves or RUSH's best, and though those are great albums - HEMISPHERES and A Farewell To Kings are the best! This is a must have for not only RUSH fans, but all prog fans! (5/5)

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