CARESS OF STEEL

Perhaps the most underrated disc/album in the Rush catalogue. Yes, the production is rudimentary and almost laughable by today's standards. Yes, the efforts are sophomoric and sometimes pretentious, reaching too far at times. Yes, the musicianship and overall quality can pale compared to later efforts. But buried amongst all these negatives is a raw enthusiasm that shines throughout the entire album.

There's really only five songs on the disc and all but one I still find enjoyable. Bastille Day was the first Rush song to exhibit the NPeart worldview, encompassing his historical look on the French revolution, combined with an Ayn Rand sense of things. That all sounds very heady but the fact is the song totally rocks, serving as the opening for many a concert tour in the band's early days.

I Think I'm Going Bald is one of those embarrassing songs that I think the band would prefer to forget; I honestly don't think they ever played it live beyond the COS tour. It has some good guitar work towards the end but otherwise is..forgettable. Lakeside Park is a pleasant, rather pop-oriented, AOR-formatted song that works very well. In fact, it's the first in an astoundingly long list of great "pop" songs that Rush created over the years (think Closer to the Heart, The Trees, Spirit of Radio, Limelight, Subdivisions, New World Man, etc.).

Beyond that point Rush first flexed their prog-rock muscles; muscles that in many ways proved to be the strongest and most enduring of any rock band in history. First was the 12 and ½ minute, 3-part Necromancer suite. Strongly influenced by the Tolkien trilogy it is sometimes awkward, sometimes simple, sometimes blunt and yet nevertheless works wonderfully. Combining all the prog-rock elements that were a staple of the 70's while layering a hard-rock element that had been missing up to that point, it was Rush's most ambitious, successful and embarrassing effort to that point, all rolled into one. I know some folks look at it laughingly today, but you know what, I still buy into it, 34 years after its release. If you don't like it, that's understandable, but it was the first clue to the greatness this band would sustain for a good 20 years.

Finally, there is the first revelation of the true genius of what Rush would become, the 20-minute opus known as The Fountain of Lamneth. To this day I believe this to be the single most underrated piece ever produced by Rush. From acoustic opening to acoustic finale I believe FoL compares very favorably to 2112 and Hemispheres. In fact, the energy and raw ambition evident throughout the piece is unmatched in Rush's catalogue. It is complete in that it tells a great story from beginning to end, has entertaining individual pieces that, when combined, are more than the sum of their parts. To this day I enjoy this underrated piece of rock history.

Thus, all-in-all, I consider Caress of Steel to be amongst the great records of Progressive Rock and Roll. It truly introduced Rush to the ears or rock and roll fans, even though most never bought into it until years later. An underrated classic, in my opinion.