CARESS OF STEEL

Back in 1988 (I was fifteen then) this was the first record by Rush I bought. I didn't think I would wait sixteen long years before seeing them live in Milan, and all this time (still now) "Caress of Steel" has remained my favourite Rush almum ever. In my opionion even better than "2112". The celebrated and famous follow-up has, in fact, some pompous and bombastic moment clearly intended to leave the mark and gain the listener's attention by force. Not so "Caress of Steel", which should be regarded as the most elegant hard-rock piece in the 1970s. Thanks also to the perfect production by Terry Brown, Rush managed to build, note after note, an album which is extremely well balanced and proportioned, where nothing is out of place and everything is as clear as pure crystal. This is true right from the beginning, with "Basille day": here is the Epic which bands like Manowar can only dream to play, fast, precise, very well structured and played. I've always gone crazy at "The Necromancer" with its gloomy evolving to its climax, a stunning guitar solo by Lifeson with Lee and Peart doing something incredible with their rhythm section. The long epic "The fountain of Lamneth" is more a concept than a suite, as each song is clearly different from the other. "Panacea" is charming, with its arpeggios and mesmerizing tune, "Bacchus Plateau" will always be one of my favourite songs by the band, very simple in its harmonic structure, yet elegant and refined. But "The Valley" and "The Fountain", two specular songs, are something which can place Rush among the best prog-rocker ever: their alternance of jazzy structure with heavy rock guitars and pastoral passages is amazing (and they were 22 then... that's genius!). These numbers are geometrically perfect! However, my favourite track from this album is "Lakeside Park": intimate, sparkling, pure elegance in hard rock I cannot really describe. Just listen to it. In Milan (September 2004) they only played the first riffs of Bastille Day. I am far from being dissatisfied, but I know I'll have to wait for their next tour to listen to them playing live a jem from this album...