Rush Clock Work Angles

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: Vapor Trails and Snakes and Arrows are my two least favorite. RTB I actually quite like and imo it's almost as good (or maybe even as good) as TFE and Presto.

Outside Rush's first album, which I give them a pass as it's a band trying to find its footing, Hold Your Fire was the first album where I went "Oh No." Beginning with that album Rush became a hit and miss band with me. I was thinking is this Rush's Invisible Touch moment. Now, they did somewhat better than Genesis going forward, but they were no longer the band that could do no wrong.

Yes had that moment with Big Generator. With that release, they would be a hit and miss band going forward for me. I bought both Hold Your Fire and Big Generator within a month of each other. Both albums were released in September of 1987. To be let down by Yes and Rush within a month was quite disappointing.

Steve Wyzard wrote: I'm still surprised at the contempt Hold Your Fire receives. It's like a longer, hazier version of Power Windows, and almost no one complains about that album. If Rush has an "Invisible Touch moment", it's Presto.

verslibre wrote: Steve Wyzard wrote: I'm still surprised at the contempt Hold Your Fire receives. It's like a longer, hazier version of Power Windows, and almost no one complains about that album. There's nothing to complain about. Power Windows opens with a huge one-two punch and Side B is positively sublime. "Middletown Dreams" is enough to make a grown man weep.

I have always grouped Signals, Grace Under Pressure and Power Windows together. A merger of Prog and New Wave that worked quite well with the stylistic direction Rush was taking. Hold Your Fire was nothing more than a New Wave, Pop-Rock album that could have been released by the band Til Tuesday.

Edited by Big Sky - November 11 2024 at 14:33

verslibre wrote: Steve Wyzard wrote: I'm still surprised at the contempt Hold Your Fire receives. It's like a longer, hazier version of Power Windows, and almost no one complains about that album. There's nothing to complain about. Power Windows opens with a huge one-two punch and Side B is positively sublime. "Middletown Dreams" is enough to make a grown man weep.

In answer to OP - I don't think this is their best work as it draws upon their best material from the late 70s/early 80s for inspiration, but among the legacy prog bands it is one of the best final albums, very strong and consistent, supreme way to say goodbye.