RUSH - Hold Your Fire

September 9th also happens to be the 30th anniversary of Hold Your Fire the 12th studio album by RUSH and the fourth album in the "third chapter" of RUSH.  I have to admit that Hold Your Fire is my least favorite RUSH album and their weakest output in their entire career.  The album itself followed the same production formula as Power Windows.  It had Peter Collins producing again, engineered by Jimbo Barton, recorded in England and Montserrat but the results were vastly different.  While Alex mentioned in "Beyond the Lighted Stage" that Power Windows was the album that lacked guitars and brought their sound more "to the middle" and almost easy listening, in my opinion that analysis is really designated for Hold Your Fire.  During the recording of Power Windows, Geddy switched to Wal basses from Rickenbacker and Fender and Alex started using Paul Reed Signature (PRS) guitars instead of Gibson or Fender as his primary instrument.  The greatest switch was done by The Professor himself which saw him, after an extensive search, change his drums from the Tama Artstars to Ludwig Super Classics.  The Ludwigs had a flatter tonality than the Tamas and he also switched from open end tom-tom's to closed-end but the most striking change was the color.  He had moved away from the candy apple red to opalescent white with sparkles and a hint of pink.  Blah.  Hold Your Fire was written with the fact that Compact Disks were the dominant media instead of LP's or cassettes, so they had 78 minutes "to play with" so Hold Your Fire is the first RUSH album with more than eight songs.  As for the songs, "Force Ten" opens the album on a strong note and is a better song live than on the record.  Over the years, RUSH has "beefed up" the song and have made it better overall.  The second single "Time Stand Still" was the first to feature a guest singer, Aimee Mann.  The song is not quite a duet but her excellent vocals do highlight throughout the chorus and there is vocal interplay within the chorus and verses.  After these songs, the rest of the album declines on a slope of mediocrity.  Open Secrets just seems to meander and never build any momentum.  Second Nature is a sugary ballad that does not inspire the listener because the song does not sound inspiring.  Prime Mover starts off showing "signs of life" but quickly falls off into Alex playing monotonous notes before any chords, again the song does not seem to go anywhere and quickly you are hitting the next song button.  Lock and Key makes you okay now we are getting somewhere only to be disappointed with the fact the only "action" is in the chorus and a 30-second guitar solo.  Mission, like Force Ten, came across as a better song live than on the album and while it suffers from the same sins as the early songs because it works well live, it is the third best song on the album.  Turn the Page also starts out strong but quickly fades as the keyboards/synthesizers dominate the song and put Alex is back of everything.  The last two songs are hardly worth mentioning other than Tai Shan is simply the worst song RUSH has ever written.  I understand that it was inspired by Neal Peart's trip to China but the song itself is more appropriate for a Peter Gabriel album than RUSH.  As for High Water, it follows the same rhythmic formula as Mystic Rhythms but lacks that vibrance and energy that the latter has.  Even the album art work was uninspiring especially in comparison to the three most recent albums art work.  I have read online that Hold Your Fire is a favorite for a great many fans but I always come away thinking "what am I missing"?  At the end of the day, even though the album is weak, I still saw RUSH three times on that tour and love each or every show.

While Signals, who shares the same release date, has aged very well.  I can not say the same thing about Hold Your Fire.

RUSH - Signals

Signals was released 35 years ago today and cemented in the "keyboard era" for RUSH.  Some might disagree and say that Signals was the beginning but if you go back and listen to Moving Pictures, you will hear the prevalence of keyboards throughout. Signals also had the unenviable task of being the follow up to the monster Moving Pictures which catapulted RUSH into super stardom.  To create that buffer between studio albums, RUSH released Exit...Stage Left towards the end of 1981.  Once released, Subdivisions became an instant classic and the video highlighting division and isolation within a high school setting had regular play on Mtv.  The next three songs "The Analog Kid", "Chemistry" and "Digital Man" can be seen as a metaphor for RUSH's transition as a band going and growing from a power trio of guitar/bass/drums into the coming digital age with the addition of keyboards/synthesizers/electronics.  The Analog Kid has been played on and off on recent tours, Chemistry was only played on the Signals tour and Digital Man was resurrected on the Snakes and Arrows Tour.  Side Two of the album, "The Weapon (Part 2 of the Fear Trilogy)", "New World Man", "Losing It" and "Countdown" were as strong, if not, stronger than the first side of the album.   In 1994, when Mobile Fidelity re-issued Signals on it's Ultragold format from "Original Master Recordings" it omitted the last verse from "The Weapon" which created some controversy.  The band said that Mobile Fidelity did not use the original masters because RUSH does not/did not record "alternate versions" of any songs but the label stood by the recording.  New World Man became another radio staple and could claim to be the only "hit single" RUSH has ever written.  While a collection of 5/6 songs are played regularly on radio, New World Man is the only RUSH songs written with "radio friendly" synthesizer opening, guitar hooks and clocks in at 3:43 which is a station programmers dream.  Losing It is the first RUSH song to have a guest player on it.  The violin solo was played by Ben Mink, Geddy Lee's close friend and member of FM.  Losing It has the distinction of having no bass lines written for the song.  All of the bass was played on keyboards and when RUSH added the song to the R40 tour, Geddy Lee commented how he had to go back and write in the bass to the song.  When RUSH did play Losing It, it gave Signals the compliment by being the only RUSH album other than Moving Pictures to be played in its entirety.  One could argue that they played all of Hemispheres on that particular tour but it is unknown if they played Hemispheres (Cygnus Book II) in total.  The last song, "Countdown" highlights the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia of which the band were guests to watch.  Excerpts of mission control's countdown and the shuttle's lift off interplay with the song and the line by one of the astronauts can heard saying "we have enjoyed the music Bob...thank you" and the song would be used on later shuttle mission as a "wake up" song to the crew.

What can be said definitively on this 35th birthday of Signals, is that it has aged very well.

Cheap Trick - The Latest

If a band is lucky enough to enter their third or even fourth decade, they are usually on one of the following trajectories; one primary member remaining touring under the band name and consistently touring while playing the "greatest hits".  Two, enlist a new singer who sounds a lot like the singer that made them popular or a band with largely current members who crank out either sub-par new material or release an album of cover tunes just to keep the band relevant.  A band which, as of 2008, bucked this trend was Cheap Trick.  Cheap Trick was relevant in the 70's with a slew of hits and a popular "Live at Budokan" release.  In the 80's, they released successive albums which had a radio ready singles with kept them on the air and drove record sales.  They reached the pinnacle in 1988 with the release of the "The Flame" which received regular rotation on Mtv but also welcomed the return of original bassist, Tom Petersson, which provide creative spark.  Unfortunately, the 90's brought on grunge and musical tasted changed drastically.  From 1990 to 2003, Cheap Trick released a string of albums which garnered little to no attention other than 1997's release (Cheap Trick) which had the notoriety of having their record label go bankrupt at the same time of the album's release.  The early 2000's Cheap Trick had a hit with the opening theme song for "That's 70's Show" but it did not translate to the release of new material.  The bands fortunes changed in 2006 with the release of "Rockford" and culminated in 2008 with the release of "The Latest" where they were putting out great songs regardless if radio noticed or not.  "The Latest", in my opinion, is the strongest release by the band since their first four albums which elevated the band to superstar status.  From the opening of "Sleep Forever" the continued strength of Robin Zander's legendary voice was apparent.  The next three songs "When The Lights Are Out", "Miss Tomorrow" and "Sick Man of Europe" give continued credence that Cheap Trick are the heir to The Beatles pop sensibilities but with a harder more guitar-focused edge.  And like all good pop songs, the longest song clocks in at 4:16 which fits within radio formats.  "Miracle" is the traditional pop ballad but still rocks.  Unfortunately, it is also the last album to include Bun E. Carlos as a member of the band because his drumming is a highlight and you realize that there is a lot more to his drumming and his sense of rhythm and timing then just being the "guy with the cigarette hanging from his mouth".  By the end of the album, the listener comes away realizing that this veteran rock band put together a kick ass collection of material which should have been celebrated and praised by everyone in the music/radio industry and not just by their fans.  

Chickenfoot - Chickenfoot

Released in 2009, Chickenfoot is the "super group" of Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith.  From the opening notes of "Avenida Revolucion" I knew that this album was going to be a monster but it also made me realize two other things.  First, since the group is comprised of half of Van Halen (Hagar) that this disc should have been what the next VH album should have been with Sammy as the singer.  Second, while Eddie Van Halen is and was a groundbreaking guitarist in the late 70's and early 80's, it is clear that he has been surpassed in that department and the music for Van Halen was written to highlight his excellence and not for the betterment of the group.  Throughout the Chickenfoot album, it is clear that Michael Anthony is a better bass player than what was presented from his Van Halen days and that can be traced back to Joe Satriani.  Joe can easily write an instrumental with guitar solos that will go for the jugular like "One Big Rush" but this album shows he can do that and write as an equal for the group as well.  My favorite track on the CD is "Get It Up" which combines all of the elements mentioned along a great guitar hook.  The disc also highlights that Chad Smith is an excellent hard rock drummer.  He brings elements from Red Hot Chili Peppers but then takes it to another level.  The CD was re-released in 2012 with a bonus studio track "Bitten by the Wolf" and four live tracks which originally released on the Europe-only Chickenfoot LV.  The album is a must-have for a music enthusiastic collection.

RIP - Walter Becker

Walter Becker, guitarist/bassist/songwriter, of Steely Dan passed away this morning at age of 67.  He and Donald Fagen wrote numerous classic songs including "Hey Nineteen", "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" and "Aja".  The duo utilized a collection of superior studio musicians in crafting their early albums and did not tour.  Steely Dan initially disbanded in 1982 after they released their "Aja" album.  Walter would re-join his Steely Dan bandmate on his subsequent solo albums and the band reformed to release two new Steely Dan albums in 2000 and 2003.  They also regularly toured throughout the years.  Steely Dan recently played the Classic East and Classic West festivals without Walter due to an undisclosed illness.

John Petrucci - Suspended Animation

I have to admit that I was late to join in on the excellence is Dream Theater.  My first, and favorite DT album, is "A Dramatic Turn of Events" and from that moment I was hooked.  I actually first heard John Petrucci as a solo artist as part of the G3 tour with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on the subsequent CD release from the tour in 2009 even though his solo album was released in 2005.  The CD, which is currently out of print, highlights John's heavy metal/prog prowess that is present in Dream Theater but the CD also shows off his "softer side" on Wishful Thinking which if it had lyrics added could have easily been a "power-ballad".  Of the nine tracks on the CD, the average length clocks in at just over 7 minutes with the shortest timing in at under 5 minutes and the penultimate piece an eleven and a half minute exercise.  All in all, the album has the right mix of tempo, melody and guitar virtuosity desiring more.