Album Title: Caress of Steel
Artist: Rush
Year: 1975
Genre: Progressive Rock/Hard Rock/Progressive Metal
Position in Discography: 3 of 19 (ATOW)
It's always saddened and annoyed me that when people, including their fans, speak of Rush and their greatest albums they talk of, naturally, the likes of
2112, A Farewell to Kings and
Hemispheres, and while those are all great albums and deserve the accolades they get, I feel this, their third album, tends to get left out in the cold. It received poor reviews on its release, and nobody seems to have thought much of changing that opinion in the forty-odd years since its first hit the shelves. And yet, it's a great example of Rush expanding beyond the somewhat limited trappings of the hard/blues rock that characterised their first album, and building on the more progressive feel of the second, and clearly points the way towards their masterpiece, which would be released only one year later.
As an album, it's pretty impressive, I feel, containing not one but two epics, one of which, foreshadowing
2112, takes up the entire second side of the album, and which in fact runs for just thirty seconds or so less than that more famous epic. The other tracks ain't bad either. I feel this should have been the album that finally set Rush on their way, but they would have to wait another year for that to happen.
Bastille Day
With their ties to France as Canadian natives, it's not such a stretch to see Rush interested in the famous storming of the notorious prison that kicked off the French Revolution and caused so many heads, literally, to roll. It's a good hard-rocking tune, with little if anything of the prog rock in it, but some lively rockin' guitar from Alex Lifeson as the song powers along, Geddy Lee's unmistakable screech perhaps reminiscent of another singer who tended to enjoy a whole lotta love, but in no way a rip-off of his style. Straight-forward song, which gives no indication of how the album is going to develop, but a good one to get going on.
8/10
I Think I'm Going Bald
I've never liked this song. I feel it's bloody silly, frivilous and too whimsical to be here. Still, what can you do? Another hard rocker, another powerful vocal performance from Geddy. I do like the main guitar riff, sort of reminds me of later Boston's “Rock and Roll Band”. Basically, everything about this song would be fine if it wasn't for the lyric.
3/10
Lakeside Park
A lovely semi-ballad, reflecting a well-known park where Neil Peart grew up, really conjures up the idea of lazy days, long, unhurried walks along the perimeter of the lake, perhaps feeding the ducks, the sun blazing down, and all right with the world. There's definitely a sense in the lyric of things disappearing, things lost, the idea that nothing lasts forever and eventually you have to leave everything behind, as he did. There's some hope in the lyric though, in the closing line: “Though it's just a memory, some memories last forever.” Three short guitar chords mark, perhaps, the end of the first part (though not first side) of the album. The short, straight-ahead simple rock tunes are over: we're about to enter epic territory.
9/10
The Necromancer
And so we do. The first of the two progressive rock suites that close the album, this is split into three almost equal sections, the first part mostly taken up by an introspective guitar intro, a dark, hollow narrator's voice, with the second part driven by a powerful display of fretwork from Lifeson. The third and final part sees the return of Prince By-Tor from the second album. I'll be honest: I do love it, but as an “epic” it leaves a lot to be desired, all of which is satisfied by the closer.
8/10
The Fountain of Lamneth
More what you'd call a “proper” suite, this is divided into six parts, and runs for just short of twenty minutes. After a pretty pastoral opener, the next part is basically Peart going crazy on the drums and Lee shouting words like “Learn! Live! Listen!” I like the bookending of the suite, with its starting in a gentle acoustic almost idyll (“In the Valley”), and ending with generally a reprise of this in the finale (“The Fountain”). In between there's some fine music, deep and thoughtful lyrics which muse on the human condition, choices, consequences, faith and belief, and as I say it all comes full circle in the end.
10/10
Album Rating: 9/10