COUNTERPARTS

This was the last decent album from Rush. I'm a huge fan of 70's and 80's Rush and would rate pretty much everything from A Farewell To Kings to Presto as 5 star albums. After the rather inconsistent Roll The Bones (not all songs reach the standard of Dreamline, Bravado and Roll The Bones), Counterparts was a more solid effort. It's not overly progressive and while the odd track can be somewhat bland (Between Sun And Moon, Alien Shore & At The Speed Of Love) there are some stand out classics (Animate & Leave That Thing Alone) plus the heavier production from Peter Collins is excellent. The playing is superb and Rush are still crafting well written songs. Geddy's vocals are on excellent form and there's some great melodies. Overall 3.5 stars.

For me that was the end of new output from Rush - Test For Echo was by and large awful and Vapor Trails was simply dire and as for that covers album....

I'm not holding my breath for the new one. At least there's still the fantastic live shows. Rush have lost nothing as performers, just keep the material pre '96. NB.