CARESS OF STEEL

'Caress of Steel' certainly is a good album, and contains tracks that generally are more complex that those on 'Fly by Night'. However, apart from the magnificent 'Bastille Day' and the less interesting blues-rockish 'I Think I'm Going Bald', 'Caress of Steel' generally lacks the energy that otherwise characterizes the Rush of the 70s. It is probably this lack of energy that makes 'Caress of Steel' one of my least favorite of the early Rush albums. Hardcore progheads will probably find 'The Necromancer' and 'The Fountain of Lamneth' very interesting, which they certainly are, but I would pick 'Bastille Day' and 'Lakeside Park' as the highlights of 'Caress of Steel'.