GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

This is my favorite Rush album because it reaches deep into the fears and traumas associated with the technology their music helps advance - the synthetic future, in which people must find their humanity in a world increasingly dominated by machines. We already understand that Rush play to the Reveal the Light. The trio are apostles of Good, whether in their (often sophomoric) lyrics, their fantastic blends of drums and thick chords, or in the sound of Geddy's highly pitched siren of sincerity. When they take on the futuristic landscape, as they do here, the results are noting but compelling. Long intros take their time to build up to the crisis, as if each instrument is a strange waking character. but once we are in full throttle - "1-0-0, 1-0-0, 1 - in distress" - there is no turning away from the musical urgency of their effort. Certain rhythmic motifs they conjure on this album are among the best they've ever done. I would give this five stars personally, but other listeners have their quibbles. Taste is subjective for the most part - only when we reach the heights of, say, most Led Zeppelin or Beatles albums do we move beyond argument to the fully-fledged classic zone.