COUNTERPARTS

"Animate" is one of those songs that I've known for some time without knowing its context. And here we are, with Rush's fifteenth studio album, 1993. I was feeling a little bit more optimistic about Counterparts than previous albums of this time, but now that I'm here, I guess I'm a bit disappointed. I know this era of Rush, and I thought this album in particular, is very important to a lot of people; not so for me.

We have an album of more straight-ahead Hard Rock with Prog elements. If anything, occasionally melodically bland when comparing to Rush of prior decades. It's simply, I think, a different focus for the band. Not necessarily a bad thing. Regardless, excellent performances from everybody present. Ya know. It is Rush.

Many of the songs really only interest me momentarily, so... moments to look forward to then are as follows: the guitar solo and the bridge section on "Cut to the Chase"; "Alien Shore"; for something completely different, perhaps "Double Agent"; definitely "Leave That Thing Alone"; and perhaps "Cold Fire", for what I hear as a more classic '80s Rush sound.

It's hard to believe, writing this I thought only months later (it's been nearly 2 years!), that Neil Peart is actually gone... What a force! And of course, in addition to being one of the most influential drummers ever (especially yet unsurprisingly coming out of Progressive Rock), he was also a consistent lyrical giant. Seldom hokey. Frequently deep and real. Just aspirational to me. Man... I should listen to more Rush now... Rush I actually definitely like.