HEMISPHERES

"Cygnus X-1" would continue on their next album, Hemispheres, released in 1978 as the opening track, "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres". It's an 18-minute suite that covers the entirety of side 1. Initially, with its feud between Apollo and Dionysus for the souls of mankind, Book II seems to have little to do with Book I. But the traveler from Book I appears in the fifth part of the suite, along with brief samples from Book I, at which point Apollo and Dionysus declare him Cygnus, the god of balance. I can't say it makes much sense to me, but all of Peart's lyrics can't be winners. Musically, though, it's another fantastic performance. Geddy's vocals are impassioned, and the riffs and rhythms are complex without being off-putting.

"Circumstances" opens side 2, and it's the most unimpressive song on the album. If you're looking for terse Rush, they'd put out much better work on successive albums. "The Trees", meanwhile, is a bit goofy for me to take seriously. Musically, it's brilliant, and Neil's woodblock interlude is especially praiseworthy. Those lyrics, though, are just really, really odd, to the point of being distracting.

Hemispheres closes on the 12-part instrumental suite, "La Villa Strangiato". Based on a dream Alex Lifeson had, the band have said that this was the most difficult song they ever recorded. Geddy Lee claims that this one song took longer to record than the entirety of Fly by Night.

It's a cascade of rapidfire musical ideas. It opens with nylon-stringed guitar before building over synths to the main theme, where guitar and bass battle for supremacy. Summarizing this song is a fool's errand, as it's full of so many hairpin turns in tempo and tone, there's no way to do it justice. Suffice to say, this is one of Rush's classics for a reason.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2020/04/27/deep-dive-rush/