HEMISPHERES

After reading a bunch of reviews on this album, I see that this album differs from one persons perspective from another. My feeling towards this album is indeed a masterpiece. This album does deserve to be a masterpiece, for reasons I think most people would agree with. Now the album is sort of short, only going to 37mins. But the songs make the album superior from its length.

Starting off with the songs, with my first listen through on the album, I only found the need of one song that made me wonder why it is on the album. This song was Circumstances, and honestly, I believe it was a filler. Some people will disagree, some people do love this song. But, at first, I didn't. But it did grow on me, and I love the album completely. Now the rest of the songs starting off with Cygnus X-1 Book II. This song is the epic on the album. This song has great instrumental playing by the trio. I really enjoy the lyrics to this song as well. It's 18mins, and the song doesn't ever seem to drag on or get boring. It's really an all-around great song. The Trees is another great song, my second favorite on the album. It has great lyrics and shows a lot of the use of metaphors and personification, giving the trees life like attributes. I really liked the theme to the song. Musically, it was a really well composed piece. Lastly, we have La Villa Strangiato. Which is my favorite track. This track is an instrumental, and it shows off all of the trio's skills. Peart's drumming to Lee's bass lines to Lifeson's dynamic guitar work and fast shredding. It is really creative and even without any lyrics, the song has some strong emotion through Lifeson's guitar work.

Another thing I liked about this album is the artwork. Album artwork is really one of the things I enjoy most on an album. Now Hemispheres album artwork seems to be about the brain, seeing that the brain has 2 hemispheres. The left and the right. Now, I really enjoy this because I love psychology and in this subject, you can learn about the brain (Depending on what field you take). The left hemisphere is responsible for arithmetic ability and logical thinking, and the right hemisphere is responsible for creativity and the arts abilities. Now that was my little explanation on the brain...

***** songs- Cygnus X-1 Book II, The Trees, La Villa Strangiato

**** songs- Circumstances