MY FAVOURITE HEADACHE

Geddy Lee breaks away from Rush with an old friend guitarist/violinist Ben Mink (who we remember for providing the violin on "Losing It" from Signals), and new face Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam and Soundgarden). With this new cast of characters Lee forges a sound surprisingly different from that with Rush.

Being as this is Geddy's solo album, you would expect the bass to be dominating the compositions. Quite the opposite actually, Geddy's bass is less defined here than on his albums with Rush. This is not to say its of any less quality. His unique sound is still there with the depth that we've come to expect from him. His playing here most resembles the technique used for Vapor Trails though I would say it better suits the music here than it did on Vapor Trails. Geddy's singing sounds a bit strained for the first time since 2112. Also he appears to be singing a little higher than usual which makes it an irritating listen at first. Not a huge obstacle to overcome, but I wonder what makes him sound so forced here.

Ben Mink does an excellent job here, not only providing nice guitar textures and riffs, but more notably providing lush symphonies, which really add depth to the mellower moments, thanks to his violin playing. Matt Cameron provides probably the best and busiest job of his career, but remains still quite the regular rock drummer, especially when even subconsciously you can't help but compare him to Neil Peart.

The material here consists mostly of shorter, intelligent hard rock songs bearing very little resemblance to Rush. The ballads are the strongest pieces of the album featuring clever song writing and great arrangements from Mink. The more aggressive songs sometimes come across as a wall of distortion and guitar overdubs, making up the weaker moments of the album.

A solid album that both Rush fans and non Rush fans will appreciate. Not a huge step up or step down from the material Rush was recording at the time. Though I would rather have seen Geddy save these compositions and see what Rush could have done with them.