SIGNALS

The band shows their love of basaball in the liner notes as Geddy is refered to as the pitcher, Alex the first baseman, and Neil the third baseman. I know Geddy has been a regular at Blue Jay games for a lot of years now. But as far as the music goes, I still remember my frustration with this album when I got it. I played it for about 2 weeks straight, finally throwing it in my glove compartment in the car. I didn't like it at all. It was probably three weeks later I was bored with the music I was listening to so I brought it back out for another spin. Well it just kind of clicked with me, I liked it and I grew to really like it.

Things get started with "Subdivisions" with synths and drums leading the way in this song and album. The lyrics are thought provoking and the synths sound incredible. Nice guitar solo about 4 1/2 minutes in. "The Analog Kid" is my favourite song off this album. The bass and drums take the spotlight in this uptempo, catchy tune, although the tempo slows down during the chorus. Again the lyrics are great such as "...the boy pulls down his baseball cap and covers up his eyes." Alex lets it rip about 3 1/2 minutes in, nice !

"Chemistry" was once voted worst RUSH song on their web-site some years ago. It has a bombastic intro and an almost mechanical feel to it. "Digital Man" is a pretty good song with a catchy melody that gets better after 3 minutes. "The Weapon (Part II of Fear)" is another thought provoking song and check out the drumming after 5 minutes. "New World Man" along with "Subdivisions" certainly recieved a lot of air play over the years. "Losing It" is another favourite of mine, a haunting song where the mood changes 2 minutes in. It's great ! "Countdown" is a song that got the band an invitation to NASA to witness live what they were singing about. The melody is terrific in this one.

Excellent release !