HEMISPHERES

Hemispheres, Rush's 1978 release, is seen by many as the best album Rush has ever made. It is a very ambitious album I must say, with an 18 minute sequel to "Cygnus X-1", from the previous album A Farewell To Kings. The album is more synth driven than the previous album was. This synth sound would eventually get much more important for Rush's unique sound. I have to say I am not very fond of this album at all. Most of the music on this album actually is good, but compared to the other albums Rush released in this part of their carreer this one is kind of dissapointing.

The main reason for this album being somewhat dissapointing is the first half of the album. The 18 minute long "Cygnus X-1 Book II" is the sequel to "Cygnus X-1" and Rush did make this sequel because people expected them to do so. The result is a repetative song, that sounds forced. The riffs of the song are pretty good, though not Rush's best. It's a shame that they last way to long, to eventually become boring. The second half is better, though the first song here, "Circumstances", isn't a killer either. The remaining songs, "The Trees" and "La Villa Strangiato" are some of the best songs in Rush's catalogue though, The first being a great song, which is in the typical Rush style; powerful, somewhat straight forward and full of great musicianship. "La Villa Strangiato" is a lengthy instrumental, featuring some truely memorable music, though not being perfect.

This album has two sides. One of them is pretty uninteresting, being forced, repetative and eventually becoming boring. The other is very good, featuring some of the best and most memorable material Rush has ever written. Because of this I will rate the album three stars, which is what I think it deserves.