HEMISPHERES

The amazing Hard Progressive Rock that Rush developed in "2112" and "A farewell to kings" reached its climax in their definitive and absolute masterpiece from 1978 "Hemispheres"; in this record, Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, and Alex Lifeson showed musical maturity creating the most ambitious and complex of their compositions. Even when the following albums "Permanent waves" and especially "Moving pictures" are regularly considered as masterpieces, I truly believe this was the last Rush album that deserved such a label.

1.- Cygnus X-1 Book II (18:08): If the first song of the album is as amazing as this, you can be sure the rest of the album would be terrific; from the very beginning of the piece we can appreciate Lifeson's dexterity with the guitar. Aggressive guitar riffs, killing drums, and very concise basslines combined with the sensual touch of the synthesizers and Peart's crazy lyrics made this song an intense masterpiece. This song is the second part of 'Cygnus X-1', a song from 'A farewell to kings'; it talks about two Greek gods: Apollo (god of the Sun and the arts who represents the left hemisphere of the brain which is more used by logical thinkers) and Dionysus (god of wine and fertility who represents the right side of the brain which is used by more sensitive people), the war that these two gods and their people had, and how they choose Cygnus to bring peace and balance between the two hemispheres and their people. The structure and the length of this song are very similar to Yes's 'Close to the Edge'.

2.- Circumstances (03:44): As the previous Rush albums did, 'Hemispheres' included short songs in the middle part of the album; 'Circumstances' is one of those songs that had become classics in the live performances of the band.

3.- The trees (04:45): This is actually my favorite song of the album; once again Neil Peart's lyrics talk about wars between fictitious characters: this time those characters were talking trees.

4.- La villa strangiato (09:34): I saw a meme once that said something like 'drummers need metronomes and metronomes need Neil Peart' and I really think this song is a perfect example of how real that statement is. Neil Peart is considered by lots of people (me included) as the best drummer in all rock history, his technique of switching the signatures and patterns is unique and in 'Hemispheres' he managed to create one of the hardest drum lines ever. Also, Lifeson's guitar and Lee's bass and synthesizers made intense and majestic participation in the structure of this piece.

'Hemispheres' is one of the most unbelievable albums in Progressive Rock history, probably the best one from 1978 and the last Rush album featuring this quality of compositions.

SONG RATING: Cygnus X-I Book II, 5 Circumstances, 4 The trees, 5 La Villa Strangiato, 5

AVERAGE: 4.75

PERCENTAGE: 95

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album #50 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

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