COUNTERPARTS

On this album, Rush takes an obvious step away from the keyboards that are so prevalent in most of their albums since "Signals" and they make an album that is a lot more guitar oriented. This doesn't mean that you get an album with crazy guitar hooks and solos that you got from the Rush of the 70s, but you do get a solid album. Most of the songs on this album are well written and the band feels more at home here than they did on "Roll the Bones". This album has some of the better lyrics than they have had for quite a while. To me, this album compares more to "Presto" than it does to the weak "Roll the Bones", except for the fact that it is more guitar centered. Geddy's vocals are in top form here, at least his post 70s style vocals are at their best. The bass in this one is more subdued which was a disappointment for me on this one though. I've always loved the bass sound with Rush.

One of the things that I have notice with the post 70s albums is that it takes longer for the songs to grow on you and when they do they all acquire a life of their own, but before they do, they can sound too much alike. That's quite okay though, the payoff is worth it on the better albums, and this one is one of the better 90's albums.

There has been a lot said about this album already and as you can see from the reviews, the ratings are all over the place, which is pretty much what one can expect from Rush's albums released during this stage in their discography. There really isn't much more to add since this album has been reviewed a lot already, but I will say that I consider this an excellent album, but it is not one of their greatest, so I don't consider it essential. 4 stars.