HOLD YOUR FIRE

After a stellar series of releases dating back to the mid-1970s, Rush finally wears itself out with their 1987 release of Hold Your Fire. With its lack of imagination for cover art comes 10 songs mostly lacking inspiration and any kind of kick to it. Sound-wise, Hold Your Fire is pretty much in the same vein as Power Windows, but whereas Power Windows had numerous standout tracks, Hold Your Fire seemed to have very little or any.

My first impressions of this album back when I purchased it in 1987 was Rush had gone pop. Well, considering what else was out in those days, this was far better than say Genesis' Invisible Touch, or Yes' Big Generator. But nonetheless, it was the most radio friendly album Rush had ever released. I have no idea if it was Rush themselves leaning towards this or their producer Peter Collins, who was well known in the pop world of the time. And what did it get them? Decreases in sales and possibly less radio play than they had before.

This may be the weakest album Rush had made up to this point in their discography. That certainly is debatable, but this isn't one that gets much play (if any in recent memory) in my CD player. If you're new to Rush, try getting something released before this, especially from their 1977-1981 period. If you like radio-friendly accessible prog (in the same league as Saga or even Asia), you might like this. Two stars.