SIGNALS

The follow-up to the mighty "Moving Pictures" is a heavily keyboard-laden affair, with shorter songs and an even more pronounced white-reggae influence than its predecessor. Unpromising as this may sound, it makes up for a solidly good album, though somewhat inferior to its follow-up, "Grace Under Pressure". Lyrically, the subject matter has got remarkably darker, as it shown by the ode to loss and dejection that is "Losing It", doubtlessly one of the most depressing songs ever, though musically beautiful with Ben Mink's wistful violin strains adding interest and feeling. Actually, this is one of the albums in which one can best notice Neil Peart's steady growth as a lyricist - moving farther and farther away from the ideologically suspect days of "2112" and "Closer to the Heart". < The album opens with the well-known, simple but effective synth lines of "Subdivisions", one of the mainstays of the band's live repertoire, a song about youth alienation in suburban areas. Not all the tracks are equally strong, the album's low point being the overtly commercial "New World Man". At its polar opposite stands the icy, sinister "The Weapon", all pulsing synths and quasi-military drumming by the divine Mr Peart, with a brooding, spaced-out guitar interlude which, unfortunately, gets hardly ever mentioned in discussions about Alex Lifeson's finest moments. Other personal favourites are the atmospherical "Chemistry" and "Digital Man", with a reggae-tinged coda straight out of The Police's best work. The synth-soaked "Countdown", while not by any means my favourite track, closes the album on a more optimistic note.< Geddy Lee's performance on this album is nothing short of extraordinary. He manages to juggle his triple role as vocalist, bassist and keyboardist quite stunningly; his bass work is (as usual!) out of this world, uncannily attuned to Peart's masterful drumming. Lifeson, though he may not be a virtuoso as his colleagues, is reliable as always, adding interesting guitar textures to the songs. A very good album from one of the truly great bands.