Rush
Members:
Geddy Lee – vocals, keyboard, bass guitar
Alex Lifeson – guitar
Neil Peirt – drums, percussion, lyrics
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Rush is by now a very respected name, and very well-known too. For a band that have been on this earth for almost 40 years, creating pretty much a new genre it’s definitely all the praise they get. Putting out albums almost every year, and sometimes in the same year, they have been creating many albums. “Gold” is a complication album that puts many of their hits of the albums from 1974 till 1987 into 2 discs. “Gold” is basically the two “retrospective” complication albums put together with one small difference. The song “Something For Nothing” was replaced by “Working Man”.
Now I have to admit that I’ve never been able to hear much of Rush. I heard great things of them; people claiming Neil Peart to be the best drummer on earth, Geddy Lee’s voice being eargasm and things like that. I also knew three songs of them, being all present on this collection album (
Closer To The Heart,
Tom Sawyer and
Fly By Night). I loved
Tom Sawyer to death, and find the other 2 also extremely appealing to me. So why haven’t I looked for more music of them? I don’t know, and I still regret it that I never took the effort to look for it. Until I decided to buy this album at the store, to listen to their most appreciated tracks they’ve made this far.
If people are unknown by the Rush sound, I will try to explain their style in a nutshell. While they are rightly classified as progressive rock, they have the most poppy sound of all the prog bands out there. Geddy Lee is a fairly unique vocalist. Many people probably will be confused whether he is a male or a female. He (yup, he is a male) has a very high poppy voice, most comparable to Michael Jackson’s voice, yet he is able to deliver us the high shrieks many classic rock bands use. While he sings, he is also plays the bass and the keyboard. He is pretty talented in those two instruments. He does a good job with combining those instruments while singing his lines. Secondly we have the most famous person of the three: Neil Peart. This drummer is incredible, with delivering us some complex drum rolls, and occasionally a drum solo in the songs. His beats are fairly simple though, very upbeat, which helps to the poppy sound Rush has. At last we have the guitarist. Alex Lifeson mostly takes a step backwards at the songs. He is pretty underrated though, as nobody seems to talk about him when mentioning Rush. Alex Lifeson is mentionable for his poppy guitar riffs and his very notable solo’s he plays throughout the songs.
Okay, that was a very big nutshell…
Like I said, Gold is a collection album of their greatest hits of 10 of their albums. 29 songs spread out over 2 discs. Almost 3 hours of rush’s highlights. I started with their second disc, because of
Tom Sawyer being on there. While
The Big Money starts I hear a beat that really sticks into the mind. A drum echoed with guitars and keyboards creating a big tight layer to complete the intro. Soon the intro goes over into the poppy sound I explained before, and the sound stays the whole song. The problem though with the disc is that almost every song has the same feeling. Always there are upbeat drumming, and always there are high-pitched vocals duelling with the keyboards and guitar to take the front. There are a few songs that differ some more than others.
Time Stands Still has a less poppy sound than the others, however the layout is merely the same.
Mission starts with a Dragonforce-esque keyboard sound (
Trail Of Broken Hearts, people know what I mean). Yet it’s barely different from the other tracks.
The Big Money and
Force Ten start with some echoed effects over the instruments. Along with
Tom Sawyer they have a very classic feeling over them, which is a good thing. The other songs however are mostly the same, boring at times.
The Body Electric is probably the lowest point of the album. Truly every riff feels recycled, or too poppy for standards.
Red Barchetta feels also weak after hearing the other songs. It’s too simple for Rush’s standards.
When we move on to the other disc, we’ll find a surprise though. The problem the second disc bears seems to be nonexistent
The Spirit Radio features a very addictive verse pattern, which is many times switched to some funny interludes. It’s a great sing-a-long track, and will probably pointed out as a Rush classic. Another song that jumps out from the rest is
Xanadu. Already with seeing the time
Xanadu takes on makes itself different from the rest. With over 11 minutes, the song is by far the longest song on both discs. The song starts epic with keyboards and woodblocks and slowly develops into the addictive pop sound we’ve heard this far. There are many tempo changes throughout the song making it more progressive than the rest of the songs.
Closer To The Heart is also a favourite among the Rush people. It’s a love song with a very minimum length. Along with
The Temples Of Syrinx, more Iron Maiden-esque song than they ever did before, those two songs are the only two within 3 minutes. Those two are excellent tracks. If they’d just be a little longer, their score would be even higher. A great thing to come to is an instrumental song right? If so, you’ll love
La Villa Strangiato to death. It’s a fine track with a wide range of influences. In the beginning, there is a Spanish guitar to hear, which comes back throughout the song. At the solo’s of the three guys (awesome solo’s), there is clearly a jazz influence to be heard. The rest of the songs are also quite enjoying, also
By-Tor And The Snow Dog get’s annoying and boring after 3 minutes of listening.
Both of the discs are awesome in it’s own way. Whereas Disc 1 is more diverse, Disc 2 has some of Rush finest songs on it. The only big problem I find here is that this double-disc album is nearly 3 hours long. Of course, I have no problems with albums of 1.5 hours long, in fact, I enjoy it more than an album of only half an hour. However, 3 hours long is very big for my tastes, and although It’s divided into two discs, I can easily switch of to something shorter, like my new SOAD CD. But if you’d come across this complication album, and you have some money with you, it’s definitely worth the purchase. Of course only if you like progressive, rock, pop or any subgenre of it.
Pro’s
- The talent of the three musicians is incredible
- Rush at it’s best
- 3 hours of Rush to enjoy
Con’s
- Songs on disc 2 tend to look the same
- Some songs on disc 1 drag down as the song progress
- Almost 3 hours is very, very long
Top 6 of disc 1
1. Fly By Night
2. The Spirit Of Radio
3. Closer By The Heart
4. The Temples Of Syrinx
5. La Villa Strangiato
6. Xanadu
Songs on disc 1 I don’t care for
By-Tor And The Snow Dog
Finding My Way
Top 6 of disc 2
1. Tom Sawyer
2. Distant Early Warning
3. Mystic Rhythms
4. Time Stand Still
5. The Big Money
6. Force Ten
Songs on disc 2 I don’t care for
Red Barchetta
Limelight
