728 Rush - Hemispheres (1978)

 728 Rush - Hemispheres (1978)

Studio Album - Prog Rock


About the Act:

Rush were a Canadian Hard Rock/Prog Rock band who existed from 1968-2018. I wonder when they first started if they ever imagined they would be rocking for 50 years. For much of their existence they were a threesome, Geddy Lee (bass, vocals), Alex Lifeson (guitars) and Neil Peart (drums). They also all contributed synth work. 

Their defining features were combining Heavy Rock, verging on Heavy Metal, of the style of Led Zeppelin and others, with more progressive elements— long songs, complex structures and rhythms, and sci-fi and fantasy content. The other defining feature was that they were very musically “tight” - a term which means not only playing very closely in time, but also very much complementary to each other - almost indefinably playing as a unit rather than as separate musicians. They managed to become more progressive towards the end of the 70s and into the 80s, unlike British Prog bands at the time.

About the Album:

This was their sixth studio album. This is the one with the naked bloke standing on a brain.

My History with this Album:

I've had a copy of this album for a while, and have heard it several times before. Also, I reviewed it for my previous set of reviews which were all Prog Rock.

Review:

Musically this is typical Rush, but let's see if I can give a better description if you are not familiar. They are a threesome, and mostly this is drums, guitar and bass, with some simple synth added. Sometimes there are acoustic guitars, and some interesting noises. It's heavy rock in the main (some people used to class them as Heavy Metal), witch crunchy guitar at times, and sometimes crunchy or effects-using bass. All very complex, with sophisticated harmonic structures and odd, and sometimes shifting, time signatures. Their approach is both simple and complex, in that instrumentation, and things like studio trickery and overdubs, are usually pretty simple, but the actual notes are very complex. This gives a strong, tight and very coordinated sound, and I often think that their approach to this might have been influenced heavily by the desire to have their tracks so they can be replicated live. I wish I could have seen them live as their technical musicianship was amazing.

Anyway, on top of that, is the singing. Geddy Lee has one of the highest voices in rock, probably higher than Jon Anderson of Yes. He's a very competent singer, and putting it all together, the sound is distinctive. Let's get onto specifics.

The album has a long side one, a fantasy epic, "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres". Rush have made a thing out of fantasy epics, but this one leaves me somewhat bored, both musically and thematically. There are three tracks on the second side, the first is "circumstances" which I found quite pedestrian also. The second is "Trees" which is a satirical story about unionisation, and I love it, both musically and lyrically. The third is "La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise in Self-Indulgence)" - which is a long, multi-part instrumental and an impressive piece of music, and which I also love. It's Rock, it's Rush, it has gentler bits, it's well-played, but in the end my reaction is mixed.

7.3/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2vrM9ltjKIvNg3nkwXoJuc

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICvBHdl0-do

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemispheres_(Rush_album)



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