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Rating: One of the most underrated rock albums is the right definition for 'Caress of Steel'.
Released in 1975, it marks the boundary between the hard rock and progressive period of Rush. While elements like short songs with hard guitar riffs and vocals bordering on a scream still prevail, you can also notice the beginning of the first suites, whose listening is less immediate for those not accustomed to them. Perhaps this is why critics totally ignore it and the public tends to snub it, then as now. 'Caress of Steel' is still the least sold album by Rush. But why? Is it because of the unattractive cover? The fact is that it succeeds in reconciling two very different musical genres so well, that it naturally leads to a sigh of regret for the sad fate of this LP.
The musicians are in total harmony, with the excellent Neil Peart on drums, who also writes all the song lyrics and proves to be a good lyricist, Alex Lifeson on guitar more in shape than ever, and then the Colossus with a capital C, Mr. Geddy Lee, who with his granite voice silences everyone. Shall we speak of his majestic way of playing bass with extraordinary technique? A piece like Bastille Day is indeed compelling, a healthy slice of hard rock with countless overdubs, the result of considerable studio work, and a fantastic solo by Alex Lifeson. I Think I'm Going Bald represents the comic side that the band has always loved, as it narrates the (mis)adventures of a man going bald. The riff is simple but effective. Lakeside Park is one of the beautiful ballads typically Rush, where you are surprised how Geddy Lee manages to sing and play the bass lines at the same time. In the finale, we find the beautiful arpeggiated guitar with that effect that Alex Lifeson loves so much (and that we also hear in '2112'). The first side ends with the first suite in Rush's history: The Necromancer, a tale of a necromancer who enchants the lands with his dark power, as heard in the gloomy first piece Into The Darkness. Exceptional drum breaks in the piece Under the Shadow and Geddy breaks the speaker boxes with his voice, then the bass begins to travel, culminating in the concluding Return of the Prince, after the super-fast guitar solo. A bit like the Return of the King in the Lord of the Rings, the return of the prince marks the end of the black magic and the restoration of peace and prosperity in the enchanted lands, and the melody becomes more cheerful: arpeggio again, a symposium in music.
Side B: The Fountain of Lamneth divided into: - In The Valley, fantastic acoustic intro and main riff of the suite with the first prog tones. - Didacts and Narpets, fast virtuosity of Neil Peart. - No One at the Bridge, a great and suggestive slow piece with a quite remarkable melodic line. - Panacea, another fantastic acoustic interlude, tear-inducing. - Bacchus Plateau, the electric guitar returns and a new magic begins, great as always Geddy Lee. - The Fountain, grand conclusion, with a reprise of the main theme and a quiet ending with the acoustic. A suite worthy of the name, nothing more to add.
I give 'Caress of Steel' a 5 because it is perfectly played, because it's a beautiful album, because I'm a fan of Rush and therefore not very impartial and critical, because it's a pleasure every time to listen to it again, because I pity its sad fate but most of all I give it a 5 because I'm tired of the usual nitpickers who wrinkle their noses when I talk about it.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Bastille Day (04:40)
Ooh, there's no bread, let them eat cake
There's no end to what they'll take
Flaunt the fruits of noble birth
Wash the salt into the earth
But they're marching to Bastille Day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Free the dungeons of the innocent
The king will kneel, and let his kingdom rise
Ooh, bloodstained velvet, dirty lace
Naked fear on every face
See them bow their heads to die
As we would bow as they rode by
And we're marching to Bastille Day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Sing, o choirs of cacophony
The king has kneeled, to let his kingdom rise
Lessons taught, but never learned
All around us, anger burns
Guide the future by the past
Long ago, the mould was cast
For they marched up to Bastille Day
La guillotine claimed her bloody prize
Hear the echoes of the centuries
Power isn't all that money buys, whoa
02 I Think I'm Going Bald (03:41)
I looked in the mirror today
My eyes just didn't seem so bright
I've lost a few more hairs
I think I'm going bald
I think I'm going bald
Seems like only yesterday
We would sit and talk of dreams all night
Dreams of youth
And simple truths
Now we're so involved
So involved with life
Walk down vanity fair
Memory lane everywhere
Wall Street shuffles there
Dressed in flowing hair
Once we loved the flowers
Now we ask the price of the land
Once we would take water
But now it must be wine
Now we've been
And now we've seen
What price peace of mind
Take a piece of my mind
My life is slipping away
I'm aging every day
But even when I'm grey
I'll still be grey my way
03 Lakeside Park (04:10)
Midway hawkers calling
"Try your luck with me"
Merry-go-round wheezing
The same old melody
A thousand ten cent wonders
Who could ask for more?
A pocketful of silver
The key to heaven's door
Lakeside Park
Willows in the breeze
Lakeside Park
So many memories
Laughing rides
Midway lights
Shining stars on summer nights
Days of barefoot freedom
Racing with the waves
Nights of starlit secrets
Crackling driftwood flames
Drinking by the lighthouse
Smoking on the pier
Still we saw the magic
Was fading every year
Lakeside Park
Willows in the breeze
Lakeside Park
So many memories
Laughing rides
Midway lights
Shining stars on summer nights
Everyone would gather
On the twenty-fourth of May
Sitting in the sand
To watch the fireworks display
Dancing fires on the beach
Singing songs together
Tho it's just a memory
Some memories last forever
04 The Necromancer: I. Into the Darkness / II. Under the Shadow / III. Return of the Prince (12:32)
05 The Fountain of Lamneth: I. In the Valley / II. Didacts and Narpets / III. No One at the Bridge / IV. Panacea / V. Bacchus Plateau / VI. The Fountain (19:57)
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