Demonic Tutor is correct when he says "It is after all a Rush album." The musicianship and precision of Rush is unparalleled. However, this is clearly the low point of their four-album foray into 80s keyboard-esque pop. Thank goodness two years later they released "Presto" and freed themselves from this downward spiral.

Written by lunchtime on 27.07.2012 at 01:39

Demonic Tutor is correct when he says "It is after all a Rush album." The musicianship and precision of Rush is unparalleled. However, this is clearly the low point of their four-album foray into 80s keyboard-esque pop. Thank goodness two years later they released "Presto" and freed themselves from this downward spiral.

"Downward Spiral"? Dunno if I would call it that. It was just another benchmark in their career. Experimenting with the hottest musical genre in Europe at the time was what they wanted to do. Also, "Force Ten" is one of my favorite Rush songs. Love the atmosphere and presentation.

Yes I will take back the "downward spiral" remark. A poor choice of words. What I was driving at was that, for my taste, with each successive album released in the mid-80s, Rush moved more toward what could nearly be called "Easy Listening". I agree, "Force Ten" is a hot track, even better when it's performed live. Don't take me the wrong way, I listen to all 19 of Rush's studio albums and enjoy them all, to varying degrees. Can't wait to see them live in September in Indy!

Another great album from the 80's!!

This might actually be my favourite of the 3rd four-album cycle (i.e. the synth years).

Not their best, but the music is still a hell of a lot better than the videos. Time Stand Still?

Not one of my personal favorites, definitely my least favorite Rush album from the 80s. Whereas an album like Power Windows still sounds like Rush to me but with an 80s gloss, Hold Your Fire sounds like a typical 80s pop rock album that just so happens to feature Rush. Obviously there's still some good tracks on here (Prime Mover, High Water) but I find it to be a bit inconsistent and harder to get into overall. The title is pretty apt, as the band does seem to "hold its fire" and water the music down compared to the energy and vibrancy of every record to come out before this one. It's okay, but not necessarily a must have.

This is where their 80's synth style started to sound stale. After a great start the quality starts to drop fast towards mediocre until the end. Luckily the band noticed the same thing, since they attempted to fix it in their next few albums, but aside from couple of killer songs they never managed to top their best synth rock albums.

IMO one of their weakest records. With that said I think it's all worthwhile, which says a lot about the quality of Rush. The strings of songs starting from Prime Mover and ending with Turn the Page is pretty good