Rush - Hold Your Fire - review

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Rush - Hold Your Fire - review

Cover image of the reviewed item
Band
Rush
Album
Hold Your Fire
Style
Progressive rock
Release date
1987
Reviewer
7.7
7.4
Tracklist
01. Force Ten
02. Time Stand Still
03. Open Secrets
04. Second Nature
05. Prime Mover
06. Lock And Key
07. Mission
08. Turn The Page
09. Tai Shan
10. High Water
A review by
Dream Taster
April 23, 2010
Take your chequered jacket out of the closet and go get a slick and oily haircut; yes it is the 80's all over again when listening to Hold Your Fire. Canada's own progressive rock icons Rush did release a lot of studio albums over the years and I doubt this one ranks very high even amongst die-hard fans. Nevertheless, 1987's Hold Your Fire deserves due credits. It is after all a Rush album.

From the get-go, the music sounds more like 1980's pop music than it ever did. However, the great musicianship is still there. The extended progressive breaks featured on previous efforts are gone and the choruses are rather generic for Rush's standards. This renders the songs easier to assimilate for the general public, which is bound to anger fans who grew up grooving to 2012. Yet, Neil Peart's drumming is once again dead-on. Geddy's bass gimmicks are top-notch and Alex Lifeson's guitar parts are striking.

The songs generally harbour cheerful melodies and oodles of keyboards. If you can get past the dated aspects of these compositions, Hold Your Fire is a solid release. Standout tracks include "Lock and Key", which has a clear-cut power edge over the rest of the album, and "Mission", which features a grandiose chorus.

Despite the definite eighties sound, Hold Your Fire remains a solid progressive rock album with classic moments such as "Lock and Key" or "Mission". The amazing trio might not be famous for this specific release but it is definitely a solid album in my opinion. While some of you might be wondering where are the insane freestyle progressive trips showcased on previous albums, some of you might ending up enjoying the more light-hearted pace and the overly happy melodies of these songs.


Highlights: "Lock and Key", "Mission"
Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 8
Production: 8
Written on 23.04.2010 by
Dream Taster
Written on 23.04.2010 by
Dream Taster
Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as:

"A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?"

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Comments

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Comments: 2 Visited by 85 users

Posts: 153
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+1
23.04.2010 - 18:35

Posts: 153


Although I'm still a hardcore, old school Rush fan, this album isn't that bad considering the time period and where Rush were at musically. I consider it one of their more "mature" efforts in their long history, albeit a slower more thoughtful one. I have the distinct honor of having seen Rush live in Minneapolis in 1996, and they did 2112 all the way through from beginning to end, none of that medly bullshit. Good review dude.

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JohnDoe
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+1
23.04.2010 - 19:09
JohnDoe
Account deleted
It's a good album, not my favourite, but still good music!
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