lordchimp253
"Lack of focus can't undermine quality of the material."
A Place for Music Fans!
Classic Rock, Hard Rock & Metal, and Rock album by Rush
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First, let me state that I am a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE Rush fan. I listen to at least one of their albums every single day!! I like them all, and my three stars are only in relation to other Rush albums, which get more. But...
-1
The two epic tracks on this album deserve scarely a mention. In their next album, 2112, the title track of that was an instant classic. On CARESS OF STEEL, THE FOUNTAINS OF LAMNETH just doesn't get it done. Musically it lacks variety and cohesion. Their earlier album had the semi-epic BY-TOR AND THE SNOW DOG, which lyrically was silly, was musically VERY dramatic. 2112 was a logical progression...but CARESS OF STEEL took them back as step. I simply don't listen to those songs anymore!
However, the three "short" songs are terrific and worth the album.
BASTILLE DAY has one of Rush's greatest opening riffs. I challenge you NOT to get a little jazzed up just by the opening few seconds. Lyrically, Peart is VERY solid with this song, with great lines like "The King must kneel / to let his kingdom rise." The guitar solo is first rate as well. Back when I went to high school (early '80s) we would have said this song "wailed."
I THINK I'M GOING BALD In my opinion, the most over-looked song in Rush's cannon. It's catchy in a finger-snapping sort of way...and how many Rush songs can you say THAT about??? It's funny. And Geddy's "distinctive" voice really leant itself well to the song. So dust off that old LP and listen to it again.
LAKESIDE PARK Mid-tempo rocker with some heart. Although Rush only occasionally has delved into revealing true, "personal" feelings (that is until VAPOR TRAILS laid Neil Peart's heart bare), this gentle, wistful song very neatly evokes the times of their youth...not so many years gone by at that point, but already missed. I sure think they ought to start bringing this one out in concert again...I'll bet it would be even more packed with significance. It's just about remembering the fun, summer-lazy times at Lakeside Park, laying around, watching fireworks, etc., but it has an evocation of youthful yearning that wouldn't really come around again until THE ANALOG KID on SIGNALS.
This is NOT the Rush album for a casual fan or newcomer. But for the die-hard, there are three gems in the rough!
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More Caress of Steel reviews
While 1975's Caress of Steel is not as widely acclaimed as 2112 or Moving Pictures this album will certainly satisfy any hard rock/progressive/heavy metal fan that is not intimidated by long material (this is a 40 minute album that contains only 5 songs, 2 running over 10 minutes) The trio of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart will go down in history as one of the greatest power trios in rock and music history. these three can generate more noise than a band … more
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review by TomBenton.
April 22, 2006
CARESS OF STEEL, the third album by Rush, was intended to be the band's big breakthrough album. It was far from that, however; fans and critics alike deemed it a failure. That seems unfair, though. While it's not the band's crowning achievement, CARESS OF STEEL is one of the band's finest early releases, sporting two popular tunes ("Bastille Day" and "Lakeside Park") and the band's first two epics, "The Necromancer" and "The Fountain of Lamnenth". Of course, the album also features the rather ridiculous … more
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review by lordchimp253.
April 21, 2001
Although this is one of Rush's most unfocused records, I've always really liked it. I guess the band hadn't quite cohered entirely at this point, and it's a bit weird to have one song about heroes fighting against an evil wizard and another song about getting old and losing your hair. The side-long epic "The Fountain of Lamneth" shows that the band hadn't quite mastered the long format. For one, the song FEELS long (and it is, at twenty minutes), whereas later Rush epics seem to zip by. Still, it's … more
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About the reviewer
rmurray847
Ranked #254
Ranked #254
I've got my own site, www.afilmcritic.com, on which I'm posting my reviews. I am 46 years old, married 25 years, two kids (23 & 18) and currently work in accounting/finance. I spent 15 years … more
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Japanese only paper sleeve SHM pressing. The SHM-CD [Super High Material CD] format features enhanced audio quality through the use of a special polycarbonate plastic. Using a process developed by JVC and Universal Music Japan discovered through the joint companies' research into LCD display manufacturing SHM-CDs feature improved transparency on the data side of the disc allowing for more accurate reading of CD data by the CD player laser head. SHM-CD format CDs are fully compatible with standard CD players. Warner. 2009.--This text refers to an alternateAudio CDedition.
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