November 21, 1989 - Presto
About three weeks after my last release and over two years since "Hold Your Fire", Rush released their thirteenth studio album "Presto" on November 21, 1989. This album marks a change in style for Rush as they collectively decided to use less computers and synthesizers and go back to a simpler, more guitar-driven rock sound. I like the sound of that and so did Alex Lifeson who was thrilled to be back in a more central role. Can Rush reclaim some of their former pre-80s glory? Let's find out!
Side two opens with "Superconductor" and Alex and Geddy sync up their guitars for a forceful and pretty cool main riff, showing some signs of their more energetic side. This song is nicely more upbeat and thankfully Lifeson isn't glued to this new light guitar sound. After a couple decent verses and choruses it would seem like solo time, but instead we hear some lame synths and a pretty anticlimactic instrumental part before they just return to the main riff. Track 8 is called "Anagram (For Mongo)" and Peart had some fun with the lyrics on this song as each line contains words that are anagrams of other words in that line. The song doesn't make a ton of sense, but Neil clearly enjoyed all the wordplay. The music is another decent rock riff with Geddy playing some piano on this song, but like all the others it's just a decent, light riff that never brings you to the edge of your seat. Peart does a few nice drum fills, but otherwise it's another pretty tame track. Up next is "Red Tide" and it's got a good amount of keyboards as Geddy plays some lame synths in the opening/chorus riff and he also plays piano in the verse. The verse is very quiet and calm and it seems Rush couldn't completely leave behind their lame 80s style as this sounds like it could have been off their last album. The lyrics of this song are about climate change and for 1989 it seems Neil was very ahead of the curve on this subject. Lifeson plays a cool little solo in the middle of the song, but it's very short and feels like a tease of great Rush in a mostly mediocre song. Track 10 is "Hand Over Fist" and they kick right into a light chorus riff that is actually pretty catchy and seems to be about rock, paper, scissors! It's still not what I'd like Rush to be doing, especially Lifeson's light guitar sound, but nevertheless this song keeps the toes tapping and the head bopping. Alex does get a chance for another nice solo, but once again it's not nearly long enough and they go right back to the light main riff to predictably jam things out. The album wraps up with "Available Light" and it's a slow piano-driven song with a pretty boring and unexciting main riff. These guys did record "Hemispheres" right? Same guys? It's almost unbelievable as their awesome talents are wasted on slow songs like this one. The chorus actually has some solid guitar and drums, but the soft and slow verse is so much longer. Lifeson gets a little longer to solo in this one, but he doesn't do a lot with it as this thoroughly average album finally comes to an end.
That is the end of "Presto" and I thought it was an extremely disappointing album from these rock gods. There was no bite to any of these songs and it's so sad to see that Rush have settled into a light rock band. I thought their last album "Hold Your Fire" was their worst effort, but this new one takes the unfortunate cake as it is easily Rush's least good album to date. The 80s started off with a couple amazing albums, but Rush have fallen far by the end of the decade. I hope the 90s bring Rush back to their senses a bit, bit we will have to wait and see. This is also my final album of the year (and the decade!) and so begins the year-end wrap-up! Nine albums this year is the most I've had in a while as the dreaded 80s finally come to a close and we move into (in my opinion) a much better decade, the 90s.
Favourite song of the year: As usual there are a few contenders and it's so difficult to pick just one song. With an honourable mention to Soundgarden's "Gun" (which is also an awesome song) I think my favourite was "The Ytse Jam" by Dream Theater which had a ton of awesome music on all instruments.
Top 5 Albums of the Year
1. Louder Than Love by Soundgarden
2. Bleach by Nirvana
3. Flying In A Blue Dream by Joe Satriani
4. When Dream And Day Unite by Dream Theater
5. Mother's Milk by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Grunge rules the roost at the end of the 80s and tops among them is Soundgarden at this point. This heavy and dark genre continues into the early 90s and I'm excited to see where all these bands in my top 5 will go from here! Onward to the 1990s!
The album kicks off with the lead single "Show Don't Tell" and it starts with a pretty upbeat rock riff with solid drums, bass and guitar combining to make a cool riff. Once Geddy Lee begins the first verse though, his singing and the music are both pretty soft and it's a much lighter guitar riff with much quieter bass and drums. Between the verse and chorus they briefly return to the cool opening riff, but the chorus is also very light and not all that exciting. I love that there are no synthesizers, but even some of the synth-led 80s stuff had more bite to it than most of this song. After another verse and chorus they move to a brief instrumental section with some cool drums by Neil Peart and some nice bass by Geddy, but then they wrap things up with a few bland choruses in this mixed bag of an opener. Up next is "Chain Lightning" and it's driven by another light rock riff that certainly isn't bad by any means, but it just feels very flat and unexciting considering this is Rush! Geddy leads a decent verse but I certainly had higher hopes for a more guitar-driven album than the light rock Rush seem to have settled into in the past couple years. Most of this song is a little on the lighter side for me, but it does have a cool guitar solo by Lifeson in the middle and Peart plays some pretty sweet drums to back him as well. It ends with a very strange and very deep voice saying "that's nice" and this was certainly not one of Rush's better songs. Track 3 is the only other single on the album, called "The Pass" and Geddy plays an interesting stop-and-start bass riff while Lifeson adds some more very light guitar. This song has a very slow and simple main riff, and to me it seems almost beneath these talented musicians to play such simple stuff. Once again, things don't sound bad, but they really don't sound like Rush! This song is nearly five minutes long, and there's not really anything noteworthy happening, which is a sad decline for such an amazingly talented band. The next song is "War Paint" and it's the first song on this album that still has some synths! Geddy plays synths, bass and sings in the verse but it's another mediocre (by Rush's standards, I can't stress enough that lesser Rush is still way better than most bands) main riff and Lifeson continues to use the same light guitar sound. This song is very repetitive and, like all the others, is not bad but it's definitely not great. What happened to this once great band? Track 5 is called "Scars" and it's driven by a bass-like sequencer riff played by Geddy while Peart plays an interesting and very cool drum beat. This is a welcome change of pace to all the light riffs so far and Geddy sings a solid verse overtop as well. Lifeson's guitar is barely noticeable, but Neil keeps things interesting with some cool electronic and regular drums throughout this track. Up next is the title track "Presto" and it's the longest song on the album, but at just 5:45, it's still pretty short for Rush. Lifeson plays another light guitar riff, but it's acoustic this time and at least that isn't supposed to sound heavy! Geddy sings another decent verse but the passion and explosive energy of past Rush seems to have completely dissipated. If this was some new band playing this song, I'd think much more highly of it, because it's really still a solid rock song, but when compared to their previous work, it sounds so tuned down and tame.
Side two opens with "Superconductor" and Alex and Geddy sync up their guitars for a forceful and pretty cool main riff, showing some signs of their more energetic side. This song is nicely more upbeat and thankfully Lifeson isn't glued to this new light guitar sound. After a couple decent verses and choruses it would seem like solo time, but instead we hear some lame synths and a pretty anticlimactic instrumental part before they just return to the main riff. Track 8 is called "Anagram (For Mongo)" and Peart had some fun with the lyrics on this song as each line contains words that are anagrams of other words in that line. The song doesn't make a ton of sense, but Neil clearly enjoyed all the wordplay. The music is another decent rock riff with Geddy playing some piano on this song, but like all the others it's just a decent, light riff that never brings you to the edge of your seat. Peart does a few nice drum fills, but otherwise it's another pretty tame track. Up next is "Red Tide" and it's got a good amount of keyboards as Geddy plays some lame synths in the opening/chorus riff and he also plays piano in the verse. The verse is very quiet and calm and it seems Rush couldn't completely leave behind their lame 80s style as this sounds like it could have been off their last album. The lyrics of this song are about climate change and for 1989 it seems Neil was very ahead of the curve on this subject. Lifeson plays a cool little solo in the middle of the song, but it's very short and feels like a tease of great Rush in a mostly mediocre song. Track 10 is "Hand Over Fist" and they kick right into a light chorus riff that is actually pretty catchy and seems to be about rock, paper, scissors! It's still not what I'd like Rush to be doing, especially Lifeson's light guitar sound, but nevertheless this song keeps the toes tapping and the head bopping. Alex does get a chance for another nice solo, but once again it's not nearly long enough and they go right back to the light main riff to predictably jam things out. The album wraps up with "Available Light" and it's a slow piano-driven song with a pretty boring and unexciting main riff. These guys did record "Hemispheres" right? Same guys? It's almost unbelievable as their awesome talents are wasted on slow songs like this one. The chorus actually has some solid guitar and drums, but the soft and slow verse is so much longer. Lifeson gets a little longer to solo in this one, but he doesn't do a lot with it as this thoroughly average album finally comes to an end.
That is the end of "Presto" and I thought it was an extremely disappointing album from these rock gods. There was no bite to any of these songs and it's so sad to see that Rush have settled into a light rock band. I thought their last album "Hold Your Fire" was their worst effort, but this new one takes the unfortunate cake as it is easily Rush's least good album to date. The 80s started off with a couple amazing albums, but Rush have fallen far by the end of the decade. I hope the 90s bring Rush back to their senses a bit, bit we will have to wait and see. This is also my final album of the year (and the decade!) and so begins the year-end wrap-up! Nine albums this year is the most I've had in a while as the dreaded 80s finally come to a close and we move into (in my opinion) a much better decade, the 90s.
Favourite song of the year: As usual there are a few contenders and it's so difficult to pick just one song. With an honourable mention to Soundgarden's "Gun" (which is also an awesome song) I think my favourite was "The Ytse Jam" by Dream Theater which had a ton of awesome music on all instruments.
Top 5 Albums of the Year
1. Louder Than Love by Soundgarden
2. Bleach by Nirvana
3. Flying In A Blue Dream by Joe Satriani
4. When Dream And Day Unite by Dream Theater
5. Mother's Milk by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Grunge rules the roost at the end of the 80s and tops among them is Soundgarden at this point. This heavy and dark genre continues into the early 90s and I'm excited to see where all these bands in my top 5 will go from here! Onward to the 1990s!
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