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Thread: FEATURED CD: Rush - Caress of Steel

  1. #1
    Moderator Poisoned Youth's Avatar
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    FEATURED CD: Rush - Caress of Steel

    Here's a throwback from Rush's early catalog. How does this one measure up after 40 years?



    Review from Ultimate Classic Rock:
    “I think we were pretty high when we made a lot of that record,” Geddy Lee said of Caress of Steel in the Rush documentary, Beyond the Lighted Stage. “And it sounds like it to me.”

    Indeed. On one hand, the Canadian trio’s third LP, which was released on Sept. 24, 1975, was a stoned leap forward. It built on their foundation of virtuoso hard-rock with the mystical imagery and progressive suite structures that dominated their ’70s work. Rush are one of the great prog-rock bands, and Caress of Steel is their first real prog album. But despite its importance, it remains the black sheep of their catalog with its meandering instrumentals and shrieked vocals; even the band members feel uncomfortable listening to it decades later.

    “That whole Caress of Steel period is stuck in a strange and funny moment in our history,” Lee told Rolling Stone in 2014. “I really don’t know how that would stand the test of time.”

    In June 1975, the band entered Toronto Sound Studios, intent on expanding their musical ambitions – and side-stepping the obvious critical comparisons. “We’ve been influenced by everyone who’s good,” Lee told St. Catharines Standard that year. “We’re constantly being compared to Led Zeppelin, but that’s only because my voice sounds like Robert Plant‘s – it’s an unfortunate coincidence.”

    Working closely with producer Terry Brown, the trio – bassist-singer Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, drummer-lyricist Neil Peart – dove headfirst into fantasy storytelling, black-light psychedelia and heavy riffs. The results were admirably eclectic, ranging from the thundering march of “Bastille Day” to ethereal epic “The Necromancer,” which references Tolkien, Satan and themselves, both in the name-checking of “By-Tor & the Snow Dog” and the story involving “three men from Willowdale.”

    Caress is almost unrivaled in its blend of brilliance and stupidity. “Lakeside Park” is lite-prog excellence: funky Lee bassline, blistering Lifeson guitar solo, sing-along chorus. Then there’s “I Think I’m Going Bald,” which recycles a generic blues-rock riff and lyrics that are self-explanatory. The closer, “The Fountain of Lamneth,” condenses that insanity down to 20 minutes – for every mesmerizing passage (Lifeson’s nylon-string guitar), there’s a nails-on-chalkboard Lee screech.

    “We played it in our van for [Kiss‘ Paul Stanley] one night [on tour], and you could see that he just didn’t get it,” Lifeson recalled in Beyond the Lighted Stage. “A lot of people didn’t get it. We wondered if we even got it!”

    The band’s cult following continued to grow in small increments, but the album flat-lined their commercial momentum. It barely cracked the Billboard 200 at No. 148 and set the table for Rush’s self-deprecatingly dubbed “Down the Tubes” tour.

    “That was a depressing time,” Lee told The Guardian in 2011. “You’d pull up at a venue and they didn’t even expect you there; it was humiliation after humiliation. Your shoulders start to slump, and you wonder why you’re playing a rock club in Oklahoma City on a wet Tuesday night. The label and the management wanted us to follow a straight path, but we went hard left. We were convinced we would be dropped and end up back home playing bars.”

    Despite its inconsistencies, Caress of Steel was a crucial step in Rush’s evolution, setting the foundation for their breakthrough LP, 1976’s 2112.

    “‘The Fountain of Lamneth’ on Caress of Steel, was really our first full concept song, and ‘2112’ was an extension of it,” Alex Lifeson told Guitar World in 2008. “That was a tough period for Rush because Caress of Steel didn’t do that well commercially, but we were really happy with it and wanted to develop that style.”

    “A lot of the early stuff I’m really proud of,” Lee told Raw Magazine in 1993. “Some of it sounds really goofy, but some of it stands up better than I gave it credit for. As weird as my voice sounds when I listen back, I certainly dig some of the arrangements. I can’t go back beyond 2112 really, because that starts to get a bit hairy for me, and if I hear ‘Lakeside Park’ on the radio I cringe. What a lousy song! Still, I don’t regret anything that I’ve done!” - Ryan Reed


    WANTED: Sig-worthy quote.

  2. #2
    Member Vic2012's Avatar
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    A step down from Fly By Night but I'll take it over Hold Your Fire a thousand times. COS is clumsy in places but I like the whole stoned out vibe of it.

  3. #3
    Seen as a post-psych hard rock album, this is actually much better than some of its rep allows. Even "The Necromancer" would be great if it had come from one of their sources of influence, say, Budgie or Blue Cheer or Frijid Pink.

    "Lamneth" is so-so, but there are traces of what would ensue. I like this more than I do the fragmented sci-fi-metal of the following record, although it's not exactly Permanent Waves.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
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    I've always thought this one lack direction in writing, inconsistent and weak. I like some of it but find Fly By Night and 2112 much better efforts. Love the cover though.

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    Liked it then, like it now.

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    Member Jerjo's Avatar
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    I actually like it more now than I did back then. The two epics aren't as tight and focused as what came later but they're a pleasant listen, especially for Alex's guitar textures. "Lakeside Park" and "Bastille Day" came across better on the live album where the guitar had a bigger sound and Ged's bass thundered properly.
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    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    I really like the two long pieces when I'm in the mood for that kind of thing. There's a naive charm to them that I rather enjoy. Bastille Day is a decent enough opening rocker, nothing particularly special to my ears. The other two songs are among the worst they did in the 70s IMO.
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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    I am a fan.

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    ״my eyes have just been opened, and they opened very wide!"...
    What an a terrific album, one of my favorite by Rush. I used to listen to it in my old Walkman on my way to school in late 80's. I touched me deeply.

  10. #10
    Estimated Prophet notallwhowander's Avatar
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    I like this one. Sure the band hadn't hit their stride yet, but damn they are having fun and chasing the dream. The fact that they went on to get better rather than worse frames the album nicely, and allows the idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies to be taken with a smile instead of a grimace.
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  11. #11
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    LOVE it. Lakeside Park has a ton of memories for me growing up, partying on Saturday nights at "The Embankment", playing in a Rush cover band in high school.

  12. #12
    Jefferson James
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    I love this album to pieces and, honestly, I pretty much learned how to play guitar learning Alex's licks on this album. There's a naivety to the riff-age I find charming. Geddy's vocals are awesome. I have no idea what the album is about but I've smoked ounces and ounces listening to the thing. I think it's one of their better albums.

  13. #13
    Member mellotron storm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KerryKompost View Post
    I love this album to pieces and, honestly, I pretty much learned how to play guitar learning Alex's licks on this album. There's a naivety to the riff-age I find charming. Geddy's vocals are awesome. I have no idea what the album is about but I've smoked ounces and ounces listening to the thing. I think it's one of their better albums.
    Yeah I was going to say that this was a great stoner album back in the day, especially driving around the beaches here listening to the two longer tracks.
    Lakeside Park resonates with me growing up in a tourist town, the lyrics are so meaningful and true for me. Bastille Day was their concert opener for years. Their humour is front and center on I Think I'm Going Bald. Big fan of this one.

    Oh, and it was dedicated to the memory of Rod Serling.
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  14. #14
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    For some reason I didn't listen to this album until just a few years ago. I actually think the whole thing is great!

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    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Manowar called, they want their album title back!

  16. #16
    Member mellotron storm's Avatar
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    By the way I spun it this afternoon and it really made my day, memories. Love the review posted for this as well Poisoned Youth.
    "The wind is slowly tearing her apart"
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  17. #17
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    I wish they would have fixed the colour of the album cover on all the subsequent pressings after the first one was botched to give it the 'bronze' hue.
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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  18. #18
    I never understood the band's negative emotions on this one. It is a very important step in the band's development of its vision, they could not just go from Fly by Night to 2112 in one step. Side A with Bastille Day, Lakeside Park and Necromancer should be at least equal in quality terms to 2112's side B, so the issue has to be the Fountain of Lamneth. I love its innocence - musically, lyrically - its raw sound, its groping in the dark attitude, its lack of perfectionism, perfectionism that eventually strangled their creativity.

  19. #19
    Member Mascodagama's Avatar
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    The only Rush album I ever feel the desire to listen to, though largely for reasons of nostalgia - it was my first as a teenage fan in the eighties.

  20. #20
    Member oilersfan's Avatar
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    Of the first three albums, it's the one I reach for the most frequently. It's one of those where I think it's pretty clear to see what the band were trying to do but the ambition outstretched the music in many ways.

  21. #21
    Member Paulrus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zappathustra View Post
    I never understood the band's negative emotions on this one. It is a very important step in the band's development of its vision, they could not just go from Fly by Night to 2112 in one step. Side A with Bastille Day, Lakeside Park and Necromancer should be at least equal in quality terms to 2112's side B, so the issue has to be the Fountain of Lamneth. I love its innocence - musically, lyrically - its raw sound, its groping in the dark attitude, its lack of perfectionism, perfectionism that eventually strangled their creativity.
    This pretty much captures my thoughts. I've never been a stoner but I always enjoyed the mid-70s stoner-rock vibe of the album. It was definitely "of its time". You can almost picture the 14 year old pimply kids playing D&D (I was definitely one of those!) with this on in the background.

    And count me as a big fan of the whole "Fountain of Lamneth" suite. They were probably shooting too high, but that's what I LIKE about bands. Please -- take big chances. The missteps will be a learning experience and the parts that work will pay dividends for years. In a weird way I felt like Clockwork Angels was sort of a nod back to the Fountain of Lamneth, and I was really hoping they would dust it off and at least play parts of it on that tour. I think it would have slotted in quite comfortably.
    I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.

  22. #22
    I have an abiding love of this album and favor it over the first two albums (which I also like). To me, the silliness of things like "I Think I'm Going Bald" is part of the charm.

  23. #23
    Member hFx's Avatar
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    My first Rush album and it's still close to my heart - the only album earlier than AFTK that I return to. To this day, the Bastille Day and I Think I'm Going Bald riffs reoccurs in my warm-up routine
    My Progressive Workshop at http://soundcloud.com/hfxx

  24. #24
    Some have already used the words I use to describe this - equal parts youthful naivete and innocence combined with youthful enthusiasm. I don't listen to this as much now as the later stuff but there's still a time where it hits the spot. I like the "brown" tone of the guitar and bass but now that I'm thinking of it, the drums don't stand out to me as much as on other albums, i.e. memorable fills, etc.

    I don't get Geddy's hate for "Lakeside Park" though. I think it's poignant and rather "mature" for someone in their early 20's to be lamenting the "loss of youth" that went with good times at this park. I mean, if it was someone in their early 20's lamenting about being too old to go trick-or-treating on Halloween anymore, now THAT would be goofy...
    You say Mega Ultra Deluxe Special Limited Edition Extended Autographed 5-LP, 3-CD, 4-DVD, 2-BlueRay, 4-Cassette, five 8-Track, MP4 Download plus Demos, Outtakes, Booklet, T-Shirt and Guitar Pick Gold-Leafed Box Set Version like it's a bad thing...

  25. #25
    I tried with this album, really I did, but it just never clicked with me. Same with 2112, A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres. I guess “epic” Rush is just not for me. Their [analog] synth era (Permanent Waves through to Signals) is the only Rush I ever really liked.
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