Rush - "Working Men"

Rush - Working Men
2009, Atlantic

1. Limelight
2. The Spirit of Radio
3. 2112
4. Freewill
5. Dreamline
6. Far Cry
7. Subdivisions
8. One Little Victory
9. Closer to the Heart
10. Tom Sawyer
11. Working Man
12. YYZ

I've had this album for, like, two years. I've kind of been saving it as a placeholder in case I needed something else to review while I'm listening to other stuff. So... yeah... I'm not really ready to review a bunch of albums at present. They're really good so I want to take my time. Anyway, I bought this in an effort to get into Rush (before I bought 2112). It's a compilation of a bunch of live tracks from various places. It's okay. I wasn't really wowed and it really didn't make much of an impression on me. I much preferred the whole album more than I did this collection. It's not terrible, but if you're trying to get into Rush I'd definitely start with something like 2112 versus this.

Useless Fact: Some of the tracks are from the band's Rush In Rio album which I watched in Bible college. They put on a great show, but I really wasn't super impressed then either.

Rush - "2112"

Rush - 2112
1976, Mercury

1. 2112
     i. Overture
     ii. The Temples of Syrinx
     iii. Discovery
     iv. Presentation
     v. Oracle
     vii. Soliloquy
     viii. Grand Finale
2. A Passage to Bangkok
3. The Twilight Zone
4. Lessons
5. Tears
6. Something For Nothing

I don't know why I've given Rush so many chances to hook me. They've always been a band that I feel like I should like, but I've never gotten into them. I watched the Rush in Rio DVD way back in the day in college. They put on a great show but I wasn't hooked. Last summer I bought the Working Men live album collection to see if that would do the trick. I liked it okay, but still not engaged. So...finally, I picked up the band's seminal album, 2112. I thought that maybe if I listened to one album in its entirety that might help. Also, 2112 is a prog-rock classic so I kind of wanted to listen to it anyway.

2112 is wonderful. I really enjoy it. I'm not sure why this is what did it, but I'm glad it did. Everything clicked. I got it. The title track earns its prog-rock reputation and then some. I understand why this album is so highly praised. It's excellent. I've always known Geddy Lee for his distinctive vocal style but he really is a monster on the bass. Neal Peart and Alex Lifeson are no slouches either - both masters at their crafts. I don't know if I'm a total Rush fan yet, but I'll definitely be checking out more of their studio albums in the future.

Useless Fact: I was listening to this at work and instantly got a Mystery Science Theater 3000 joke from twenty-five/thirty years ago. The joke: (from Tom Servo) "Neal Peart on drums." Guess which episode it's from!