Hold Your Fire

Rush has released more than twenty albums over the past twenty-eight years, and of them all I think this one is my favorite. Part of the reason for this may be the fact that this album was an easy introduction to the band for me, indeed is not a favorite with "purists" for its lighter sound and radically different direction - bassist and lead singer Geddy Lee says himself that the band "sees Hold Your Fire as the end phase of its development...an arrival record. We climbed up a hill and now we've gotten to the top and we have to decide where to go from here" (from Chronicles).

The truth of these statements is indicated by experimental nature of the album in regards to composition and harmonics - simply compare it to earlier albums and you'll wonder if you're listening to the same band. The songs, though not short, are considerably shorter than most of the band's earlier work; the harmonics are more radio-friendly, and it's my own personal opinion that the lyrics are beyond anything else they've ever done.

One aspect of the album that gives it a less heavy, hard-rock feel is the use of keyboards. Up to this point, much of Rush's keyboard work (also performed by Geddy Lee) had been sparing, the emphasis directed toward guitars and a heavy bass line. The most popular song on the album is the beautiful "Time Stand Still" (with Aimee Mann lending her voice to backing vocals), and was probably the one I liked the most at first. But oftentimes, I've noticed, the albums that take me awhile to get into (like this) turn out to be my favorites in the end, and this album was no exception. "Time Stand Still" as a good song, but a number of the others surpass it in my eyes, including "Second Nature," Prime Mover", "Open Secrets," "Mission" and "Tai Shan." And lyrically, which is a very important aspect of music to me, they blew me away.

Between Neil Peart's lyrics and drumming, Geddy Lee's keyboards and bass lines and Alex Lifeson's as-always amazing guitar work there rises a synergy on this album that lifts the three players beyond their individual abilities, the sum being greater than its parts. Many of Rush's albums share this quality of transcendence, but Hold Your Fire is one of its best examples.

Hold Your Fire, as I've said, is not over-popular with some diehard Rush fans. But this only supports my theory as to the band's longevity. Had the band chosen merely to build upon prior successes, they would probably have, like so many others, faded into oblivion after increasingly less successful re-hashings of earlier material. As the song "Turn the Page" says, "Nothing can survive in a vacuum." Rush instead chose to grow, learn, explore more and new directions - in short, to evolve. This is what makes them the elder statesmen of progressive rock today.

November 2002