Just got done listening to Hemispheres and...I think this is their magnum opus. Now...don’t jump for joy just yet. I really liked this album, I think it’s definitely better than their last two, but even though I think it’s far and away their best written album yet, I don’t think it’s my personal favorite. Let’s get into each song.
Cygnus X-1 Book 2...is awesome. For being 18 minutes, it’s paced very well. I do wish it went back to that original riff near the end, that “deh neh nenenene neh neh”, that’s one awesome riff, I really loved that. And the softer sections were fantastic as well. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt a little bit of WDADU in this song (and on the album as a whole), it gave me WDADU vibes a little bit. Pretty cool. While I do think the second half is weaker than the first half, I think this is the best long song since The Necromancer for me. One small nitpick, but why they still keep fading to black in the middle of their epics? It’s so frustrating to me because it kills the pacing.
Circumstances might be my favorite short song by them so far (it’s not better than Working Man, but that song is 7+ minutes so it’s not really short). This is an awesome song, I really loved this one. And the bass and the drums were going out of their damn minds on this song.
The Trees! This was a song on one of the Rock Band games, I completely forgot about it. Yeah this is a great song, love the vibe.
Then we have La Villa Strangiato. This...was a journey, man. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the biggest instrumental fan of they’re like longer than 6 minutes. My mind starts to wander. But for being a 9+ minute instrumental, it did a good job at holding my attention. This was a jam session. They already proved themselves on the rest of the album. This is their celebration song, their way of saying “we’ve proved to you what we can do, so now we’re gonna have fun”. As far as I’m concerned, Rush is now fully formed. This IS their sound. They have nothing more to prove. Whatever happens after this album is going to be where they wanna go with that sound they have created. Artistically, this feels like their peak. If they go higher than this, I’ll be floored. Now, of course I’ll LIKE albums more than this, I’m not saying this is their most ENJOYABLE album to me. But artistically, this is nuts. If you have this as your #1, I won’t be the least bit shocked. This is a great album.
However...it’s not my favorite so far. It’s still Fly By Night. That album is safer, and more fun, and as a new Rush fan who is digging into them for the first time, FBN still feels like the one I’m gonna go back to the most. Again, first impressions. Who knows, FBN could go down as time goes on. It’s so hard to rank prog albums after one listen.
I’m honestly also tempted to put Caress of Steel over Hemispheres as well, because of Bastille Day, Lakeside Park and the Necromancer, but...I can’t. FOL just REALLY hurts that album to me. It’s such a long song, about half the album, and it doesn’t work for me. Hemispheres really is a great album. They really do have their energy back now. So this is my updated ranking.
1. Fly By Night
2. Hemispheres
3. Caress of Steel
4. A Farewell to Kings
5. Rush
6. 2112