Hemispheres was number 70 for me. This is more of a reflection of my preference for other eras. Among the 70s prog epics, this is right up near the top for me. It’s one I have at times been really into, but maybe not one I revisit very often due to the length. Will try to set some time aside today. It starts out really strong, but like most of their epics has a lengthy dead space in it (kind of annoying how they used that to pad out long songs so often). I think the ending is a bit disappointing given how strongly it starts, and I have to be in the mood for banshee Geddy to really get into it, but overall I think it’s pretty great.
Between The Wheels I’m almost certain I first heard on R30 (I was still working my way through all the back catalog at that point), and I remember being totally blown away. I believe I went out and picked up GUP fairly soon after. I love the haunting keyboards and bass pedals right at the start, with Alex’s howling guitar. Such an amazing atmosphere to this song. The lyrics are dark and foreboding, not totally sure what they are about but I gather it’s mostly about time and circumstances basically turning us into the rabbit going through your spinning wheels. We can dream about the future, plan and scheme and achieve what we set out to do, eventually time will wash it all away. A bit like a continuation of Losing It maybe? I guess there was also the Cold War aspect of it, that the world was always on the edge of nuclear disaster perhaps.
Musically, there is a really great balance between guitar and keys here, really great drumming especially with Neil riding those symbols on the pre-chorus. I love Alex’s solo and all the guitar sounds that wash all over the track. This is a definitely career highlight for him I think. And the chorus is so big sounding with those keys. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this one, and it could probably just have easily been my number 1, though I’ve kind of mentally had my top 3 of Emotion Detector, Between The Wheels, and Available Light for some time.