RUSH - CARESS OF STEEL: Experimentation On The Road To Prog Gold
When album number three arrived, Rush were primed totake the next step forward in their career: they were a successful touring actin Canada and the U.S. and they were getting played on the radio. With Caress Of Steel, they decided to shootthe moon and go for their prog-rock dreams. The result was nearly catastrophicin professional terms: listeners were confused, the label hated it and thesubsequent tour lost money as the audiences dwindled. However, financialsuccess isn't the same as artistic success - and Caress Of Steel, though flawed, was a necessary moment for the bandthat the career-defining success of 2112possible.
Side one delivers a pair of long-term concert staples in"Bastille Day" and "Lakeside Park": the former is abarnstorming rocker about the French revolution full of fiery Alex Lifesonguitar solos and stop-start arrangement twists while the latter is a warm,nostalgic ballad with funky underpinnings in which Neil Peart waxes lyricalabout a teen-years job at an amusement park. This side also throws a fewcurveballs. The first "I Think I'm Going Bald," a blues-rocker withquirky lyrics about aging and fading ideals. It remains a source of heateddebate amongst Rush fans but it's actually quite witty and perceptive once youget past the shock of the title. There's also a twelve minute epic in "TheNecromancer." Like last album's"By-Tor And The Snow Dog," it's a fantasy epic about good vs. evil.The lyrical concept is barely there, with a nebulous plot that feels like it'smissing several beats and a wonky 'deus ex machina' ending, but the band'sjamming is melodic, telepathic in its tightness and covers a trio of musicalstylings: Hendrix-esque psych ballad, dark rocker, joyous folk-rock.
The second side offers the band's first side-lengthconceptual piece, "The Fountain Of Lamneth." The Peart-scriptedlyrics outline a fantasy concept about a boy obsessed with climbing a mountainvisible far from his home. Of course, youthful dreams aren't easily achievedand his journey become a lifelong quest as he deals with criticism("Didacts and Narpets"), abandonment when he chooses to go his ownway ("No One At The Bridge"), the temptation to abandon dreams fordomestic contentment ("Panacea") and the vices and disillusionmentthat come with aging ("Bacchus Plateau"). The band crafts a strongarrangement for the different segments, utilizing a mellow-then-heavy framingmotif and a mixture of guitar-driven and acoustic stylings that offer strongmelodic content throughout. Lee gives his best vocal performance of the pre-2112 era, particularly on the emotive,ballad-style segments. The end result is more a song suite than a single epic,with too little connective tissue in terms of recurring melodies and motifs,but it's tuneful and compelling from start to finish.
The band was proud of Caress Of Steel at the time but became critical of it in subsequent years, critiquing themselves for being too self-indulgent and stoned to achieve their ambitions. That said, the only track here that feels conceptually undercooked is "The Necromancer" and it still boasts fantastic playing. The band would reconnect with their fire and focus on 2112 but Caress Of Steel offers plenty of proggish delight in its own eccentric, occasionally meandering way.