(As published in Rock & Roll Disc ...)
Rush
Roll the Bones
Atlantic 82293-2
Total disc time: 48:06 (DDD)
Merit: ***½
Sound: ***
Unbeknownst to many, Rush spent the '80s streamlining itself. Starting with Permanent Waves, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart quit blending Yes and Zeppelin and began sounding a lot like the Police. Not that Police fans will admit it. They'll argue that Sting sang more soulfully than Lee and that the Police's bare-bones approach had nothing in common with whatever Rush was was playing. Well, I dare any Police fan to explain the difference between "Synchronicity I," for example, and Roll the Bones' "Dreamline" or "You Bet Your Life"--the same chirpy guitars, the same light-yet-virtuosic drumming, and the same earnest singing about fate's role in the grand drama that is life. Lee no longer sings like a helium-sucking parrot, and at no point does the band condescend to its fans. So why not become one?
Rush
Roll the Bones
Atlantic 82293-2
Total disc time: 48:06 (DDD)
Merit: ***½
Sound: ***
Unbeknownst to many, Rush spent the '80s streamlining itself. Starting with Permanent Waves, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart quit blending Yes and Zeppelin and began sounding a lot like the Police. Not that Police fans will admit it. They'll argue that Sting sang more soulfully than Lee and that the Police's bare-bones approach had nothing in common with whatever Rush was was playing. Well, I dare any Police fan to explain the difference between "Synchronicity I," for example, and Roll the Bones' "Dreamline" or "You Bet Your Life"--the same chirpy guitars, the same light-yet-virtuosic drumming, and the same earnest singing about fate's role in the grand drama that is life. Lee no longer sings like a helium-sucking parrot, and at no point does the band condescend to its fans. So why not become one?
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