This is the inaugural entry in what is a new blog version of the old "Current Vinyl" posts. So we might as well start with something awesome. I finally came to own this album on vinyl about a month ago and, given Alex Lifeson's recent clarification that the mighty Rush is retired from touring and uncertain about their creative future as well, it seems like the right time to give this a spin.
I still remember the first time I heard any of the music on this album. The week before the album came out, it was premiered on a syndicated radio show where the band came in and talked about the music and they premiered the songs, in some random order. By 1996, listening to these broadcasts had become tradition. That year, I was living in a townhouse and could not get any FM reception inside so I remember huddling up in Mike Loftus' car, in the parking lot outside, listening and soaking it in as much as I could. Being that we were in the car and not able to record the broadcast, it would be a week before I would be able to hear any of these again. I will say it was a mighty anxious week.
Rush has always had this habit of working in two-album cycles. The first album would always find them moving into different musical directions while the second album would show them perfecting it. 1993's Counterparts album found Rush reacting to the dawn of the grunge era by leaving behind the slick pop of their previous two Rupert Hine-produced albums and cranking up the guitars and attitude, and getting back to the three-piece nature of the band. And they did it very well.
1996's Test For Echo found the band taking their newfound sense of heaviness and delivering some of the finest songs of their career. This album also boasts what I consider to be their finest album cover. Hygh Syme really outdid himself with this arctic wonderland. It was my introduction to the Inukshuk and was far more satisfying than the nut & bolt on the previous album's sleeve.
The album kicks off with the dark & complex title track, a commentary on the celebrity of Court TV. Rush always has killer opening tracks and this does not disappoint. It is immediately followed by "Driven", with its propelling bass groove and general sense of edginess that makes it one of the better live songs. They show off their poppier side with "Half The World", which has always been a favorite of mine. Next up is "The Color Of Right", which is one of those Rush songs that is excellent in its own right but still it seems a bit phoned-in. Like it was one of the last songs written for the album...or the first. Pleasant enough but a bit paint-by-numbers. It happens. We move on.
Fortunately next is "Time And Motion", which finds Rush at their darkest and weirdest since the late 70s and it really pays off. Why they never played this song live after the Test For Echo tour is completely beyond me. By far one of the best Rush songs to ever grace a record. "Totem" is bright, shiny strum-number that gives a shout-out to all the religions of the world, and features a seriously cool chorus. This is one of those deep-album cuts that I always tend to forget about but, listening back to it now after quite some time, I can hear the influence this song has on some many facets of my own songwriting. Fantastic track.
Which makes it one big fucking shame, what comes next. The track is called "Dog Years" and is Rush's idea of being lighthearted but is one of the band's greatest fails. Out of hundreds of songs, over 40 years, this one is routinely at the bottom of every favorite-Rush song list. And for good reason. This is the kind of track that should never be on an album. That's not to say that the playing on the track is bad, or even of the backing track is bad at all. It's just a stupid throwaway which should have been a b-side.
I never like to play favorites with Rush albums - I always claim to love each equally. But that's not the case for a lot of Rush fans and this album is one of the more maligned entries in the band's catalogue. "Dog Years" is largely to thank for that, along with the mildly pleasant "The Color Of Right". Another song that grates a lot of folks is "Virtuality", a treatise on the internet and how society has come to rely on it for information and connection in lieu of actual experiences (being in 1996, at the start of it all, no one had any idea just how true this would actually become). To be honest, this song is amazing. The music is clever and very well-written, and the message is compelling enough. But the whole "net boy/net girl" thing kinda dates the album a bit...along the phrase "put your message in a modem and throw it the cyber sea". I'll admit that there was a period when I did not care for this song but,just as I felt when I first heard it, I have come around on it now. That guitar is just so damn heavy, and that chorus is infectious.
Next up is "Resist", one of the most beautiful songs Rush ever recorded. Playing on the phrase, "I can learn to resist anything but temptation", this is one of Neil Peart's more clever lyrics, and one of his most heartfelt. This song was performed acoustically, by Geddy & Alex, on a couple of tours and that took the song to whole new level. This should have been released as a single.
After a heavy song like that, it's time to blow off some steam, and that is taken care of via the instrumental, "Limbo". A little more jammy than some of their instrumentals, it's clear they had fun working this one out. Alex goes nuts on those big open chords that sound like Hemispheres, while Geddy and Neil lay down some really sick jazz-funk grooves. Oh, and the ethereal "chorus" part still kills me every time. Very, very cool track.
Rush often like to close an album on an uplifting note (Vital Signs, High Water, Available Light, Everyday Glory). "Carve Away The Stone", a pretty little song about about putting your own stamp on the world, does not disappoint. Destined to be one of those deep-album cuts, this is a song that very sadly never made it to the live show.
Much has been written about the forced hiatus the band took following this album, so I won't go into it here. But there was a period when we all felt like this was it. Fortunately it wasn't it. They'd regroup five years later and spend another 14 years at it. It is kind of funny to think that now, twenty years after this album was released, we as fans are looking at Clockwork Angels as the final Rush album. While the idea of no more new Rush music is terrifying, that album is one hell of a parting shot, just the like the R40 show was the best possible finale any band could ever give. And most fans of the band would agree. I do wonder if we would have had the same attachment to Test For Echo as we do for Clockwork Angels, had that really been the last album. Fortunately that never came up.
Bottom line: While it's not as perfect an album as Power Windows, Moving Pictures, or 2112, the strong moments more than offset the few weak bits, Every Rush album is vital, so of course this is a must. You should own it.
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