VLZC: Rush's Snakes & Arrows (was Re: Another interesting reunion rumor....)

[TangerineMan <tangerineman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Steve T writes:

> For all you Rush fans, they
> have a tremendous new album out today called Snakes and Arrows that I
> feel rivals their best 70's early 80's work and has some really nice
> "guitar army" style work on it. Check it out.

Confession time: I, uhm, "acquired" the album as 192-kbps mp3s via Bit
Torrent about 10 days ago. First time I've EVER pirated an album before its
release, but I was just too curious. I will of course be buying the official
version now that it's out...

I must agree, Steve--the first thing I thought when I listened to "Snakes &
Arrows" was how much it reminded me of their best work, which I consider to
be the mid- to late 70s' output, up to the Permanent Waves/Moving Pictures
era. The single, "Far Cry", out for a while now, was a good harbinger: as
soon as I heard the staccato opening and that ringing chord quoted from
"Hemispheres" (F#7 I think) I had an inkling/hope that the whole album would
reflect that "old time" Rush feeling. I've listened to it 7 or 8 times and
I'm not disappointed.

The album benefits greatly from the band having worked with a new engineer,
I think. Also nice to hear Alex using a lot of acoustic guitar like in the
old days. Listen on headphones; there are some great acoustic guitars way
out to the left and right of the mix... Guitar army, as you say. Very few
keyboards to be heard anywhere on the disc... I think doing that mini-album
of classic covers rubbed off on them.

Whereas I felt a lot of the tracks on their comeback album "Vapor Trails"
were throwaways, "S & A" is pretty solid from start to finish. Some HEAVY
riffage in parts! Neil's drum work seems simpler (again perhaps the
influence of the old-time rock covers they did) but there are a lot of
classic and very thoughtful fills.

There are a couple of cool instrumentals that show they still have
chops--nothing as intricate as "La Villa Strangiato" or "YYZ", but great
stuff nonetheless.

My only criticism would be that, as long as they were going to dip back into
the past, Alex should have put more wail and flash into his solos. Although
he does pull a good one on "Faithless". There are a couple of solos, though,
that actually remind me of Randy Bachman's jazzier moments.

Neil's lyrics are awesome.

And for some minimal Zep content: Alex's short acoustic instrumental "Hope"
is VERY Page-ian. Arabic/White Summery accents. Reminds me of something he
did on the Test for Echo tour.

Just writing about it has given me the urge to listen to it again. I
encourage everyone to check it out as well. I think long-time fans are going
to love it (although one of my best friends, who's been into the band for as
long as I have, i.e., since 1980 or so, doesn't like it at all). You can
also read a good essay by Neil about the writing and recording of the album;
it's available as a PDF from rush.com

Oh, and as is often the case with Rush, the album artwork is sublime.

Got my tickets for their September show here in Montreal; looking forward to
it!