Rush: Hold Your Fire

 

Rush: Hold Your Fire (1987)

Released on this day in 1987, "Hold Your Fire" would be Rush's twelfth studio album, and their final studio album for Mercury Records. This album would also be the first time that one of the band's studio albums featured more than eight tracks. With ten tracks to choose from, that's a lot of Rush for your buck!

The album kicks off with "Force Ten", a song with lyrics co-wrote by Neil Peart and Pye Dubois ("Tom Sawyer"). It's also a track that was written at the last minute, and thankfully so, as it's one of the best on an album full of great songs. From there we go to "Time Stand Still" which may be among the most beautiful songs the band had ever written, both musically, and lyrically. 

The keyboards are still pretty much everywhere here, but Alex definitely takes a strong step forward with the guitars, and turns in some of the tastiest licks in the catalog. Of particular note are the guitars in "Open Secrets", and "Prime Mover" (another personal favorite Rush track), and "Turn the Page" (which is among my top three favorite Lerxst guitar solos).

This album has taken a lot of crap over the years, from the direction of the band to outright hate of "Tai Shan" (a beautiful song that I adored). But for my money, from "Force Ten" to "High Water", this album will always be a top five Rush disc for me.