In praise of Caress Of Steel

stratovani · #1 09-10-2011, 07:49 AM

A couple of nights ago I was at work listening to music on my MP3 player listening to Rush's Caress Of Steel album. I hadn't listened to it for quite a few years now, and I was amazes at how good it sounded. The boys were in top form on this album, the production values were top-notch, I don't understand why it gets a bad rap from people. Personally I think it's at least as good as 2112, and it may be better than some of their later works.

Rush jokingly called the CoS tour the "Down the Tubes" tour. If it had been the case (and Thank God it wasn't!) CoS would have been a great album to go "down the tubes" with!

jgroh · #2 09-10-2011, 08:03 AM

Its funny how that could have been Rush's last album. These days a label wouldnt allow an artist to make another album based solely on the assurances of a manager that the next one would be more commercial. They are extremely lucky 2112 ever happened.

Fretless1! · #3 09-12-2011, 11:29 AM

I love Caress of Steel!

Bass_Thumper · #4 09-12-2011, 03:01 PM

What a great record. CoS was the second LP that I ever bought and I still love it to this day. I remember being a kid and listening to I think I'm Going Bald and really loving the music but not really understanding the lyrics; boy have things changed.

winston · #5 09-12-2011, 04:50 PM

Funny, I was thinking the same thing about Caress just the other day. A weird album, and a great one!

tangentmusic · #6 09-12-2011, 05:40 PM

"Caress" is one of my favorite albums of theirs. I bought it back in the '70's.
I think the "Fountian of Lamneth" side long epic went over the heads of the average listener at the time of it's release, and did not catch on then. Many people have re-discovered this record, and has since gotten the praise it has always deserved.

the_hook · #7 09-13-2011, 12:14 PM

Funny note: Alex and Geddy were deep into making CoS, and went to see one of their favourite bands Yes in concert.

After seeing that show they felt like scrapping the album because they felt they could never play or compose to that level.

stratovani · #8 09-14-2011, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_hook

Funny note: Alex and Geddy were deep into making CoS, and went to see one of their favourite bands Yes in concert.

After seeing that show they felt like scrapping the album because they felt they could never play or compose to that level.

Ironic, isn't it? They must laugh when they think back to those days!

bassvi · #9 09-14-2011, 08:33 AM

I got to see them on the CoS tour, man they played their hearts out. Always loved Necromancer and No One at the Bridge.

jedw · #10 09-14-2011, 09:01 AM

I like Caress of steel and go back to it once in a while, but I don't think it's as good as 2112 as the OP suggests.

"I think I'm going bald" is somtimes said to be the worst thing Rush ever recorded, I highly doubt that, but i don't like it much.

'Bastille day' and 'Lakeside' Park are just a bit boring.

'The Necromancer' is Cool but feels very unpolished / unfinished. It's a little bit like they had 3 fragments of a tune and just hacked them together.

'The Fountain of lemneth' is definetly my favourite thing on the album. But .. it doesnt really hold it together for 20 minutes quite as well as '2112' or 'Hemispheres'. The guitar solo that comes at like 8:40 is incredible but they really make you wait for it. lol.

I don't know if it just my copy of the album, but the sound quality isn't upto the standard of the previous Rush albums 'Fly by nigh' and 'Rush'. It sounds compressed throughout and lacks any real thump from the bass of drums.

maxgrant · #11 09-14-2011, 09:04 AM

CoS failed partly because Rush had just released Fly By Night earlier that same year.

It is my favorite Rush album from the early years because it is so raw, experimental, and has a pretty broad scope musically. They were really practicing their craft on that album, and even though they didn't sell all that many and had a terrible tour, they also formed the basis of their sound and style for years to come.

I think it's hysterical that they were bummed out by a Yes concert . . . I guess they were probably seeing the Relayer tour given the time period. I can see that being an intimidating work to measure up to -- especially something like Sound Chaser.

the_hook · #12 09-14-2011, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jedw

"I think I'm going bald" is somtimes said to be the worst thing Rush ever recorded, I highly doubt that, but i don't like it much.

More Rush Toronto humour...this song is about Kim Mitchell who was losing his hair.

Kim's a well known guitar player, now a DJ at a Toronto Rock station, front's the Kim Mitchell band and used to play in Max Webster (which Rush toured with before Moving Pictures and Neil got the lyrics for Tom Sawyer from Mitchell's keys player Pye Dubois).

It's all 6 degrees of Rush separation...

perfektspace6 · #13 09-15-2011, 08:25 PM

COS is such a bizarre album but I have always liked it.

I could never put it at the level of Hemispheres or 2112 as far as epic tracks go but it holds a special and unique place for me. Not even sure how to describe the vibe I get from COS. It's like the ultimate combination of drug use, high fantasy, and pre-D&D nerdiness.

Would love to hear them do Fountains or Necromancer live. No chance they are going to relive this album live.

Spectrum · #14 09-15-2011, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jedw

'Bastille day'.......just a bit boring.

You must live an exciting life! LOL

It's a wierd album, has different themes mixed in on it, but the music is good. I always loved that super heavy bass during the solo on Necromancer.

**funkybass4ever** · #15 09-15-2011, 09:08 PM

I have heard from many old-time Rush fans- of which I am one of- that COS sounds as if Rush was was trying something beyond their musical abilities and that their talent and vision solidly formed with 2112. All I know is that it has always been one of my favorite albums. Its nice to hear them growing as musicians and songwriters on this album.

bobm2112 · #16 09-15-2011, 09:17 PM

COS is what made me a RUSH fan for life. I found RUSH when I saw the Distant Early Warning video on MTV. I went back into their catalog first with Fly by Night then with Caress of Steel. After hearing The Necromancer, I was hooked.

the_hook · #17 09-16-2011, 05:34 AM

My first time hearing Rush was when I was visiting some cousins nearby and they had some albums sitting around. I liked the cover of one and put the LP on. It was 2112, and as soon as I heard the shrieking vocals took it off. The next album was no better, turned out to be Led Zeppelin...

Not long later I was in high school and this kid I became friends with had a brother that saw Rush play when they were teens at his high school. He became hooked on Rush at that point and is still a huge fan.

I'm at this kid's place that summer and he sits me down infront of his brother's massive stereo and says 'you have to hear this song'. It was Cygnus X-1. I was into Sci-Fi pretty heavily and that song finally hooked me. I picked up that album right away (it was 1977, I still have it and play it).

He said his favorite album was CoS...it took me a long time to dig that album...but I finally got into it and I love that it was their 'proto Rush' stage, before they really put out the more refined Prog stuff like Xanadu, Cygnus, Hemispheres and other great songs of that decade.

Dave Siff · #18 09-16-2011, 06:42 AM

Caress of Steel is the most underrated Rush album, IMO. I love it and always have.
In the documentary, Geddy alludes to the fact that they were, um, in an altered state during the writing and recording "and it sounds like it."

maxgrant · #19 09-28-2011, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by perfektspace6

Would love to hear them do Fountains or Necromancer live. No chance they are going to relive this album live.

The only two COS tracks I have ever heard live recordings of are Bastille Day and Lakeside Park, now that I think of it.

If they do it live today, they'll have to drop-tune it like they do 2112 and Circumstances, because Geddy's voice is just not going to hit those notes anymore.

I have been on a live Rush kick recently and it's really striking to me how his singing style has changed. His enunciation is not nearly as clear anymore as it was in the early days. I think I miss that clipped, precise delivery, but I can also see and feel (as I am aging myself) that as you get older those parts aren't as flexible anymore, so he's working harder and opening his mouth more to get the notes out.