I'll comment when we get to following albums, but I actually like ' Roll the Bones', I do not mind 'Hold your Fire' ( their worst album IMO) and I even like some of the songs off 'Presto'.

A couple songs are good, I like The Big Money and Marathon is ok, but the problem with this album is it got boring. Rush boring? Sad.

Power Windows was the first Rush tour I saw. Great show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco....

Even with all the gloss there is still an energy there which to me is RUSH... Marathon, Territories are probably my favorites from this album but this is an enjoyable RUSH album....

It might have a 'dated' sound but the production is still top notch unlike AC/DC's 'Fly on the Wall' (which I own and love by the way) which sounds like poodoo....

Rush was focusing on shorter melodies and expanding their songwriting horizons by experimenting with other producers and arrangers. After the debacle on the production that was 'Grace Under Pressure' where the band pretty much just produced themselves (one of the 3 hardest albums for the boys to record along with Hemispheres and Counterparts...) they really wanted someone to PRODUCE them and take their music in directions they wouldn't have thought of.

Neil says he really likes it, Alex was endorsing Gallen-Krueger at the time (hense his ultra thin guitar tone blech...) and Geddy was pretty much in automatic mode in concert by then. When you're thinking about Baseball or Hockey in the middle of performing in front of 15,000 you need a break I think....

I liked Power Windows more than Presto or Roll the Bones.... Perhaps a top 10 album.... perhaps that is....

Counterparts is one of my favourites. Weird choice i know, but i really dig this album

HOLD YOUR FIRE - (released Sep 8, 1987)

"it's just the age, it's just the stage, we disengage, we turn the page...."

That quote from the song Turn The Page actually does a pretty good job of summing up this album. Rush dives headlong into the late 80's by continuing the trend of HUGE studio production...however, it does work a little better on this album than PW.

I haven't listened to this album in so many years that I was sure I was going to hate it. As on Power Windows, time hasn't been kind to all the extra keyboards by Andy Richards...however, there is a little bit of a spark to a few of the songs here and some rather impressive pop songwriting chops scattered about.

The album starts off with Force Ten, an instant concert opener. This is one of the songs where the energy of the performance salvages it from under the layers of additional enhancement.

Time Stand Still is one of those argument-starter songs, some hate it and cry blasphemy...others kind of just enjoy it for the fluffy little pop tune it is. I've always liked Aimee Mann, so this one gets a moderate thumbs up from me.

The best song on the album however is Open Secrets. This track would fit beautifully on either Signals or Grace Under Pressure, the one unabashed success on the album. Everything works perfectly...Geddy's incredibly funky bassline, his nicely restrained vocal performance, Alex's shiny guitar lines and for once the added keyboards add instead of detract from the proceedings.

The aforementioned Turn The Page is a fun little tune, if a tad slight. Mission and Prime Mover are tolerable if uninspired.

However, the rest of the album is either pedestrian or so sickly sweet as to be puke inducing. I know that's harsh, but that's the only way I can think to describe songs like Second Nature, High Water, Tai Shan, etc. etc. BADLY misconceived pretentious twaddle.

Anyway, another album that in the grand scheme of Rush's output...could be forgotten and not overly missed.

For years I detested this album, and was til this summer that I bothered up grading my cassette to CD, I still feel it is their worst album but it is not horrid, just not as strong as previous releases or the albums that it followed.

The songs are little too pop for my taste, at least when it comes to Rush, but the quality of the songs are still there and this album would be last in this more mainstream vein going back to more guitar oriented sound on their next go around.

For a band that had a jacket for doing interesting album covers, this one is very non-interesting. Though I do get the "trio" thang

When this album was released I played the hell out of it. I still like this album but I know that I'm in a minority.

One of their worst. I can't even remember the last time I listened to it.

To contrast ult's point of view, I actually like this record. Nowhere near as enjoyable as their early stuff, mind you, but it has some OK songs.

Not one of my favorites from Rush. But not their worst either. I would place it toward the bottom of their catalogue.

I actually much prefer the album that came after this one (Presto).

Never bought this one. A little too nuclear-red for me.

Oh, and I've also heard it sucks.

I like this album but it is my least fave of the 80's Rush. I still like it better than the uninspiring trendy 90's albums, although the production on this album is so incredibly lite and at least the 90's albums have some bite to em.
I think the drumming on this album is definitley the strong point, in fact Neil's drumming pretty much carried Rush through the 80's as Alex disappears and Geddy is on cruise control bass-wise and fully immersed in the keyboards/synth mode.

I am probably in the minority here when I say that I actually like "Time Stands Still".

A Show Of Hands (released Jan 1989)

1989 brings another live album that unfortunately suffers a similar fate to Exit...Stage Left. Instead of recording a single concert (or a couple nights), this album is culled together from 2 different tours and about 8 different cities. This inane practice was commonplace for live albums at the time....which is also why most of them suck.

Overall Rush sounds lazy on here. The newer songs get the more passionate treatment, while the older songs are handled rather sloppily. A couple songs benefit from the concert treatment, both Marathon and Turn The Page are more energetic than their studio counterparts. But nothing here is essential, all the older songs had already been released in far superior versions and the new songs (accompanied by backing tapes of the keyboard sounds from the studio albums) are basically identical to the studio versions thus making a live release irrelevant.

Most likely A Show Of Hands was a contractual obligation album, this would be the final release for Mercury before the band started recording for Atlantic.

Closing out the 1980's with A Show Of Hands is pretty depressing...entering the 1990's with Presto wasn't much better....to be continued...

Momma always said, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. So I won't.

This is one Rush album I never owned.

I have to agree with detuned review of 'A Show of Hands' not a great live album, not horrid but it is a live that is not filled with alot of energy, it sounds like a band growing thru the motions, expect when they get to the newer material. Not a horrible listen because Rush is still a good live act but hardly essential.

phoned in performance, my .02

Blech. The only thing interesting about this one is the cover, which would be a lot better if it showed Geddy on the bass instead of on the keyboard.