caress of steel (1975) - rush: mercury records, SRM-1-1046

Pretty much everyone I know is a Rush fan whether they want to admit it or not - and for some reason many folks tend to think admitting it is kind of like admitting one is an alcoholic or something.  Whatever.  The point is, all those closet Rush fans seem to limit their attention to the Moving Pictures album (well, maybe that and 2112), and don't really pay much attention to the rest of Rush's catalog.

I can understand that, I suppose.  After all, Tom Sawyer is one of those songs that really did transcend radio back in the day, and set a mark of popularity and appeal that is virtually impossible to duplicate.

But Rush wasn't born with that one song.  In fact, Moving Pictures was the band's eighth album, so there is a lot of material preceding it.  And while none of it may be quite as iconic or appealing as Tom Sawyer, there is a lot of good stuff, well worth a listen.

For example, Caress of Steel.

Side 1: Bastille Day I Think I'm Going Bald Lakeside Park The Necromancer Into the Darkness Under the Shadow Return of the Prince
Side 2 The Fountain of Lamneth In the Valley Didacts and Narpets No One at the Bridge Panacea Bacchus Plateau The Fountain

Caress of Steel is Rush's third album, and it marks the change from a pure hard rock into the more experimental style that defined their classic years.  In fact, Caress is such a transitional album, one can actually hear the evolution as the tracks move from their early Zeppelin-influenced heavy blues of Bastille Day to the adventurous metal-prog sound of The Fountain of Lamneth - complete with the proggy trappings of needlessly pretentious lyrics, mythic references and names, extended length (a full album side), and the sub-titled various movements within the song.

Caress isn't exactly a concept album in the sense of a common thread running through all of the songs, though it does have concepts within it.  Clearly the 20 minute Fountain of Lamneth is one cohesive song telling one cohesive story about some poor slob searching the world for a legendary fountain, and is (from what I can tell) an allegory about living life the right way and trying to find a higher meaning.

But regardless of whether the lyrics are pompous or insightful or silly or deep, the real appeal of this album is how it so clearly marks the development of Rush from heavy to experimental.  Even better is how, in retrospect, the album makes for an incredible listen when you have an hour or so to fill and want to get into a bit of thoughtful entertainment. Somewhere between the lyrics and the music this album provided the first real glimpse of the promise of Rush actually having something greater behind the veil, as opposed to bands like Styx or Chicago, which really didn't.

Up next: Orwell goes to the Dogs