Hold Your Fire [Remaster] - Rush (CD 1997)

Spiritually enlightening, would perhaps be the best choice of words to describe this album.

Most of the time Rush seems to follow a theme through their albums, take some of the others for example, Grace Under Pressure where the theme is human survival (in basic terms), or Counterparts which deals with sexuality. In Hold Your Fire, the theme could be translated as spirituality.

Every song on the album deals, in one way or another, with the human spirit. Songs like Force ten with lyrics like, "tough times demand tough hearts, demand tough talk, demand tough songs." (not sure if I got the exact order of those right) or, my personal favorite, Mission who's catch phrase is, "A spirit with a vision is a dream, with a mission.). My girlfriend and I even have a song off this album that we consider "ours". The name of it is Time Stands Still, the title of that song should be enough to give you an understanding of what it's about.

As for the musical quality of the album, I'd have to give it 5 stars. Keep in mind that it is an 80's album, so you can expect a lot of keyboards, electric drum pads, and guitar effects. Each of the 4 instruments used though are played with superb talent. At no point do the guitar or keyboards dominate a song. Even if you aren't that crazy about the use of the technology in the songs you can't listen to this album and NOT be able to pick up on the lyrics.

This album appeals most to musicians for the musical talent, or to fans of poetry for the lyrics in the songs. Those people who just like to play their music loud without paying any real attention to either of those qualities should probably avoid this album, or for that matter most of Rush's mid-late 80's albums.

There aren't any songs such as Tom Sawyer or Spirit of Radio on this album, so don't listen to it expecting to hear "The top 500 songs of all time" they frequently play on the radio. You SHOULD listen to this album if you need some inspiration in your life!