Roll the Bones - Rush (CD 1991)

Rush's 1991 album Roll the Bones was their 2nd release for their new label Atlantic. This album represented a vast improvement over 1989's Presto and marked a return to form for the Canadian power-trio. While Presto seemed very bland and lackluster (with the exception of the terrific "Show Don't Tell") with a production sound that just came across as puny, Roll the Bones seems to just be much more alive and aware as well as boasting an energetic feel that had been missing on their last couple releases. Even though the album shares the same thin sound (though not quite as bad) as Presto, it more than makes up for it with 8 terrific songs, though the other 2 songs are really weak and hurt the album a little bit. There are still prominent keyboards all over the new album, but compared to 1987's keyboard drenched Hold Your Fire, this album seems quite restrained in the synthesizer realm.

A couple of the songs also see Rush bringing a slightly funky element to the music that is fresh and really cool since they pull it off perfectly.

The album consists of 10 songs:

1)Dreamline: A great opener for the album and one of the best songs that Rush has ever written. The last 3 tours have saw them opening up the shows with this song and it's quickly become a fan favorite. A driving song featuring a brisk tempo and some truly exceptional lyrics from lyricist/drummer Neil Peart coupled with stellar guitar work from Alex Lifeson and some of the best vocals ever from bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee. Awesome stuff and Rush firing on all cylinders.

2)Bravado: A slower tempo is brought to this song and this has always been one of my personal favorite Rush songs since this album came out. Featuring some wonderul shimmering textural guitar work from Alex and a pulsating but melodic bass line from Geddy, this song just oozes emotion. Neil's lyrics are amazing with some of the best lyrical passages that he has written. One of my favorites are these lyrics: " If the dream is won / Though everything is lost / We will pay the price / But we will not count the cost".

3)Roll the Bones: The title track finds Rush rocking out with a slightly funky backbeat complete with a bridge that features a heavily pitch shifted rap section from Geddy. Yes, Rush pokes some fun at rap, while making the section vital, fun and important to the overall arrangement of the song. This particular spot really caused some long-time Rush fans to throw up their hands in disgust while other more open minded fans (like myself) could tell that they were just having some fun and poking fun at rap while not turning the section into a joke. I love the lyrics, which talk about people who spend all day/night trying to figure out why we are here on Earth. Neil is basically telling people to just accept that we're here, and not to worry yourself sick about why.

4)Face Up: The first weak song on the album. This song, like Roll the Bones, relates life's challenges to gambling. But "Face Up", while featuring a driving beat, just has always come across to me as lame. The bridge section is cool, but the rest just sounds like it might have been a victim of the thin production/sound that Rush was still using on this album (and thankfully abandoned on their next album Counterparts. This song just needed to have a really ballsy delivery to be decent, and as it is, it has always been my least favorite song on the album.

5)Where's My Thing (Part IV: Gangster of Boats Trilogy): This song was Rush's first instrumental piece since "YYZ" off of 1981's Moving Pictures. Very brisk and pretty funky, this finds the band just having a blast. Geddy's bass work is stellar (though I dislike the sound he was still using on this album), and I loved the single bar of 5/4 they threw in after the 2nd "chorus" section just to throw people off who might try to dance to this song. While not as good as the instrumental "Leave That Thing Alone!" off of Counterparts, this is still energetic, fun and self-indulgent in trademark Rush fashion.

6)The Big Wheel: Slowing things down again a bit, this song features a swaggering rocking verse section followed by a lighter chorus. It really works well and the lyrics focus on Neil's attempts as a youth to try to figure out what love was. Once again, the gambling analogy is present in this song, hence the title. Alex's guitar work is superb and I really like the use of keyboards on this song.

7)Heresy: After a really tribal and cool multi-tracked snare intro from Neil, this song kicks in with a guitar passage that sounds similar to something that U2's the Edge would play. This song is similar in feel to Bravado and deals with some of the same issues. But it works on it's own and is one of my favorite tracks on the album.

8)Ghost of a Chance: One of the more unique tracks that Rush has done. This song also deals with the never-ending search for finding true love. The verse section is a little dark and comtemplative while the chorus goes to half-time feel and is more breezy and optimistic. Great performances all around.

9)Neurotica: Not quite as weak as Face Up, but this track features a terrible chorus that almost completely undermines a verse section that has grown on me over time. I particularly like Geddy's bass sound on this track as it's deeper than the rest of the album.

10)You Bet Your Life: The gambling theme continues and this track closes out the album like it started: brisk, energetic and fun. The chorus is really well done and features some interesting vocal work by Geddy. Alex's guitar part is killer.


So, overall it's 8 really strong songs and 2 that IMO could have been left on the cutting room floor. I really would like to see how this album would have turned out if they had applied the raw, thunderous production techniques that helped elevate Counterparts to masterpiece status. When I go back and listen to Roll the Bones, especially after listening to their new CD Vapor Trails, it takes me a little while to get used to the thin sound that is present throughout this whole album. While it doesn't hurt the strong songs that much, as a whole the album would have worked even better with a much gutsier approach to production and sound.

But this album is a considerable improvement over their last album Presto. For some reason that album just sounded like they were just going through the motions. It might have been due to the fact that it was the first album they had tried to start stripping the walls-of-keyboards that had clogged their mid-80's material and they hadn't quite gotten used to a more organic sound yet. Presto has always gotten my vote as one of their worst albums.

It's clear that by Roll the Bones, they had gotten much more comfortable with their new direction and it just sounds like they were having a great deal of fun making the album. It's not a perfect album, but its pretty damn solid overall. Well worth checking out.