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All rights reserved.Presto - Rush (CD 1989)
LOOK AT ALL THEM RABBITS!Review created: 08/20/03
by: matzaballman -- a member of Epinions
Pros:
Anagram(for Mongo), and Available Light.
Anagram(for Mongo), and Available Light.
Cons:
Too many mediocre songs and not enough of Alex Lifeson's guitar.
Too many mediocre songs and not enough of Alex Lifeson's guitar.
Man, do I have mixed feelings about this album! At the time that it came out, I was quite excited over it! I remember buying this on cassette tape and listening to the first song Show Don't Tell in my friend's car as he was driving me home. The song starts out with some distant African-style drumming, then the guitar and bass come in and Rush lay into one of their heaviest and most complicated riffs in many an album. I was like, "Cool, man! They're rocking out again!". Then the singing came in and my heart sank...I just didn't care for the rest of the song, and I really wanted to like it! ( It does have a cool bass guitar solo in it!)
Presto came out in the Fall of 1989, and saw Rush cutting back on the synthesizers, which had come to completely dominate and overwhelm their sound on their last four studio albums.( It's still rather heavy on the keyboards, however, especially piano). It also saw Rush head in more of a pop and vocal oriented direction. Geddy Lee sings a great deal on this album, which gets mixed reactions from me. On the positive side, Geddy is in great voice on this and comes up with some damn catchy choruses and some very humm-able vocal melodies, probably more than he ever had. On the downside, Rush were never much of a vocal band and Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart are far too talented to act as Geddy Lee's back-up band. Geddy is one of the most maligned singers in rock and though he really sings his rump off on this, I'm sure he won't win over any of his enemies on this. I've always liked his voice,though!
The cover for this is terrific, with all of them bunny rabbits popping out of that hat! Elmer Fudd would love it!
Rolling Stone magazine gave this album a favorable three star rating, praising Rush for how versatile they are in tackling different styles of music and they even said some kind things about Geddy Lee!! They also pointed out how the guitar riff in Anagram was similar to the riff for the Foreigner song Long, Long Way From Home and how the piano line in Red Tide is similar to the guitar riff for the song Message in a Bottle. They are a tad on the similar side, but that doesn't bother me!
Back on the downside, there are very few great songs here and an abundance of mediocre ones! Overall, I find the album to be a very pleasant listen, though very few of these songs jump out at me and say, "HELLO!"!@ like alot of their older songs did.
The songs are:
Show Don't Tell...Chain Lightning....The Pass....War Paint...Scars...Presto....Supe
Highlights for me are:
Anagram (for Mongo)- For the longest time, I couldn't figure out what this title was about...I kept on trying to find an anagram for the word "mongo", but couldn't find one that didn't sound silly! Neil Peart explains it in the book Rush Tribute/Mereley Players and I will let him talk about it in a quote of his from the book:
Neil-" Mongo is a character in Blazing Saddles, and in one scene Sheriff Bart delivers a bomb to him, with the line 'Candygram for Mongo!' Thus, 'Anagram for Mongo' seemed natural."
The whole song is a series of very clever anagrams...I enjoyed the song without knowing that and enjoy it even more now that I do know, even though I feel stupid for not getting it before!
Sample lyric: "There is no safe seat at the feast, take your best stab at the beast, the night is turning thin, the saint is turning to sin.."
Another line from this.."He and she are in the house, but there's only me at home!". Get it?
Musically, this is my favorite song on the album. The highlight of this song and the entire album is the Bruce Hornsby-like piano solo in it. Very melodic...this is a very good song.
Available Light- The last song on the album. Tis a slow and mellow song and it contains some of Lifeson's best guitar playing on the album. His guitar licks are slightly bluesy...for him, that is. Lee also sings very well on this, hitting some nice high notes on the refrain.
Elsewhere, Neil Peart addresses teen suicide on The Pass, a catchy tune that has a very well constructed guitar solo by Lifeson...an acoustic guitar pops up in the title track.....the band rock out in a weird time signature on Superconductor and Neil Peart talks about the weather on the album's weakest song Chain Lightning( the slowed down voice at the end is Alex, by the way).
I don't have too much else to say about this album. I'm recommending it, though it's not a very enthusiastic recommendation. It's not as exciting as some of their other albums, even though I can recall how all the songs sound, something I could not say for their two previous studio albums. Fortunately, they got much better on their next album!
BYE!
Presto came out in the Fall of 1989, and saw Rush cutting back on the synthesizers, which had come to completely dominate and overwhelm their sound on their last four studio albums.( It's still rather heavy on the keyboards, however, especially piano). It also saw Rush head in more of a pop and vocal oriented direction. Geddy Lee sings a great deal on this album, which gets mixed reactions from me. On the positive side, Geddy is in great voice on this and comes up with some damn catchy choruses and some very humm-able vocal melodies, probably more than he ever had. On the downside, Rush were never much of a vocal band and Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart are far too talented to act as Geddy Lee's back-up band. Geddy is one of the most maligned singers in rock and though he really sings his rump off on this, I'm sure he won't win over any of his enemies on this. I've always liked his voice,though!
The cover for this is terrific, with all of them bunny rabbits popping out of that hat! Elmer Fudd would love it!
Rolling Stone magazine gave this album a favorable three star rating, praising Rush for how versatile they are in tackling different styles of music and they even said some kind things about Geddy Lee!! They also pointed out how the guitar riff in Anagram was similar to the riff for the Foreigner song Long, Long Way From Home and how the piano line in Red Tide is similar to the guitar riff for the song Message in a Bottle. They are a tad on the similar side, but that doesn't bother me!
Back on the downside, there are very few great songs here and an abundance of mediocre ones! Overall, I find the album to be a very pleasant listen, though very few of these songs jump out at me and say, "HELLO!"!@ like alot of their older songs did.
The songs are:
Show Don't Tell...Chain Lightning....The Pass....War Paint...Scars...Presto....Supe
Highlights for me are:
Anagram (for Mongo)- For the longest time, I couldn't figure out what this title was about...I kept on trying to find an anagram for the word "mongo", but couldn't find one that didn't sound silly! Neil Peart explains it in the book Rush Tribute/Mereley Players and I will let him talk about it in a quote of his from the book:
Neil-" Mongo is a character in Blazing Saddles, and in one scene Sheriff Bart delivers a bomb to him, with the line 'Candygram for Mongo!' Thus, 'Anagram for Mongo' seemed natural."
The whole song is a series of very clever anagrams...I enjoyed the song without knowing that and enjoy it even more now that I do know, even though I feel stupid for not getting it before!
Sample lyric: "There is no safe seat at the feast, take your best stab at the beast, the night is turning thin, the saint is turning to sin.."
Another line from this.."He and she are in the house, but there's only me at home!". Get it?
Musically, this is my favorite song on the album. The highlight of this song and the entire album is the Bruce Hornsby-like piano solo in it. Very melodic...this is a very good song.
Available Light- The last song on the album. Tis a slow and mellow song and it contains some of Lifeson's best guitar playing on the album. His guitar licks are slightly bluesy...for him, that is. Lee also sings very well on this, hitting some nice high notes on the refrain.
Elsewhere, Neil Peart addresses teen suicide on The Pass, a catchy tune that has a very well constructed guitar solo by Lifeson...an acoustic guitar pops up in the title track.....the band rock out in a weird time signature on Superconductor and Neil Peart talks about the weather on the album's weakest song Chain Lightning( the slowed down voice at the end is Alex, by the way).
I don't have too much else to say about this album. I'm recommending it, though it's not a very enthusiastic recommendation. It's not as exciting as some of their other albums, even though I can recall how all the songs sound, something I could not say for their two previous studio albums. Fortunately, they got much better on their next album!
BYE!
Review ID: 10000000000232326
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