Presto - Rush (CD 1989)

(Disclaimer: Those looking for a brief description of the album will find what their looking for in the "Review Body" section. The section titled "Track Reviews" is meant only for those who want to read detailed descriptions of the songs, and they do not constitute the essence of this review. Lastly and most importantly, this review is not necessarily written by the point of view of a Rush fan.)

Overall Score: 2/5
Best song: Chain Lightning
Worst song: Scars

Review Body:

For my money, Presto is the slightest improvement over Hold Your Fire. It seems more stylish and concrete. Nonetheless, Presto still isn't a very good album. It shows Rush in a terrible rut. Even though they sound like they were at the top of their game in the instrumental standpoint, they almost completely neglect the melodic and harmonic aspects of their compositions. When they neglect something as fundamental as those, their complicated instrumental arrangements seem like they're window dressing a vacant store. Naturally, their instrumental abilities keep this album from achieving even lower scores, but no matter how well you play it, a bad song will always remain a bad song.

But fortunately not all these songs are bad! I actually like Chain Lightning a lot. It provides a much-appreciated reminder of Rush's peak years... (Although, in all actuality, Rush's peak years weren't all that great ... but compared to this album, it sure was!) It has an interesting melody and a catchy riff. The window dressing instrumentals are wonderful, of course, and it's nice that they actually had a cake on which to put the icing! Likewise, The Pass is pretty good. It's not an especially memorable song, but it has its moments that manage to hit home. Anagram (For Mongo) and the album opener, Show Don't Tell also have their moments even though they're both heavily flawed and harmonically flat.

Those were the highlights. The rest of the songs plain suck. The worst offender of them all is Scars. I'll give them credit where it's due... That is a unique song. It features a deep, rumbling bassline at its core... something that I don't remember Rush ever attempting before. The song structure is weird, too. But if they're not going to back these musical ideas with workable melodies and harmonies, then it would probably be better for them to just stick with the status quo.

War Paint and the title track are examples of this album's characteristic tracks. Both are terribly dull, typical late '80s rocker. Listening to it, I marvel at the fact that the band keeps on doing these fancy instrumental maneuvers around dull and dead material. It's like they don't even notice that they're playing something so toneless... yet they keep on going. And they won't stop until they have an LP's worth of material... Oh, brother.

Track Reviews:

Show Don't Tell B-
Eh... If you've been following Rush's discography, you can immediately tell that they weren't trying to do anything too original. It's more of that late '80s rock sound with those loud drums and tons of reverb. Though Rush's instrumentation levels have always been quite good, and this isn't an exception. It's also nice that they chose a much more complicated structure that your average 12-bar ditty. But the harmonies are flat, and the melody is boring. It's just a bloated, tasteful song that never gets too boring!

Chain Lightning A-
This is just as skillful as the previous track, but it's a tad more memorable. The melody has massively improved, and the experience of listening to this is rather fun! The riff is excellent! It reminds me of a PiL riff or something. So, the late '80s-ness of this song doesn't detract from it... It actually makes it a little better. I do hope Rush continues on this vein...

The Pass B+
I will say that there is one really good piece of melody that keeps popping up in here. I also like the flow of this song, and, again, it's very complex structure. Despite the structure, they manage to give it nice enough flow so that it's coherent and easy to sit through. Overall, I guess, that makes this a good effort!

War Paint C-
It's back to business as usual, I'm afraid. Back to the compositions that are extremely well-played but they fail to leave any impression. Neil Peart is drumming away to some toneless melody, and Lifeson is chugging away lifeless chords. It's a wonder that Lee's able to find a melody out of this... which, of course, isn't interesting either.

Scars D-
I like that deep rumbling bassline ... That at least sets it apart from the other songs. But unfortunately, sets it apart from the other songs in this context means that this is probably a moment that you'd rather forget. Despite the bass and an otherwise uncouth instrumentation, the harmonies are extremely DEAD. So DEAD they are that its deadness will begin to affect you, and start making you seem DEAD, too. This is unique, but a massive misstep on nearly all accounts.

Presto D+
It's not as bad as Scars, but again here's a song that's all show and no substance. Flashy instrumentation and complicated song development can only take it so far on those merits alone... and they don't take it very far. This is a phenomenally dull piece. Next!

Superconductor C+
Well, at least they're giving us an actually *riff* here! That's a step in the right direction, for sure! That riff isn't exactly original, but it's a lively thing, and for once they're not sounding completely like zombies. The song development goes back and forth between this crunchy riff and a reverb-ridden ballad chorus. Unfortunately, the extent of this song's entertainment value starts and ends with that riff... The vocal melody will go in ear and out the other without making any sort of impression.

Anagram (For Mongo) B-
And I'm sure Mongo appreciates it! And *I* appreciate it too. It seems that Rush is peaking their heads briefly out of the metaphorical water and actually bothering to deliver something that's mildly entertaining! While they still have a ways to go to be awesome, at least the melody is marginally catchy, and I like those deep guitar riffs.

Red Tide C
When I was a geology student, one of my professors said that the red tide is a phytoplankton orgy. ... Oh, the good times I used to have as a geology student! But back to this Rush album. Now, if they were going to write a song about a phytoplankton orgy, the least they could do is make it sound more lustful. In fact, any emotion they could give it would be a good thing. Again, here's a dead-sounding, flashy late '80s tune with keyboards, reverb and nothing interesting.

Hand Over Fist C-
This song starts out like it might be pretty good. The atmosphere is engaging a little bit, and I like those jangly guitars. Even the opening chord progression has some quality. But it quickly becomes obvious that this'll be another dead, flashy Rush song that's nearly soul-sucking. Bluh.

Available Light C+
Good! The last one!! ... You wonder why a Band like Rush would even bother with these songs if they seem to have so much trouble coming up with melodies and good chord progressions. I ask this, because I know they're far away from talentless drones... VERY far away... I guess they were just too dazzled by their own instrumental prowess that they thought that's the only thing people cared about! Well, think again, BUSTER! Now, among all the dead songs, this is actually one of the better ones, and that's only because their instrumental loudness sometimes seems like it's about to sweep me away.

Concluding Remarks:

Rush's late '80s albums aren't worth listening to, I'm afraid. While their instrumental skills continue to be impressive and notable, the melodies are boring and the harmonies are virtually nonexistent.