Hemispheres (remaster)

Rush's 1978 release Hemispheres (aka "Ass-Cheeks") puts together the final pieces of the trio's "modern" sound. Tight as a Winnipeg schoolgirl, here is a band at their performance peak. Production value would continue improving into the next decade, but it can be argued that Rush never pushed their playing further than on Hemispheres. It can also be argued that this is one of the most ridiculous album covers of all time...

As if to say "fuck you, monsieur," the boys open and close the first side with an 18-minute sequel to "Cygnus X-1." Not the wisest idea in the history of Mercury Records, but they damn near pull it off. The whole Greek-myths-in-outer-space thing wears thin quickly, but the whole thing's fairly listenable. Scotch tape and scissors could've made the thing a cozy seven or eight minutes long, but who's counting? They get a pass on sheer balls.

After sailing in and out of black holes and G-d knows what else, the weary listener is treated to the rocker "Circumstances." Ronnie James Dio woulda been proud to perform this song. Unfortunately, Neil Peart sounds like he's doing everything he can to derail the song rhythmically during the opening verses. All he has to do is rock straight through-- instead he chooses to play hide-and-seek with the damn downbeat. Why???

Have no fear, because all is very well with "The Trees," one of the most beloved Rush songs in the catalog. "The Trees" gave birth to countless useless woodblock purchases by sorry young drummers, as well as more dime-store philosophers than "Dust in the Wind". But it's kind of a perfect song, innit?

Aaaaaah... "La Villa Strangiato" (according to Greg in Oakville, Canada, this roughly translates to "The Strange Village." Thanks a million, Greg...). I'm not sure that a better Rush song exists. At least not in my world.

One might argue that "La Villa" (subtitled "An exercise in Self-Indulgence") represents an historic meeting in instrumental music: krautrock and fusion. I know I've drunkenly argued that point many, many times. The tune brilliantly fades in with a nifty little guitar mesh-pattern, accompanied only by Geddy blurps and Neil tinklings. Rhythm section rides in next (wait-- that's Geddy and Neil too!!), and then we're off to the "Strangiato Theme (part III)"!

The breakdown of "A Lerxst in Wonderland (part IV)" features Peart doing his best Bill Bruford imitation: a hiccupping hat-snare-kick kinda thing. Alex even does some nice Adrian Belew-style volume swells, but Geddy manages to avoid the Chapman Stick here. (By the way, I know exactly where each of the "movements" begin and end because I own the percussion chart to "La Villa," thank you very much. I even tried to program the drum part on a Roland 505 drum machine once-- I woulda had better luck trying to translate a Nabokov novel into Hebrew.)

Anyhoo, "La Villa" kicks some serious asscheeks. I've always wondered what the boys did after they finished that monstrous take in the studio. Did they go on a 72-hour coke-and-whore binge across the Welsh countryside? Did they immediately demand millions of dollars from Mercury Records, unrecoupable? Did they each take a giant dump in the basement?

We mortals may never know. Chances are, they hopped a plane back to Toronto and caught the rest of the Maple Leafs game with a bottle of pop and some pretzels...

rating: 3 1/2 out of 5

Fun Fact: Rush settled out of court with Raymond Scott for their ripoff of "Powerhouse" in part V of "La Villa Strangiato".