Grace Under Pressure - Rush

Hey there, avid reviewers. Currently featuring: another stop on the musically diverse journey that is Rush for you to peruse. Grace Under Pressure (1984) was recorded during a fairly dark and depressed time for the band. One of the assistant engineers at the Laurentian studios in Quebec where the band recorded several albums was killed in 1983 on his way to work. He was also a good friend of Neil (Drums & Lyrics), and the second song (Afterimage) was dedicated/written with him in mind. Another feature of the period was the Cold War, at it's peak and seeping into the television and mindset of North America, spreading malcontent, mistrust, and worry ...  Read the complete review

Neil Peart, drummer and lyrisist for Rush, composes songs based on books he`s read, science-fiction, current events, and life experiences. This album came out in 1984, when we were at the height of the cold war with Russia! During this period, Russians were often refered to as "reds". There was talk of Star Wars(defence system not movie!), Russian invasions, and World War III. Peart saw this, and this album is based on that. Let`s look at these songs and see how the songs all tie in! Distant Early Warning was a system, primitive in nature, used to detect missles fired at the US. Notice the "red alert", referance to red. ...  Read the complete review

Grace Under Pressure is my favourite Rush album. With 8 tracks and a running time of under 40 minutes it might not sound like good value for money but it really is. The theme running through this album is one of a futuristic world and anyone who's seen the Star Trek type music video to Distant Early Warning will know what I mean. This album is very unlike the previous Rush album, Signals but throughout their career Rush have managed to pump out album after album and always retain an amazing originality. The teamwork of musical ability and Neil Peart's lyrical knowledge makes for yet another captivating musical experience. This was the ...  Read the complete review