Caress of Steel
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| Caress of Steel | ||
| ||
| Studio album by Rush | ||
| Released | September 1975 | |
| Recorded | June-July 1975 | |
| Genre | Progressive rock | |
| Length | 44:51 | |
| Label | Anthem Records (Canada) Mercury Records | |
| Producer(s) | Rush and Terry Brown | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rush chronology | ||
| Fly by Night (1975) | Caress of Steel (1975) | 2112 (1976)
|
Caress of Steel was the third album by Rush, released in 1975.
The album is often considered notable for the inclusion of the band's first epic piece, "The Fountain Of Lamneth", which runs to nearly 20 minutes and comprised the whole of side two of the original vinyl release. Intended to be Rush's breakthrough album, it sold lower than their previous record and was considered a failure, with the tour becoming known as the "Down The Tubes Tour". The next year's follow-up album, 2112 would pave the way for Rush to super-stardom with its own 20 minute epic.
This album shows more of Rush's adherence to the standards of progressive rock. Long pieces, pieces broken up into parts, and solo passages of speed and agility are all included.
A necromancer is one who practices necromancy, a type of divination involving the summoning of Operative Spirits to discern information about the future. The Necromancer starts with heavy influence from the Lord of the Rings with Frodo, Samwise, and Gollum as the "three travellers" and Sauron as the Necromancer. The song obviously departs from the story of the book as Part III sees the return of By-Tor from Fly by Night, this time as a hero and not a villain. Return of the Prince was also released as a single in some countries.
The final song on the album — The Fountain of Lamneth — predates epics like 2112 and the Cygnus X-1 series, and is only 34 seconds shorter than 2112. It also forms a complete story, this one about a man in search of the Fountain of Lamneth, presumed to be the Fountain of Youth and chronicles the individual occurrences of his journey, presenting all of them, in the end, as being negative and merely impeding his progress.
Didacts and Narpets (which consists mostly of a short drum solo) is thought by some to be an anagram of "Addicts and Parents". This is incorrect, however, the word Narpets is an anagram for the word Parents in the title. This is confirmed in the October 1991 news release from the Rush Backstage Club, Neil Peart said:
"Okay, I may have answered this before, but if not, the shouted words in that song represent an argument between Our Hero and the Didacts and Narpets - teachers and parents. I honestly can't remember what the actual words were, but they took up opposite positions like: "Work! Live! Earn! Give!" and like that."
A didact would be a teacher, sharing a root with the word didactic, which is "inclined to teach" or "teaching moral lessons."
This song was never played live, and never released as a single.
Rush's Led Zeppelin influence is still prominent on this record, most obviously in the song "Bastille Day", though it is apparent on all three of the shorter songs on the album.
Originally, the album cover was supposed to be in silver hue to give it a "steel" appearance. A printing error resulted in a copper color for the album cover.[1]
Despite its poor sales, the album charted higher in the US than Rush's previous release Fly by Night (as stated in the liner notes to Rush's The Spirit of Radio Greatest Hits 1974-87 album).
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Bastille Day" – 4:37
- "I Think I'm Going Bald" – 3:37
- "Lakeside Park" – 4:08
- "The Necromancer" – 12:30
- "I. Into Darkness" – 4:12
- "II. Under the Shadow" – 4:25
- "III. Return of the Prince" – 3:52
- "The Fountain of Lamneth" – 19:59
[edit] Miscellanea
Lyrics for the song "Bastille Day" were inspired by the Charles Dickens novel A Tale of Two Cities.
Mentioned in the song "Lakeside Park", the 24th of May is Victoria Day, a Canadian holiday. Lakeside Park itself is a park in Port Dalhousie, St. Catharines, Ontario, where lyricist Neil Peart grew up and worked as a teenager during the summer.
Referenced from the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, "The Necromancer" is one of the pseudonyms of Sauron. This is the second reference to the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien in the Rush catalog. This is also the second song in which the character By-Tor is used (the first being "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" from Fly by Night). In "The Necromancer," By-Tor is perceived as the protagonist, whereas in "By-Tor and the Snow Dog," he is the antagonist.
The liner notes for Caress of Steel include a memoriam for Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone.
Some cassette printings of this album had "Didacts and Narpets" and "I Think I'm Going Bald" switch places (possibly due to cassette tape length and to balance out both sides), and all of the movements of "The Fountain of Lamneth" were listed as separate songs.
On the inside gatefold of the album, just below the lyrics to "The Necromancer", the latin phrase "Terminat hora diem; terminat auctor opus" appears. This translates (loosely) to; "[as] The hour ends the day; the author ends his work".
[edit] Credits
- Geddy Lee - bass guitar and vocals
- Alex Lifeson - 6 and 12 string electric and acoustic guitars, classical guitar, steel guitar
- Neil Peart - percussion
[edit] Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Pop Albums | 113 |
[edit] Remaster details
A remaster was issued in 1997.
- The tray has a picture of star with man painting with THE RUSH REMASTERS printed in all caps just to the left. All remasters from Rush through to Permanent Waves are like this. This is just like the cover art of Retrospective I.
- The remaster adds the album's back cover and gatefold (which included band pictures and lyrics) to the packaging which was not included on original CD.
| Rush |
| Geddy Lee | Alex Lifeson | Neil Peart |
| John Rutsey |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: Rush | Fly by Night | Caress of Steel | 2112 | All the World's a Stage | A Farewell to Kings | Hemispheres | Permanent Waves | Moving Pictures | Exit...Stage Left | Signals | Grace Under Pressure | Power Windows | Hold Your Fire | A Show of Hands | Presto | Roll the Bones | Counterparts | Test for Echo | Different Stages | Vapor Trails | Rush in Rio | Feedback (EP) |
| Compilations: Archives | Chronicles | Retrospective I | Retrospective II | The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974-1987 | Gold |
| Related articles |
| The Rush Portal
Rush discography | Rush music videos | History of Rush | Rush instrumentals | Victor | My Favorite Headache | A Work In Progress | Anatomy of A Drum Solo | "Fear" Series | Cygnus X-1 Series |
