Progressive rock pretty much implies instrumental pieces, or at least long instrumental breaks within songs. In the case of Toronto, Canada's kings of prog-rock Rush, we mostly get great vocal songs that include awe-inspiring instrumental sections. The band only very occasionally wrote and recorded completely instrumental tracks.
On the vocal song front, I immediately think of the extended guitar-bass-drum extravaganzas of early Rush tracks By-Tor and the Snow Dog, lengthy bits of show-off-ery on The Fountain of Lamneth and The Necromancer from the Caress of Steel album, and the obvious "chapters" of the legendary 2112 suite. Literary gem Xanadu and the sci-fi epic Cygnus X-1: Book One, both on the Farewell to Kings album, boast some tasty, protracted non-vocal sections. These songs are all long enough that they can afford to incorporate both heady lyrical content and purely instrumental portions. It all works... in the Rush landscape.
But when it comes to solely instrumental tracks, there are only a handful that I can think of:
Naturally, there is the epic La Villa Strangiato, one of my very favourite songs in the Rush catalogue - from the 1978 album Hemispheres.
Clocking in at a staggering nine and a half minutes, the La Villa suite is arranged in "movements" (to borrow the classical music term) that tell a musical story of sorts, with themes and motifs that often repeat to introduce and re-introduce ideas and moods... almost like characters in a scene who leave, then reappear later. It's not only engaging as an atmospheric fantasy experience, but it also wows the listener with the incredibly complex and physically demanding performances by the band members. La Villa Strangiato evolved out of nightmarish dreams that guitarist Alex Lifeson had at the time of album development. The "chapters" of the song bear titles that include weird and funny made-up words that the guys in Rush invented themselves - like Lerxst and Shreve, and even make reference to a street intersection in downtown Toronto, "Danforth and Pape".
1981 was the year of Moving Pictures, the massive breakthrough album by Rush. I wore out that tape back in the day, getting even greater mileage on side A, which included the more succinct, yet just as compelling, instrumental YYZ (yet another Toronto reference; this is the Malton Airport's location code). Punchy and even a bit funky and jazzy, it flows seamlessly from one tempo and vibe to another, but also makes callbacks to earlier riffs and themes. A classic that helped usher Rush into a new era.
A full decade passed before Rush offered up another instrumental track on an album. This time it was on the 1991 release, Roll the Bones, the song entitled Where's My Thing (Part IV, Gangster of Boats Trilogy). See how Rush liked to joke around? Part four of a trilogy... yeah. By this time, Rush was coming off a very lightweight string of albums, and Roll the Bones was just beginning to see them off to revisit slightly heavier realms. But not quite yet. Where's My Thing is awash with synths, as was everything they did in the 80's, though Lifeson finds himself a comfy spot in the mix to soar. I really like his guitar tone here, bright and crisp, sometimes slashing (politely) chordal rhythms, working to stand out among all the electronics. A fun little funky-jazzy-rock number that doesn't exactly set the world on fire, but hey, it's Rush!
Next came Leave That Thing Alone, which appeared on the 1993 album Counterparts. This record saw the band returning to their heavier roots, much to my delight, and I'll be damned... this stuff stands up amazingly well today, unlike some of their 80's fare. On this tidy little instrumental, again, I love Lifeson's guitar sound, from rumbling, roaring Distort-O riffs to glistening, spirally lead licks and solos. It's a cool track all around, but Alex's 6-string work truly adds a - dare I say, emotional - quality to the affair. So... I don't know what this "thing" is that Rush refers to in these last two song titles, but it does make one think, use the ol' imagination... and leave it up to us, the listeners, to decide what they're talking (playing) about.
On Rush's next album, 1996's Test For Echo, we are treated to the instrumental experiment called Limbo. This track explores interesting territory, sometimes grooving, sometimes lurching with angular effect, sometimes cruising with phasors on stun. All over the place. Geddy's bass really pops here, when it can... Alex's jangly axe often dominates the mix. Sparse keyboard accents add colour, but only in select spots. This is boiled down closer to the true trio sound Rush had back in the day.
The Main Monkey Business, off the 2007 Snakes & Arrows album, is less familiar to me. I'm guilty of not getting to know these post-2000 recordings very well), so my commentary on it is minimal. I find it a bit similar to Limbo in its careful use of synth sounds, but I find parts a little less engaging than previous efforts. Perhaps more listens would change my mind. Things do get a bit busier and heavier, with more room to stretch out in this six-minute song (longer than the previous few instrumentals).
Off that same album came a short but sweet acoustic guitar piece, Hope, measuring at just two minutes. There's a vaguely folky feel to it, though the rock aspect isn't lost with the driving rhythm that propels it to a satisfying conclusion. Nice.
Snakes & Arrows offers up yet another instrumental, in the form of Malignant Narcissism. It's another shorty, just over two minutes, though this time it's a rampaging bull with loud, slapping drums and searing, slashing guitar. And some fun and flippety bass fills by ol' Ged. Not angry sounding, but rather confident and focused in approach. Quite good.
That's it, I think. There were also some instrumental bits used only in concert performances, which we got to hear on their live albums. The most famous would be Broon's Bane, the intro to The Trees on the live '81 release Exit... Stage Left. But I don't really want to go there today. A topic for another day, maybe.
Prog-rock on!
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