I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-Hemispheres (1978).

Or maybe this is my favorite Rush album.

And what’s not to like?  A naked man on the cover, a 20 minute song (in 6 parts (which is a sequel to a previous song!)), and a 9 minute instrumental.  It’s prog rock heaven.

The “title” track is a continuation of a song from the last album (and so is called Cygnus X-1 Book II; Hemispheres)).  It’s a thoughtful look at balancing the two halves of the brain: love and reason.  In true epic style, the forces are represented by Apollo, bringer of Wisdom and Dionysus, bringer of Love.  Apollo teaches the people how to fend and care for themselves.  They’re thrilled and delighted with themselves until they feel kind of empty inside.

Dionysus arrives: he teaches them love and music, dancing and drinking.  And they embrace this wholeheartedly.  But this leads to cold and starvation.

And so, as is natural, the people were split with the two sides coming forth [hey this sounds familiar].  And of course, they fight each other.

It gets a little confusing from there when the spaceship from Part 1 arrives and after telling his story of going through the black hole it unites the fighting forces (You can also hear musical snippets from Part 1).  And yet, musically it works wonders.  The epilogue is a peaceful, well-written acoustic bit that sums up the themes of the song quite nicely.

The second side has three tracks: “circumstances,” a short, heavy rocker that I have always loved.  I think the main reason is because each time they enter the chorus, Neil plays either 1, 2 or 3 cymbal crashes depending on which verse they’re in (math geek!).

The next song, “The Trees,” is another classic.  Starting quietly, with a classical style acoustic guitar, we learn that there is trouble in the forest.  As the song rocks to an end, the trees are all keep equal by hatchet, axe and saw.  Over the years I’ve thought of many different explanations for this song.  And to me that’s the mark of a good story.

The final song is probably my favorite Rush song.  “La Villa Strangiato” is a 9 minute instrumental with a dozen sections and is subtitled “An Exercise in Self-Indulgence.” It is a tour de force showcasing all their skills.  I was delighted that they had started playing it live again on their more recent tours.  And, I was even more delighted to see that the middle section featured Alex telling a ranting, random, crazy story.  Alex has always been very silly, but it hasn’t come out all that much musically. So, this was a great opportunity for him to let loose.  I have no idea what he was rambling about in any of his bits, but the snippets I’ve heard have all ben quite funny.

This was definitely the heyday of prog rock, and yes, it is sadly missed.

[READ:  March 28, 2010] “I.D.”

It’s been a little while since I’ve seen a Joyce Carol Oates story anywhere.  For a time, it seemed like I read one every few days.  So it’s nice to have her and her gruesome stories back.

This story focuses on a young girl, Lizette.  As the story opens we learn that she is feeling the effects of a beer buzz and it is making her 7th grade math class drag on.  (We later learn that she had about a quarter of a can of beer, but that’s still too much at 13)!

She is currently concentrating very hard on getting a napkin with her lipstick print to classmate, J.C.  J.C. has been left back and he is baaaad.  Lizette is wearing lipstick because her mother didn’t come home last night.  In fact, Lizette is not sure when her mom last came home.  It’s been a few days at least. But then, her mom has left her alone before, so she’s not terribly concerned.But back in class, she’s thinking about J.C.  Finally, her teacher is distracted by a knock at the door, and Lizette is able to send the napkin over to him.  Such a message from her means that she’ll totally go all the way with him.   Or something like that.  Maybe.

But then the teacher turns and calls her over to the door.  It turns out that the knock was from policeman who are there to see her.  They know that her mother has been away for a few days, and they are there to ask her a few questions.  When was the last time she saw her.  And when was the last time she saw her father?

As the story moves along, the title, I.D. becomes far more important.  And the story gets more surreal and frantic.  I can’t say that I’m entirely sure exactly what happened at end.  I’m fairly certain I understood the clues, but then Lizette seems so certain that I can’t say for certain what happened.

Regardless, the story was quite compelling, and even if I don’t know exactly what happened, it’s quite apparent from the story that things like this will likely happen again.