Customer Reviews

Caravan

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The beginning of Caravan will simply take you back to the time where Counterparts was released, the bass, the solo and the lyrics are truely what any Rush fan will expect.
B2UB (Brought up to believe) is a song with catchy phrases and a heavy start.

These 2 singles really gives us a smell and a pleasure that our favorite band.. still Lives on.

Hard impact, melodic, complex, refined. Rush continues to prove that they are still alive and well.

Message to Mr. Cohen- take your high horse somewhere else. You are interpreting a song through your own distorted lens and foisting your projection onto the rest of the world. Let people unfold in their own personal way instead of wagging your finger at everyone who does not perceive as you do. A closed mind is the quickest way to becoming a grumpy old man.

To give the impression of what flavor of Rush fan I am: I'm 18, been listening to these guys for about 3 years, own half of their catalog, but I have heard all of their catalog, and my favorite period of their career is between Signals and Presto, and my favorite Rush album is Presto.

I say this so anyone who cares enough to read my review knows where I am coming from with this.

First of all, Caravan. It is a pretty good song, not Rush's best, but it works, and has me coming back for many repeated listens. In itself it made me shelling out a bit of money for the physical single definitely worthwhile. The bass line in particular stands out. One complaint I've seen thrown around a bit are the lyrics; some people actually don't like these lyrics. I admit they aren't Neil's best, but really? I'd like to see the complainers write better ones. Being a musician and lyricist myself I know that writing good lyrics can be tough and is a definite art-form in itself, and Neil Peart is still delivering the goods as far as I'm concerned, and I'm glad to see he hasn't run out of ideas yet.

BU2B (Brought Up To Believe) is very much the stronger of the two songs though, and it is really really heavy, to the point of almost sounding like something Black Sabbath could put out. I love the chorus in this one, particularly the way the vocal interacts with the keyboard part.

The keyboards are actually something I want to bring up a little bit. I like Rush's '80s output the best because of the keyboards; I just feel that it agrees with the way they write songs well. Since Counterparts, Rush's albums seem to be pretty devoid of any noticeable keyboard part (though I've only heard Test For Echo once and I don't own it yet so I don't remember if that one does or not. My guess is not though), and while these songs still don't make a big deal out of them, they stand out when used at least.

As for the songs themselves, I feel like this is a bit of a return to form for Rush. There's nothing outright wrong with any Rush album made after Roll The Bones, but I feel like they haven't been putting out songs that really make any sort of huge impression on their overall career since then. I mean, sure, there are some good songs on each of these albums, but I don't find myself listening to the "newer" albums in one full listen, which I can do with any '70s or '80s Rush album. These two songs however, really stand out, in a way that this band's songs haven't been since after Presto.

One last thing I want to bring to light is the production. What the hell? I mean seriously, every album they've done since and including Vapor Trails sounds like a sonic mess. Even the '90s albums have dynamic clarity, but the last few albums have no range to their sound, the sounds just come at you all at once, like every other album made by any band these days. Quite frankly, I am getting real sick of the "loudness war", it is killing great music with awful production. It's like Megadeth's most recent album, Endgame. What a great album, but the production is such a mess I can only listen to songs from that album like once a month before my ears need to spend the rest of the month recovering from the traumatizing they just received. I would have thought that a band like Rush would be above such a musical atrocity, but I guess not. Hopefully Rush and the rest of the music industry will take steps to reverse this soon (Rush gets bonus points for that remix of Vapor Trails they are working on).

Anyway, overall I have to say I am impressed with these songs (I suppose I didn't need to make such a long review for two songs, oh well). I really hope that these are a sign for things to come. I can't wait for Clockwork Angels, whenever they get around to finishing it. Pardons to anyone who finds my review to sound juvenile, I keep getting that impression myself.

These two songs are more then what I expected &then drenched in rocket fuel(CARAVAN @LEAST)!caravan has a brigde in it thats almost freewill
like.A must have 4 heavy rush fans or moderate fans.there's nothing left to say.RUSH will reign as the prog.rockmasters long after i,m gone.this band could pull 1 song off each album &that would fill a 2hr show-no band can do that-JUST HARD ROCKN prog .rock at it's zenith,

I couldn't get this song out of my head after I heard it.The tempo and sonic attributes of this song, along with the other early release ( BU2B) remind me of Counterparts material. Good, straight forward rock with all the usual Rush attributes. That's a good thing. Looking forward to this album. If the rest of the material is on par with these two it should be a very solid release.
Now - back to my "Time Machine".....

If you're a fan of Rush as much as I am and appreciate the band's progressive approach to making music, feel free to skip these two songs.

These songs have no harmonies, no melodic structure, consist mostly of free-for-all grunge-like guitar riffs, pointless pounding of the tom-toms, and endless droning (not singing) vocals. I hate to say it, but the boys seemed to have phoned it in with these two songs. The songs have no defining structure with so many time changes that feel forced and don't add to character to the song (as in Spirit of the Radio). Plus the production value is really poor, reminiscent of Vapor Trails and Test for Echo, by far the band's two worst albums. Unlike all of their other efforts, Caravan and BU2B are not clean-sounding, as others have posted, sounding muddy instead. It's difficult to make out the individual contribution of each instrument to the whole. Plus the songs are just LOUD and unlistenable, as if the band is trying to prove that they can still take it up a notch and compete with today's (bad) bands. Maybe this would be a good time to give Terry Brown or Peter Henderson (Grace Under Pressure) a call?? Even Hemingway needed a good editor!

I expect the rest of the album to be an improvement over these versions. Maybe touring will help mold the songs into album-worthy shape? That's just my 2 cent's worth, which probably won't make a difference to many of the die-hard fans, but maybe Neil, Ged or Alex will read some of the honest critiques and really take it up a notch with the rest of the album.

The title says it all. If new Rush has scared you away the last 4 or 5 records...jump right back in here with Caravan and BU2B...holy cow are these songs AMAZING. 5 stars. Probably the strongest written songs since Presto and most musically challenging since Power Windows.

As a 21 year old, I have been a fan of Rush's music since I was 15. What really strikes me about these songs is Geddy's bass being higher up in the mix (and his taurus pedals too!!). Geddy also does a better job singing on both songs compared to what he did on Vapor Trails and Snakes&Arrows. However, I don't like the fact that Rush is being influenced by the muddy, droning rock sound that is prominent in today's music. From Rush to Presto all of their music was crisp. It was also easier to differentiate all aspects of their music (bass, guitar, synth, vocals etc...). But now everything just sounds so blended (almost stale and depressing). What ever happened to "happy" and "clean" sounding music like Led Zeppelin, Queen, Yes and Black Sabbath? Although many of these bands' have indeed released dark themed songs, the music itself still sounds happy and uplifting. Nevertheless, I am happy to see them return with these two songs and my hopes are high for their new album next year.

Something challenging to listen to. Thank God.

Caravan rocks. So much so that I am completely pissed that my bass is currently in getting a fret job. That's about the highest compliment I can pay any piece of music - when I feel the overwhelming need to grab my bass and play it.

So - bottom line - completely worth the download cost.

I'm an old Rush fan (have been one since 1974, a long time). This cut is really worth listening to!!!