Roll the Bones

Rush | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 3, 1991)
• Original Release Date: September 3, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B000002IRM
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,500 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Dreamline

2. Bravado

3. Roll The Bones

4. Face Up

5. Where's My Thing? (Part IV, 'Gangster Of Boats' Trilogy)

6. The Big Wheel

7. Heresy

8. Ghost Of A Chance

9. Neurotica

10. You Bet Your Life

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Rush's return to progressive hard rock continued with Roll the Bones, though there's still a bit of synth work (notably on the title track). The music flows like a well-oiled machine, and with Rush, that's an asset, particularly when the material is this good. The songs are mostly up-tempo, with the intellectually oriented themes and musical structure that Rush is famous for. Especially memorable are "Dreamline," "Face Up," "Big Wheel," and "Neurotica," but everything here is good. --Genevieve Williams

Product Description

US only limited numbered edition. Pressed on 24 karat gold! Roll The Bones, Rush's 14th studio album, released in 1991, is a fantastic blend of tempos, ideas, and musical explorations. The album marks further transition from the band's 1980s style to their sound in the 1990s - it still has Rush's dark mystique but it is a more pop-oriented album. There are four popular radio staples, "Bravado," "Ghost Of A Chance," "Roll the Bones" and "Dreamline" with the former reaching #1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart, while "Where's My Thing" was Grammy nominated for Best Rock Instrumental. The band reunited with producer Rupert Hine for his second Rush album and "Roll the Bones" became their first US Top 5 album since 1981 peaking at #3 on the Billboard Top 200. The album also won the Canadian band that country's 1992 Juno Award for best album cover design. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rush finds their way., March 23, 2005

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roll the Bones (Audio CD)

"Roll the Bones", to my ears, represents the first time in a long time that all the elements of the band are coming together-- after experimenting with softer sounds and cleaner tones on the last couple records, and synth-driven rock before that, Rush seems to have found a good balance with "Roll the Bones". With Lee's confident vocal delivery supported by unparallel musicianship, great songs, great lyrics, and (finally!) great arrangements, Rush has turned out an album as good as the work they'd done ten years beforehand.

A trend with Rush albums is that they seem to be putting the songs I enjoy the most right up at the front of the album, "Dreamline", opening this one, is no exception-- what a great song, churning verses breaking into a driving chorus, blazing guitar solo, its a song born to be listened to rolling down the highway (likely a bit too fast at that...). The band shifts gears into the rolling grooves of "Bravado", a great minor key ballad, clearly showing how much better they'd gotten at this form than on "Presto". Following this up is one of the more interesting cuts on any Rush album, the title track, "Roll the Bones". Funky rhythms, synth hits, interspersed acoustic guitars and a bizarre rap make this one totally unique in the Rush catalog. Its a lot of fun-- this is an element of the band that started to emerge at this point, the fact they COULD have fun, but beyond that, its a great piece, stellar vocals, and a compulsively funky bassline accentuated by great playing from Lifeson and Peart.

So this was a pretty golden start, the album does kind of drift after this-- similar to the Rush albums of old, none of the material is really bad, it just doesn't grab you-- "Face Up", "Where's My Thing?" (the latter being an instrumental-- first on a Rush album since "YYZ" on moving pictures), a pair of funky songs, like I said, both really listenable, and good album tracks, but not noteworthy. Ditto for "The Big Wheel", "Heresy" and "Neurotica".

But there's one more gem on in here as well, the stunning "Ghost of a Chance"-- a straightforward love ballad, really a rarity on Rush albums (the only other ones I can think of prior to this is 1980's "Entre Nous"), this one is really a pretty, sweet song, and for a band that doesn't really explore these themes, they succeed quite well at it.

Bottom line, "Roll the Bones" is a great record, probably the best the band did in eight years or so at this point. Recommended.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rush's Third Incarnation, January 5, 2005

By 

Samhot (Star Land) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roll the Bones (Audio CD)

This album seems to be slagged off by many people and I don't really understand why. Rush has only done what many other true artists have done, which is grow and evolve. On here Rush returns to progressive hard rock with less synths, and the songs are mostly around the 5 minute mark. Every track on here is great, but my personal favorite is "Heresy", featuring ethereal vocal overdubs and soundscapes which is trademark Rush at their finest. Also worth checking out: "Where's My Thing", Rush returning to instrumentals. Not as flashy as YYZ or La Villa, but still great and refreshing to hear. The title track, which reminds me of something John Lennon could have written for some reason. "The Big Wheel", and "Ghost of A Chance" also, but everything on here is excellent as I've said earlier.

I can't find much, if anything, wrong with this album. It's just a prime example of a band that's grown and evolved and I'm personally pleased with the results.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hey, judge Rush one album at a time, January 30, 1999

By 

Robert S Garber (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roll the Bones (Audio CD)

I am getting tired of people rating recent Rush albums based on their past works. Without question, the past albums such as Hemispheres and Moving Pictures were fantastic, but my goodness, GET OVER THEM when reviewing more recent Rush efforts! No band that I know of spans the generations more effectively than Rush, so why hold them to their past? That said, Roll the Bones represents yet another groundbreaking effort by the group. That's why they appeal to so many; always willing to try something different, expanding their own musical talents while smirking at the mainstream music buerocracy. . . . a true indication of a band still in their prime; confident, aware, and powerful. The title tune, Roll the Bones, is wonderful and, in my opinion, cautiously happy -- saying "Live, dammit!" and not waste time wondering why we're here or how we got here. More than previously, this album seems to communicate 'follow your dreams,' and the band is doing JUST THAT. Can you imagine what we'd get if the guys themselves decided, "Well you know, 'Where's My Thing' is good, but its just not The Necromancer, so lets scrap it."? So appreciate them for now while they're still with us.