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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
And so ends the first book of Rush..., December 24, 1999
By A Customer
Hemispheres marks the end of Rush, Book 1, "the full-blown art-rock conceptual piece". On future releases, the band would condense their complex song structures into shorter songs, sacrificing self-indulgence for the sake of melody to create more accessible songs.And this is a fine closing chapter, for it bridges to where Rush was heading in the 80's. In the span of 36 minutes, they said goodbye to the side-long suite ("Cygnus X=1, Part II"), said hello to tighter song structures ("Circumstances"), introduced us to the new condensed prog-rock ("The Trees"), and gave us a first glance at the fusionesque instrumental ("La Villa Strangiato").Neil Peart's lyrics also began to change here. After completing the Cygnus X-1 story, he would abandon the mythological and science fiction themes for good, and concentrate on more human themes, such as fear, isolation, the pressures of fame, prejudice, and loss, to name a few. Thus, as the years passed, he became more introspective, and the lyrics really took on deeper meaning and connected more effectively. There is a glimpse of the new direction here on "Circumstances", one of his more underrated lyric pieces.You have to own this album if you want to hear Rush at their most "progressive". If it is your first buy (highly unlikely), you must also pick up A Farewell To Kings, for you need to have "Cygnus X-1" to fully understand the story behind the concept. Then proceed to Permanent Waves, and so on... Heck, buy them all, preferrably in chronological order, and take note of the directions Rush took with each in terms of music composition and lyrics. It will be well worth the money you spend, if you truly appreciate what these three extremely talented musicians have to bring to the table.
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47 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Golden Musicianship With Concept To Match, November 16, 2001
As the closing album of Rush's classic progressive period, this is possibly the album where they reached their peak in composition and concept. Starting from 1976's _2112_, and up to this album from 1978, one can see how the band's performance & writing skills had progressed.
The concept here (or rather the title centerpiece) deals with the conflict of reason (the left hemisphere of the brain) and emotion (the right hemisphere of the brain), and the consequences of the lack of equilibrium between the two. It's divided into six movements: each (with the exception of the closing movement) represented by a mythological figure that correlates with the designated psychological/behavioral characteristics associated with each respective one.
The musicianship displayed here is nearly flawless and awe-inspiring, as the band here is nearly playing orchestral music - only in a hard rock/metal context. I could easily see this title-piece arranged for an orchestra. The first movement called Prelude plays out like an overture: giving subtle glimpses of what will appear in later moments. It bursts open with an F#7 sus 4 chord from Alex Lifeson, followed by full band interplay which then plays out in typical rhythm - albeit with some unpredictable chord changes. Shortly after, Lifeson plays some ethereal guitar arpeggios, then switches the atmosphere abruptly with a near-diatonic scale riff in descending mode. Later, Lifeson plays more wispy, atmospheric arpeggiated riffs, which are later followed by the band playing in full hard rock mode, and not to mention Geddy's infamous "shrieks."
The second movement called Apollo: Bringer of Wisdom opens up with that descending riff from Alex Lifeson found on the first movement. It then turns into a 7/4 smorgasbord of Geddy's majestic vocals, Alex's crunchy and complex chords and Neil Peart's great drumming and poetic lyrics. Like the title of the movement suggests, the lyrics deal with the side of the brain that offers logic and necessity. The third movement called Dionysus: Bringer of Love is pretty much the exact same musical phrasing of the second movement: the same 7/4 rhythm, the same chords and progressions, the same vocal rhythmics and more. The only difference this time is the lyrics shift to talk about the side of the brain that offers emotion and total subjectivity.
The fourth movement called Armageddon: The Battle of The Heart and Mind opens in a very tricky rhythm (in 7 possibly.) It's a quirky romp which features a devastating and powerful riff from Lifeson before Geddy brings out his vocal shrieks. The fifth movement called Cygnus: Bringer of Balance starts off with the closing chords (C minor - Eb minor - E minor) from "Cygnus X-1" (off of _A Farewell To Kings_), to possibly give the listener a feeling of continuation from where the aforementioned track left off. A few moments later, there are a couple of dimly audible snippets of "Cygnus X-1" before Geddy gives a restive and haunting vocal performance set up against a lush bed of warm synthesizers. After that, the track continually builds in sonic intensity, before closing out on an explosive finale. The sixth movement called The Sphere: A Kind of Dream discusses what it would be like if one can achieve mental and emotional equilibrium. Geddy gives a decent vocal performance, as Alex Lifeson is strumming some nice chords on what sounds like a 12-string acoustic guitar.
"Circumstances" is a short rocker which covers topics such as alienation, introspection and coming-of-age. These are topics that would be covered more immensely on future albums. Alex Lifeson is playing some unpredictable chord progressions on here. And for the beginning of the chorus, he pulls out a mesmerizing, elaborate and cerebral riff, which is then followed by Geddy's commanding vocals, which are sung in English and French. There's a short instrumental section, featuring more wispy arpeggios from Lifeson, nice drum fills from Peart and Geddy's ever-moving basslines. The track then closes out with the chorus.
"The Trees" is a track about inequality, as discussed by many other reviewers. It starts out with some Spanish-like guitar arpeggios, followed by a stern vocal from Geddy Lee. It then turns into a straight-ahead rocker before the instrumental middle section kicks in. In this section, there's more atmospheric arpeggios as to be expected from Lifeson, exotic percussion, and some orchestral interplay later on. Each musician shines on his respective instrument. The track closes on a hard rocking note.
"La Villa Strangiato" is the instrumental on here which displays the instrumental chops of each musician. The piece is subtitled "an exercise in self-indulgence," though I wouldn't necessarily call it the most self-indulgent thing out there, as I've heard many other things that I would label self-indulgent long before I would lend that title to this. The fun part is trying to decipher which movement is which, as this piece is subdivided into twelve different movements. It starts with a Spanish-like guitar (followed by a frenzied solo) from Lifeson, before he displays his signature atmospheric and inventive arpeggios, which is then followed by a synthesizer line which. Later, the band cranks it up with fiery playing & soloing, quirky/humorous atmospherics, complex drum fills, jazzy basslines and other assorted goodies.
The album features brilliant musicianship, intelligent lyrics AND melody. If you crave either of the things listed above, how can you go wrong here?
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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Let the love of Truth shine clear', August 14, 2004
Not that I begrudge Rush their tremendous success or anything, but I really liked liking them back before they got popular.
_Hemispheres_ is one of my old favorites from that time. After the release of their next album (_Permanent Waves_), you couldn't turn on an FM station without hearing 'The Spirit of Radio' or 'Freewill'. Those are both great songs, of course, but because of their frequent airplay they're very strongly associated with that period of time: whenever I'm reminded that I can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice, I close my eyes and suddenly Reagan is in the White House again.
But I can't recall that anything from this album got any real airtime. And in a way that's nice, because I can listen to it today _without_ being transported back to my sophomore year of high school.
And I do listen to it. _Hemispheres_ has lots of good stuff on it.
Of course there's the 'rock opera' track to which the title refers. Ostensibly it's the second 'book' of a piece begun on _A Farewell to Kings_ (these guys are forever splitting up suites across albums) -- and for better or worse, it does include the guy who got sucked into the black hole in Book I. But thematically, it's a somewhat Nietzschean reworking of some ancient mythology (mostly Greek, but the Christian Armageddon is in there too), articulating the need for a proper balance between reason and feeling. It's a bit shorter (and in my opinion tighter) than the title track from _2112_ but very much along the same lines. (And it shows lyricist/percussionist Neil Peart stepping a bit further away from his Randian roots; for Ayn Rand, feeling was firmly subservient to reason and that was that.)
The remaining three tracks (which used to occupy 'side two' on the original vinyl release) are pretty nifty as well, and (to my taste) better than their counterparts on _2112_. Probably the best known is 'Trees', an anti-egalitarian parable (along the lines of Kurt Vonnegut's short story 'Harrison Bergeron') that doesn't pretend to offer any simple resolution of the issues between the 'oaks' and the 'maples' but warns against a horrifyingly destructive _false_ resolution. 'Circumstances' is classic Rush rock, and 'La Villa Strangiato' (described as 'an exercise in self-indulgence') is one of the trio's last extended instrumentals ('YYZ' on _Moving Pictures_ was it until 'Where's My Thing?' on 1991's _Roll the Bones_).
The guys have really started to hone their 'prog' edge here, too. Guitarist Alex Lifeson has a whole new sound, and bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee has clearly been working on his chops as well. They're playing around with meter quite a bit, and nearly every third or fourth measure contains some unusual number of beats (usually prime: five, seven, eleven (5|6), even twenty-three (5|6|6|6) on the first part of the instrumental break on 'Circumstances').
I suppose every Rush fan probably has this one already. If you're new to the band, this probably isn't the place to start; you probably want either _Permanent Waves_ or _Moving Pictures_, or maybe _2112_. But get around to this one when you have a chance; it's some of the best music you've never heard.
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