- Audio Cassette (17 Oct 1990)
- Format: Import
- Label: Polygram Records
- ASIN: B000001F5M
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Distant Early Warning |
| 2. Afterimage |
| 3. Red Sector A |
| 4. Enemy Within |
| 5. Body Electric |
| 6. Kid Gloves |
| 7. Red Lenses |
| 8. Between the Wheels |
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
After the success of "Permanent Waves", Rush were on a roll. "Moving Pictures" consolidated their hold. And then came "Signals". Although - like every Rush album - there are some whose favourite it was, for me it represented a loss of form, a loss of momentum, a loss of... Rushness. Too much synthesiser, too much lyrical vagueness, not enough bite. They went away and thought about things for a while. Rumour has it that Lifeson almost left because he felt his guitar contribution was becoming marginal - just like The Edge almost left U2 circa "Pop". Then, just as U2 came back with "All That You Can't Leave Behind", Rush returned to guitar-driven rock music with this album - and what a blinder they played!
This record is awash with great rock songs - Distant Early Warning, Kid Gloves, The Body Electric - but its core is two songs in a row on side 1. One, Red Sector A, is a futuristic song about a death camp, the closest Rush have ever come to discussing what happened to some of Lee and Lifeson's family in Nazi Germany. The other, The Enemy Within, is a defiant call-to-arms: each individual must make their own destiny, not "give in to security under pressure". Consecutively, these songs tell each and every one of us to live for now and make the future - not to forget the past, but not to let it cripple us either. This is where Rush achieve their clearest statement of a philosophy which has been their core message all along.
On one perfectly valid level, this is "just" a great rock album. On another, this is a rich and valid statement of how to live your life, whatever happens.
This record is awash with great rock songs - Distant Early Warning, Kid Gloves, The Body Electric - but its core is two songs in a row on side 1. One, Red Sector A, is a futuristic song about a death camp, the closest Rush have ever come to discussing what happened to some of Lee and Lifeson's family in Nazi Germany. The other, The Enemy Within, is a defiant call-to-arms: each individual must make their own destiny, not "give in to security under pressure". Consecutively, these songs tell each and every one of us to live for now and make the future - not to forget the past, but not to let it cripple us either. This is where Rush achieve their clearest statement of a philosophy which has been their core message all along.
On one perfectly valid level, this is "just" a great rock album. On another, this is a rich and valid statement of how to live your life, whatever happens.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
When this album first came out, the doomy, portentous tracks "Distant Early Warning" and "Between the Wheels" chimed with my adolescent angst about nuclear war, the decline of western civilisation, my inability to get laid, etc. etc., but as Bart Simpson once said, "making teens depressed is like shooting fish in a barrel." On re-listening 20+ years later, the stand-out tracks for me now are the playful, ironic "Red lenses" (satirizing cold war paranoia) and "The body electric" (using an hilarious story about an escaped robot to explore the dehumanizing effects of technology.) There's an attractive sense of self-perspective at work here - very, very clever stuff. This is definitely not just another heavy rock holocaust record. It's not even heavy rock, not by modern standards. The remastered sound is crystal clear - I don't remember my vinyl copy sounding this good, it really showcases Rush at their peak as individual musicians. Although I'm personally a fan of the dense, layered, grungey sound of their more recent output, if you're new to Rush there's no better place to start than here.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
After the synth-wash that was Signals, this is a breath of fresh air. Nicely guitar-driven, this album has many good songs and shows influences from U2, The Police and Tears for Fears. Great musicianship all round - check out the funky fills at the end of "I See Red". Great stuff.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Oh you little beauty!
Another of what I like to think of as wandering albums from Rush, no real theme or core just cracking songs throughout. Read more
Published 1 month ago by John
Graceful
I think Graceful is a good way to describe this album its got a sort of glossy sound to the album and I like it the emphasise seems to have been altered to focus on the guitar more... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Cubby Kovu
Electric Body of Work
Coming hot off the successes of the very good Signals, Grace Under Pressure ramps up the pop quota slightly with a much broader sound. Read more
Published 1 month ago by ratmonkey
Best Rush album I've heard....so far
I'm so glad I've finally discovered this album - only 27 years after its release. I was familar with much of Rush's 70s prog output - liked it, but didn't love it. Read more
Published 11 months ago by J. Smith
"Suddenly... you were gone... From all the lives you left your mark...
The front cover - bleak, surreal, yet somehow optimistic - the font for the lyrics, the lyrics themselves, the labels on the original vinyl album, the egg in the clamp on the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by G. Young
Forced to re-assess my opinion
Released in the mid-80's Grace Under Pressure unfortunately fell between two superb albums, namely Signals and Power Windows. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Lucioperca
The forgotten gem
Upon going through my Rush collection, I noticed that I'd not replaced my original flat sounding copy of this album. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mr. L. T. Walmsley
welcome to the machine part 2.. 3.5 stars
This was the first Rush album i threw in the cupboard,couldnt stand it at first,it has grown on me over the years,although it will never be rated as one of their best. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mr Blackwell
my 3rd favorite Rusn album
This is my 3rd best after Power windows and Moving Pictures as they have no weak tracks on them where this has 2 Red lenses and body electric, but it keeps its 5 stars because of... Read more
Published on 2 April 2010 by Stephen
I used to hate this album - now I love it
When I first listened to this album, I was appalled. I was (and of course still am) a massive Rush fan and after being blown away by their prog 70s work and the superb imagination... Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2010 by Mr. J. Livitt
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