POLL: Best Track on Rush's Grace Under Pressure

I think that digital recording/sequencers/triggering/electric drums etc. helped amp up the clarity of Grace Under Pressure and peaked with Power Windows. I suspect Hold Your Fire was trying for more of a live band sound, whether or not it successfully was, which in the end left it a little compromised sonically, since you can hear that sneaking back in but you can also hear the '80s. Presto is probably their clearest, sparest recording (though not without its own sonic massaging), which I suspect was a reaction to that.

Once again, monster mask bass nerd nails it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w6eoRiEV24

(OTM comment on a different one of his awesome covers: "You know this is an 80s Rush song when Troy has enough time to sip his coffee during the bridge.")

Presto is probably their clearest, sparest recording (though not without its own sonic massaging), which I suspect was a reaction to that.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, August 2, 2022 12:01 PM

The advances in recording tech make sense. I used to wonder if thinner, less bass/more high-end production choices of the '80s in comparison with the crunchy-boogie mid-'70s or the brick-walled mid-'90s was because there's always a rush (rim_shot.gif) to be the first to use some new gadgetry, whether or not they actually know how to use it. But then I read that it was an intentional act, sometimes informed by sounds-weird-now-but-made-sense-at-the-time factors like "will it sound good on a clock radio?", "will it sound too 'dated' on FM against all of the less-low-end modern music?", or "Producers now preferred cocaine to marijuana."

I remember an interview with Alex in one of the Guitar mags, where they referred to Alex's guitar parts on Hold Your Fire as "pastels", whereas Presto is where Rush were getting back to (cliche alert) "3 guys in the same room, rocking out". While the overall dynamic range sounds brittle compared to the hugeness of Counterparts a few years later, when I finally got to see Rush play live on the Counterparts tour, "Show, Don't Tell" sounded absolutely colossal, making me really disappointed that I missed the Presto tour, so maybe the songs were ahead of their production agenda?

Although, I actually quite like the so-called "pastels" - I may be stealing this line from Alfred Soto's blog, but they do sound like the "cha-CHING!" guitars all over Scritti Politti's Cupid and Psyche - I just wished the riffy parts in HYF were heavier, but they work in "High Water" and "Force Ten".

The songs on Presto could definitely do with being beefed-up in the studio but I admit I’m fond of the very 1989-into-1990 ambient sonics of the production, like the very start of “Show Don’t Tell” before they all kick in together; this is one aspect of the Hine production era I definitely like

The “pastels” as mentioned was definitely at some sort of apex with HYF, and while the bottom end of the guitar sound is missing, the arpeggiated material sounds great

Read an interview with Alex from around the time of "Grace Under Pressure," where he said he was kind of tired of guitar heroics and instead was more interested in atmospherics a la Andy Summers and the Edge. I think specifically he said he was more interested in exploring the whammy bar than offering flurries of notes, which sounds about right. It's maybe no wonder one of his most beloved solos is "Limelight," which is about as far from fast fret stuff as possible. The solo on "Chain Lightning" on "Presto" is sort of the extreme of this, for at least part of its duration; iirc the whole thing may be backwards.

Around 2:20 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe9KdJXnKSQ

What's wild about Grace Under Pressure is that prior to this, producer Peter Henderson was Supertramp's main producer.