Welcome to 90s Rush: a shmorgasborg or really, really forgettable songs.
As a Rush fan, all I can ask is what happened in the 3 years between Presto and release of 1991’s Roll the Bones. Presto was a great listen, albeit not Rush’s best by any stretch, but an enjoyable, deep listen with some very high points periodically was an enjoyable listen. Presto told Rush fans that there was a change coming. The band was putting down their synths (or at least dialing them back) and bringing back the rock music that fans remember the band for. We were exiting the nu-Genesis era and returning to the core guitar, bass, drum set up and things looked good. Then, something happened.
In 3 years, the band decided to make another creative push and, in fact, return to rock – but the results were terrible.
Roll the Bones was bad. Like really bad. The first Rush album I, personally, did not like at all. With the exception of the single ‘Dreamline’ and the band’s next instrumental piece ‘Where’s My Thing?’ the whole album was like trudging through audio hot tar. Like ‘Tai Shan’ on repeat for just under an hour.
With the exeption of the two songs mentioned above, which also happened to be the two songs from this album that have seen the most live time outside the tour supporting this album, none of the songs were memorable. The remaining all the songs felt and sounded the same or sounded like caricatures of better Rush songs. It’s not even like the message of the whole album is profound or requires hours of listening over and over again to understand Neil’s mind.
It’s about gambling.
That’s it.
The album is even named after slang for playing dice!
And there was this, too. That rap break in ‘Roll the Bones’:
While researching for this piece, I found some very conflicting ideas about Roll the Bones. First, the album was the first Rush album since Moving Pictures (yes, Moving Pictures) to recieve a platinum certification upon release. It was also was the first album since Moving Pictires to rank in the top 5 of the Billboard 100 upon release at number 3. Meanwhile, fans were polarized by this album. Some fans believed it really was the band returning to rock, albeit more catchy ‘pop’ flavored rock with 2 radio hits, ‘Roll the Bones’ and ‘Dreamline’. Then there were others, like myself, that felt that this album was the band at their worst and only signaled more marginal musical efforts to come.
It’s around this time that I might say age was starting to get to the band. That they had overstayed their welcome and now their albums from here on out were going to be terrible and their music was just going to slide down hill from here. But I don’t think that’s the issue here. I just think the band ran out of ideas and were now making albums for their fan base and to challenge themselves as musicians. It’s not that they were too experimental and screwed their fan base, it’s just they’re not the hit machine they were even just 3 years ago with ‘The Pass’. The songs on Roll the Bones, Counterparts, Test for Echo and Vapor Trails all sounds so same and lack the lasting impact that the band’s earlier material had.
Needless to say, the 90s and early 2000s, were going to be rough.
Roll the Bones (1991)
- Dreamline – 4:38
- Bravado – 4:35
- Roll the Bones – 5:30
- Face Up – 3:54
- Where’s My Thing? (Part IV, “Gangster of Boats” Trilogy) – 3:49
- The Big Wheel – 5:13
- Heresy – 5:26
- Ghost of a Chance – 5:19
- Neurotica – 4:40
- You Bet Your Life – 5:00
Credits on Roll the Bones (1991)
Adam Ayan | Remastering |
Joe Berndt | Digital Effects, Unknown Contributor Role |
Liam Birt | Executive Producer |
Ben Darlow | Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant |
Rupert Hine | Arranger, Keyboards, Producer, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
Geddy Lee | Composer, Guitar (Bass), Synthesizer, Vocals |
Alex Lifeson | Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Vocals (Background) |
Bob Ludwig | Mastering |
Andrew MacNaughtan | Photography, Portraits |
Neil Peart | Composer, Cymbals, Drums |
Simon Pressey | Assistant Engineer |
Everett Ravestein | Assistant, Pre-Production, Pre-Production Assistant |
Rush | Arranger, Primary Artist, Producer |
John Scarpati | Photography |
Paul Seeley | Assistant Engineer |
Hugh Syme | Art Direction, Design |
Stephen W. Tayler | Engineer |
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