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Rush - Roll the Bones Audio CD

A fair review of the Rush "Roll the Bones" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Rush reviews here, or go back to the Rush tabs.

Rush Band: Rush
Title: Roll the Bones
Rating:
Release Date: 2004-08-31
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Dreamline 2: Bravado 3: Roll the Bones 4: Face Up 5: Where's My Thing?, Pt. 4: Gangster of Boats Trilogy 6: Big Wheel 7: Heresy 8: Ghost of a Chance 9: Neurotica 10: You Bet Your Life

136 people can't be wrong
I'll never forget hearing "Dreamline" for the first time. When I was 17 or so, I was in bed, in the dark, with those puffy headphones on, listening to some crappy rock radio station. . . "do do do do dee do do do dee do do do. . . ". . it captured my imagination, and still does.

Now, in all fairness, does this stand up to "2112", "Moving Pictures", et al? Somehow, for me it does. Lyrically, as a teen, I latched onto it like a baby to a ti-. . . lollipop. I recognized early on that life was total crap, but that it was also a gamble. Some of us could win. I never will, but I have the perfect soundtrack. Ghost of a chance. Face up. The way the big wheel spins. Roll the bones. Songs or truths of life? Works for me.


Not their best, but still a strong album
The music isn't the best Rush has ever produced, but that in no way makes it bad. Roll the Bones is an album that I personally will always come back to when I'm in a slump. In fact at some points the lyrics are genius, plain and simple. So even if it doesn't live up to A Farewell to Kings, 2112, and Hemispheres, it is still a worthy addition to any Rush library. My personal favorite songs in this album are `Roll the Bones' and `Dreamline', both of which flow with great energy and reach great power.

If you enjoy Rush and see this album for under $10 make sure not to pass it up.
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Great CD
I saw Rush on this tour and it is still one of my favorite Rush CD.


I knew I liked the album already...
In closing:

1)Roll the Bones-5 stars
2)Amazon's packaging-1 star. I ordered this CD with 4 other Rush CDs (Remasters) and all but one of them had a cracked case.


3.5 stars for Roll The Bones
Like that example, the former is again the stronger effort of the two, despite the band's utter gush and glow for Bones. In many ways Presto and Roll The Bones are sonic sisters of sorts, which isn't too surprising given that both albums share the production values instilled two years prior by the likes Rupert Hine, much like Kiss' Rock And Roll Over and Love Gun share sonic similarities under Eddie Kramer.

That said, I think Roll The Bones is a bit unfairly maligned by many fans. I don't think it's the worst Rush album to date and I can't possibly see why anyone would rather listen to the debut over this album on the whole, but that's just me. That said, outside my bias against the first four Rush albums (yes, including the beloved 2112), I think it's the weakest of Rush's releases since the band found their first solid stride with A Farewell To Kings in `77, so as not to lavish too much praise on this record. In fact it's quite the mish-mash of the good, the bad, and the downright fugly.

While Bones may not contain anything as specifically off-putting as Dog Years, it arguably contains a fair share of head-scratching selections. Face Up is clearly one of the least interesting songs the band has ever done, lyrically and melodically lazy throughout. You Bet Your Life doesn't sweeten the deal a whole lot, although admittedly its creative choral hook isn't bad, even if it's a bit Billy Joel-esque. Neurotica is the most promising of the questionable lot, especially musically. However, the vocal melody does nothing for me and the chorus is a "whoa-whoa-ing" mess. Add to this their historically least-compelling (and most appropriately inquisitive) instrumental Where's My Thing? and we're four songs down already.

The good news (tho' not necessarily first) is that Roll The Bones also contains a handful of really exquisite moments, such as the simply gorgeous Bravado. Both lyrically and melodically this tune is an unapologetic winner, very much in the style of the previous record's The Pass. Album opener Dreamline is a cracking number as well, with a driving melody, a seductive chorus, and a great solo. Heresy's low-sung-vocal would've snuggled up with the best of the material on Presto and The Big Wheel is a fun up-tempo sleeper as well. The title track is often discarded and ridiculed for its controversial nerdy white-boy rap section, but the song is still both fun and the "Why are we here. . . because we're here" choral melody is awesome. I shamelessly enjoy the rap section as well, but even if I didn't, it wouldn't tarnish the rest of it.

(Still, leave it to Neil to pen "gonna kick some gluteus max. " Yikes).

Overall this really reads to me as a protracted extension of Presto with a few more uninspired clunkers than its predecessor had. It's an album I appreciate more now than when I first bought it, given the delayed acceptance of cuts like Heresy and The Big Wheel. . . but one that still falls a bit short of being special. It's a warm bath of a Rush album with some brilliance and also with some duff as well. And it's not nearly as good as Rush believes it to be, but also not as bad as many fans claim either. In spots the songwriting lacks imagination and luster, those characteristics being the biggest drop-off from Presto two years earlier.

ROLL THE BONES: 3. 5 stars of 5 +
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