I think the vocals on this were just about perfect for what Geddy is trying to do these. He did WAY too much of that high harmony stuff on the last album. Here it is toned down and very tasteful. In fact, I remember the first couple of lines in this song thinking "Oh crap, here we go again," and then a little ways in thinking "no, it sounds good this way".

I love the production values and overall sound, though I've always been partial to the Presto/RTB sound, which this has a lot of, with the songwriting more like a mix between VT and T4E. I totally agree about the compressor/limiter, but I don't here that on this track at all.

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On the other hand, Rush has always been about making the music that THEY want to make, and not specifically trying to second-guess what we want them to do. So really, my desires in this matter are somewhat moot (as they should be).

This is SOOO true- I've been reading some posts on a Rush forum where fans are dissecting the song and rating the "sound", etc. They keep talking about how this song NEEDS a guitar solo and they'll be ticked if there isn't more blazing guitar work on the CD. Or they start complaining about something else. I find this funny, because presumably the reason we all love Rush is that they are doing their thing, not what they figure everyone else wants them to do.

Personally, I don't care if there isn't a guitar solo on the whole CD. I thought the whole "siren sound" thing Alex did on this was pretty cool, and definitely fit with the song.

I ALSO happen to think this is a better song than anything new I've heard on the radio in forever.

BTW, does that drum solo at the end just rock or what? I read a blog entry from Peart where he talked about having taken several days to learn a drum pattern, only to have the producer ask during the recording if he could solo over that part instead- to which he replied "sure!" I have to believe that is the part they are talking about because it's pretty sick.