CARESS OF STEEL was released in late-1975 as a quick followup to FLY BY NIGHT, and represented a continuation of Rush's then-new exploration into progressive metal.  Having brought extremely talented drummer and lyricist Neil Peart into the band at the beginning of the year, FLY BY NIGHT saw Rush moving in a decidedly progressive direction, away from the heavily Zeppelin-Sabbath infuenced eponymous debut album. CARESS OF STEEL, released in October of '75, began to further this progressive direction by exploring deeper themes as well as concentrating on long, multipart epic suites.
CARESS OF STEEL is aptly titled: It is a musical caress with a knife edge. The music sounds like the front cover looks: it is dark, fairly mystical, and very heavy. Occasionally (especially on the long, multipart epics) the music gets softer, but it always remains dark and introspective. Neil Peart is doing a much higher percentage of the lyrical writing here, and it shows.  The opening song, the ultra-guitar-riff-heavy "Bastille Day", sets the initial tone with its dark, droning guitar by Alex Lifeson and deep, fluid bass guitar (and high-pitched screaming) by Geddy Lee. Then the lyrics: "Off they go to Bastille Day / The guillotine will claim a bloody prize".  This song is very dark stuff, and it is also easily the best song on this entire album.
The next song "I Think I'm Going Bald" is just simple foolishness, and is the only Geddy Lee-penned track on here (and it shows). Obviously a holdover from the first album, it sounds like it had been rejected many times until Mr. Lee finally got his way. The music sounds similar to "In The Mood" (from RUSH), and the lyrics are just sophmorical. Let's get this straight: Geddy Lee is an extremely gifted bass guitarist (I still don't think there has ever been a bassist who could match him) and keyboardist, but he has never been a strong lyric-writer, especially in his youth (he was 22 when this album was recorded).
Despite this misstep, CARESS OF STEEL recovers quite nicely; "Lakeside Park" has a beautiful melody which just begs you to close your eyes and enjoy.  The 12 1/2-minute, 3-part epic "The Necromancer" (easily the longest Rush song up to date at the time) requires a lot of patience to sit through, and someday, I will. :)
As someone has already mentioned, "The Fountain of Lamneth" consists of disjointed segments and is not really a true multi-part epic.  The segments are really just songs in and of themselves. "In The Valley" is deep and dark like the rest of the album, but my favorite segment has got to be the 1-minute drum-and-synthesizer instrumental "Didacts and Narpets", which is so weird that when my friend in high school first stuck it on a blank tape he made for me, I had no idea that it was Rush. I was like, "What the hell IS this?", but I liked it then and I still like it now. The rest of the album...well...takes a lot of patience to sit through. CARESS OF STEEL, at nearly 46 minutes, is by far the longest single Rush album of their early period, even if it isn't very long by today's standards. RECOMMENDED FOR RUSH COMPLETISTS ONLY
CARESS OF STEEL was released in late-1975 as a quick followup to FLY BY NIGHT, and represented a continuation of Rush's then-new exploration into progressive metal. Having brought extremely talented drummer and lyricist Neil Peart into the band at the beginning of the year, FLY BY NIGHT saw Rush moving in a decidedly progressive direction, away from the heavily Zeppelin-Sabbath infuenced eponymous debut album. CARESS OF STEEL, released in October of '75, began to further this progressive direction by exploring deeper themes as well as concentrating on long, multipart epic suites. CARESS OF STEEL is aptly titled: It is a musical caress with a knife edge. The music sounds like the front cover looks: it is dark, fairly mystical, and very heavy. Occasionally (especially on the long, multipart epics) the music gets softer, but it always remains dark and introspective. Neil Peart is doing a much higher percentage of the lyrical writing here, and it shows. The opening song, the ultra-guitar-riff-heavy "Bastille Day", sets the initial tone with its dark, droning guitar by Alex Lifeson and deep, fluid bass guitar (and high-pitched screaming) by Geddy Lee. Then the lyrics: "Off they go to Bastille Day / The guillotine will claim a bloody prize". This song is very dark stuff, and it is also easily the best song on this entire album. The next song "I Think I'm Going Bald" is just simple foolishness, and is the only Geddy Lee-penned track on here (and it shows). Obviously a holdover from the first album, it sounds like it had been rejected many times until Mr. Lee finally got his way. The music sounds similar to "In The Mood" (from RUSH), and the lyrics are just sophmorical. Let's get this straight: Geddy Lee is an extremely gifted bass guitarist (I still don't think there has ever been a bassist who could match him) and keyboardist, but he has never been a strong lyric-writer, especially in his youth (he was 22 when this album was recorded). Despite this misstep, CARESS OF STEEL recovers quite nicely; "Lakeside Park" has a beautiful melody which just begs you to close your eyes and enjoy. The 12 1/2-minute, 3-part epic "The Necromancer" (easily the longest Rush song up to date at the time) requires a lot of patience to sit through, and someday, I will. :)
As someone has already mentioned, "The Fountain of Lamneth" consists of disjointed segments and is not really a true multi-part epic. The segments are really just songs in and of themselves. "In The Valley" is deep and dark like the rest of the album, but my favorite segment has got to be the 1-minute drum-and-synthesizer instrumental "Didacts and Narpets", which is so weird that when my friend in high school first stuck it on a blank tape he made for me, I had no idea that it was Rush. I was like, "What the hell IS this? ", but I liked it then and I still like it now. The rest of the album... well... takes a lot of patience to sit through. CARESS OF STEEL, at nearly 46 minutes, is by far the longest single Rush album of their early period, even if it isn't very long by today's standards. RECOMMENDED FOR RUSH COMPLETISTS ONLY