Rush: 'Hold Your Fire' - is it really that bad? 

I used to think so, but i was wrong. There’s no such thing as a bad Rush album. Pushing 60, i realise that. Beautiful band.

I love that era of Rush, wonderful soundscapes! One of my favorite Rush albums. Released at the same time as Big Generator from Yes. Bought them the very same day on LP.

If expression and communication are the most important attributes of music and musicians, then this is a 10/10 album. The emotional content of the songs and playing is outstanding.

I've been a RUSH fan from the get-go. Their first album came out when I was a college freshman, and "Hold Your Fire" dropped when I was in my mid-30s, living and working for an entertainment PR firm in LA. RUSH's label PolyGram Records was a major client. For me, "Hold Your Fire" was a seminal work: Lyrically, Neil Peart really spoke to me where I lived and got me asking questions about how I got there and where I was going. To what extent was I living an intentional life? "Summer's going fast, nights growing colder. Children growing up, old friends growing older. Experience slips away. "The innocence slips away." I think, lyrically, "Grace Under Pressure," "Power Windows" and "Hold Your Fire" stand as Neil's Cold War Trilogy. The pessimistic prospect of nuclear annihilation is ever-present on these album and does have a tendency to weigh them down. But they are no less essential listening for all that.

I became aware of Rush when they released "Presto". Only a few weeks later I saw "A show of Hands" on VHS which featured a lot the "Hold your fire" Songs. So I fell in love with those songs. "Time stands still" and "The Mission" incredible songs. So I started with the Synth Phase of Rush. Became a drummer myself I always loved to play the songs from that period. "Power Windows" has very tight Drum Tracks which I always loved. I like their early phase also, but to their Albums from 1980 - 1995 I could listen every day. There`s always a new detail in the production. Take care and greetings from Germany.

I absolutely love this album and it’s easily in my top 10.

Huge memories….just started work and heard Time Stand Still on factory radio on first day…also passed driving test soon after and had cassette of it on in car on first solo drive. It fixes me in late 1987 and I only now and again go back there. A nice time aged 21

Bought this album the day it came out and never looked back. One of my favorite albums by my favorite band. Granted I was there at the ground level in terms of the release, the tour, the videos, etc.... but this one holds a special place in my heart.

Bad? Most definitely not, it's top-shelf Rush for me! Then again I love that 80s sound

I saw Rush on the Presto tour and without doubt " Mission" was absolutely gorgeous, sounded amazing and easily one of the best songs of the show!!!

Lock and Key is a great song with an angry edge that most people don't know Rush possessed in their synth era. Listen to Neil's drums in the last 25 seconds. Mind blowing.

Anything by Rush is never that bad! Even this album!

It's near their peak in terms of songwriting, I think.

My favorite album of all time! All of their stuff is good, but wow this is awesome! It's cold comfort. To the ones without it. To know how they struggled. How they suffered about it. If their lives were exotic and strange. They would gladly exchange it. For something a little more strange. Maybe something a little more sane. We each pay a fabulous price. For our visions of paradise. For a vision with a spirit Is a dreammmmm, with a mission!

This album ruled on day one and it still rules. “Prime Mover” is the most underrated song in the Rush catalog.

About ten years ago I started to listen to this album again and found my attitude was 180 degrees from when it came out. Tai Shen became a favorite, I enjoy the cinematic feel, like riding on an elephant. I'm convinced Geddy would have gone into scoring movies, had Rush not worked out.

Turn the Page is an absolute masterpiece!

The 80's are my favourite era for Rush. I love the production. Just like Genesis and Yes, they'd done their full on prog years and successfully continued doing sophisticated rock rather than try to repeat the past. Moving Pictures to Presto....not one duff moment.

I'm something of a Rush superfan, so of course, my opinion is colored by bias, but I've never heard a Rush record I didn't either love immediately or have grow on me with repeated listens.

Honestly,, over the years one of the Rush albums I listen to the most

I really like this album. There are so many good bass lines and Alex has some amazing features in this album. Of course Neil is a beast as always.

Really; Geddy reached his creative and performance peak on HYF. Also, some of Alex´s solos, like Turn The Page and Open Secrets, are some of his best.

80s Rush is my favourite period, Power Windows being my favourite, the songs are so catchy & full of hooks, still proggy & lyrically intelligent, severely underrated era of these gods

I had my mom listen to Tai Shan before she left for a trip to China when the album first came out. She really loved it even with her being a depression era baby. It spoke to her......

I adore this album, as Rush's synth-period is by far my favorite. Also, I've just discovered your channel and very much enjoy how, even when you aren't enamoured with an album, you find its positive moments and note them. That's a nice touch.

I'm a fan of other 80's music so I've always loved this album!

No problem with the production on this album for me, it and Power Windows are my two favourite albums from Rush, just so tuneful and melodic.

I love this album. I love this era of Rush. Power windows presto. I think I’ll play that on my bus today.

No! It's not that bad. Holds a special place for me as that was the tour I saw them on.

Slightly disappointed when it came out, but knew right away a few gems were on it. A few others have grown on me since 1987, but you’re right…an old era was closing and a new path had to be forged, and I felt that very heavily on this album. I knew that had to go swerve one way or another, and they did. Thankfully, we got more Alex in return. ✌🏼

Loved it in 1987 and love it now.

Rush does not have a single bad album but they have different shades of grey for some of them. Hold Your Fire may sound a little limited in its sound but Neil was flexing his lyrical muscle with this album. He had very strong emotion with this album and it shows in every song. Rush may drive some fans crazy because they wont go back to the period of everything before Moving Pictures. The band was always looking to experiment and progress. They never wanted to stand still, no pun intended. I was just listening to this album today still enjoy every song on this album. Prime Mover and Time Stand Still are my favorite tracks on this album. Every so often I love to just put this album on and remember that this was the first Rush album I started with. Its not bad by any means but it is lower on the 80s register and more towards the middle of the catalog. I still prefer this album over the first three and Test For Echo. It might have some limits but Rush was always looking to expand its horizons and not be stagnant.

This album is in my top 3 of Rush albums. I love it!

One of my favorite Rush albums. I LOVE 80s Rush.

This is a great Album! I don’t get why it gets so much hate! All Rush albums hold their place in time that fits!

Of course, Tai Shan is not your typical Rush but it's beautiful music to my ears. I too would qualify it as moving.

I really like this album, not a bad song on it.

Long story short, no. And it's got some of Geddy's most badass playing on it.

I worked for a company that had a fab in Jerusalem and was a program manager for the Israeli's. Though being a Yes fanatic, I probably listened to this album more than any other while drive driving around Jerusalem. I love this album. Mission is easily one of their best songs.

It's a great album, if maybe 2 tracks too long. Time Stand Still and Mission are among my favourite songs by anyone.

In my bottom 5 Rush albums but still some good stuff on it

Thanks for this, it is an album I should probably revisit. You mentioned Grace Under Pressure (an album I love) several times, but you barely mentioned (if at all) the album that sits between that and Hold Your Fire - Power Windows. For me Power Windows was where the Lifeson guitar became too thin and the overall sound was a bit too gutless and trebley - it highlighted everything some people hated about CDs. But there were some great tunes on there. I see Hold Your Fire as the weaker younger brother to Power Windows. It shares the gloss and cold sound but misses out on the killer tunes.

My fav Rush albums : 1. Signals 2. Presto. 3. Moving Pictures. 4. Grace Under Pressure. 5. Hold Your Fire.

This was the first CD I bought for my new Tandy player - I really enjoyed it and still do

I've been a Rush fanatic since the release of Permanent Waves when I was 12. Power Windows pushed me away but Hold Your Fire brought me back stronger than ever, especially Turn the Page. Hold Your Fire is a great album, and Power Windows has since entered my personal Rush top 5.

I have some very strong feelings about this album. I find the first two tracks too commercial, the last two tracks are fillers, but the meat of the album is pure magic, fantastic lyrics and songs that flow beautifully; probably amongst the best they wrote. It’s a pity it wasn’t more guitar orientated, but who am I to argue with Rush.

Mission is a song about the Passion of an artist to become , It's about that moment when an artist realizes his purpose

it is a backwards and forwards album, there is are some good tracks and bad ones, where the band got it together afterward with presto, and roll the bones into more consistent full albums.

I'm new to Rush in 2023. Tunes like YYZ, Limelight, and Villa Strangiato have me hooked. I just listened to Hold Your Fire for the first time, and it reminds me of ABBA. Unlistenable, Gawd awful crap. (Demographic: I'm 72.)

This album actually firmed up my support/fandom of Rush, the albums after Signals were disappointing to me, HYF brought me back.

Who says this album is bad? I’ve always liked it.

Little known event. Now a park, Reunion Arena in Dallas hosted rush in 87 or so. The smell of diesel fuel was overwhelming. There was a spill and fuel was underground in the passagewayz under the venue. I noticed the saturation was increasing so i left the building , found a security guard and had the fire marshall show up.. Hold your fire is an understatement of reality. The concert should not have been held at all considering the possible funeral pyre it could have been.

I can see how someone might not like this particular style, but the album is a good contribution to that style, and the ideas achieve Peart's usual standard. It's also great fun to watch Lee jump back and forth between keyboard and bass on "Turn the Page," and "Time Stands Still" remains one of the most beautiful songs the band made--especially after the death of Peart as a reminder that we never can freeze the moment. By the way, have a look at the U.S. Army Band's cover of "Time Stands Still." It's a fine tribute to Peart and that great song.

I like this album a lot . True , that the production knocks it down a peg or two , but it would still make my Top 10 list of favourite Rush albums ( residing near the bottom of that list ) . No , it's not that bad . Cheers !

I enjoyed your comment about Martha and the Muffins, because the riff to their best-known tune - 'Echo Beach', of course - was surely lifted from Rush's 'Natural Science'.

First off, I really enjoyed the line, *dystopian new wave espionage* when referring to Grace Under Pressure. Another gem of a perfectly descriptive line! Anyway, yeah, *Hold Your Fire* did feel (at the time) like Rush was "fizzling out" from this overt, atypical synth loving phase.... which all really began with Neil's adoration of The Police. I always felt bad for Alex during this time (how many great 70s artists did the goofy 80s and MTV's influence neuter and dehumanize), as it, like the one critic properly stated, "made his guitar sound as unassuming as a vibrator under six feet of sand" Anyway, it's a good point about this album feeling much more like a fizzling out, and I think a lot of fans who didn't live through this era, might not understand that. They could think HYF was some big, triumphant release. But it wasn't. The album just sort of "showed up," and then there was that embarrassing video for a decent song. And that was all there was to it really. Honestly, the era, and this album...it was more of a nadir for Rush. And to be honest, it felt innately "sad" and a bit inconsequential. Because we didn't know when, and if they would return with a stronger, harder approach. This "seemed" (at the time) like they could be close to done, just calling it a day. And in general, this safe, more unassuming album came off more like, I dunno, just some random, later 80s, synth heavy record in a pile of other, more generic efforts of that ilk. As I reevaluate *Hold Your Fire* now (within today's pop driven, anti-rock, entitled, self absorbed hackneyed mess of who gives a shit), I realize that, yeah, it's "not that bad". I can listen to this record if I'm in the mood....or in the midst getting treatment at some acupuncture clinic in Arizona. It'll obviously never be a favorite, but it's more palatable now, esp. when not up against other major acts putting out harder-edged Rock albums. To me, the worst aspect of HOLD YOUR FIRE, then, now and forever, is that *horrifying video* for "Time Stands Still," with Geddy jerkily floating around the gd room like a cardboard cutout, sporting a mullet hairdo that looks more like a Daniel Boone cap, whilst carrying a 'typically 80s' headstock-less bass that could've been borrowed from Max Headroom. The song itself (TSS) isn't bad at all I still like the song okay. But that video?? Yes, my friends, this absolutely ridiculous clip (itself) was the true nadir for RUSH; a band that we, just 10 years previous, worshipped and aspired to. Thanks 80s! You nearly destroyed another one! Marc ✨

I love this album and like Geddy said, I was a little bit sad when the synths went back in the cupboard and I kind if lost interest thereafter. There's loads of very obvious great guitar on their synth albums. I never really understood that criticism, I mean, it's really obvious.... Some of NPs best lyrics here too. Turn the Page is wonderful in that respect, a song which means a lot to me personally. Tails off for the last couple of tracks, but it's one of their best imho. The 'synth-Rush' fans are like a little cult within a cult it seems. Happy to be a member.😊

I have to agree that the production is very mellow, the album is brilliant. I would argue this is the last masterpiece they made. Alex is all over this album and he has passed the police sound and created a genuine brilliant rhythm guitar technique. And solos on this album are some of his best solos ever recorded from the epic Mission to the blazing Turn the page. He seems more influenced by Terje Rypdal and Allan holldsworth than the police. The material is very interesting because they show you can write clever prog songs with a pop 1980s sheen. If you really peel back the layers it is a brilliant album. Three brilliant musicians writing clever clever songs and showing off their chops. But without showing off.

They are still the best band in the Galaxy!!! You acclimatise to rush as they changed through the years !!! No one matches the three musical magicians perfection and it will never happen again !!! Miss them

10/10 Album for me and has been since the day it came out.

I LIKE the album. Rush took on some '80s elements in their music but never went "soft" in general. The music was still intense & the lyrics still great. And they were ALWAYS a great live band.

Hold Your Fire is like Yes's Tormato. I like 'em both! Great series dude.

Good and fair review Barry, although I don’t think that any Rush album is a bad album ( Test for echo doesn’t move me much). The very good / excellent songs outweigh the couple of merely okay songs on the album.

Been listening to Rush since ‘81 and Grace, Power Windows and this one are three of my faves.

All their albums are perfectly good, but most of their albums are better than this. Probably my least listened to Rush album but it has it's moments. I should listen to it more. I didn't listen to Test for Echoes for years but it's now one of my favourites.

This album was hugely inspirational in my neck of the woods when it dropped and many local bands copied the sound. It is not hard to see why, Rush was arguably at the peak of their musicianship at that time. Geddy once said that this was his favorite Rush era and from a musician's point of view I get it. However I recently revisited this album after not listening to it for a very long time. Even when I look pass the 80s production of the album, most of the tracks simply do not hold up when it comes to composition - which was an ominous sign of things to come. Furthermore the songs do no improve at all in the raw, high quality, live recordings we have, and that is arguably where Rush shines the brightest. Hold your Fire still ranks near the bottom of my favorite Rush albums. Great musicianship does not compensate for weak compositions, unintelligible lyrics and that for-mentioned 80s style that pierces your ears, not matter how far you pump up the mid and bass. Luckily they would get their act together again in the end. 🤘

“Rush go Billy Ocean” 😂😂😂😂 The reasons don’t matter, but that made me spit my wine out !! 😂

Rush is arguably my favorite band, and while I don't hate this album, it's really more of a nostalgic listen for me these days. It's last on my list of "Albums I reach for when I want to listen to Rush". I bought this album the day it came out and was a tad underwhelmed as were my other Rush-obsessed friends. Some great individual songs but most of it hasn't aged well, but the same can be said about so much other '80s rock.

Most bands will never record a track as good as anything on Hold Your Fire. There is great songwriting and Alex when he was searching for his space did some of his best work.

For the most part I love this album. Songs like 'Lock And Key, Open Secrets & Turn The Page aren't great but Second Nature , Time Stand Still & Prime Mover are genius! Much better than it's sequel, Presto!

Lyrically, it's the best Rush album. It's an album that grows on you if you give it a chance. you just have to give it a spin once in a while. If keyboards were the problem, why did the band turn to a keyboardist to produce their next 2 albums? Hold Your Fire is under rated.

My favourite Rush album of this period was Power Windows

I`ve always liked this album. It would never make my top 5 but I think it`s pretty good. `Time Stand Still` and `Mission` are my favourites.

There's a reason why I personally rank Hold Your Fire 14th among the 20 Rush studio albums. It's "adult contemporary" mixed with some simple philosophy and metaphysics, with a veneer of hard rock. There are some really standout tracks like Turn The Page and Time Stand Still, but a lot of it is forgettable. It's still a good rock album, and any other band would be proud of it, but for Rush, it was a mostly mediocre effort.

I love this album_ every project they've done had its strengths_ they kept evolving and taking chances

If Enya helped Rush make a record Hold Your Fire is it! I love that's beautiful synth sound.

Interesting review thanks. I liked HYF it was the first Rush album that came out after I had discovered them, so I'm probably a bit biased there as this era of Rush really influenced me. I think the lyrics had reached peak maturity and none of the later cringe lyrics like Dog Years or the sort of trite self indulgent stuff had really crept in yet. Neil was also on top of his game on drums on HYF with a really interesting mix of electronic and conventional drums. Geddys voice was at peak level and he could still hit high notes with clarity and his bass tone on the Wal was great and his basslines were very innovative and even acrobatic rather than the groove based stuff that really defined the 90s and beyond where Rush fell into more of a straight rock tempo and Geddys bass lines became a kind of strumming groove. I think until perhaps Clockwork Angels, HYF was much more of a prog album than their 90s era stuff. You don't get neat breakdowns like in for example Mission in their following material except perhaps a track or two off Presto like Show Don't Tell. I disagree with the myth going around that in the 90s Rush went back to some kind of "Guitar Driven" structure. If anything I think from the 90s onward if became more and more the Geddy Lee's Rock Band show with some crunchier guitar tones from Alex and a increasingly much more restrained Neil (who discovered that his previous way of playing apparently sucked) on drums accompanying him. All you have to do is listen to My Favourite Headache which was Geddys solo album in 2000 or so. It's just a Rush album without Neil and Alex. That's the true direction Rush went after HYF or maybe Presto. I think Roll the Bones is what really ushered in that 90s groove based Rush era. You can tell that on Presto they were getting tired of the 80s thing but its not like suddenly Alex took over the band or something. Just my $.02 anyway.

Thought I was reading the title of the post incorrectly! How can you call this masterpiece bad in the first place?? One of their best in my opinion. Together with the other 10😁🤘

Songs have a jazzy style to them. I like the album. A more mellower album. I can listen to this whole album.

I have to admit, I missed (buying) this album...I've heard a number of tracks off the album as live performances, but as I said missed the actual album. As a result of this video, I corrected that. It's a great album! As a fan of the less "shouty" Rush albums (i.e., Perm Waves and on), great treat to add another one to my collection. As a side note, back in the late 70s, the High School I graduated from was divided into two distinct clicks; Led Zep or Rush fans...You couldn't be a fan of both :) As a LZ fan I missed out on some great music, but got on board later in life...A whole catalog of great music became available. What was I thinking?!? Both, LZ and Rush were phenomenal!

I love this album it was one of my top 10 most listened to albums on Spotify. Force Ten, Open Secrets, Prime Mover, Mission, Turn The Page and High Water are amazing songs. It's not just Time Stand Still that's good off this record in my opinion. The only song I don't really like off HYF is Tai Shan other than that it's a good listen.

It’s an excellent album.

1:53 re: Martha and the Muffins. I'm not a fan of new wave, per se, but I can't resist any opportunity to shout-out "Echo Beach" ❤🍁

This was the album that introduced me to Rush back in the late 80's, It'll alway's have a place in my personal favorites.

The only synth era Rush album I have in my collection. Love it.

You know I feel for the people who don’t like this album. It's cold comfort To the ones without it To know how they struggled How they suffered about it. Maybe they wished their lives was a little more plain. Maybe something a little more sane.

I think what you said is right - the production undermines the tracks. it features some of Geddy's most intense bass parts. Turn The Page is one killer bass part to play correctly. for me , Mission was done perfectly on the live A Show Of Hands recording.

A "bad" Rush album is still better than 99.9% of every other album out there!

I would say this is easily Rush's worst album. It's not a bad album, its just not that noteworthy. The songs all kind of blend together in a bland, samey way. I will say, the material does sound good live. A Show of Hands is an amazing live album that shows the potential this album could've had, but as it is, HYF is definitely bogged down by its production. Its funny, tho, as this album is surrounded by Power Windows and Presto, which are definitely top 5 albums for me.

No. It is NOT that bad. This album has some very good songs on it. Open Secrets is amazing. So underrated.

My opinion on synth-era Rush (and especially HYF) is that it was a huge part of what helped Rush establish itself as a permanent fixture on the musical landscape. While other bands couldn’t/didn’t evolve to keep themselves relevant, Rush’s catalog is a series of time capsules of how music changed through the decades. And even with the way they mirrored musical trends at the time they recorded any of their albums, their music never felt mainstream. It was as if these three virtuoso musicians were telling the rest of the music industry, “we see what you’re trying to do. Now watch us do it better.”

I came aboard during the ‘Grace Under Pressure’ era, which is still a favorite. Fly By Night is another one I enjoy. I had a harder time embracing Power Windows and beyond. Great video!

Cool shirt! Bought when dropped and listened again and again hoping it would click but it never did and I wandered away from band (No true fan I!). For me flip Second Nature for Lock and Key and you'd have a very good side A and a bad side B. I think production is done well but yeah it's a victim of its time.

I've actually grown to like 80's Rush. Of course, I was only born in the 90's, so I don't have the nostalgia or connection to these songs as those that grew up with them, but when I look at the songs that I have and that I frequent, it's mostly the 80's stuff. I honestly don't really like anything of theirs from the 90's, even up to Snakes & Arrows. I was very disappointed when I bought that one in 2007, as Far Cry is the only song I still listen to from that album. Clockwork Angels is nice though. But yeah, mostly 80's for me, and a handful of 70's songs sprinkled in.

I agree that this album suffers from the production but there are some great songs on this album. Time Stand Still and Mission are two of my favourite Rush tracks. I really do not like High Water or Tai Shan so I usually stop listening after track eight. As Rush are the greatest band ever we can forgive them a couple of less than brilliant efforts. Great review, keep up the good work.

It’s my second favourite rush album even though I don’t like the production, the guitar sound, the drum sound and the keyboards haha. There’s something about the lyrics that move me and it is their most Zen record. Despite all its flaws it’s a beautiful album to me. You can’t explain why you love certain music. Great video as someone doesn’t just join the crowd to bash it.

I love 80s Synth Rush. Geddy was at his peak here both as bassist and singer. He NEVER sang better than on HYF and Presto. And those busy basslines! Of course, production sounds incredibly dated now but the production on some of the big 70s Prog classics (early Genesis for example) sounds even MORE dated and nobody cares. It's a product of its time and a gorgeous album, maybe the most purely beautiful Rush has done

My brother is Scotland's biggest Rush fan so I got drilled in them all, to be honest this was (and still is) their best. Don't agree with the review above at all but respect the effort and articulate tone. For me, this is as good as production gets.

I love this album. It had a great sound and one I really enjoyed when it came out in 1987. I prefer it over the later albums with the driving guitar sounds which was not reflective of earlier Rush songs. It is a album I could listen over and over.

I have tried to be open minded with Rush over all the years but the only thing I loved ( strong word but true) was the 2112 album or to be more specific the actual collage of tracks on the " track" itself on the first side of said album.Production still spoils it but there must be a remastered version now.Other than that... Never floted my boat at all.Brilliant musicians though.