Breaking The Camel's Back: Hemispheres

Hello again everyone, Nick here. Sorry for the wait, but I finally have another album to speak on for "Breaking the Camel's Back". Happily, it's on another Rock classic.

In 1978, Canadian Power Trio/Hard Rock/Progressive Rock band Rush released which I believe to be their most heavily progressive and ambitious album: Hemispheres. Though there are only four tracks on the album, it sets a high mark on the band's musical talents, thematically and musically, as every song’s composition shows an intense and sophisticated edge. To an unprepared lover of music and/or musician, the songs are a NIGHTMARE. So many different instruments, time changes, moods, tempos, themes, radically shift evenly within their own paces. Even with their shorter length, "The Trees" and "Circumstances" have their own unique functions.

The instrumental "La Villa Strangiato" is overly long but flexes its might clocking in at a little over 18 minutes. "Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres," is staggering and profound. Love Rush or not, both songs set new standards in Hard Rock and Progressive Rock styles during the 70s.

“Hemispheres” reached number 47 on the Billboards, going gold and later platinum in the 1990s. It became another classic to listen and own for any Rush fan. However, the strains of working on songs that were so complex, long, and difficult (with instrumentals done in one take), and with Cygnus having so many layers of musicianship. It became too much for the band. Alongside a massive tour schedule, they were burning out and decided to take a new route in music. Getting rid of the overly time consuming songs, changing the lyrical approaches from mythical to modern and social, shortening song lengths, and adding new musical influences (Electronic, Reggae, and New Wave). This was a wise and innovative choice for Rush, as it gave them more classic albums in the beginning of the 80s, such as Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, and Signals.

Here is the first track of Hemispheres. This track, length-wise, may be a bit much for casual music-lovers, but through the whole song, Rush keep proving their worth in the world of Rock.