Hold Your Fire
Template:About Template:Infobox album
Hold Your Fire is the twelfth studio album by Canadian progressive rock band Rush, released on September 8, 1987.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> It was recorded at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey, AIR Studios in Montserrat and McClear Place in Toronto.<ref name="notes">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Hold Your Fire was the last Rush studio album released outside Canada by PolyGram/Mercury. 'Til Tuesday bassist and vocalist Aimee Mann contributed vocals to "Time Stand Still" and appeared in the Zbigniew Rybczyński-directed video.
The album was not as commercially successful as most of the band's releases of the 1980s, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard charts, the lowest chart peak for a Rush album since 1978's Hemispheres.<ref name="album" /> However, it was eventually certified Gold by the RIAA.
Writing
After Rush's 1986 Power Windows tour ended, the band members took the summer off to spend more time with their families. A few months passed, and the group decided to start getting back into writing material.<ref name="Bill89">Banasiewicz, Bill (1988). p. 89.</ref> Neil Peart began writing lyrics in a cottage in early September. Meanwhile, Geddy Lee started to compose on his keyboard setup controlled on a Macintosh computer using software called Digital Performer,<ref name="Off the Record">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="PeartMakingof" /> which would be useful for both the writing and production stages, and Alex Lifeson was doing experimental tapes at home.<ref name="PeartMakingof" /> Peart also used the Mac to write some lyrics for the album.<ref name="Off the Record" /> Peart wanted to do something in the same vein as Power Windows, this time working around the theme of time. However, after writing lyrics for the first song he wrote, "Time Stand Still", Peart started to create more material that would turn the theme into "Instinct,"<ref name="PeartMakingof" /> which was the reason for titling the album Hold Your Fire.<ref name="Bill90">Banasiewicz, Bill (1988). p. 90.</ref> In an afternoon later that month, Peart and Lee together showed what they had been working on, and also discussed a few lyrical ideas they weren't able to write on paper, which would be included in "Mission," "Open Secrets" and "Turn the Page."<ref name="PeartMakingof">Template:Cite web</ref>
The group started writing sessions in Elora Sound Studio, Ontario on September 27, 1986.<ref name="Bill89" /> Lifeson showed his experimental tapes, while Lee brought soundcheck jams he had done that year. According to Peart, Lifeson's tapes "would yield some good parts for several songs" and Lee's soundcheck jams were "sorted and labeled as potential verses, bridges, choruses or instrumental bits, and thus they served as a reference library of spontaneous ideas that could be drawn upon at will." Lifeson used a drum machine to write drum parts, which Lee tracked on a Lerxst Sound recorder. By early November, eight songs had been written, which the group felt wasn't enough for the album to have a good amount of musical variety. Peart said, "We decided we'd go a bit further this time. We were aware of the fact that only a small percentage of people actually buy records anymore, the vast majority choosing cassettes or CDs. Thus, we figured, why should we worry about the time limitations of the old vinyl disc? We thought we'd like to have 10 songs, and go for 50 minutes or so of music. So we did."<ref name="PeartMakingof" /> Producer Peter Collins came in to Elora Sound in early December to give the band suggestions to improve the songs. Among many small changes, a couple of major suggestions were new verses to "Mission" and chorus revisions to "Open Secrets."<ref name="PeartMakingof" /> With nine songs already written, Collins also suggested the band make a 10th track for the album, and the song "Force Ten" would be written on the last day of pre-production, December 14.<ref name="Bill89" />
Production
Recording of Hold Your Fire began January 5, 1987, at The Manor Studio in England. This was where the drums, bass, basic keyboards, lead guitars and lead vocals were recorded. The keyboards, guitars and vocals were recorded digitally, while the drums and bass, as preferred by Peart,<ref name="Houston Post">Template:Cite web</ref> were taped using an analog tape recorder, later converted into a digital tape.<ref name="Bill89" /> On February 7, the band went to Ridge Farm Studio for Andy Richards to perform additional dynamic keyboards and exciting "events," as well as put all recorded instrument tracks into a digital machine.<ref name="Bill90" /><ref name="linernotes" /> Lifeson was also able to write guitar overdubs while recording at Ridge Farm.<ref name="PeartMakingof" />
The band headed off to AIR Montserrat on March 1 to start producing guitar overdubs,<ref name="PeartMakingof" /><ref name="Bill90" /> and later to McClear Place Studios in Toronto three weeks later to finish the overdubs, record orchestral arrangements by Steve Margoshes for "High Water," "Mission" and "Second Nature," and track additional voice parts, such as Aimee Mann's vocals for "Time Stand Still" and "Prime Mover," and gospel choir.<ref name="PeartMakingof" /><ref name="Bill90" /><ref name="Bill92">Banasiewicz, Bill (1988). p. 92.</ref> Recording was finished by April 24,<ref name="Bill92" /> and mixing took place starting May 7 at William Tell Studio in Paris. Lee mastered the album with Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk in New York City by mid-July.<ref name="Bill93">Banasiewicz, Bill (1988). p. 93.</ref>
Lee played a Wal bass guitar for Hold Your Fire, as well as being vocalist and keyboardist.<ref name="linernotes" /> The synths and other electronic instruments and devices used, all programmed with the assistance of Andy Richards and Jim Burgess,<ref name="linernotes" /> were several Akai S900 samplers, two Prophet synths, a PPG 2.3, a Roland Super Jupiter and a D-550, two Yamaha KX-76 MIDI controllers, two QX-I sequencers and a DX-7, two MIDI Mappers, Korg MIDI pedals, and Moog Taurus Pedals.<ref name="PeartMakingof" /> Peart played on a combination of Ludwig-Musser drum set, a plated-hardware of Pearl Drums, Premier drums and Tama drums, Avedis Zildjian cymbals, and a Simmons pad through one of the Akai samplers, which made sounds of temple blocks, a timbale, crotales, a Tama, a gong bass drum, cowbells, wind chimes, and marimbas.<ref name="Bill89" /><ref name="PeartMakingof" />
The song "Tai Shan" was an experiment in composition. It was influenced by classical Chinese music, and its title was a reference to Mount Tai in China's Shandong province, which Peart first became aware of during a bicycle trip in China.<ref name="Collins">Template:Cite book</ref> A backward sample of Aimee Mann's vocals from another track is used at the end of the song. In a 2009 interview with Blender, Lee expressed regret in including "Tai Shan" on the album, calling it an "error" and saying "we should have known better."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lifeson called the song "a little corny" in a 2012 interview with Total Guitar.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Lifeson, in 2016, considered "Tai Shan" and "Panacea" the worst songs Rush ever recorded.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Music
Hold Your Fire has been categorized as new wave,<ref name = "Spin2025list"/> pop rock,<ref name = "Spin2025list"/><ref name = "Stereogum2014list">Template:Cite web</ref> heavy metal/hard rock,<ref name = "PortageDaily">Template:Cite news</ref> stadium progressive rock,<ref name = "GuitarPlayerrev"/> and "thin and reedy" progressive Britpop.<ref name = "AlbumbyAlbum">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The songs are driven by bass guitar that is a mixture of punchy and melodic.<ref name = "GuitarPlayerrev">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Although there are moments of distorted, extreme leads, Lifeson's electric guitar work on the album is mainly textural, with Steel-string acoustic guitar serving a rhythmic role, causing a glossy overall sound.<ref name = "GuitarPlayerrev"/>
Lyrics
Hold Your Fires comments on the socio-political state of the modern world, with the existential angst of The Joshua Tree (1987) by U2.<ref name = "PortageDaily"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Reception
Contemporaneous
Template:Album ratings Hold Your Fire was critically acclaimed upon its release, with music publications such as Metal Hammer, Kerrang! and Sounds giving it perfect scores.<ref name = "MetalHammerrev"/><ref name="Kerrang!"/><ref name = "Sounds"/> Kerrang!Template:'s Stefan Chirazi claimed it was one of the best albums of 1987, another Rush LP with "class, quality and consistency" and a rare record to contain ten perfect tracks.<ref name="Kerrang!"/> SoundsTemplate:' Paul Elliot praised the band for not losing their "warmth", "heart" and "humanity" despite the studio polish twelve albums in.<ref name = "Sounds"/>
Rush's progression with Hold Your Fire was a prominent topic in reviews, with a variety of responses. On the positive side, some critics perceived the band continually expanding their musical and sonic territory while maintaining their perfectionism and compositional intricacies.Template:Efn Neil Randall of the Kitchener-Waterloo Record wrote the approach was "unhurried" on the album, which he attributed to the length being longer than Rush's other LPs.<ref name = "WaterlooRegionRecordrev"/> Some appreciated the album for being more accessible to mainstream listeners and having tighter compositions than prior records.<ref name = "HamiltonSpectator"/> Elliot praised Rush for abandoning the "overwrought chaff" and melodrama of 1970s progressive rock such as A Farewell to Kings (1977), allowing for simpler compositions with a style relevant to the contemporary decade. He gave particular note to the "rich and insistent" melodies, giving the overall product "fire and spirit".<ref name = "Sounds"/>
Less favorably, Guitar for the Practicing Musician categorized the album as more of the same "wordy", "self-involved" and "grand" lyrics and "musical dramatics" that are "totally enveloped in its own seriousness", but with even more "technical sophistication" than Power Windows. The publication claimed the album was brought down by the "backbreaking" sterility and predictability of Rush's latest sound that the album's redeeming qualities failed to overcome.<ref name = "GftPMrev">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Omaha World-Herald reviewer James Healy thought it consisted of stale cliches prevalent in their older work, worsened by the synthesizers.<ref name = "OmahaWorldHerald"/> NME, a publication that historically panned Rush's music and their socio-political beliefs, joked, "Locked in a timewarp along with the music, [Peart] is still bent on devising an LP based on a concept."<ref name = "NME"/> At worst, Nester Aparicio of The Evening Sun labeled the overall product "wimpy" and "fluffy", with none of the "glory" of albums like 2112 and Moving Pictures.<ref name = "BaltimoreSun"/>
Elliot and the Press & Sun-BulletinTemplate:'s Anand Agneshwar described the lyrics as human and personal, with vulnerability and introspection.<ref name = "Sounds"/><ref name = "HamiltonSpectator"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Conversely, "they are too cumbersome and distanced to be embraceable" for Guitar for the Practicing Musician.<ref name = "GftPMrev"/>
Hold Your Fire peaked number 13 in the Billboard 200 album chart, the first time a Rush studio album outside the Top 10 since 1978's Hemispheres.<ref name="album">Template:Cite web</ref> Although Hold Your Fire was certified gold in the United States shortly after its release, it failed to reach platinum status according to the RIAA, becoming the first Rush studio album to not do so since 1975's Caress of Steel.<ref name="RIAA">Template:Cite web</ref>
Retrospective
Template:Album ratings For Adrien Begrand, Hold Your Fire was the best Rush album of the era starting with Signals, containing a much smoother balance between the U2/Big Country-style rock and cutting-edge electronic sounds than Power Windows.<ref name="Stereogum2014list">Template:Cite web</ref> Conversely, LoudwireTemplate:'s Jordan Blum considered it the worst of the band's keyboard era, an "uninteresting and awkward slog that can't help but feel dated and misguided".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
When it came to rankings of Rush's 19 studio albums, Hold Your Fire was number 17 in one by Ultimate Classic Rock in 2014.<ref name = "UCRworsttobest">Template:Cite web</ref> The generally-satirical publication The Hard Times, in a serious list, ranked Hold Your Fire the eighth-best, which was heavily skewed by the quality of "Time Stand Still".<ref name = "HardTimes">Template:Cite web</ref> Among rankings in 2025, Spin placed Hold Your Fire at number 17, Mojo number 16, and MusicRadar number 12.<ref name = "Spin2025list">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name = "Mojo2025ranking">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name = "MusicRadar">Template:Cite web</ref> BBC Music Magazine and Classic Rock put it at the bottom of their lists, but even these presented opinions that were mixed rather than outright negative. They noted their technical proficiency and self-reflective lyrics but also a lack of "dynamic punch", energy and "quirkiness" of their better albums.<ref name = "BBCMusicmag">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name = "ClassicRock">Template:Cite web</ref> Many of these lists noted the album's smooth production, which was the considered the slickest in the band's discography and alienating to fans.<ref name = "Spin2025list"/><ref name = "UCRworsttobest"/><ref name = "MusicRadar"/><ref name = "BBCMusicmag"/><ref name = "ClassicRock"/> They also were the harshest of tracks outside of "Time Stand Still", "Force Ten" and "Mission", calling them "bland" and "forgettable" "filler", where the "songwriting quality-control dips as the record progresses".<ref name = "HardTimes"/><ref name = "Mojo2025ranking"/><ref name = "ClassicRock"/>
Reissues
A remaster was issued in 1997.<ref name="notes" />
- The tray has a picture of three fingerprints, light blue, pink, and lime green (left to right) with "The Rush Remasters" printed in all capital letters just to the left, mirroring the cover art of Retrospective II. All remasters from Moving Pictures through A Show of Hands are like this.
- Includes all the artwork that came with the original album, except for the lyrics to "Prime Mover".
Hold Your Fire was remastered again in 2011 by Andy VanDette for the "Sector" box sets, which re-released all of Rush's Mercury-era albums. It is included in the Sector 3 set.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For the 2011 remaster, master tapes containing different mixes of Hold Your Fire were inadvertently used, with the result that the mix is noticeably different from previous releases in several places; particularly during "Mission", where string parts that were not present on the original release can be heard, and in the introduction to "Tai Shan", where wind chimes have been added. There is also a panning stereo effect on the vocals during the first pre-chorus of "Turn the Page" which is absent from the original mix.
In 2015 it was reissued after being remastered by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios following a direct approach by Rush to remaster their entire back catalogue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Track listing
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Personnel
Sources:<ref name="linernotes">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Bill93" />
Rush
- Geddy Lee – bass guitar, synthesizer, vocals
- Alex Lifeson – electric and acoustic guitar
- Neil Peart – drums, percussion
Additional musicians
- Aimee Mann – co-lead vocals on "Time Stand Still", backing vocals on "Tai Shan", "Open Secrets" and "Prime Mover"
- Andy Richards – additional keyboard, synthesizer programming
- Steven Margoshes – strings arranger and conductor
- The William Faery Engineering Brass Band arranged and conducted by Andrew Jackman
Production
- Peter Collins – producer, arrangements
- James "Jimbo" Barton – engineer
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
- Hugh Syme – art direction
- Glen Wexler – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart (1987) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums (RPM100)<ref name="RPM100">Template:Cite web</ref> | 9 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> | 9 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref name="Oriconcharts">ホールド・ユア・ファイアー Template:Webarchive (In Japanese). oricon.co.jp. Accessed from July 8, 2013.</ref> | 67 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1987) | Position |
|---|
Singles and chart positions
| Information |
|---|
"Time Stand Still"
|
"Force Ten"
|
"Lock and Key"
|
"Prime Mover"
|
Certifications
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