Presto

PRESTO was the first Rush album to be co-produced by the band and Rupert Hine (Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks, Howard Jones). Thus, it should come as no surprise that PRESTO is very melodic and one of Rush's most commercial efforts. But the playing is still top notch, and the group creates a very open and straightforward sound--due to cutting back on keyboards and synthesized sounds (which were prominent on the majority of their recordings from the '80s).

"Show Don't Tell" opens the album on a (lyrical) cautionary note, and contains slight elements of funk-rock throughout (the first time Rush had experimented with this genre on record). The melancholic "The Pass" deals with the controversial subject of teen suicide, while the rocker "Superconductor" encompasses the ups and downs of being a celebrity. Not all of the band's experiments work--"Scars" is the only point on the album where synth sounds take away from the song, while other tracks are a bit too "clean" sounding when compared to past Rush classics. Still, PRESTO showed that Rush was open to trying new ideas in a decade where rock bands were expected to stick to the basics.