Roll the Bones
RUSH

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RUSH - Roll the Bones cover
2.94 | 24 ratings | 3 reviews
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Album · 1991

Filed under Hard Rock

Tracklist

1. Dreamline (4:37)
2. Bravado (4:35)
3. Roll the Bones (5:30)
4. Face Up (3:54)
5. Where's My Thing? (Part IV, "Gangster of Boats" Trilogy) (3:49)
6. The Big Wheel (5:12)
7. Heresy (5:25)
8. Ghost of a Chance (5:18)
9. Neurotica (4:40)
10. You Bet Your Life (4:59)

Total Time: 48:04

Line-up/Musicians

- Geddy Lee / vocals, bass, synthesizers
- Alex Lifeson / electric and acoustic guitars, vocals
- Neil Peart / drums and cymbals

with
- Rupert Hine / additional vocals and keyboards

About this release

Studio album
September 3, 1991
Produced by Rupert Hine and Rush

1991 - Atlantic(US)(Europe) LP
1991 - Anthem(Canada) LP
1991 - Atlantic(US) CD
1991 - Anthem(Canada)(Europe) CD
1997 - Anthem(Canada) CD: remastered
1997 - Atlantic(US) CD: remastered
2011 - Mobile Fidelity(US) CD: gold disc, remastered, limited edition

Thanks to Raff, cannon, Time Signature, Pekka for the updates

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Specialists/Collaborators Reviews

arcane-beautiful
Yes, Rush have put the synths behind them now, yay.

After Rush saw a success in the less use of synths, they decided to make a more guitar, bass and drum orientated album, which they easily should have seen to be successful, because they are a billion times better with that organic structure.

This album is alot better and more enjoyable than Presto, and the rest before that...

1. Dreamline - Wow, what a chorus. I love the synths in this song. Even the pre chorus is amazing. Great start to the album.

2. Bravado - Very U2. Great song with a great simple, but effective chorus. Great guitar solo.

3. Roll The Bones - The intro sounds very Michael Jackson. Amazing chorus. The rap is a bit cheesy, but it suprisingly works.

4. Face Up - The chorus is very cheesy, but it always works with Rush. Love the ambient keyboard section.

5. Where's My Thing? - Great funly instrumental with an amazng bass work from Geddy. Some very kick ass riffs in this song.

6. The Big Wheel -Love the keyboards in this song, especially in the chorus. The chorus is also great as well.

7. Heresy - Another song with great use of keyboards. Great chorus. I love how well this song flows.

8. Ghost Of A Chance - Quite an interesting song. I love the change in dynamics throughout. This song reminds me of Seal for some reason. The lyrics in this song are very esoteric (my new found faith, haha).

9. Neurotica - Love the riff in this song. Pretty cool chorus. I like the middle section. Very funky. Another great guitar solo.

10. You Bet Your Life - Cool chorus, with great ad libing bits.

CONCLUSION: The return of amazing rock based music. Things...will only get better.
Warthur
Roll the Bones sees Rush continue the tendency that begun in Presto to gently excise the synth-heavy aspects of their 80s sound and return to a more guitar-focused approach. This time around, the band also seem to make a conscious attempt to incorporate influences from various indie-rock trends of the day.

In principle, this isn't a terrible idea - at the very least, keeping an eye on current musical trends can help a band save themselves from stagnation. However, the execution here leaves a lot to be desired; the album lacks personality even compared to bland releases like Hold Your Fire, and when you combine this with a production job which seems curiously lacklustre considering the technical polish Rush habitually gave their releases it all adds up to one of their least essential albums.
AtomicCrimsonRush
Don't rush out to buy this one!

A very routine album has Rush going by the numbers with poor production values and badly mixed sounds. The guitars are repetitive and commercial sounding. The drums sound like Peart is banging the pots and pans in his kitchen. Lee sounds bored and his bass is nothing special here. Apart from one or two shining lights "Roll the Bones" fades into obscurity and is perhaps as bad as "Presto", though this is perhaps their worst album. Unlike the disappointing "Presto", "Roll the Bones" does have a few excellent tracks.

Dreamline is a great rocker with some innovative guitar work and is well structured. Bravado sounds good overall, and has a nice litle riff driving it. Roll The Bones is perhaps the best song on the album with a cool memorable lyric; "why are we here, because we're here, roll the bones..." or better still, "why does it happen, because it happens, roll the bones..." It has a groovy hook and sounds great live. The film clip promo was rather fun and it showed that the band could still enjoy their music, even if they shed their prog traits during this era.

Where's My Thing (Part IV of the "Gangster Of Boats Trilogy") is the first instrumental for years from the power trio, and it genuinely stands out as a highlight with the band letting loose and doing what they do best, rocking the roof off. After this we are inundated with mediocrity fillers such as the dismal The Big Wheel, Heresy and Ghost Of A Chance. Neurotica is better with a moderate tempo and some melodic hooks, and the album ends on the rather traditional You Bet Your Life, that is forgettable but sounds good while it plays.

The problem with the album is the lack of passion, the band sound tired and the songs for the most part are ruined by poor production, as though they were not using a sound engineer at all. It is so badly mixed that it would do well to re release this album as a remaster with remixes of the original masters. It certainly would not hurt because honestly this album is a slog to get through with only the aforementioned tracks to recommend it to anyone but the diehard Rush collector.

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