The only Rush song featuring only Alex Lifeson

The most important thing for Rush was collaboration to create such exciting music. Each band member was an expert on the instrument they played and it had to be a collaborative effort to combine that expertise so they could make an album that continued to impress fans accustomed to musical excellence.

For the most part, the band did this quite well. The albums were a team effort and came across well. Admittedly, Geddy Lee admitted that he was never completely satisfied with any of the albums, but he put this down to the pitfalls of perfectionism rather than the band actually producing bad albums.

“I have never finished a record that I was completely satisfied with,” he said in an interview with The guard, when he talks about his entire work: “But I think it is a pointless undertaking (to repeat it). I don’t want to repeat anything. It should remain as it was, with all its mistakes.”

Although the band has produced most of their music as a unit, there are also individual songs that are more of a solo effort by individual members. One of these tracks is the aforementioned catchy track “Hope”. On this song, Alex Lifeson takes the reins and delivers a standout instrumental track that showcases his talent as a guitarist while still being incredibly entertaining.

Having a solo instrumental on a Rush album is a bold move, considering what many people love about the band is their busy sound and willingness to experiment with song structure. An instrumental runs the risk of straying too far from those qualities to be engaging. Still, with the way Lifeson delivers the exciting barrage of licks, chord arpeggios and solos, he shows us why he’s one of the very best.

The song works incredibly well on the album Snakes and arrows. It bridges a gap between the songs “The Way The Wind Blows” and “Faithless” and gives listeners a short breather before returning to their regular program.

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