Hold Your Fire

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For the FireHouse album, see Hold Your Fire (FireHouse album).
Hold Your Fire
Studio album by Rush
Released September 8, 1987
June 3, 1997 (remastered CD)
Recorded October 1986–April 1987,
The Manor Studio, Oxfordshire;
Ridge Farm Studio, Surrey;
AIR Studios, Montserrat;
McClear Place, Toronto, Canada
Genre Hard rock, synthrock
Length 50:21
Label Anthem (Canada)
Atlantic (Japan)
Epic/Sony (Japan)
Mercury (USA)
Vertigo (Europe)
Producer Peter Collins and Rush
Rush chronology
Power Windows
(1985)		 Hold Your Fire
(1987)		 A Show of Hands
(1989)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3/5 stars[1]
Metal Storm (7.7/10)[2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 2/5 stars[3]

Hold Your Fire is the twelfth studio album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released in the summer of 1987 (see 1987 in music). The album was recorded at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey, Air Studios in Montserrat and at McClear Place in Toronto.[4] Hold Your Fire was the last Rush studio album released outside Canada by PolyGram/Mercury.

Rush continued to explore new songwriting territory in Hold Your Fire. "Tai Shan", for example, is influenced by classical Chinese music, and its title is a reference to Mount Tai in China's Shandong province, which lyricist Neil Peart discovered during his bicycle trip in China.[5] 'Til Tuesday bassist and vocalist Aimee Mann contributed vocals to "Open Secrets" and "Time Stand Still", appearing in the Zbigniew Rybczyński-directed video for the latter.[5] In addition, Mann's laugh is heard at the beginning of "Force Ten", and a backward sample of her vocals from another track is also used at the end of "Tai Shan".

The album was not as commercially successful as much of the band's releases of the 1980s, only peaking at #13 on the Billboard charts, the lowest debut for a Rush album since Hemispheres.[6] However, the album did eventually go gold.

Hold Your Fire marked the first time that Geddy Lee used the Roland D-50 keyboard.

Contents

Commercial performance[edit]

Hold Your Fire was initially deemed a commercial disappointment in comparison to other Rush albums (though it went platinum in the 90s). It stalled at No. 13 in the Billboard 200 album chart, the first time a Rush studio album failed to reach the Top 10 since 1978's Hemispheres.[6] 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 do so since 1975's Caress of Steel.[7]

In a 2009 interview with Blender, Geddy Lee expressed regret in including the song "Tai Shan" on the album, calling it an "error." "We should have known better," he said.[8]

Track listing[edit]

All lyrics written by Neil Peart except "Force Ten" by Peart and Pye Dubois, all music composed by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson[4].

No. Title Length
1. "Force Ten"   4:31
2. "Time Stand Still"   5:09
3. "Open Secrets"   5:38
4. "Second Nature"   4:36
5. "Prime Mover"   5:19
6. "Lock and Key"   5:09
7. "Mission"   5:16
8. "Turn the Page"   4:55
9. "Tai Shan"   4:15
10. "High Water"   5:33

Personnel[edit]

Band Members[edit]

Additional musicians[edit]

Production[edit]

Charts[edit]

Album

Chart (1987) Position
Billboard 200 (North America)[6] 13
RPM100 Albums (Canada)[9] 9
UK Album Chart [10] 10
German Album Chart[11] 34
Swedish Album Chart[12] 21
GfK Dutch Album Chart[13] 40

Singles[edit]

Information
"Time Stand Still"
  • Released: October 19, 1987
  • Written by: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson & Neil Peart
  • Produced by: Peter Collins and Rush
  • Chart positions: No. 3 US Mainstream Rock[14]
"Force Ten"
  • Released:
  • Written by: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart & Pye Dubois
  • Produced by: Peter Collins and Rush
  • Chart positions: No. 3 US Mainstream Rock[14]
"Lock and Key"
  • Released:
  • Written by: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson & Neil Peart
  • Produced by: Peter Collins and Rush
  • Chart positions: No. 16 US Mainstream Rock[14]
"Prime Mover"
  • Released: April 11, 1988
  • Written by: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson & Neil Peart
  • Produced by: Peter Collins and Rush
  • Chart positions: No. 43 UK[15]

Sales certifications[edit]

Country Organization Sales
U.S. RIAA Gold (500,000)[7]
Canada CRIA Platinum (100,000)[16]
UK BPI Silver (60,000)[17]

Remaster details[edit]

A remaster was issued in 1997.[4]

  • 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.

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. Hold Your Fire is included in the Sector 3 set.[18] 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.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Hold Your Fire - Rush". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
  2. ^ Espiau, Olivier (23 April 2010). "Rush - Hold Your Fire". Metal Storm. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
  3. ^ "Rush: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
  4. ^ a b c Hold Your Fire (Remastered Edition) (CD booklet). Rush. New York: Mercury Records. 1997.
  5. ^ a b Collins, Jon (2005). "And then there were three". Rush: Chemistry : The Definitive Biography. London, UK: Helter Skelter Publishing. pp. 150–152. ISBN 978-1-905139-28-6. 
  6. ^ a b c "Hold Your Fire Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
  7. ^ a b "RIAA Database Search for Rush". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
  8. ^ "Dear Superstar: Geddy Lee", Blender, March 17, 2009. (accessed 29 January 2012)
  9. ^ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 47, No. 2, October 17, 1987". Library and Archives Canada. 17 October 1987. Retrieved 2011-12-01. 
  10. ^ "Hold Your Fire Chart Stats". Chart Stats.com. Retrieved 2011-12-01. 
  11. ^ "Album - Rush, Hold Your Fire". Charts.de. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2011-12-01. 
  12. ^ "Rush - Power Windows (Album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2011-12-02. 
  13. ^ "Rush – Hold Your Fire (Album)". Gfk Dutch Charts (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2011-12-02. 
  14. ^ a b c "Hold Your Fire Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
  15. ^ "Prime Mover Chart Stats". Chart Stats.com. Retrieved 2012-03-11. 
  16. ^ "Gold Platinum Database - Title: Hold Your Fire". Music Canada. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
  17. ^ "BPI Certified Award Search for Rush". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2011-11-21. 
  18. ^ http://www.themasterdiskrecord.com/2011/11/andy-vandette-on-remastering-14-rush-albums
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