Now I'm able to justify getting rid of the disc a decade ago. The album starts strong with the propulsive classic "Dreamline"****. Though the rock rap of the title song**** was hokey even back in 1991, it does have enough cool riffs to save it while Peart's grand philosophizing about chance and fate are spot on. "Face Up"**** is also riff-driven enough, though lyrically simplistic, and "Bravado" is a pleasant enough anthem. This album is from the keyboard-driven Hold Your Fire era, as "Where's My Thing? Pt.4" swims with keyboard washes, though a chimey chika-chicka riff pokes through once in a while; sadly, the days of great instrumentals like "YYZ" are over.
Except for "The Big Wheel", the rest of the album is practically soft rock, especially the R&B ballad chorus of "Ghost Of A Chance". While I can't think of a band that was doing exactly what Rush was, they seem to be reaching the limits of what they could do with keyboard as the main melodic instrument, with a few big guitar chords only sprinkled throughout. The chiming riff of "You Bet Your Life" resembles the Chameleons / Psychedelic Furs, though the chanted chorus makes Neil Peart's point of battling philosophies with the annoying pop-psychology that sometimes makes his lyrics divisively nerdy.
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