—”Closer to the Heart” by Rush, live on Different Stages (1998), originally on A Farewell to Kings (1977)
“Closer to the Heart” is a classic Rush track, and very popular with fans. This is a live version (there’ve been a few), which I’m posting instead of the studio version for two reasons:
- I really like the timbre and feel of live music, and I especially like Rush live. They rock a lot harder live.
- The approx. 2-minute jam session at the end of this version is awesome.
Like “Double Agent”, musically this song is more fun/awesome than technical. That’s not to say, however, that there’s not some great musicianship here — because there is. Lifeson’s guitar work, from intro to verse to solo to jam session, is very well done, and the song’s driving force. But Peart and Lifeson are strong players as well — they don’t settle for mere supporting roles.
“Closer to the Heart” is one of the shortest Rush songs (the studio version is just under 3 minutes), and one of their most musically mainstream. The lyrics are surprisingly utopian and revolutionary-sounding, given that they’re coming from Peart, who, erm, doesn’t like communism very much. The lyrics are also pretty simple and straightforward. I guess that’s an apt characterization of the song as a whole. Simple, straightforward…and rockin’!
Ironically, they wrote it in the middle of their prog period, and it shares an album with two 10-minute-plus prog monsters, “Xanadu” and “Cygnus X-1”. I guess they wanted some variety.
Speaking of, I intend to post some of their epic songs soon. Stay tuned.
