Grace Under Pressure (Rush Album) - Background and Production

Background and Production

During the tour supporting their previous album, Signals, the members of Rush began by meeting with producer Terry Brown in Miami, calmly informing him that they wanted to move on. They'd become increasingly unhappy with the sound of the Signals album, and they were also keen to see how they would work with someone other than Brown. Despite their decision to part ways with Brown, Rush decided to include a small tribute to him in the liner notes of Grace Under Pressure, which states, "et toujours notre bon vieil ami — Broon." The quote translates to "and always our good old friend". Following Brown's amicable departure, Rush approached producer Steve Lillywhite to record the album. However, Lillywhite withdrew at the last minute, much to the chagrin of the band members. Rush eventually produced the album themselves, with assistance from Peter Henderson, who had previously worked with Supertramp, Frank Zappa and King Crimson.

Rush decided to record the album in the band members' native Canada at Le Studio, deciding on the title "Grace Under Pressure" for the album. The various current events found in the Toronto Globe & Mail newspaper inspired many of the lyrics on the album, particularly those of "Distant Early Warning," "Red Lenses" and "Between the Wheels." After a few months, the mixing stage had begun, and Neil Peart discussed the details of the cover art with Hugh Syme. The band spent up to 14 hours per day in the studio, perfecting the album's dystopian sound.

The album's running theme is pressure and how humans act under different kinds of pressure. In songs like "Between the Wheels" and "The Body Electric", Peart's lyrics explore the pressure put on by life as a whole. In "Afterimage", Peart describes the impressions left by a loved one that dies suddenly. One track, "Red Sector A," is notable for its allusions to The Holocaust, inspired by Geddy Lee's memories of his mother's stories about the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, where she was held prisoner. While the album's opening track "Distant Early Warning" has been interpreted as dealing with the pressure involving the aftermath of nuclear holocaust, Peart demurred in a contemporaneous interview, saying, "It's about a lot of stuff". "The Enemy Within" is part of the "Fear" series of songs that also includes "Witch Hunt" from Rush's 1981 album Moving Pictures, "The Weapon" from 1982's Signals and "Freeze" from their 2002 album Vapor Trails. The video for "The Enemy Within" was the very first video broadcast on Canada's Much Music station in 1984.

Musically, the album marks yet another development in Rush's sound; whilst continuing to make extensive use of synthesizers as on Signals, the band also experimented by incorporating elements of ska and reggae into some of the songs. This was also the first album released by Rush to include no program music.