Grace Under Pressure was the first Rush album since 1975's Fly by Night to not be produced by Terry Brown, who was replaced by Peter Henderson (Supertramp, Paul McCartney).
The change resulted in a slightly more accessible sound than its predecessor, Signals, and marked the beginning of a period where many Rush fans feel that synths and electronics were used too prominently -- in effect pushing guitarist Alex Lifeson into the background.
The songwriting and lyrics were still strong however, as evidenced by the video/single "Distant Early Warning" (a tale about nuclear war) and the often-overlooked highlight "Kid Gloves," one of the album's few songs to feature Lifeson upfront.
Other standouts include a tribute to a friend of the band who had recently passed away, "Afterimage," the disturbing "Red Sector A" (which details a concentration camp), and one of Rush's first funk-based songs, "The Enemy Within." Whereas most other rock bands formed in the 1970s put out unfocused and uninspired work in the 1980s (which sounds very dated), Rush's Grace Under Pressure remains an exception.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Distant Early WarningGeddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart | Rush | Play | 04:58 | 11 MB | 29 MB |
| 2 | AfterimageGeddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart | Rush | Play | 05:11 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 3 | Red Sector AGeddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart | Rush | Play | 05:12 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 4 | The Enemy WithinGeddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart | Rush | Play | 04:33 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | The Body ElectricGeddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart | Rush | Play | 05:01 | 11 MB | 28 MB |
| 6 | Kid GlovesGeddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart | Rush | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 7 | Red LensesGeddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart | Rush | Play | 04:44 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 8 | Between the WheelsGeddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart | Rush | Play | 05:44 | 13 MB | 40 MB |
| 39 mins | 91 MB | |||||
| 39 mins | 221 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Burgess | Programming, Synthesizer |
| 2 | Roberto Di Gioia | Assistant Engineer |
| 3 | Jon Erickson | Pre-Production Engineer |
| 4 | Peter Henderson | Engineer, Producer |
| 5 | Steve Kleinberg | Design |
| 6 | Geddy Lee | Bass, Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Bass), Keyboards, Producer, Synthesizer, Vocals |
| 7 | Alex Lifeson | Composer, Guitar, Producer, Synthesizer |
| 8 | Bob Ludwig | Mastering |
| 9 | Paul Northfield | Programming, Synthesizer |
| 10 | Frank Opolko | Assistant Engineer |
| 11 | Neil Peart | Composer, Drums, Electronic Percussion, Percussion, Producer |
| 12 | Rush | Primary Artist, Producer |
| 13 | Hugh Syme | Art Direction, Paintings |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |