This week I chose Rush: Hemispheres as the album this week. I'd say there was a reason for it but it was actually me shuffling the albums and picking one at random. Such are the capricious ways of fate.

I first got Hemispheres on cassette tape back when Meijer sold cassette tapes for $4.99. That was cheap enough to convince my dad to let me add that to the grocery order at Meijer. I still have those tapes with their beige cases. They made it easier to find in the sea of tapes that Meijer used to have in their music section by the checkout lanes. (Remember when Meijer used to have a music section and checkout lanes? Good times.)

Hemispheres was my first exposure to Rush putting an entire song on one side of the album. I hadn't picked up 2112 yet (my pursuit of Rush albums after Hold Your Fire was pretty scatter-shot). Again, I don't remember my initial reactions to this album. Side 1 of the album felt like a bit much. I hadn't had much exposure to progressive rock up until this point. I found Side 2 much more to my liking, with Circumstances, The Trees, and the incomparable La Villa Strangiato. I didn't know many of the in-jokes on La Villa Strangiato but I did spend a lot of time playing along with it. And when we got some wood blocks in band playing the woodblock part of The Trees was pretty much demanded of them.

I remember one summer when I was working at the school helping to clean up the school putting on Hemispheres to help musically pass the time. I remember one of the girls there showing some interest (sadly I don't remember her hame). I hope she eventually became a Rush fan.

Next week another album.