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Caress of Steel is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in September 1975 on Anthem Records.

Background and recording
By 1975, Rush had stabilised with a line-up of singer and bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. The released the successful Fly by Night, their first album with Peart in the group, which outsold their self-titled debut and received a greater amount of radio airplay as a result. At the 1975 Juno Awards held that March, the group received a Most Promising Group of the Year Award. In June 1975, Rush finished touring the album and started work on a follow-up.

Upon the success of Fly by Night Peart wrote that the group entered the writing sessions for Caress of Steel feeling "serene and confident". This marked a transition in the group's musical direction as their debut album had displayed a blues-oriented hard rock style, yet the eight-minute "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" from Fly by Night included a story-based lyric and arranged with multiple sections, two features of the progressive rock genre. Rush explored these elements further on Caress of Steel which resulted in the extended pieces "The Necromancer" and "The Fountain of Lamneth", also inspired by the music of progressive rock bands Yes and Genesis and the fantasy works by author J. R. R. Tolkien. Lifeson, despite looking back on the album as perhaps too difficult for the band to undertake at this stage in their career, thought it was key in the development of the band's songwriting and arranging. Lee said that the songs were little understood by the public, and described the two long pieces as "very complex and dark".

Caress of Steel was recorded at Toronto Sound Studios in Toronto in July and August 1975. They were joined by English producer Terry Brown, who had first worked with the band on Fly by Night and went on to produce their next eight albums.

When recording finished, Peart recalled the group were particularly proud of the album as they saw it as a big step in their musical development, with "a lot of dynamic variety and some true originality". Lee said the album demonstrated more emotion than previous albums, and Lifeson said that the group "really loved" it. Rush dedicated Caress of Steel to the memory of writer and television host Rod Serling; Peart said that "he was one of our great teachers" and at times the group sounded "very Rod-like". Brown said that it was difficult to get into the material on Caress of Steel, yet noted "some great tunes" on it. Peart recalled that their record label wanted the group to drop a song from the album due to the album's uneven duration of each side, but they refused.

The album is the first of many Rush albums to feature cover art by Hugh Syme.

Side one
"Bastille Day" tells the story of the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution.

"I Think I'm Going Bald" developed from the band's time opening for Kiss, who had a song titled "Goin' Blind". Peart had come up with the line "I think I'm going bald" from Lifeson's ongoing concern of losing his hair, and the group took the idea, using Kiss's song as a title, to work it into a song. Lee said that it got Peart thinking about a lyric on ageing, and named it one of Rush's "goofy" tracks.

"Lakeside Park" is a song about the seaside fair by Port Dalhousie, Ontario where Peart worked for a summer as a teenager. Lee developed a general distaste for the band's material released before 1976, and would cringe from hearing "Lakeside Park" played on the radio, calling it a "lousy song". Lifeson said that the song was written on the acoustic guitar, but thought his parts translated well for the electric guitar. He was greatly influenced by Pete Townshend for the rhythm guitar and strumming style.

The song refers to Prince By-Tor, the character in "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" on Fly by Night.

"The Necromancer" is the first of two songs on Caress of Steel with multiple sections. It tells a fantasy story which Peart described as the "mythological sequel" to "By-Tor and the Snow Dog", a track also with multiple sections, from Fly by Night. Peart provides the spoken vocals.

Side two
"The Fountain of Lamneth" is a 20-minute track in six parts. Peart based his lyrics on a drive from the top of a mountain to the bottom. He saw the lights of the city beneath him, and thought of the question: "What would life be like if you could only measure your position as a person by the level at which you lived up the side of a mountain?" In 1977, he looked back on his effort as "ridiculous" and "really naive", but remained happy that he had done it. Lee said that its lyrical content was problematic for some fans who had trouble understanding the album.

Release
Caress of Steel was released in September 1975. It went to No. 60 on the Canadian Albums Chart and No. 148 on the US Billboard 200.

While touring the album Peart said that radio stations received the most requests to hear "Return of the Prince" from "The Necromancer" played again, which influenced the band to release the track as a single.

Although the band initially had high hopes for the album, it sold fewer copies than Fly by Night and was considered a disappointment by the record company. The album eventually became known as one of Rush's most obscure and overlooked recordings, consequently being considered under-rated by fans.

Due to poor sales, low concert attendance and overall media indifference, the 1975–76 tour supporting Caress of Steel became known by the band as the "Down the Tubes" tour. Given that and record-company pressure to record more accessible, radio-friendly material similar to their first album – something Lee, Lifeson and Peart were unwilling to do – the trio feared that the end of the group was near. Ignoring their record label's advice and vowing to "fight or fall," 2112 ultimately paved the way for lasting commercial success, despite opening with a 20-and-a-half-minute conceptual title track.

Caress of Steel did not attain gold certification in the United States until December 1993, nearly two decades after its release. It remains one of the few Rush albums to not go platinum in the United States.

Critical reception
Caress of Steel has received poor reviews from professional critics. AllMusic's Greg Prato described the album as "one of Rush's more unfocused albums," while Daily Vault 's Christopher Thelen called it "a tentative step for Rush, one which would lead to their masterpiece in conceptual work," in reference to the group's next album, 2112.

Lee recalled that people criticised the album as it was "A naïve album made by naïve people. So what's wrong with being naïve?"

Tour
Rush toured Caress of Steel across Canada and the US from August 24, 1975, to January 10, 1976. They later dubbed it as the "Down the Tubes Tour" following the disappointing album sales, low attendance figures, and pressure from label management to sell the group's music. By the tour's end, the group were an estimated $350,000 in debt. The experience led to the band wary of their future which influenced the writing for their next album 2112 (1976).

Remasters
A remaster was issued in 1997.
 * The tray has a picture of the star with man painting (mirroring the cover art of Retrospective I) with "The Rush Remasters" printed in all capital letters just to the left. All remasters from Rush through Permanent Waves are like this.
 * The remaster adds the album's back cover and gatefold (which included band pictures and lyrics) to the packaging which was not included on the original CD.

Caress Of Steel was remastered again in 2011 by Andy VanDette for the "Sector" box sets, which re-released all of Rush's Mercury-era albums. Caress Of Steel is included in the Sector 1 set.

Caress of Steel was remastered for vinyl in 2015 as a part of the official "12 Months of Rush" promotion. The high definition master prepared for this release was also made available for purchase in 24-bit/96 kHz and 24-bit/192 kHz formats, at several high-resolution audio online music stores. These masters have significantly less dynamic range compression than the 1997 remasters and the "Sector" remasters by Andy VanDette.

Personnel
Rush
 * Geddy Lee – bass, vocals
 * Alex Lifeson – 6- and 12-string electric and acoustic guitars, classical guitar, steel guitar
 * Neil Peart – drums, percussion

Production
 * Rush – production
 * Terry Brown – production, engineering
 * Mr. "Herns" Ungerleider – roadmaster
 * Ian "Rio" Grandy – road crew
 * Liam "L.B." Birt – road crew
 * J.D. "Kool Man" Johnson – road crew
 * AGI – art direction
 * Hugh Syme – graphics
 * Terrence Bert – photography
 * Gerard Gentil – photography
 * Barry McVicker – photography
 * Bruce Cole – photography
 * Moon Records – executive production