Test for Echo

In May 1994, Rush finished their Counterparts Tour of the United States and Canada in support of the band's 15th album Counterparts (1993).{{cite web|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/testforecho.html#tourbook|title=Official Guidebook and User's Manual|first=Neil|last=Peart|date=1996|access-date=November 20, 2018|archive-date=November 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122005635/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/testforecho.html#tourbook|url-status=live}} The group then took a usual break in activity, but this went on to last 18 months as bass guitarist and vocalist Geddy Lee wanted to be at home for the first year of his daughter's life. With their free time, guitarist Alex Lifeson recorded his first solo album Victor and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart released a Buddy Rich tribute album Burning for Buddy and spent time on his technique, receiving formal instruction from the jazz drummer Freddie Gruber.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19960803billboard.htm|title=Rush Aims for New Generation|first=Paul|last=Verna|date=August 3, 1996|magazine=Billboard|access-date=November 22, 2018|archive-date=November 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123022514/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19960803billboard.htm|url-status=live}} For the majority of the album, Peart plays with a traditional grip.{{fact|date=March 2024}}

In October 1995, the band decided to start work on the next Rush album and, as with their previous three albums, retreated to Chalet Studios in Claremont, Ontario, to write and rehearse. Having been together for more than 20 years at this point, Lifeson questioned if Test for Echo was to be Rush's last album and whether they were to tour it at all. He changed his mind when it was finished as the group was already in talks about the next album and said, "We've got a lot of stuff in us yet." The first sessions were difficult for him, having had full control of Victor and the "same old" discussions with Lee as to what direction the new Rush album would be prior to writing. "Once I exorcised those ghosts, the following week we wrote five songs. We dove into it and it was very, very positive from then on". The band put up inspirational slogans on the studio wall, including "Individually we are a ass, together we are a genius" and "If you want something done right, just forget it". Lee and Lifeson completed almost six songs before they presented any of their work to Peart as they did not want to interrupt the flow of their productive writing.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961100bassfrontiers.htm|title=Geddy Lee: The Reluctant Rockstar|first=Christopher|last=Butner|magazine=Bass Frontiers|volume=3|issue=6|date=November 1996|access-date=November 25, 2018|archive-date=November 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125204420/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961100bassfrontiers.htm|url-status=live}} They had reserved the studio for around ten weeks, but the productive sessions resulted in the writing finishing three weeks early.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19960900guitarone.htm|title=Alex Lifeson: The Making of a Guitar Legend|first=Wolf|last=Marshall|magazine=Guitar One|volume=5|issue=34|date=September 1996|access-date=November 22, 2018|archive-date=January 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126232058/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19960900guitarone.htm|url-status=live}} Lifeson said the group were in particularly good spirits throughout the album's production and put it down to the break they had taken.

The band adopted its usual method of Lee and Lifeson working on the music with Peart working alone on the lyrics, but the music was written in a different way than before. In the past, the writing had Lee and Lifeson form songs by matching pieces of music to verses and choruses as they went and all three would listen to what was put down and exchange ideas to develop them further. This time, lyrics were matched with suitable sections of music, after which they were recorded and Lee and Lifeson would work on something else. As Peart wrote: "They didn't want to get bogged down in the 'jigsaw puzzle' of assembling whole songs, but rather keep the momentum going with a flow of fresh ideas." After a collection of songs were worked out, the group started to refine their individual parts. In November 1995, the group were faced with heavy snow at Chalet Studios which led into the North American blizzard of 1996 in early January. The snow continued through the recording of the album, which inspired the album's artwork.

Almost all of the tracks were written, arranged and put onto a demo tape by December 1995, and the band was then joined by Peter Collins who they chose to resume his role as their co-producer. Collins was their co-producer on Power Windows (1985), Hold Your Fire (1987), and Counterparts and offered what Peart described as "small-but-critical improvements" to what they had already recorded. The album continued to display the group's change in sound, which had started on Presto (1989), towards guitar-oriented music and the reduction of keyboards.

The album was recorded from January to March 1996 at Bearsville Studios in Bearsville, New York. The studio was chosen because the band wanted to capture "more size" from Peart's drums and the facility was more suited to his kit. Additional recording took place at Reaction Studios in Toronto, where it snowed for 40 consecutive days. Test for Echo was the first time Rush worked with American engineers and mixers, having only worked with English or Australian personnel before. They chose the recording engineer Clif Norrell, a longtime fan of the band who once performed Rush cover songs in his own group.

The album was mixed in April 1996 by Andy Wallace at McClear Place in Toronto. The group made a conscious decision not to enter the studio until Wallace had prepared a mix for them to comment on. Lifeson said, "We'd hear completely different takes on these songs that we'd lived with for six or seven months. [...] There were things that we really wouldn't have thought of, and that was really the whole point of him being there". Upon release, Lifeson rated Test for Echo as one of Rush's best albums.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961031scene.htm|title=Testing for Echo: Rush Return After Two Years in Hiding|first=Steven|last=Batten|magazine=Northeast Ohio Scene|date=October 31, 1996|access-date=November 25, 2018|archive-date=November 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125204455/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961031scene.htm|url-status=live}}

"Test for Echo" features lyrical contributions from Pye Dubois who had also written lyrics for three Rush songs prior. Lee said the words reflect the group's current situation at the time. Lifeson plays a Les Paul Custom guitar and described the song as "pure Rush".{{cite magazine|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961100guitar.htm|title=Lifeson & Lee Test Their Metal With a Heavy Echo|first=Mike|last=Mettler|magazine=Guitar|date=November 1996|access-date=November 25, 2018|archive-date=November 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125204445/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961100guitar.htm|url-status=live}}

"Driven" was written entirely on Lee's bass guitar and features three separate bass tracks. Lifeson said that Peart played "a little bit back on the beat" which gave the song a "heavier character" and caused Lee and himself to adjust their parts to fit his drums.

"Half the World" features Lifeson playing a 10-string mandola which he had played to get a feel for the instrument, but found it changed the song's personality completely. He presented it to Lee who expressed initial doubts as it displayed an unusual texture, but grew to like it.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961031allstar.htm|title=Interview With Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson|magazine=Allstar Online Music Magazine|date=October 31, 1996|access-date=November 25, 2018|archive-date=November 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125204434/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961031allstar.htm|url-status=live}}

"Time and Motion" originated from a set of lyrics that Peart had written, after which Lee and Lifeson worked on music for it which developed quickly. They wanted to dramatise the first lyrical phrase by incorporating major chords, but Lee said a first version of the track was put together some years prior, but never used.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961100tylko.htm|title=Rush - Moving Pictures: A Conversation with Geddy|first=Wieslaw|last=Weiss|magazine=Tylko Rock|date=November 1996|access-date=November 25, 2018|archive-date=November 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125204410/http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19961100tylko.htm|url-status=live}}

Lee described "Dog Years" as "a bit punky".

"Limbo" is an instrumental track that was pieced together from different bits of ideas that the group had sketched out but remained unused.

Lifeson picked "Resist" as one of his favourite tracks, and among the best Rush had ever recorded.

The cover displays an inuksuk, native to Canada. Created by the Inuit, an inuksuk is a stone figure in the shape of a human used to mark a food cache, hunting ground or a place where someone lost their life.

The album was premiered in its entirety during a two-hour syndicated radio special on WRCX in Chicago, on September 5, 1996.{{cite AV media|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19960905t4epremier.htm|title='Test For Echo' World Premiere on WKSC-FM|first=Jill|last=Robinson|location=Chicago, Illinois|date=September 5, 1996|access-date=November 22, 2018}}

{{Album ratings

| title = Contemporaneous reviews

| rev1 = The Buffalo News

| rev1Score = {{rating|3.5|5}}{{cite newspaper|last=Violanti|first=Anthony|date=October 4, 1996|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/876039689/?match=4&terms=%22Test%20for%20Echo%22%20Rush|title=The Sound of Revenge|newspaper=The Buffalo News|p=33|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

| rev2 = Detroit Free Press

| rev2Score = {{rating|3|4}}{{cite newspaper|last=McCollum|first=Brian|date=September 10, 1996|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/99362805/?match=14&terms=%22Test%20for%20Echo%22%20Rush|title=Rush in no hurry anymore|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|p=E1|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

|rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

|rev3score = B{{cite magazine |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,294381,00.html |title=Test for Echo Review |author=Jim Farber |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=October 4, 1996 |access-date=June 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003150057/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,294381,00.html |archive-date=October 3, 2012 |url-status=dead }}

| rev4 = Express News Service

| rev4Score = A{{cite newspaper|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/504517964/?match=9&terms=%22Test%20for%20Echo%22%20Rush|title=Rush Test for Echo (Anthem)|newspaper=Windsor Star|via=Newspapers.com|p=3|date=September 26, 1996|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

| rev5 = Edmonton Journal

| rev5Score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite newspaper|last=Ohler|first=Shawn|date=September 21, 1996|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/473082768/?match=13&terms=%22Test%20for%20Echo%22%20Rush|title=Deliverance from Rush limbo|newspaper=Edmonton Journal|p=C5|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

| rev6 = The Grand Rapids Press

| rev6Score = {{rating|2.5|4}}{{cite newspaper|last=Newman|first=Josh|date=October 23, 1996|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1121139160/?match=1&terms=%22Test%20for%20Echo%22%20Rush|title=Rush goes mainstream|newspaper=The Grand Rapids Press|p=B8|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

| rev7 = The Indianapolis Star

| rev7Score = {{rating|3.5|4}}{{cite newspaper|last=Slosarek|first=Steve|date=October 6, 1996|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/106993394/?match=1&terms=%22Test%20for%20Echo%22%20Rush |title=Rush|newspaper=The Indianapolis Star|p=I-11|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

| rev8 = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

| rev8Score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite newspaper|last=Collins|first=Tracy|date=September 13, 1996|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/90041350/?match=13&terms=%22Test%20for%20Echo%22%20Rush|title=It's still a Rush|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|via=Newspapers.com|p=18|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

| rev9 = The San Bernardino County Sun

| rev9Score = 5/10{{cite newspaper|last=Foster|first=Jason|date=September 15, 1996|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/95218655/?match=4&terms=%22Test%20for%20Echo%22%20Rush|title=Rush's 'Test for Echo' is muddled|newspaper=The San Bernardino County Sun|via=Newspapers.com|p=E7|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

| rev10 = Southam Newspapers

| rev10Score = {{rating|2.5|5}}{{cite newspaper|last=Muretich|first=James|date=September 22, 1996|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/485839708/?match=1&terms=%22Test%20for%20Echo%22%20Rush|title=New Releases|newspaper=Calgary Herald|p=C2|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

}}

{{Album ratings

| title = Retrospective reviews and music guides

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{AllMusic | class = album | id = test-for-echo-mw0000646681 | label = Rush: "Test for Echo" > Review | first = Stephen Thomas | last = Erlewine | access-date = November 25, 2016}}

| rev2 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev2Score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}

| rev3 = The Essential Rock Discography

| rev3Score = 5/10{{cite book |last1=Strong |first1=Martin Charles |title=The Essential Rock Discography |edition=8th |year=2006 |publisher=Open City Books |isbn=1-84195-860-3 |page=938–939 |chapter=Rush }}

| rev4 = MusicHound Rock

| rev4Score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book|editor1-last=Graff|editor1-first=Gary|editor2-last=Durchholz|editor2-first=Daniel|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|location=Farmington Hills, MI|year=1999|section=Rush|isbn=1-57859-061-2|page=965}}

|rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev5score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/rush/albumguide |title=Rush: Album Guide |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=February 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704223108/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/rush/albumguide |archive-date=July 4, 2013 |url-status=dead }}

|rev6 = Sputnikmusic

|rev6Score = 3.0/5{{cite web|last=Schroer|first=Brandon|date=May 21, 2015|url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/67163/rush-test-for-echo/|title=Review: Rush - Test for Echo|website=Sputnikmusic|access-date=February 15, 2025}}

| rev7 = The Virgin Encyclopedia of 80s Music

| rev7Score = {{rating|2|5}}{{Cite book|author=Larkin, Colin|year=2003|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of 80s Music|ISBN=1852279699|publisher=Virgin Publishing|section=Rush|pp=414–415}}

}}

The AllMusic reviewer, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, gave Test for Echo three out of five stars, saying that Rush has "rarely played better in the past ten years than they have on Test for Echo". Rolling Stone argued, "the buffed guitar and synthesizer contours of Test for Echo are welcome relief from the bland din of modern-rock celebrities like Dishwalla."{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/test-for-echo-19961217 |title=Test For Echo |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=December 17, 1996 |access-date=February 15, 2025 |archive-date=January 14, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114211240/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/test-for-echo-19961217 |url-status=live }}

{{Track listing

| all_writing = Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart except "Test for Echo" by Lee, Lifeson, Peart, and Pye Dubois

| headline =

| title1 = Test for Echo

| length1 = 5:56

| title2 = Driven

| length2 = 4:27

| title3 = Half the World

| length3 = 3:43

| title4 = The Color of Right

| length4 = 4:48

| title5 = Time and Motion

| length5 = 5:01

| title6 = Totem

| length6 = 4:58

| title7 = Dog Years

| length7 = 4:55

| title8 = Virtuality

| length8 = 5:44

| title9 = Resist

| length9 = 4:23

| title10 = Limbo

| note10 = Instrumental. Contains samples from Monster Mash.

| length10 = 5:29

| title11 = Carve Away the Stone

| length11 = 4:06

}}

Credits taken from the album's liner notes.{{cite AV media notes|url=https://www.discogs.com/Rush-Test-For-Echo/release/1754980|title=Test for Echo|others=Rush|id=ANSD 1073|publisher=Anthem Records|access-date=November 22, 2018|archive-date=February 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220102323/https://www.discogs.com/Rush-Test-For-Echo/release/1754980|url-status=live}}

Rush

• Geddy Lee – bass guitar, vocals, synthesizers
• Alex Lifeson – electric and acoustic guitars, mandola
• Neil Peart – drums, cymbals, hammer dulcimer

Production

• Rush – production, arrangement
• Peter Collins – production, arrangement
• Clif Norrell – recording
• Andy Wallace – mixing
• Simon Pressey – project assistant engineer
• Chris Laidlaw and Paul Marconi – recording assistants at Bearsville Studios
• Tom Heron – recording assistant at Reaction Studios
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Hugh Syme – art direction, design, digital illustration
• Andrew MacNaughtan, Anthony Frederick, Dimo Safari, Eugene Fisher and Richard C. Negus – photography

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry | type = album | region = Canada | artist = Rush | title = Test for Echo | award = Gold | relyear = 1996 | access-date = November 25, 2016 | refname = "Canada certification"}}

{{Certification Table Entry | type = album | region = United States | artist = Rush | title = Test for Echo | award = Gold | certyear = 1996 | relyear = 1996 | access-date = November 25, 2016 | refname = "US certification"}}

{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}

Notes:

{{notelist-ua}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Discogs master|type=album|33460|name=Test for Echo}}

{{Rush

| state = collapsed

}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Rush (band) albums

Category:1996 albums

Category:Progressive rock albums by Canadian artists

Category:Atlantic Records albums

Category:Anthem Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Peter Collins (record producer)