How to dissect a Rush album

Got the new Rush. It always amuses me, but it's the only artistic work I have a process for. A way of devouring it. Granted, after the number of albums they have, it's not surprising. The band's music is the same age as me, so it always feels like a new sibling to get a new album. Not mine, but familiar. And it's all that guy at the music store's fault. The one I worked with that looked like Kip Winger. He got me hooked on Rush, and it worked for me! Here's how it goes:

Pop the album in for its first listening. Usually rough. I run around the house and let it just wash over me while I do whatever tasks I need to get done. I can tell if I like something because it makes me stop and listen wherever I am, regardless of what I'm doing. But no going back - gotta listen to it all the way through the first time.

Burn a copy for the car, where I do the real listening. And I'm allowed to go back in songs, restart, and examine the ones that hit me. And I play it to death, usually for at least a week or two unless I have some car trips. The main body of digesting is here. Things hit me, I learn the lyrics, I hear the interplay of the instruments.

I take a break. A day, a week, a month or two, I just stop listening. And let the cravings start. Usually I wait until I have to hear a particular riff or song that's bouncing around in my head. And then I can go back to playing it to death again. I've killed more than a few burned copies this way. The world got cheaper with CD burning and not in a derogatory way...

Eventually I feel how it fits into my Rush mental library. It fits into a spot nicely, speaks to certain resonances in my brain or soul, talks to certain experiences.

This one is about meaning so far. Spirituality in a way. A lot of there recent stuff has those themes, and it seems that each album has a new facet, a refinement to the seeking. I laughed when they covered "The Seeker" for their EP a few years back. It explained a lot...

So there you have it. How I make a month or two meal of a new Rush album. I gnaw, gnosh, chew, masticate, ruminate (one of my favorites) over it until I feel its part of me. Not the prettiest metaphor, but it works.