A Simple Kind Mirror: The Lyrical Vision of Rush

This book is one fan’s labor of love; an exploration of how the band’s lyrical panorama changed from the fantastic to the realistic, from sci-fi adventures to gritty portraits of how humans face the modern world. This is by no means a definitive work exposing what the band’s implicit messages and themes convey—that is beyond anyone’s scope save that of the band itself. Rather, A Simple Kind Mirror is a song-by-song journey through Rush’s 1980 to 1996 offerings, placing the social commentaries covered within.

The beauty of this band is that fans can identify with them on many levels and process their messages in personal and individual ways. In A Simple Kind Mirror, Len Roberto explores the foundation of hope and inspiration Rush carries throughout its portfolio.

Now after 20 years I find the music still inspires me and through life's ups and downs the words can give direction and peace. As a non native english speaker I wanted to "understand" the meaning better. This book really gave a new depth to that.


Mirror Review   May 14, 2002
2 out of 9 found this review helpful

I gave this book 4 stars only becuase he didn't review the early work FBN-Hemispheres. their early work simply uses allegory to convey the ideas Neil had on Human Behavior back in the day. Now he just writes his thoughts almost directly and to the point. Anyway, I am only a few pages into it(just got it yesterday) but I find it to be very enjoyable reading. I too am a fan of not only their music but mainly thier lyrics. Heck the older I get and the more I learn about myself as a human, the more Neils lyrics mean to me. It is also very nice having somebody to discuss his lyrics with and I find that in Mr. Roberto's book. It is my Rush conversation companion. I never looked at some of his lyrics the way Leonard did and I like getting different points of view.

I should do my own book of the early stuff as a companion piece to this fine work!


Lacking a philosophical direction   October 15, 2006
S. Owen (Clinton, MA United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

I found this book entertaining, sometimes finding myself nodding emphatically over the author's interpretation of a particular song, but often shaking my head and thinking, "What?"

The startling omission in this book was the author's (someone who claims to have read "everything" about Rush on the internet) complete lack of knowledge (mention, in fact) of the philosophical system of Objectivism. Peart is himself an Objectivist, and most of Rush's songs have an Objectivist point of view. Some of the author's interpretations are decidededly non-Objectivist in nature.

We all draw our own interpretations from Rush's songs, and there's no saying that my interpretation is any better than anyone else's. I just found it odd that in a book claiming interpretations of songs by a band with a decidedly Objectivist slant, there is no discussion or even mention of Objectivisism.


Simplistic interpretations of Rush songs   March 26, 2002
Mark C. Daniels (Albany, NY)
45 out of 45 found this review helpful

This "book" began it's life as an e-Book, available as a download for a small fee. It reads like something you'd find on a Rush fan's personal website... especially the passages in which the author tells us "when I'm in (x) mood, I like to listen to (x) song." Furthermore, his observations about the meaning of Rush's songs are always obvious in nature.

Roberto's "book" of song interpretations includes EVERY song that Rush released from "PERMANENT WAVES" (1980) to "TEST FOR ECHO" (1996). In this respect - the sheer quantity of songs discussed - it surpasses Carol Selby Price's book on Rush lyrical analysis "Mystic Rhythms: The Philosophical Vision of Rush." Price only analyzes a handful of songs in her book, and none of them are post-1990 ("PRESTO").

In every other consideration, this book is dramatically inferior to Price's book. At eighty pages total, "A Simple Kind Mirror" allots less than a page (and sometimes only a few sentences) to each song discussed. Len Roberto doesn't dig very deeply into the songs, and only scratches the surface when it comes to the depth of meaning in Neil Peart's lyrics. There's really nothing here that Rush fans haven't grokked themselves from listening to the songs. Price, with her background in Philosophy, offers us much more.

Regarding the writing STYLE, I'm pleased to report that "Simple Kind Mirror" isn't riddled with spelling, grammatic, and syntax errors like so many Rush-related books. Roberto seems to possess an above-average vocabulary, and each sentence is well constructed. HOWEVER... throughout the book's 80 pages, one finds many sentences which seem like non-sequitirs given the sentences that precede them. (Roberto will offer us a theory about the meaning of a lyric, and in the next sentence give us a further idea that doesn't seem to fit the first. It's as if we're reading his stream-of-consciousness meanderings, and only by entering his brain could we understand how he arrived where he did.)

I really can't recommend this title. If it's a scholarly and in-depth interpretation of Peart's lyrics that you're after, skip this book and buy Carol Selby Price's "Mystic Rhythms" instead.


Gets 1 star because they wouldn't let me give ZERO stars.   June 27, 2003
esroberto (USA)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

For anyone who can barely speak English, this is a great book -- it's so oversimplified and generalized and structured for the average 8 yr old that it's the most unreadable waste of paper that trees have ever given life for. It's just awful. It's actually too terrible to be funny. Avoid it like the plague.

Here's some of the author's brilliance paraphrased: "So like, the song's like Spirit of Radio, you know, like the Radio has a spirit, like it's alive, but everybody knows a radio can't have a spirit, right? Or maybe it can if you think about it!"

Plainly stated, if you're of the mindset and level of intellect that Rush's work appeals to you, then you're way overqualified to bother with this tragic waste of ink. Get Mystic Rhythms: The Philosophical Vision of Rush if you're that into the lyrics; if you're that into the band, Robert Telleria's Rush: Merely Players is about THE best thing I've ever read. If you want further insight into the mind behind the lyrics, read either Masked Rider or Ghost Rider by Neil himself -- THOSE are both literary masterpieces.