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With new producer Peter Collins, the band released Power Windows ( 1985 ) and Hold Your Fire ( 1987 ).

The music on these two albums gives far more emphasis and prominence to Lee's multi-layered synthesizer work.

While fans and critics took notice of Lifeson's diminished guitar work, his presence was still palpable.

Lifeson, like many guitarists in the late 1980s, experimented with processors that reduced his instrument to echoey chord bursts and razor-thin leads.

Hold Your Fire represents both a modest extension of the guitar stylings found on Power Windows, and, according to Allmusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia, the culmination of this era of Rush.

Whereas the previous five Rush albums sold platinum or better, Hold Your Fire only went gold in November 1987, although it managed to peak at number 13 on the Billboard 200.