Caress of Steel[a] is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on September 24, 1975, by Mercury Records.

[6] Songs such as "The Necromancer" furthered Rush's advancement into narrative-driven, fantasy-based compositions, while "The Fountain of Lamneth" was their first prog-rock "epic" to span an entire side of vinyl.

Despite being more positively viewed by the band's fans in retrospect, Ultimate Classic Rock noted that the album is still considered "the black sheep of their catalog".

[7] By mid-1975, Rush had stabilised with a line-up of guitarist Alex Lifeson, bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee, and drummer and primary lyricist Neil Peart, who had joined the group in 1974.

They released Fly by Night (1975), which marked Rush's first foray into multi-part conceptual songs with "By-Tor and the Snow Dog".

[8] While preparing their follow-up album, Rush took the extended and conceptual song elements that they had introduced on Fly by Night and made it the central focus for their new material.

Peart recalled that the band approached Caress of Steel feeling "serene and confident" and that all three members were proud of the result.

[11] "I Think I'm Going Bald" was written in reference to Kim Mitchell, lead guitarist and vocalist for Max Webster who shared management and touring.

The introduction contains the lyric, "Three travelers, men of Willow Dale", a reference to the band itself, as Lifeson had formed the first incarnation of Rush in the Toronto suburb of Willowdale.

In 1991, Peart said that the shouted words heard are an argument between the central character and the Didacts and Narpets (anagrams of "addicts" and "parents", respectively).

[16] 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.

Ignoring their record label's advice and vowing to "fight or fall", the following year's 2112 album would ultimately pave the way for lasting commercial success, despite opening with a 20-and-a-half-minute conceptual title track.

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.