Rush - Permanent Waves
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Free Music Notes for Permanent Waves
Free Music Review: Well worth the time
Hit: 5 Stars
The lead off track of this album by Rush, "The Spirit of Radio," was written for and about a Canadian radio station, and it perfectly captures a moment in radio history, between the payola of the 60s and the corporate conglomerates of the 90s. For those of us who grew up listening to radio in that period, the tune is bittersweet, especially the prescient ending wherein Neal Peart rewrites Simon and Garfunkel's lyrics from "The Sound of Silence" to lambast the emerging profit-only centered radio programming. It's a strong statement and song, and one of Rush's best singles (it may even have been released as a single, which would have been unusual for Rush).
Permanent Waves is the first album that adds synthesizers to their three main instruments of guitar, bass and drums. Subsequent albums would increasingly feature the use of synthesizers, but it is here where Lee began to use them for more than atmospheric effect; there's an occasional solo as well as background melody/harmony provided by synth here. There are still remnants of the excesses of previous Rush albums present here, with two songs extending over 7 minutes. All of the songs are self-contained (rather than multi-part suites), however. Peart's lyrics reflect his literary aspirations; some people, like me, find them intelligent; detractors find them pretentious. "Freewill" puts forward a basic philosophical concept across in 5 minutes (not deciding to choose something is still making a choice), while "Natural Science" uses biology (tide pools) to illustrate how humans can't see the bigger picture.
But this is still Rush, with many time/key changes contained in each song, syncopation plays between bass and drums, and some of the best coordinated playing of the time. There's not a dud song on this album, although the long ones do seem to go on a little more than you expect them to. This would be resolved in their next, and best, album, Moving Pictures.
Free Music Review: GREAT! Fuses Rush's lavish musicianship with accessibility.
Hit: 5 Stars
This album was Rush's first major foray into wide-spread, popular success. And now, 25 years later, SPIRIT OF THE RADIO, FREEWILL and even JACOB'S LADDER still get frequent airplay, and not just on "classic rock" stations.My only gripe about the album is its brevity. Six songs over about 40 minutes...but then I remind myself that they didn't have CD's back then, so a shorter album today was a "regular" length album back then.
Every song is a winner on this album, but in my opinion, the true gem for Rush fans is NATURAL SCIENCE. It's structured like one of their 20 minute, full-side songs (2112 being the most famous example), but it is compacted into a 9 minute package. Lyrically, it is quite clever, particulary early on, when lyricist Neil Peart draws an analogy between the little communities of life that live in tide pools and our own lives. As he says "living in our pools, we soon forget about the sea." Musically, the song was very quiet and almost acoustic up till that moment. Then the guitar begins to build, as the "sea" comes in. The song goes off in several directions throughout, yet the sum effect is of unity, as the piece deals with different aspects of science and man's relation thereto.
Rush still does this piece in concert. It's sweeping in the best sense of the word, and a true high point in their career.
This is not to neglect the radio classics FREEWILL (what a guitar solo!!! And the lyrics pretty much lay out Peart's philosophy, which he returns to again and again in albums to come, but seldom so clearly) and SPIRIT OF THE RADIO (one of the greatest rock songs ever...it celebrates music and the power of radio). These songs remain in the pantheon of hard rock greats for a good reason.
This is a must own for Rush fans, both fanatical and more casual. "Begin the day with a friendly voice, a companion unobtrusive." What a great line...what a great album!!!
Free Music Review: Where Rush met the masses
Hit: 5 Stars
Permanent Waves was a change in style for Rush. This was the album where they streamlined their sound while still continuing to compose the musically challenging epics that up to this point were their calling card. This album for Rush was equivalent to how Metallica's self-titled album was to them. But while Metallica's music would get noticeably weaker after they altered their sound, Rush would continue to make spectacular music for many years, not only with this album and their next release Moving Pictures, but also with more recent albums such as Counterparts and Test For Echo.The high points of this album are the tracks "The Spirit Of Radio" and "Freewill", two of their most enduring tracks, which still get solid airplay on classic rock radio. "The Spirit Of Radio" is the best of both worlds, it maintains the complexity of their previous works and is also one of their catchiest songs. Like their future signature track "Tom Sawyer", you know the song immediately from its intro, in this case Alex Lifeson's memorable guitar riff. "Freewill" is one of their great radio-friendly rock tracks featuring excellent bass playing from Geddy Lee and a killer solo from Lifeson. Another standout track from this album, which the band has started playing again on their last couple of tours, is "Natural Science." This is one of their best long tracks and sounds similar in style to what progressive metal bands like Dream Theater would do in the '90s. "Entre Nous" is one of their more overlooked tracks and features some of Neil Peart's more personal lyrics. The remaining tracks, the subdued "Different Strings" and the sci-fi epic "Jacob's Ladder" are also strong tracks. A more commercial album but by no means a sellout, Permanent Waves remains one of Rush's best musical statements.
Free Music Review: The beginning of something great
Hit: 5 Stars
For several albums, beginning with Caress of Steel, Rush dwelled in the style of writing sci-fi epics, and in doing so garnered them a devoted underground following. Then came Permanent Waves, which signaled the beginning of two eras for the band: the first album of the 80's, and the beginning of a new approach to song writing. Perhaps deciding that the epic style had grown old and run it's course, Rush altered it's songs to the rock mainstream and made them more radio friendly. All the while they never went back on their roots or forgot their musical prowess. The result is a musical masterpiece and undeniably one of Rush's best efforts. With this album also came perhaps the greatest trilogy of rock albums ever, along with Moving Pictures and Signals.Starting off is two bonafide radio classics in Spirit of Radio and Freewill. Both get substantial airtime and give a hint of what was to come in future releases. Next is Jacob's Ladder, an overlooked gem and one of my favorite Rush songs. Mostly an instrumental, the song really works thanks to some eerie vocals and great synth work by Geddy. Entre Nous follows, and it's another Rush track that is underappreciated and has some great lyrics. Following that is Different Strings, probably the weakest song of the album, which still makes it great. Closing out the album is one of Rush's greatest songs in Natural Science. Written in three parts and clocking in under ten minutes, the song is years ahead of it's time, and it has some of the group's tightest harmonies, not to mention a background of waves which highlight it nicely.
No matter who you are, if you release an album with only six tracks, you better make them count. Rush accomplished this, proving time and time again that quality is better than quantity. That said, this is a welcome addition to any Rush fan's catalogue, as well as a great start to one.
Free Music Review: My favorite Rush album
Hit: 5 Stars
In my opinion, Rush has been pretty consistent since they started out way back in 1974. Sure, they've undergone some changes (more reliance on synthesizers, etc), but they've always maintained that "Rush" quality, and "Permanent Waves" displays that quality better than anything else in their catalog. Released in 1980, just before their album "Moving Pictures" firmly implanted synthesizers in their music, "Permanent Waves" catches Rush at the perfect moment in time. This album is akin to snapping a photo at the exact right moment in life.
This six-song album starts off with "The Spirit of Radio" (still one of their biggest songs), then continues with "Freewill," "Jacob's Ladder," "Entre Nous," "Different Strings," and ends with "Natural Science." There isn't a bad song on here, and at only six songs, it's easy to enjoy this over and over. "The Spirit of Radio," "Freewill," and "Entre Nous" are classic rock radio staples, and each holds up well over repeated listenings. "Jacob's Ladder" finds the band at possibly their heaviest, then they segue into a space-y synthesized bridge. This is one of my favorite songs in the Rush catalog. "Different Strings" is a quiet, relatively somber song, and "Natural Science" is a typically progg-y tune from this band. Like I said, this album was sort of a crossroads for Rush, finding them smack in the middle of their first stage (proggy with extended song suites like "2112") and their second stage (more synthesizers, more individual tracks like "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight").
If you're starting out your Rush collection, you'd probably go for a greatest hits package ("Chronicles" or "The Spirit of Radio") or "Moving Pictures" since that has all the hits, but don't overlook this one. It's a good foundation to either start moving backwards in time, or forwards through their synth period.