Rush - Power Windows

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Free Music Notes for Power Windows

Free Music Review: One of their GREAT post-Moving Pictures albums!!!
Hit: 5 Stars

BIG MONEY: GREAT SONG to kick things off. There' s no slow build...the songs just cranks it out strongly right from the beginning. And the lyrics, about the good side and dark side of "big money" have lots of Neil Peart's clever juxtapositions, such as:
"Big money weave a mighty web...big money draw the flies." or...
"Sometimes building ivory towers...sometimes knocking castles down."
As always, Rush has some sense of balance and understanding. They don't just bash "big money," they acknowledge it can do good...and evil.

MANHATTAN PROJECT is a song about the first atomic bomb. Amazingly, it is NOT ant-nuke. It does discuss the awesome power of the bomb and asks us to "imagine a time, when it all began / gathered from across the land / to work in the secrecy of the desert sand." The song reminds us that the world was never the same after the bomb was dropped, certainly, but it works hard simply to evoke the era...through hard rock!!! A favorite moment here is near the end, when Geddy sings: "Imagine a man / when it all began / the pilot of Enola Gay / flying out of the shock wave / on that August day..." When he gets to shock wave, a blast of music assaults us...creating a mini-shock wave of its own. It's not exactly a moment of genius, but it's the kind of touch, of grace note, that shows Rush's attention to detail. And elevates them over so many others.

MARATHON Great, great, huge bass riff!!!! This song, about life being a marathon, not a sprint, "more than just a dotted line / more than just a dash" FEELS like it has forward momentum, mostly through a driving, repititive bass riff. This one, like the solo in RED BARCHETTA or the song DRIVEN (from TEST FOR ECHO) always gets the blood pumping. It's a close as a group like Rush would get to the sheer adreneline of something like BORN TO BE WILD!

TERRITORIES Here Rush gets a little political, talking about the dangers and deaths that have been caused by wars and man's insistence on laying out borders and assaulting the border's of others. It's a little idealistic, but when Geddy talks about the plight of the poor invader / foot solider, who'd rather be home with "better people / better food / and better BEER," we see that Rush can't resist a bit of humor even with lofty subject matter. "Better the pride that resides / in a citizen of the world / than the pride / that divides / when a colorful rag is unfurled." That's a bit of a simplistic world view, but it's admirable, and darn well written. I'm always amazed when critics get on to Rush about being bombastic or full of themselves. This song proves, as if it needed proving, that Rush has a sense of humor, writes great music and happens to have one of the better lyricists who has ever tackled rock music. I guess so many of these critics just want mudane pop lyrics...

MIDDLETOWN DREAMS Musically perhaps the least inspired cut on the album, but thematically and lyrically compelling. Hearkens a little bit back to themes from SIGNALS, particularly LOSING IT. About the lost lives and yearnings of folks from "Middletown." One character is sketched thus:

The office door closed early
The hidden bottle came out
Salesman turns to close the blinds
A little slow now...a little stout
But he'd be walking out that door
Some bright afternoon
To go and paint big cities...

Good stuff. No one else writes these kinds of lyrics.

MYSTIC RHYTHMS This album closer lets Neil Peart go to town. He's always been interested in exploring complex rythms, and in this one, his co-partners in crime let him take center-stage like never before. The song doesn't let him "jam" like the drum solo stuff in TOM SAWYER, for example, but we get to hear him build and embelish on a simple but compelling riff. And that the song is about rhythm is terrific too. It's a somewhat magical song, quite frankly.

GRAND DESIGNS & EMOTION DETECTOR are also good solid songs...neither is a favorite so I won't dwell on them here, but both are quite good, especially musically.

This is easily one of the most solid Rush albums and one I turn to frequently. A true fan CANNOT be without this one, and even a more casual fan would be advised to add this to the collection. One of the essential post-MOVING PICTURES albums!

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