41.
RUSH
POWER WINDOWSProgressive Rock / Pop Rockreleased October 14th, 1985
by Anthem Records
1. The Big Money [5:36]
2. Grand Designs [5:07]
3. Manhattan Project [5:09]
4. Marathon [6:11]
5. Territories [6:20]
6. Middletown Dreams [5:19]
7. Emotion Detector [5:11]
8. Mystic Rhythms [5:54]
POWER WINDOWS is
(as if you don't already know...)Geddy Lee (Lead vocals / Bass / Synthesizers)
Alex Lifeson (Electric and acoustic guitars)
Neil Peart (Drums / Percussion / Electric percussion)
WITHAndy Richards (Additional keyboards / Synthesizer programming)
Jim Burgess (Synthesizer programming)
Anne Dudley (String arrangement / Conductor)
Andrew Jackman (Conductor / Choir arrangements)
The Choir (The choir)
The best Rush album, naturally.
My Rush journey begins and ends with DTF, and I detailed it in the Rush thread a couple years ago. Since then Rush has become one of my favorite bands, and I've been playing them constantly. When I went through their albums in chronological order, Hemispheres was the first “holy shit” moment, the one that sold me for life on the band. I am not so keen on some of their 70s stuff, but (as expected, given some of the albums that have popped up in the top 50 so far) I really, really like Caress of Steel. I don't like A Farewell to Kings and 2112 much. Hemispheres is where it's at.
This album is just solid songwriting... The last three songs are not quite up to the level of the first 5, but they're still fantastic. The first 5 are just masterpiece after masterpiece. They do such an awesome job building up tension and creating lovely melodies that stick on my brain. There's always something cool going on, and I love all the reverb on this album. Songs like “Manhattan Project” are allowed to breathe during the verses. I love how big those brass-synth pads sound behind Geddy's voice, and how it always picks up for the chorus. I even love the sound of Alex's guitars despite them probably being the least noteworthy thing on the whole album. They service the song, which is wonderful, but there's very little that stands out about them on an individual level.
“Marathon” is probably my single favorite Rush song. Every second of this song rules, and the way they keep adding to the chorus each time it comes around gets me choked up. That chorus is a statement, by god, and it hits me in the heart. I LOVE it, I love the keys, the choirs in the back, how Geddy gets more powerful each time, this is Rush at its best in my opinion. Forget the proggy theatrics and the experiments, I think this is a snapshot of Rush really in the pocket, confident they know what they're doing whether it's the production or the arrangements or getting a transition just right. Also, “Territories” has a monstrous chorus that I wish Rush had more of in their discography. That song is better than it should be, and it's one of the catchiest on the album.
In Summary: What ISN'T good about this album? I know some Rush fans don't think much of it and some outright hate it, but to me this is easily their best album, with Hemispheres behind it. How can people think this isn't the greatest Rush album? HOW?! I love every second of this album and I regret not getting into this band when I was younger. I've spent the last year and a half fawning over this album and I just love it more and more as time goes on. I think it's Rush's strongest album, the most consistent and evenly paced, with some of their best choruses, vocal melodies, and synth parts. Hell, the mixing is just to my liking too. Lots of treble, but enough in the low end to make the bass stand out and give the drums some oomph. Synthy groovy 80s rock madness, that's what this is, and I love it. "Territories" is just amazing from start to finish... omfg dude, that chorus.
Katt's Favorites: Grand Designs,
Manhattan Project,
Marathon,
TerritoriesListen to "Power Windows" by Rush on Spotify