Following the wildly-progressive
Hemispheres, Rush decided to tone down the long song arrangements and try to write shorter, more concept songs for their next album, their 7th, and with the 80s approaching, it seems like Rush was ahead of the curve, as that decade saw a major decline in prog music by bands that had done so much of it in the 70s. But while many of those bands moved away from prog thanks to band member changes (see: Yes & Genesis), Rush made a conscious decision to start steering away from it, but, being that it was an old habit that was dying hard, the next couple albums still had a few longer tracks.
Permanent Waves, released on the first day of the new decade, is in many ways THE definitive Rush record, as it cements their status as, first and foremost, a hard rock band, with the prog tendencies still creeping up here and there, most noticeably on the three-part "Natural Science," a 9-minute plus journey of riffs, dynamic shifts and some of the most insane drumming to ever come form the hands and feet of Mr. Neil Peart. But, while on the previous three or four records, the shorter songs took a backseat to the longer tracks, that was not the case on this one. The album's first two songs, "The Spirit of Radio" and "Freewill," were not only big rock radio hits for the band at the time, but have endured over the many years as tried and true Rush classics, with diehard and casual fans. Both are still classic rock mainstays, as well as frequently showing up in the band's set lists. And for good reason, as both are phenomenal in the studio and live, where they always bring the house down.
As for the other three songs - yes, this is another album with only six songs
- "Jacob's Ladder" has, slowly but surely over the years, taken over as my favorite from this record; I love the vibe and pace of it, and the climax, which this air drummer still considers a difficult task to do correctly
, is simply jaw-dropping. "Different Strings" continued their tradition of making the 2nd to last track a "studio only" song, and while some of their attempts at writing mellow songs came off as kind of flat early on ("Rivendell," I am looking at you!), this one was knocked out of the park. The other short rocker, "Entre Nous," is most excellent, as well.
Overall, there isn't a lot more for me to add here. The band has said that writing and recording this album went rather quickly and very smoothly, so there is no controversy or anything like that to be had here; it's just an awesome Rush album chock full of great tunes.
Topic: The History of Rush v. Discography Thread: Epilogue (Read 85627 times)
