Having now reached into the mainstream with both hands, thanks to songs like "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight" being smash rock radio hits, the world was now their oyster, but, instead of going the safe route and doing another
Moving Pictures, they continued to evolve, and wanted to step up the keyboards on their next album. This, however, would clash with longtime producer Terry Brown, who wanted to see the band remain a power trio, hard rock band at heart, but the band was insistent on moving forward and letting the keys became a bigger part of their sound, which led to some clashes during the recording with Brown, who was to them in the studio what George Martin was to The Beatles. As a result, the band's 9th studio album,
Signals, was a step back in regards to overall sound and production (although later CD pressings would result in remasters that helped it out a ton). And it would be the last album produced by a man the band had referred to on more than one occasion as the fourth member of Rush.
However, despite the in-studio struggles and clashes, the album is still pretty damn good, and the songs are there. "Subdivisions" is arguably THE definitive Rush song of the synth era - it was a minor hit on MTV thanks to a video that got a lot of air play at the time, the diehards love it, and the band has played it on many tours over the years. "New World Man," which was a last minute "Hey, we need a song that is no longer than 3:57 to fill out Side 2 of the record" tune, Project 3:57 if you will, is a nice, catchy tune, and oddly became their biggest hit on the pop charts ever (it went to number 23). Other fan favorites like "The Analog Kid," "The Weapon" and "Digital Man" are all winners, as well. "Countdown" and "Chemistry" both have their moments, and I enjoy them, even if both have that "dang, they could have been so much better" feeling to them. Finally, the 2nd-to-last studio-only song, "Losing It," is pretty freaking great. That one was a bit of an afterthought for me for a long time, but one day the light bulb went on and it's been a favorite of mine since. It was around this time when Neil Peart's lyrics went from great to consistently phenomenal, and "Losing It" is a fine example of this; so is "Subdivisions."
Getting back to the sound, it's hard to know what happened, but I get the sense that it wasn't a strength of Terry Brown's to mix it to where the keys were the dominant instrument. On an album where the keys were supposed to step up and the guitars were supposed to step back, neither sounds up front enough more often than not, but, like I said, it's still a good-sounding record on the newer remasters; the mixing just could have been better in regards to the two lead instruments. It's strange, too, cause I've seen the video for "Subdivisions" on Totally 80s a few times, and it's obviously still from the original release, and it sounds like listening to a song on an old transistor radio. Every time I see the video and hear it, I think, "Is that what the original vinyl release sounded like??" Regardless, I still love
Signals a ton, and while it might be my least favorite of the four synth era albums, that doesn't diminish it; that merely speaks to how much more I like the next three.
Topic: The History of Rush v. Discography Thread: Epilogue (Read 85681 times)
