PERMANENT WAVES

Rush's 1980 release, Permanent Waves, was a great way to start out the 80s. The album does not disappoint, classic Rush sound, some great musicianship, and it even produced a couple of signature Rush anthems (The Spirit of Radio, and Freewill) and prog masterpeices (Jacob's Ladder, and Natural Science).

If you're a fan of the band you're surely familiar with the opening track The Spirit of Radio. One of Rush's classics is a great way to start off the album. It opens with a catchy guitar intro you're guaranteed to hear if you go to any Rush show. The song is quite diverse: some classic rock riffs, a little bit of technicality, and even what sounds like some reggae influence right before the solo.

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. The second track Freewill is another Rush classic. Always progressing, never repetitive or boring at all. Not only is the music superb, but there are some very tasteful and memorable lyrics as well.

The next track Jacob's Ladder is just as good as the first two, if not better. The song starts off with the bass of Geddy Lee, shortly followed by the guitar of Alex Lifeson and drums of legend Neal Peart in a similar fashion. A little over 3 and a half minutes into the song, the guitar, bass, and drums are stopped by the soothing sound of keyboards, and Geddy Lee's vocals. After a bit of that, the band comes back in together and near a minute left in the song it changes pace with what sounds like sort of a marching beat to it before ending with another passage of vocals and keyboards. One of two prog masterpieces on the album.

Entre Nous the next track, is the closest to a pop song on this album. It is still a great track, not quite as strong as the first three, but an enjoyable song nevertheless. It follows a simpler formula than the first three as well, a bit predictable at times.

The second to last song Different Strings is the probably the weakest on the album. It starts out with a clean guitar intro, and doesn't change much from there. The drumming is probably the simplest thus far, pretty generic 4/4 beats. It has a weak ending as well, just as it starts to progress a bit, it fades out completely. Most likely a filler track, nothing I'd expect, or for that matter, want to hear them play live.

The last song on the album is Natural Science, the longest, clocking in at somewhere around 9 minutes, and the second of the two prog masterpieces. The most progressive and interesting song on the album without a doubt, my personal favorite. If you're new to Rush and haven't listened to this album, you're probably not familiar with the song but once you hear it, you will find yourself listening over and over, until you become familiar with it. Not only has the music hit its high point, but the lyrics are once again great. Although the song is the longest on the album, it feels like one of the shortest, almost like it's over too fast.

This album has become one of Rush's classics. It feels like it's over a bit to fast with only 6 songs, but I guess that's why people hardly tire from it. The 4 star rating rings true: An Excellent Addition to any prog music collection

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