PERMANENT WAVES

With this album Ruhs renew their sound, making it more concise and synthetic, and adding some synths and some more rhythms. In fact we are faced with conventional rock songs of which only two are long.

1. The Spirit of Radio (4:56). First song that made the fortune of Rush for the rhythm, the stadium choirs and the reggae verses. It would seem an exercise in fusion but Rush have never managed to gradually, coherently and inventively blend acoustic pieces with electric ones, as well as different genres of music: also in this case the reggae verses are simply alternated with the rock ones, without a real fusion. The piece is still very pleasant and interesting. Rating 7,5/8

2. Freewill (5:21). Catchy rock song verse chorus. Rating 7,5.

3. Jacob's Ladder (7:26). It is the long song of the first side, which has the rhythm of a march, but soon an acid electric guitar solo arrives (one of the best parts of the LP), then the song becomes very repetitive, until the interlude with the synths (to the delight of the prog audience without great pretensions), even this very repetitive, then arrive at a sung ending. Song not entirely successful. 6.5 / 7.

Side B 4. Entre Nous (4:37). Conventional hard-rock song verse-chorus, quite catchy, solo left to synths (the only prog part of the piece). In fact, Rush are a hard-rock group who write quite commercial songs but with a very high technical and songwriting rate. Rating 7+.

5. Different Strings (3:48). Acoustic beginning: and it's always nice to hear Lee's voice when he's not screaming. The song continues slowly, and then becomes an electric ballad that fades without a real chorus or a solo. Song not finished compositionally, a wasted opportunity. Rating 6+. The weakest piece of the Lp.

6. Natural Science (9:17) - i. Tide Pools - ii. Hyperspace - iii. Permanent Waves It begins with noises of flowing water, very prolonged, then slowly it goes in electrical progression (the best part of the piece), then comes a syncopated, almost cybernetic piece. At about 3 minutes and 45 seconds the rhythm changes and the welcome guitar solo arrives. At about 5 minutes the third movement arrives, very rhythmic, but rather boring and with continuous exhausting stop and go. The piece does not take off, it remains very forced. Last 45 seconds of fade. Part not completely successful. Rating 7.

Medium quality of the songs: around 7. Honest but even modest album. Two and a half stars.