PERMANENT WAVES

One of the very, very few Rush albums that I can honestly say I enjoy enough to want to listen to sometimes. The production is light beers better than before (the band actually sounds like they're right in front of the mics, rather than in a bathroom way down the hall) and Geddy's voice has matured to something at least slightly resembling a normal range and frequency. The choppity chops and complex ideas had always been present in the collective Rush mind, but only here did everything really mesh into a gel. Replacing bombast with radio-friendly catchy pop riffs, but leaving in the instrumental fortitude that separated them from the Foreigner/Bad Company animals, Rush erupted with one HELL of a hit single, "The Spirit of Radio," along with a bunch of other calmed-down, well-composed rock songs (including "Free Will," which gets stuck in my head more often than any other tune they ever doodled). It being by Rush and all, it's probably never going to be one of my favorite albums of all time (it seems a little sluggish as it nears completion, too), but it IS my favorite Rush album of all time. At least, so far. Very listenable. Buy it!