FEATURED CD: Rush - Permanent Waves

[ca1ore]

Sorely in need of a 5.1 release.

[Bill Ferny]

A Masterpiece.
My first encounter with Rush was Moving Pictures but quickly bought PW after listening.
As a teenager I soon come to thinking, wow, how could this music be bettered?
Enter exploration Prog.............................

[Polska]

Can't say it any better than everyone already has above. I love everything about this album. Simply amazing.

[Man In The Mountain]

I bought this album the day it was released, and it's just as amazing today as it was then. I never tire of it, it's simply one of the best albums of all time. Certainly the best one by RUSH.

The Hugh Syme album cover artwork is also one of my all-time favorites, and a major influence on how I approach my work. Probably made me want to be a cover artist myself.

[N_Singh]

The first album released in the 1980s.

And a fantastic one, at that! But then, I love ALL Rush, what can I say. Some years ago, we used to refer to this era as the 'middle period'. Can't call it that anymore after so many more years have passed, but I still love the era. I think "The Spirit Of Radio" is one of the best songs they've ever written, I LOVE Alex's solo in "Freewill", and of course the two longer tracks are classic Rush.

Great interview, what cool guys. Geddy's glasses are somehow back in vogue, these days. Also, the man is clearly not in the closet, per a couple of his references. Neil is probably the most down-to-earth, unpretentious intellectual I have heard in music. I should really read some of his books, one day. And Alex? Perhaps he was stoned on that day. Barely a peep.

Quite funny how they revered Yes and coupled that group with the words "no compromise" and "integrity".

[gregory]

Funnily enough, this was the beginning of the end for me (but I'd followed Rush ever since they played at my high-school in 75)...
Hated Spirit and Free Will >> both were overplayed in Toronto local radios, and none deserved that kind of attention...
I thought of Entre Nous and Different Strings as totally forgettable (even fillers)
Jacob's Ladder is a slow over-repetitive bolero that never materializes or explodes... Only Natural Science had something excitring to offer

Always wonder, why are you in the West so concerned about songs on radio. Why it is so important? Really matters what, memory training? How on earth radio translation of one song and not another, could be considered as some serious criteria?WHO CARES for jockey's choice?
As for me, - and I'm not a big fan of Rush - this is their best, or one of the best, surely on the top of the list of their catalogue.
Entre Nous I percieve as brave attempt for groove, I like it very much, here they tried not to repeat themselves in fabulous cliches. Jacob's Ladder is magnificient. And the whole album is varied, in contrast with prior Hemispheres, one of their most pompous creation.

[yogibear]

jacobs ladder and entre nous are great tunes. this has tunes which became standards within their repetoire . wonderful stuff in retrospect but maybe not at the time it came out.

[gingernut]

Well 38 minutes is a bit short for a start. Spirit Of Radio is not that great. Different Strings and Entres Nous, skippers for me. Freewill, Jacob's Ladder ands the first half of Natural Science are brilliant through, but only 16 minutes or so of good stuff is not enough. The albums either side blow PW out of the water. Tin hat on!

[enpdllp]

My favorite Rush album but yet my all time favorite Rush song is not on this gem.

Same here. Bought the album on its release and still enjoy it to this day.

I wonder how many people noticed that on the video above Peart is wearing a T-shirt from FM's Black Noise album.

[Vic2012]

Great interview,
".

I've only seen a bit of that interview (until now). A bit of it appears on the documentary "Beyond The Lighted Stage." Two things: Geddy looks kinda drunk, and I don't understand Alex's hair. What is going on with Alex's hair?

[Yves]

I grew up with All the World's A Stage, Hemispheres (one of my first vinyl purchases!), 2112, and A Farewell to Kings....when this was released, I felt conflicted. It was obvious they were moving in new directions, and I wasn't sure if I liked it. I grew to like it, but never gave it the same attention I gave the earlier ones...and I recall thinking Moving Pictures was more of a return to form, though I'm not sure why.

Wow! I could have posted this myself. I used to spend my summers on the Ontario/New York border in my youth. I was a huge Rush fan, growing up in Toronto. My American friends did not know Rush until this album came out. All of a sudden, The Spirit Of Radio was being played everyday on the Buffalo radio station we used to tune into. This kind of turned me off this album for a while. I later returned to it and it's one of my top 5 Rush albums.

[Garden Dreamer]

Always wonder, why are you in the West so concerned about songs on radio. Why it is so important? Really matters what, memory training? How on earth radio translation of one song and not another, could be considered as some serious criteria?WHO CARES for jockey's choice?
.

Some of us are annoyed by the presence of "classic rock" radio because it has ruined many a classic album by overplaying "hits" to the point that you don't want to hear them when you play the album for yourself. It's not a matter of turning off the radio - you're often forced to hear it in the workplace. It's insane that some people have been made to not want to hear the first two songs off this great album because they've already heard them hundreds of times on the radio.

As for the album - fantastic. I was already entrenched in early Rush when this came out so it was a bit of a change in sound and direction but I still loved it. One issue with the review - "Different Strings" is a "heavy blues" number??

[XanaFloyd]

A masterpiece but to me not at the level of Moving Pictures... but i tend to consider masterpiece all the records from 2112 to Hold Your Fire...

[ItalProgRules]

It's funny, back when it came out, I thought it was a big letdown (for the same reasons as wideopenears gave). Nowadays I love it as much as the albums on either side of it in the discography.

First Rush album that I owned only on cassette back in the day.

[ItalProgRules]

Wow! I could have posted this myself. I used to spend my summers on the Ontario/New York border in my youth. I was a huge Rush fan, growing up in Toronto. My American friends did not know Rush until this album came out. All of a sudden, The Spirit Of Radio was being played everyday on the Buffalo radio station we used to tune into. This kind of turned me off this album for a while. I later returned to it and it's one of my top 5 Rush albums.

Your American friends were a bit slow on the uptake. Here in the WNY area, RUSH had been big since 2112. All my friends were into them from at least 2112-All the Worlds-A Farewell to Kings if not earlier.

[Nearfest2]

Love Neil's FM shirt in that interview!

[Wisdomview]

Can't say it any better than everyone already has above. I love everything about this album. Simply amazing.

WORD!

[dregsfan]

Very cool to hear them talk about the tune that didn't make the cut. I know they used some of it for Natural Science, but I wonder if any of the unused bits ever surfaced?

[malterb]

This was the first Rush tour I got to see and it was fantastic. PW is still one of the all time great albums, not just Rush but by any band.

[dgtlman]

This tour had the greatest setlist of all time from this band. If you were lucky enough to see it like I was... simply amazing, 2112 (minus Discovery and Oracle)
Freewill
By-Tor and the Snow Dog (1st half)
Xanadu
The Spirit of Radio
Natural Science
A Passage to Bangkok
The Trees
Cygnus X-1
Hemispheres
Closer To The Heart
Beneath, Between and Behind (abbreviated)
Jacob's Ladder
Working Man (reggae intro)
Finding My Way
Anthem
Bastille Day
In The Mood
Drum Solo
Encore: La Villa Strangiato (electric guitar intro)

[Joe F.]

This was the first Rush tour I got to see and it was fantastic. PW is still one of the all time great albums, not just Rush but by any band.

Mine too. It was a great show.

[Scrotum Scissor]

My fave by them, and definitely the most consistent of the 10-12 Rush albums that I've heard. "Natural Science" is arguably their best stab at a "true" progressive rock piece (unlike the somewhat blatant incoherencies of "Xanadu" and the likes), whilst "Free Will" remains the finest song of theirs overall - IMHO, of course.

[JIF]

My fave by them, and definitely the most consistent of the 10-12 Rush albums that I've heard. "Natural Science" is arguably their best stab at a "true" progressive rock piece (unlike the somewhat blatant incoherencies of "Xanadu" and the likes), whilst "Free Will" remains the finest song of theirs overall - IMHO, of course.

Are you calling Natural Science "true" prog, because it was divided into three subsections?

[Supersonic Scientist]

Boceephus said:

...I place Natural Science as the best representation of the power & skill of Rush overall.

I do the same thing too. If I need to play ONE SONG to demonstrate RUSH's playing and composing skills, this is the tune I use. Brilliant in every way.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Are you calling Natural Science "true" prog, because it was divided into three subsections?

By no means whatsoever. Whatever gave you that idea?

I was calling it '"true" prog' (note internal paragraph quotation marks, implying that there's actually nothing such as any "prog" truer than others) due to this song's ability to conjure up more of a coherent structure than the band's usual mosaics of 5-6 consecutive repetitions of seemingly randomly assorted themes or riffs (which sometimes work, as in "Cygnus X-1", and sometimes don't, as with "2112" or "Hemispheres"). I specifically mentioned "Xanadu"as negation because it renders an impression of 3-4 separate intros followed by what amounts to little compositional substance.