Released: 1980
Tracks: The Spirit of Radio; Freewill; Jacob’s Ladder; Entre Nous; Different Strings; Natural Science
Best track: Freewill, barely edging out Spirit of Radio
Track to skip: none
The theory usually goes that Rush ‘changed sounds’ after every live album (following 4 studio ones) and the 4 in the middle there are all the same. Well, Permanent Waves really proves that untrue. In this particular batch of 4 (Kings, Hemispheres, this & Moving Pictures) the change comes half way. Which, if you’re keeping score, is 1980. I think this album was actually released on January 1, 1980 of all days. Is it the foreshadowing of all 80’s music? Nope, not even Rush’s. The point is, for their first album of the new decade they altered their sound…again. Of course this is still considered “progressive” rock music, but the change comes in the lyrical topics and songwriting in general. Permanent Waves is really a wonderful blend of Progressive and Pop. There are 2 longer tracks at the end of side 1 & 2, but the rest are all around 4 to 5 minutes, thus making them attractive to radio.
This is the first Rush album where there are no skippable tracks. I think that from this point forward they may not have any filler material until the late 90’s maybe? Eh, I’ll get to all that soon enough. 6 solid songs with 4 being excellent. Spirit of Radio is still the obvious radio hit combining catchiness and intelligence. Actually, Freewill is a better example of this prog/pop tag. Freewill is the best song on this album and if I had to point to one song that best identified ‘Rush’, I’d choose Freewill (har). Lots of odd time signatures, a fantastic guitar solo section (from all 3 members) catchy riffs and chorus and extremely intelligent lyrics. I’m very happy they dropped the whole sci-fi side to their lyrics and went with more of a ‘real-life’ direction. So, that big change is not just musical, but lyrical too.
This album is mostly known for Radio & Freewill, but it doesn’t mean the other 4 are clunkers. Entre Nous (French for Between Us) & Different Strings are both in the traditional positions where filler material would occur, but they’re thankfully not. True that they are the ‘least best’ of the lot, but I still love hearing them, especially Different Strings. Rush doesn’t do ballads very often so it’s nice when they pull one out. Different Strings is a gorgeous song and kind of predates Losing It from Signals. The only problem I have with this track is how the ending is so uncertain. The guitar solo (that really shouldn’t be there) comes in at the end and they just strangely end it. Still, however, it is a great song. The longer ones, Jacob’s Ladder & Natural Science are the type of long tracks that Rush fans love but this time the band have managed to tighten them up and make every note important. So, overall this is clearly Rush’s best album up to this point. Like I said, the band really got going on Farewell to Kings and pretty much just kept getting better and better. Permanent Waves is an excellent album, any way you look at it.
Rating: 94
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