|
Permanent Waves was
essentially a transitional record for RUSH, but it was more of an
inadvertent goodbye to the 1970’s RUSH. The Spirit of the Radio,
probably one of the best RUSH songs ever, and one of the best-known
rock songs ever headlines this album. This ode to music features some new
tricks up RUSH’s collective sleeves. Alex Lifeson is using some
different effects on his guitars, and Neil Peart uses some different
sounds in his kit. Most surprisingly, The Spirit of the Radio is a
radio pop song, and can still be heard today. This is a great song, and a
perfect way to start the album.
Freewill is the next track, and is
keeping with the sound and flavor of Spirit. Though many feel the
song is lined with anti-religion sentiment, its message of freewill versus
intellectual enslavement is intriguing. Musically, it’s a stimulation
song, but drags after a while.
Jacob's Ladder is a great embodiment of
a storm, eliciting exciting imagery of clouds and lightning. Jacob's
begins with a traditional cadence, the war march of the sky. RUSH’s
ensuing musical interpretation of a storm is incredible. Alex’s guitar
riffs climb higher and higher into the sky, punctuating the song like
lightning bolts in the sky. Then, “All at once the clouds are parted;
light streams down in bright unbroken beams” literally. If you close your
eyes, you can actually see it. Phenomenal.
Entre Nous is an interesting song but
nothing of real noteworthy value, and Different Strings is fairly
good. But Permanent Waves ends with a bang in Natural
Science.
Natural Science
is another RUSH epic masterpiece. Beginning with distant vocals
and acoustic guitar, the song begins to relax the listener with its
bubbling river in the background. Part two of this epic picks up the pace
with a great rhythm and sound, and suddenly turns into a dizzying song.
This is a great song, but the studio version really comes out lacking when
compared to a live performance. The finale is perfect as well. This is a
very underrated RUSH song.
Permanent Waves is a great cap
to the first part of RUSH’s career. From this point on, extended
epics never make it to the album in full. Some longer studio cuts exist
for some future songs, but this album truly is the end of an era for
RUSH, but that doesn’t mean the coming decade didn’t have great things
in store for the Canadian trio. |
