POWER WINDOWS

From the first time I heard Rush in the mid-70's, I was a RABID fan...I am a person who judges lyrical content of a song to be as essential as the melody, and Rush filled that bill nicely. As a bonus, I thought it astounding that 3 guys could come up with such a huge sound. When their sound began to change in the 80's with Permanent Waves, I was still on board with their vision, but was increasingly turned off by the "syntho" sound they were adopting. By the time Power Windows rolled around, I was completely disgusted with the (then) disappointing albums Signals and Grace Under Pressure, and had written this band off as a sell-out Pop wanna be. Well, time can certainly give one perspective, and as my tastes slowly came around to the progressive sound, I one night gave Power Windows a listen at a friend's house and was again astounded at the fullness and quality of the sound. And sure enough, all the things I had loved about the band before were here: the brilliant, insightful lyrics of Neil Peart that almost universally speak to the humanity which lies (sometimes buried) within each of us, the spark of compassion and decency among brothers which is far too rare in today's world, and the hope that we can stop this society from it's downward spiral if only we use our conscience as a guide; here, also was the atmospheric guitar work of Alex Lifeson, so unique, yet so instantly recognizable; and Geddy Lee, the critic's most denigrated Rock singer, pulling off vocals, bass AND keyboards simultaneously and seamlessly and effortlessly....I realized that this amazing trio had lept ahead of my perceptions about what Rock - n - Roll is and is not and forced me to redefine my terms! For these reasons I believe this album to truly be a Classic that, as time goes on, will continue to appeal to listeners, and maybe force a few others to "redefine their terms". Finally, when reading reviews of this masterpiece, I found a couple of negative comments regarding the song "Territories". Given today's political climate and the machinations of those in power, the lyrics of this powerful condemnation of greed and avarice spells out exactly what is wrong in ours (and others') societies, and urges us to act like "citizens of the world". How much plainer can an appeal to decency, sanity, and compassion be?