POWER WINDOWS

As has been said before, it is here that RUSH decided to really look into their pop rock elements and see how they could be incorporated even further. If GRACE UNDER PRESSURE represents the pinnacle of poppy progressive rock pieces by the group, then this represents the pinnacle of proggy pop rock pieces, if they makes any sense. I see it similar to GENESIS' DUKE, an album that has a very clear prog vein in it but starts to seriously approach pop songcraft on its own terms.

In this regard, this album fails in the best possible way. The textures are clearly meant to invoke pop rock of the time, given the very electronic and bright atmosphere, the way the guitars and bass clanged and bounced as opposed to really rocking, and the fact that, well, this album opens up with a VERY Reagan/Thatcher-esque song, "Big Money". However, aside from the opener, these songs are long, with none shorter than 5 minutes, and feature very subdued and mature songcraft more akin to what had been done on side 2 of MOVING PICTURES. I think that any fan who say this as a departure wasn't really paying attention or had been applying a filter to their albums, selectively avoiding paying attention to songs like "Witch Hunt" or especially "The Camera Eye" which prefigure this sound years prior.

Over time, this has become a favorite of mine. It doesn't quite reach the pinnacle of PERMANENT WAVES / GRACE UNDER PRESSURE / COUNTERPARTS for me, but it is definitely in a second tier, offering very satisfying songs. What I meant by it's failure as a pop album is that these songs are not very accessible; they take a long time to get into due to their subdued, subtle approach to songcraft, only opening up after four or five listens for me. It has pop sounds, but this feels like a prog album, like they were overly cautious in terms of approaching the pop sound and, in their caution, crafted something quite proggy instead. It's definitely proggy in the '80s sense of neo-prog and synthesized textures, but proggy nonetheless. Give this one time. It's better than you think.