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Rush - Permanent Waves CD (album) cover

PERMANENT WAVES

Rush

 

Heavy Prog

4.27 | 2306 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

ZeroDreamPlasMaximus
4 stars Ah, Rush. Canada's primier prog rock band. Rush's history has been a long winding one full of many changes in direction. Starting off as a pure hard rock band, they began to incorporate more progressives elements into their music. Then came an era flooding with synthesizers, before abandoning the synths altogther in favor of a sound not far off from modern rock.

On this particular album, Permanent Waves, the band begins to (somewhat) shed the prog sounds of Hemispheres and A Farewell to Kings and adopts a more mainstream sound, the best example of this is ''The Spirit of Radio'', beginning with a catchy guitar melody, a short sprint of technicality from Neil Peart and Geddy Lee, and moving into the main body of the song. This song in particular is Rush's first flirtation with reggae influences. Synths are gradually becoming more prominent here, though their use is not as full-blown as it would become in the Signals era.

Neil Peart's lyrics remain thoughtful and profound, while his drumming is still of very high standard. Geddy Lee completes the rhythm section with his exceptional bass playing. As should be the case with any good bass player, his basslines really stand out and add many dimensions to the music. His vocal style is changing here, with his voice no longer shrieking, instead opting for a more restrained and controlled approach. Alex Lifeson's guitar skill is marvelous; his solo during ''Freewill'' is his best up to this point in Rush's history.

Rush entered the 1980's in great form with this album, and would only get better with the release of Moving Pictures the following year, 1981. This album is not to be missed!

ZeroDreamPlasMaximus | 4/5 |

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