PERMANENT WAVES

Back to one of my ancient favourite bands. I always thought this is an intrigueing album because it marked the transition form the old to the new Rush. In other words the real symphonic to the more crossover Rush. The predecessor Hemispheres was the apogee of the old period and for many their best album. The successor of PW, Moving Pictures is an already very accessable album, reflecting the new Rush. And Permanent Waves is somewhere in between although I believe it comes closer to Moving Pictures than to Hemispheres.

Next thing that's striking to me is the popularity of this album. It has a real high average but I wonder what the great highlight is. I mean, it's not a bad album but it's far from outstanding I believe. Maybe the last track stands out a little, it still has the symphonic elements but the rest are average songs that have no extra dimension. Spirit of the radio was in the charts if I remember correctly but to call it a breakthrough for Rush in the commercial scene goes too far, don't you think ?

So although this is an interesting one in the history of Rush I can't find the great charme musicwise. So it'll have to settle for 3.