SIGNALS

Signals is the ninth studio album from progressive canadian rockers Rush. Their previous album called Moving Pictures is one of my all time favorite albums and I remember being very interested in getting my hands on this one as quickly as possible.

The music has changed considerably since since Moving Pictures. The stripped down instrumentation from Moving Pictures has taken the backseat on Signals to a grand production with lots of synth. Welcome to the eighties. Now I normally appreciate eighties productions but this one sounds a bit strange to me. The mix is all wrong in my ears. The synths are very high in the mix while the vocals and the guitar sometimes drown. The bass and the drums are fortunately clearly heard. This is without a doubt one of the worst productions Rush has ever had.

Now I said that the music had changed since Moving Pictures and I wasn´t messin´ around. Lots and lots of synth layers has been added to Rush music and Geddy Lee sings much softer than before. The songs are very similar in sound and don´t stand out much from each other. Pretty average material IMO. Subdivisions is the best track here but The Analog Kid and Countdown also has good sections, but that can be said about all tracks. The only track that stands out a bit is Losing it. A semi-ballad type song with violin from Ben Mink. Nothing special really.

The musicianship is as always excellent. No matter what kind of music Rush play no one can take away their astonishing musicianship.

I remember how great a disappointment this was when I purchased it and it still is today. Not because it´s a bad album but because Moving Pictures was such a groundbreaking and masterful album. I really expected Rush to follow that brilliant album up with something special. Well we got Signals instead. A pretty good album that deserves 3 stars, but it will never reach excellent in my book. But come on! getting 3 stars is pretty much when you´re doing bad now isn´t it. Rush has a very high standard and even when they´re doing bad it´s not really that bad. You should still purchase Signals as one of your last Rush albums IMO though.