POWER WINDOWS

Power Windows is the album where the sonic influence of the 80's finally catches up with the band. So far their 80's albums have been doing an admirable job of dodging the cheesiness of the decade, while still incorporating the keyboard to success.

Unfortunately the band is no longer prog (and it's questionable if they're even rock) on this album. Instead, they have taken up more of a pop sound, filled with the synth they started to fool with heavily since Signals. Some of the melodies are great, but realistically the album is so saturated in the dreadful 80's sound that it drains much of the enjoyment I should have received from the album.

Track-wise, there is nothing that really stands out, except maybe 'Big Money.' There are some Rush moments throughout, but they are often brief and do little to save the song. Unfortunately, this is where my heavy interest in Rush mainly ceases, with perhaps the exception of Counterparts and to a lesser extent Presto and Snakes and Arrows. I won't give this album a one star as I think they have other albums that deserve that score more than this does, but it pains me to see the decline of the band in a progressive sense.

3/10