PERMANENT WAVES

Ironic that the band would open the album with a song titled, "The Spirit Of Radio" which would be the first major hit in the US. Sell out? Hardly, but you must admit, the album does have it's share of catchy tunes. I'm not the biggest fan of Geddy's voice or of Alex's guitar work, and on this album neither shine. Rather, it's Neil's drumming, (what else do you expect from the master) and Geddy's nimble basswork, plus the fantastic lyrics that get my attention. My favorites on this disc are "Jacob's Ladder" and "Natural Science". Yet, it's not until the following album do they get this style of art rock to sound proggy and catchy at the same time. Not that there's anything wrong with this album. All the ingredients are there. It just seems a bit thin here and there, especially the keys which to these ears don't fill in as well as they do on "Moving Pictures". Plus, "Different Strings" is a tad boring. This one would garner a 3 from me if it wasn't the actually first album I bought from them back in 1980. So I'll bump it to 4 for old times sake. Caio!