Review Summary: I choose Free Will.
Six albums into their career and not even six years to show for it, on its own, is a massive feat for the Canadian trio at this point. Considering how these boys were able to flesh out more and more material and keep it fresh gave them their proper due. It was at this point the media started to pay attention to Rush - albums like
A Farewell to Kings and
Hemispheres, both of which revolutionized Rush's career, how they kept it up like they did wasn't an easy thing to imagine. And with their seventh release here, it's like Rush completely played a new ball game. This time, the album is basically bordering on electronic metal, as Geddy and the other two Stooges introduced synthesizers at this point in their career. It was clear their rock style was still around, and they played it with the same precise ear they had before; and while it was evident that their newer style would need some improvement,
Permanent Waves is probably the best achievement the trio had since
2112.
Hemispheres and
A Farewell to Kings was a boiling mix of hard rock and a slower, more technically impressive progressive rock, both of which were two little gems that helped shape their career into what it is now.
Permanent Waves rises above the shuttering rock, and it flies a little further into just how different Rush was willing to be. Here, they got in many elements of reggae and flavored with some electronics; it wasn't until albums like
Signals and Hold Your Fire, where it got a little out of hand, Permanent Waves is the picture Rush was painting; this time, it takes deeper strokes. Even songs that rock a little harder have definite shades of different genres in it; it falls somewhere in between
Signals and
A Farewell to Kings, with its progressive orchestra of shuffling electronics, different styles of drums and flaming guitars, symphonic sweeps and pathos; they even incorporated the abused Mellotron and Geddy synthesizes his voice here and there.
Purposefully distancing themselves from the newer albums now, Permanent Waves definitely puts Rush in a new light. Lyrically, the band had begun to mature from their "science fiction" that flavored 2112 and Kings, and is more varied in their lyrical topics. The album opener, "Spirit of Radio" is a great example. Featuring a very fast guitar riff from Mr. Lifeson, the song focuses around the idea that music is our god. ("
Off on your way, hit the open road, There is magic at your fingers / For the Spirit ever lingers" It's one of their more aggressive songs, considering how fast-paced it is, with only a tinge of raggae in its sound. The band grew a bit more wild here in their stories; the 7-minute
Jacob's Ladder is a biblical entry; dealing around the idea that bible character Jacob built a ladder to heaven.
And there are plenty of 'instrumental' highlights on the album. "
Jacob's Ladder" is played the ye olde style (4 years ago) of Rush, and it shifts between multiple time signatures and is played in the nature of older progressive rock - it's not until almost six and a half minutes in do the lyrics come on. One of the more offbeat and creative moments arises in "
Natural Science", clocking in at a whopping nine minutes; featuring unsteady rhythm guitars, the simultaneous bass and guitar, the beautiful little piano, and the strokes of synthesizers;
Natural Science isn't truly anything the listener hasn't heard before, but it's definitely one of the best tracks actually in Permanent Waves. There are also little other lush instrumentation moments here and there; the expert 4/4 and 6/4 bass, and Geddy's high pitched shrieks in "
Freewill", the well-performed piano in "
Different Strings".
If anything, the biggest problem with Permanent Waves is that this creativity didn't last for long. Rush did make a wonderful little record here, but they slowly started to change up their style after Permanent Waves, and it wasn't change for the better either; change was already becoming evident here, and although its real value is realized, Waves more or less just suffers from a little "
Jouer avec une formule", but it's still the album you need in your library. After all, who can resist that odd little cover?
