review by thomas

Rush altered their sound a bit with this one, the heaviness of the past was partly replaced with a more melodic and with it they became more radio-friendly. The hit single “The Spirit of Radio” being the obvious (and very ironic) example. Gone were also Lee’s shrieking voice which is now kept under more control, he sings more restrained and doesn’t go up that high anymore and even if you liked when he did you can’t deny that his new singing mode quite nicely fits the material. But one get the feeling these things progressed naturally, so it wasn’t Rush decidedly trying to be more commercial or less heavy.

Along with “Moving Pictures” this album to me highlights their “non-seventies” work and, might I add, beating a few of those seventies records along the way. Although not as strong song-per-song as “Moving Pictures” (which is one of their definitive career highpoint) it nevertheless showcases very strong material with few fillers. The two epics “Jacob’s Ladder” and “Natural Science” preserved that heaviness of old in a new context while “The Spirit of Radio” and “Freewill” gave you tastes of the new sound, to be perfected a year later.

“Permanent Waves” is considered a classic among fans and critics alike and it’s not hard to understand why. It’s a well balanced album; the soft, gentle, mellow bits blending nicely with the heavy, fast, rockier parts. The playing and the song writing are inspired and perfectly staged and I like it a lot. However, the filler for me is “Entre Nous” with an overall AOR-feeling to it which takes down the grade a little, but in the end a very good album from Rush; again.