20 Rush Albums in 20 Days: Permanent Waves

DAY NINE: Rush, Permanent Waves, running time 35:35, released January 1, 1980

It’s funny that Rush’s first album of the new decade was considered such a departure from the lengthy prog-rock reputation they’d earned to that point.  Sure, Permanent Waves avoids the side-long track, but it has the same number of songs as 2112 and A Farewell to Kings (Hemispheres seems to be the one album that pushed the envelope with only four).  Furthermore, the tour to support this album only included two of its shorter songs: “The Spirit of Radio” and “Freewill,” and then two longer pieces – ”Jacob’s Ladder” and “Natural Science” – that would have felt at home on either of the previous two LPs.

Still, there’s a refreshing change with this album, starting with Neil Peart’s more-relatable lyrics.  We saw glimpses of this on previous albums (“Circumstances,” “Closer to the Heart”), but songs about radio, relationships and choosing one’s destiny are a far cry from the Cygnus X-1 epics.  The positive messages translate well to a more upbeat, accessible music.  Even “Jacob’s Ladder,” a longer piece that at first glance might be about something mysterious or supernatural, is about nothing more than sun breaking through the clouds.  Go figure.

Simpler lyrics, but the music still astounds in its deceiving complexity.  “The Spirit of Radio” may at its center be a four chord song with a blues riff, but try playing the opening 15 seconds in your garage band and get back to me.  It ain’t easy.  And even after thirty-four years, the drum part at 5:16 in “Jacob’s Ladder” continues to throw me.  The guitar is in 13/8 time, and then Peart comes in with a beat that seems to be on its own time signature, yet lands on the one beat to keep it all together.  Great stuff.  The instrumental break of “Free Will” continues to astound audiences whenever Rush plays the song live, and “Natural Science” is another song with great time signature challenges.

I also have to mention my favorite Alex Lifeson lead guitar part, coming at 1:34 as he begins his solo in “Jacob’s Ladder.”  Like David Gilmore, Lifeson is so good at creating a melody rather than just playing notes as fast as he can, and this part to me is absolutely perfect – a simple but effective motif that’s repeated three times.  For me, he could have repeated it ten times.

As for live representation, only three of the six songs have made it into a regular rotation.  Unless I missed it, “Jacob’s Ladder” hasn’t been played live since 1980, “Entre Nous” was only performed in 2007, and “Different Strings” has never been played live.  This is a bit surprising to me, as Permanent Waves is among Rush’s strongest albums (if not the strongest).  There simply isn’t a weak track on it.

The only potentially critical thing to say about the album is its production.  It sounds a little boxy to me, with the use of the stereo spectrum underutilized (and poorly utilized during the guitar solo of “Free Will”), and lacking in a rich, full low end.  If I had an engineer’s ears I could be more specific, but the album doesn’t sound as good as its successor, Moving Pictures.

Now, it’s important to note that at 35 minutes, Rush was able to avoid any filler on Permanent Waves, and I find myself asking the question: if I’ve been critical of many of Rush’s albums for being too long, is this album perhaps too short?  Or, at the very least, should it be regarded less positively because it’s easier to compose 35 minutes of good material than 50 minutes of good material?  After all, Presto easily has 35 minutes worth of excellent music.  That album’s only weak point for me was that it has about two songs too many.  So, should Presto be docked merely because the band was more prolific (or, more likely, that the band decided to accommodate the CD format vs. the album format)?

Good questions, I think.  But for me, Permanent Waves is near perfection.

Tomorrow, I’ll be listening to…drum roll, please…number 18, Rush’s cover album, Feedback.  I’ve never listened to this album before, so it’ll be the only review that I can say with certainty is without any preconceived notions.

20 Rush Albums in 20 Days: Vapor Trails

DAY EIGHT: Rush, Vapor Trails, running time 67:15 (too damn long), released May 14, 2002

This is where Rush goes off the rails for me.  Vapor Trails, released after a six year hiatus due mostly to the personal tragedies suffered by Neil Peart, contains moments of brilliance, many wonder riffs, and some effective melodies, but it’s all too much.  Too many songs (who in his right mind thought that a 67-minute album was a good idea?), too many songs that go on forever without adding any forward momentum (listen to “Secret Touch” and tell me you’re not ready to call it a day after four minutes, but it goes on for another two and half), too many ethereal backup vocals that only muddy up the mix, too much clutter, too many busy bass lines, and too many unmemorable melodies (try singing the verses to some of the songs – “Nocturne” or “Freeze,” for instance – and it’s impossible.  The tunes, in effect, lack a tune).

This isn’t to say there aren’t great moments.  I actually love the way the album begins, with the full-throttled, blistering bombardment of “One Little Victory” followed by my favorite track, “Ceiling Unlimited.”  “Ghost Rider” isn’t perfect, but it’s such a personal song that it’s hard not to identify with what Peart is writing about.  And then it’s song after song (after song) with some good parts but way too many unsuccessful sections.  For me, there isn’t a single track beyond this point that works well from beginning to end. 

Take “How it Is,” what should have been a wonderful song.  The chorus is poignant and beautiful, but the verse is a mess, trudging through tuneless and meterless poetry that doesn’t lend itself well to a rock song.  That is what Rush is, after all.  A rock band that writes songs, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a “song” among these thirteen tracks.  “Freeze” also has one of the best, most melodic choruses in all of Rush’s history, but the verses, well…blow.  They’re a mess, stuck in a wall of sound, overly busy bass, tuneless melodies and unnecessary backup vocals.

Another item of concern is what I call the Elvis Costello Syndrome, whereby one tries to cram lyrics into a structure even if they don’t fit the structure well.  And that’s exactly what Rush is doing here.  Consider the following quote from Neil Peart (I got this off of Wikipedia):

Eventually Geddy began to sift through the vast number of jams they had created, finding a verse here, a chorus there, and piecing them together. Often a pattern had only ever been played once in passing, but through the use of computer tools it could be repeated or reworked into a part...once Geddy and Alex had agreed on basic structures, Geddy would go through the lyrics to see what might suit the music and "sing well," then come to me to discuss any improvements, additions, or deletions I could make from my end.

This is a very odd way to compose, and it explains a lot, I think.  Usually, one composes a tune and then writes lyrics to fit the tune, or one composes lyrics and comes up with a melody for the lyrics.  On Vapor Trails, Rush creates songs from jam sessions, and then they review the lyrics to see which ones might work with the verses and choruses. It's a Frankensteinian approach to making music.  Kudos to Rush for trying something different, but unfortunately it doesn’t work.  The result sounds exactly what it is: pieces of music spliced together with lyrics forced into the structure.

Geddy’s bass is incredible on this album, Exhibit A for what’s possible with this instrument, but it’s also Exhibit A on how to muck up a recording.  Too busy.  Too much.  And that pretty much encapsulates the entire album.  Too busy.  Too much.  Even the 2013 remix, which is a definite improvement over the original, suffers from a thwacking kick drum that’s way too hot.  It seems that even a remix couldn’t save this effort.

Tomorrow, I’ll be listening to…drum roll, please…number 7.  Rewind to 1980’s Permanent Waves.  It’ll be interesting to listen to an album that’s almost one half the length of Vapor Trails.  It’ll be a lot quicker, too.

20 Rush Albums in 20 Days: Counterparts

DAY SEVEN: Rush, Counterparts, running time 54:17, released October 19, 1993

Rush continued to explore heavier-guitar production in the 90s, and at the time I remember not caring for it so much.  Hearing "Stick it Out" for the first time, it seemed like a poor throwback, but now in hindsight, it makes perfect sense.  Rush has never isolated itself from musical trends, and as grunge had already taken hold of the airwaves, it’s not surprising that the sound of the times would have impacted the band's writing and production.  It’s probably a good thing that it did, because the result was increased sales and a new generation of followers.

Counterparts begins very solid, with “Animate,” “Stick it Out,” “Cut to the Chase,” “Nobody’s Hero” and “Between Sun & Moon” (the middle track sounding a lot like it belongs on Rush’s previous release, Roll the Bones – to me it’s reminiscent of “Face Up.”), but the album’s middle suffers by comparison.  The overall theme of relationships between men and women lends itself to a more personal, intimate lyrical approach that sometimes sounds a little too straight forward for Rush.  The opening of “Alien Shore, (“You and I, we are strangers by one chromosome”) is, to me, not the best way to begin a song, and the lines like “For you and me, sex is not a competition” from "Alien Shore" just don’t seem to work.

When I saw Rush at Minneapolis’s Target Center in 1994, my least favorite tune was “Double Agent,” and hearing it again today, I stand by my conclusion.  The spoken word section is embarrassingly bad.  When Geddy sings “so tight” and “at war” after speaking the words a moment before, it reminds me of Budweiser’s “Real Men of Genius” ad campaign.  Not good!  

Luckily, the album ends where it began, with three excellent tracks, the instrumental “Leave that Thing Alone” followed by “Cold Fire” and the uplifting “Everyday Glory.”  Why this latter track, or songs like “Cut to the Chase” and “Between Sun & Moon” haven’t made it into a regular concert rotation is one of those mysteries I’ll never understand.  All of these would be welcome replacements for the played-out live performances of “Force Ten” and “Dreamline.”  If Rush has a weakness, it’s the unwillingness to play a more varied setlist from tour to tour. 

As with all of Rush’s releases from 1987 on, this album is too damn long, but it’s still among their best efforts.  Subtract “Double Agent” and “The Speed of Love” and you’ve got a very solid 44 minute album.  Kill your children, artists!  Subtraction is addition.

Tomorrow, I’ll be listening to…drum roll, please…number 17: Vapor Trails.  I’ll go to the 2013 remix of the album, figuring I shouldn’t have to subject myself to an original mix that even the band was unhappy with.

20 Rush Albums in 20 Days: Rush

DAY SIX: Rush, self-titled debut, running time 40:07, released March 1, 1974

It’s hard to imagine how the album Rush would be remembered today were it not for the forty years that followed.  Listening to it now, there are little glimpses of what the band would become, and to separate these songs from the band’s overall legacy is difficult, but this afternoon I attempted to enjoy the album on its own terms, and you know what?  I really liked it.  I actually think that as a total package, it’s a superior product to Fly By Night (which I listened to last week).  However, it aims lower – much lower – than any of their subsequent efforts, and in retrospect it’s easy to see that on the next couple of albums the band needed to find its footing and stumble a few times in order for albums like 2112 and A Farewell to Kings to transpire.  For their debut album, all they needed to do was create good, rocking, blues-based songs, and they succeeded big-time.

I noticed a few things while listening to this album:

1)   John Rutsey’s drumming is very capable, and your average 70s rock band would have been happy to have him laying down their rock grooves.  This surprised me a bit.

2)   Geddy actually sings in a lower register more frequently on this album than he does on the next several, and it sounds good.  If you ever listen to the live version of “Working Man” from All The Worlds A Stage, you’ll notice that Geddy raises the pitch of the verses way, way up.  I like the studio version better, with a discernible melody in a lower register.

3)   Alex Lifeson was all of twenty years old while recording this album, and so much of what he does is melodic and tasteful.  He allows his solos to breathe, something seasoned professionals often fail to do.

4)   Rush employed extensive use of doubling lead vocals and, on occasion, lead guitar, a technique that worked very well to create a fuller sound.

Sure, the lyrics on most of these tunes are silly, but what do you expect from teenagers?  There are great riffs (“Finding My Way,” “What You’re Doing”), refreshingly positive messages from a blues-rock band (“Take a Friend”) and a little foretaste of more ambitious efforts (“Before and After” and “Working Man.”).   Comparing this album to other rock bands of the 70s, Rush is better than anything Kiss ever produced (IMO), and better than bands like Foghat, Head East and Ted Nugent.  It doesn’t reach the heights of, say, Van Halen’s or Boston’s debut album, but still, an honest and impressive album for a bunch of 20 year-olds.

Comparing this album to Fly by Night or Caress of Steel is almost ridiculous.  Those albums aimed very high and missed a bit.  This album aims straight on and, to my ears, hits the mark.  It’s like comparing a Will Ferrell movie to a poor film by Scorsese.  Still, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing in thirteen days.

Tomorrow, I’ll be listening to…drum roll, please…number 15!  Fast-forward nineteen years to the album Counterparts, an oft-overlooked effort (except for my local college radio station that plays it incessantly!).  Off we go…

20 Rush Albums in 20 Days: Grace Under Pressure

DAY FIVE: Rush, Grace Under Pressure, running time 39:12, released April 12, 1984 (my 16^th birthday)

No Rush album captures the feel of a time period the way Grace Under Pressure does, taking us to an era of Reagan and Gorbachev, The Day After, War Games and general paranoia about what lay ahead.  It’s a feeling that might not lend well to an enjoyable listen, and indeed, the entire first side of Rush’s tenth album is in a minor key with production that sounds like cold, stainless steel.  Luckily, just as the album starts to labor under its own weight of self-importance, side two comes to save the day

Rush recruited Peter Henderson to help with production after parting ways with long-time producer Terry Brown, and the results are mixed.  Some of the choices are extremely unsatisfying.  Half way through listening to “Afterimage” I had the sneaking suspicion that Journey’s ”Separate Ways” must have been playing on an endless loop in the control room prior to recording this song.  Terrible synth choices, and for me, the weakest song on the album by far.  The instrumental breaks of this tune and the following track, “Red Sector A,” are among the most unsatisfying of any Rush song.  True, Alex Lifeson doesn’t need to have a guitar solo on every song, but instrumental sections also have to lead somewhere.  Here, they remain stagnant, serving as little more than time filler.

The opening track, “Distant Early Warning,” still holds up well, and the lyrics “You sometimes drive me crazy – but I worry about you” have never resonated more to this father of three.  The dreary mood of side one gives way to a refreshing set of songs on side two that alter the feel of the album just enough to provide a welcomed second wind.  “Kid Gloves” is a fun tune, and one that I would have expected to become a mainstay in Rush’s setlist, but it hasn’t been played in concert since 1984.  Go figure.  Rush added “The Body Electric” to its most recent tour, and I thought it was a refreshing addition.  Yes, the chorus is a little cheesy, but I’ve always been a fool for cheesy songs.  “Red Lenses” is one of those tracks that inspires a heated reaction.  My son hates the song, and from what I’ve read on-line, many other Rush fan feel the same.  I love it.  And though a guitar solo is avoided yet again on this tune, the instrumental passage works, offering a change in feel instead of just droning on the way other tracks from this album do.  "Between the Wheels” ends the album where it began, in an ominous minor key, as if to remind the listener that despite the mild humor of the previous song, things really aren’t okay.  As if we needed reminding.

Lifeson's guitar work on Grace Under Pressure is very interesting.  I comare his crunchy, clean upbeats on "The Enemy Within" to his work on "Vital Signs" three years earlier, and it's apparent to me that by 1984 he'd found his footing, managing to make the guitar relevent even in the evolving sonic landscape of the 80s.  His contribution, both innovative and subtle, warrants repeated listenings.

Grace Under Pressure benefits from it's short length.  One more tune – especially a tune in a minor key – would have put it over the edge.  As it stands, it's a decent, if imperfect, album.

Tomorrow, I’ll be listening to…drum roll, please…number 1!  The debut album.  Back to the basic blues/rock band with banal lyrics.  This ought to be interesting…