Rush – Permanent Waves

Permanent Waves is the seventh album from Rush. Rather than the long conceptual compositions of their previous releases, it features shorter, more radio-friendly songs, although the album closer, "Natural Science," is almost ten minutes long and features three separate "movements."

Rush released three singles from the album – "The Spirit of Radio" (inspired by Toronto's 102 The Edge), "Freewill" (inspired by Ayn Rand) and "Entre Nous" – the former two of which are still played regularly on classic rock radio stations (the first of which made this list of Great Canadian Songs). Permanent Waves reached number four on the US album charts and received favourable reviews from:

• AllMusic (4.5 stars out of 5)
• Rolling Stone Album Guide (3.5 stars out of 5)

I remember becoming aware of Rush a few years earlier, via an article in Maclean's that I was reading during a class at high school that must have been boring me. The article made Rush sound so interesting that I kept trying to like them over the years.

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Track Listing

1. "The Spirit of Radio" (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson) – 4:59
2. "Freewill" (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson) – 5:24
3. "Jacob's Ladder" (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson) – 7:28
4. "Entre Nous" (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson) – 4:37
5. "Different Strings" (Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson) – 3:50
6. "Natural Science" (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson) – 9:17
   1. "Tide Pools"
   2. "Hyperspace"
   3. "Permanent Waves"

Personnel

• Geddy Lee – lead vocals, bass, Oberheim polyphonic, Minimoog, Taurus pedal synthesizer, OB-1
• Alex Lifeson – guitars, Taurus pedals
• Neil Peart – drums, timpani, timbales, orchestra bells, tubular bells, wind chimes, bell tree, triangle, crotales, cover concept
• Erwig Chuapchuaduah – steel drums
• Hugh Syme – piano

• Rush – Moving Pictures (album)
• Rush – 2112 (album)
• Rush – Tom Sawyer (song)
• Rush – The Spirit of Radio (song)
• Rush – Closer to the Heart (song)