Radio Waves
‘One likes to believe in the freedom of music’.
Neil Peart, drummer extraordinaire, a legend in his lifetime, sadly died in January 2020. He had a way with words too, poetic, cryptic and mystical. Read the lyrics of a Rush song and you will find they cover all aspects and emotions, they are a story in themselves, but put them to music and you have a living, breathing entity that captures and enraptures your entirety.
This year sees the 40th anniversary of ‘Permanent Waves’ a hefty chunk of synthesiser heaven and mind bogglingly intricate fretwork that is typical of the creativity and ingenuity of this band. They are pioneers, industrious and steadfast to their hearts, to their feelings and to their souls.
The first six tracks ‘ The Spirit Of Radio – Natural Science’ were remastered in 2015 from the original works. Foraging all landscapes and subjects, Rush are not afraid to include religious, philosophical, and scientific aspects in their music. You can imagine them donning lab coats and goggles and disappearing for months on end to create something unique and world beating. The perceptive lyrics ‘different eyes see different things; different hearts beat on different strings’ are a prime example of the attention to detail and lateral thinking involved. Maybe if we all just understood this. We have a songscape in triptych as the band take on Mother Nature in ‘Natural Science’ where we endeavour to strike a balance between the natural and the man-made. The second part of this album takes us from ‘Beneath, Between and Behind to Freewill’ which were all recorded live on the 1980 tour and have not been released previously. Enter ‘Xanadu’ the pleasure dome built by Kublai Khan and if you have not had your fill then let us journey through the Colombian fields and sample their delights, and then continue across the world in a global purple haze. This is the idea behind ‘A Passage To Bangkok’ and takes a very tongue-in-cheek look at drug use.
Human attributes have been applied to nature on ‘The Trees’ which tells of a tug of war scenario between oaks and maples as to who is better, stronger and consequently the side who feels oppressed form a union to retaliate. A story that is eerily familiar as we are still fighting injustice and inequality today. This is unremarkable, Rush have consistently thought ‘outside of the box’ and used creative licence to hone their skills and abilities. To me, their songs have a huge build up aspect, the anticipation is palpable, the energy is intoxicating and the execution is spellbinding. The songs are delicate, rousing, sumptuous and elegant all at once. From the thunderous drumming, nimble fretwork, and Geddy Lee’s instantly recognisable, ‘in a league of his own’ voice, Rush have always been ahead of the curve, precision engineering at its best. The crowd are just as fanatical and fantastical, each playing off the other. The elation that is to be felt when they sing your words back to you, is probably unmatched. One of my favourites is ‘Closer To The Heart’ always a great singalong moment and I’m so chuffed it’s on here. I’ll leave you with another intensely emotive lyric taken from ‘The Spirit Of Radio’
‘it’s really just a question of your honesty, yeah your honesty’.
For those still not convinced, there’s no rush. I’ll wait.
Rush – Permanent Waves 40th anniversary edition out now via UMC/Mercury/Anthem Records