Permanent Waves is the seventh studio album by Canadian rock band Rush,
released on January 1, 1980. It was recorded at Le Studio in Morin Heights,
Quebec, and mixed at Trident Studios in London, UK. Permanent Waves became
Rush's first US top five album, hitting #4 on the Billboard 200, and their fifth
gold selling album. The album marks a distinct transition from long,
conceptual pieces, into a more accessible, radio-friendly style and
consequently, a significant increase in record sales for the band. The singles
"The Spirit of Radio" and "Freewill" both received significant radio airplay.
Background The writing of the album began in July
1979, at Lakewoods Farm in Ontario on Georgian Bay, Lake Huron while Neil
Peart began writing lyrics in a cottage nearby. Rush began with an instrumental
jam, which they named "Uncle Tounouse." Parts of this were used in the songs on
the album. While Peart worked on lyrics, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson would work on
musical ideas in the basement. Within a few days they had put together "The
Spirit of Radio," "Freewill," and "Jacob's Ladder", which came very
naturally to them, and recorded on a Slider JVC mobile unit. "Entre Nous" was
the only lyric completed ahead of time. Peart attempted to write a song based on
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the 14th-century epic set in King Arthur's
time. It was deemed too out of place with the other material and was
discarded. The band moved into Sound Kitchen studio in Toronto to record
demos, joined by producer Terry Brown. "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill," and
"Jacob's Ladder" were further polished on the warm-up tour during soundchecks.
Rush headed to Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec and began tweaking the
settings of instruments and positioning of microphones. They recorded basic
tracks with multiple takes until they captured the best performance. While
Lee, Lifeson and Brown began overdubs, Peart began attempting to write another
longer song, and after enduring three days of writer's block, "Natural
Science" was born. Fin Costello was then brought in to photograph the band in the
studio. Cover art director Hugh Syme was also brought in and recorded a piano
solo for "Different Strings". Music was composed for "Natural Science", with
some parts reused from the discarded "Green Knight." The water sounds at the
beginning of the song were created by splashing oars in the private lake,
performed by Brown and studio assistant Kim Bickerdike, and the natural echo
outside was used to record various instruments. The rough mixes on the
album were complete, and the final mix was completed in a week at Trident
Studios, London. Music
"The Spirit of Radio" featured the band's early experiments with a reggae
style in its closing section, which were explored further on the band's next
three albums, Moving Pictures, Signals, and Grace Under Pressure.
The song "Jacob's Ladder" uses multiple time signatures, and possesses a dark,
ominous feel in its first half. Its lyrics are based on a simple concept; a
vision of sunlight breaking through storm clouds. The title is a reference
to the natural phenomenon of the sun breaking through the clouds in visible
rays, which in turn is named after the Biblical ladder to heaven on which Jacob
saw angels ascending and descending in a vision. Early in Rush's 2015 R40 Live
Tour, Geddy Lee incorrectly stated that the song had never been played live
before, but was corrected by fans on the internet. The 1981 live album
Exit...Stage Left includes a performance of "Jacob's Ladder".
"Entre Nous" did not receive heavy radio airplay, and was not performed live
until the Snakes & Arrows Tour in 2007. While the band began stepping back from
the epic song format on this album, the closing track "Natural Science" is over
nine minutes long and is composed of three distinct movements. The lyrics are
driven by concepts of natural science. It was featured, with a different
arrangement, on the 1996 Test for Echo Tour, the 2002 Vapor Trails Tour, the
2007-2008 Snakes & Arrows Tour, and the 2015 R40 Live Tour.
Cover artwork The cover art sparked some controversy
because of the appearance of the "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline on the
newspaper. After a complaint from the Chicago Tribune, artist Hugh Syme
changed the text to "Dewei Defeats Truman". Some later versions of the
cover, such as for the Rush Remasters CD release, have the headline blanked out
and it appears simply as a white box. The billboards in the distance were
changed from Coca-Cola to include each band member's name in similar typestyle.
The "200 Gram Vinyl LP w/Download" 2015 reissues have restored the original
"Dewei Defeats Truman" paper art, while leaving the Coca-Cola signs with the
band's names unchanged. The background scene comes from a photo,
taken by Flip Schulke, of the Galveston Seawall in Texas during Hurricane Carla
on September 11, 1961. The woman in the foreground is model Paula Turnbull, and
the man waving in the background is Syme.
Track listing All lyrics written by Neil Peart, except
"Different Strings" by Geddy Lee; all music composed by Lee and Alex Lifeson.
Personnel Geddy Lee - lead vocals, bass guitar,
Oberheim polyphonic, Minimoog, Taurus pedal synthesizer, OB-1
Alex Lifeson - electric and acoustic six- and twelve-string guitars, Taurus
pedals Neil Peart - drums, timpani, timbales,
orchestra bells, tubular bells, wind chimes, bell tree, triangle, crotales,
cover concept = Additional personnel=
Erwig Chuapchuaduah - steel drums on "The Spirit of Radio"
Hugh Syme - piano on "Different Strings", art direction, design, cover
concept Deborah Samuel - photography
Fin Costello - photography Flip Schulke - photography
Terry Brown - arranger, producer, mixing Paul Northfield - engineer
Robbie Whelan - assistant engineer Craig Milliner - mixing assistant
Adam Moseley - mixing assistant Paula Turnbull - cover girl
Robert Gage - Hairdresser to the cover girl
Ray Staff - mastering on original album Bob Ludwig - remastering
Charts Sales certifications
Singles Remaster details
A remaster was issued in 1997. The tray has a picture of the star with
man painting with "The Rush Remasters" printed in all capital letters just to
the left. All remasters from Rush through to Permanent Waves are like
this. Includes the original back cover of the
album, showing the band in the recording studio, as well as the inner-sleeve
pictures, credits, and lyrics which were missing from the original CD.
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released gold CD and "audiophile" LP remasters in
early 2008. Permanent Waves was remastered again in
2011 by Andy VanDette for the "Sector" box sets, which re-released all of
Rush's Mercury-era albums. Permanent Waves is included in the Sector 2 set.
Permanent Waves was remastered for vinyl in 2015 by Sean Magee at Abbey Road
Studios as a part of the official "12 Months of Rush" promotion. The high
definition master prepared for this release was also made available for
purchase in 24-bit/96kHz and 24-bit/192kHz formats, at several
high-resolution audio online music stores. These masters have significantly
less compression than the 1997 remasters and the "Sector" remasters by Andy
VanDette. References