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Do you think of Permanent Waves as a 70s album or an 80s album?


LedRush
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Do you think of Permanent Waves as a 70s album or an 80s album  

117 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you think of Permanent Waves as a 70s album or an 80s album

    • Yes - every part of the album was started and finished in the 1970s.
      38
    • Yes - it is more like the prog era music than the synth era music
      23
    • No - it was released on Jan 1, 1980, and I'm a stickler for details
      30
    • No - it is more like the synth era music than the prof era music
      26


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^^^ That was hilarious! Clearly, someone monitors the forum for them. I remember Geddy making some mullet jokes at a Snakes and Arrows show after there had been some mullet discussion here.

 

As for the poll question, I don’t think of it as a “70s” album or an “80s” album. I think of it as a 95 album. As in, 95 out of 100!

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The artistically sensitive and creative types know that it's a 70s album because that's when it was written and recorded and mixed and mastered and artistically designed.

 

The release-date slaves take the unimaginative stance that it's an 80s album because it happened to be released in January of 1980. Thppt. I suspect they're trying to give the weaker 80s period some additional credibility.

 

There - does that ruffle any feathers?

 

So, if an album is recorded in 1981, but released in 1982, does that make it a 1981 album?

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The artistically sensitive and creative types know that it's a 70s album because that's when it was written and recorded and mixed and mastered and artistically designed.

 

The release-date slaves take the unimaginative stance that it's an 80s album because it happened to be released in January of 1980. Thppt. I suspect they're trying to give the weaker 80s period some additional credibility.

 

There - does that ruffle any feathers?

 

So, if an album is recorded in 1981, but released in 1982, does that make it a 1981 album?

 

I would say if there were even a small part of the creative portion that was handled in the current year, then I'm not into nickle-and-diming - fine, go with the year of release. But I'm imagining boxes of sealed LPs ready for shipping sitting in a warehouse in the last weeks of '79. The album was a done deal before the year - the decade - was done.

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PW is the perfect bridge between the decades and evolution in the band's style - definitively the start of what happened next whilst marking the end of the 70s. And I know everyone knows this but it bears repeating - Natural Science is beyond music, it is one of the greatest artistic achievements of the century. I cannot believe the imagination and skill of that song and love it so much.
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PW is the perfect bridge between the decades and evolution in the band's style - definitively the start of what happened next whilst marking the end of the 70s. And I know everyone knows this but it bears repeating - Natural Science is beyond music, it is one of the greatest artistic achievements of the century. I cannot believe the imagination and skill of that song and love it so much.

 

It is both natural and scientific that you should dig that tune.

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So, if an album is recorded in 1981, but released in 1982, does that make it a 1981 album?

 

I would say if there were even a small part of the creative portion that was handled in the current year, then I'm not into nickle-and-diming - fine, go with the year of release. But I'm imagining boxes of sealed LPs ready for shipping sitting in a warehouse in the last weeks of '79. The album was a done deal before the year - the decade - was done.

 

But most albums released in the first half of any given year were "a done deal" before the end of the previous year. You'd be changing the year categorization of tens of thousands of recordings.

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So, if an album is recorded in 1981, but released in 1982, does that make it a 1981 album?
I would say if there were even a small part of the creative portion that was handled in the current year, then I'm not into nickle-and-diming - fine, go with the year of release. But I'm imagining boxes of sealed LPs ready for shipping sitting in a warehouse in the last weeks of '79. The album was a done deal before the year - the decade - was done.

 

But most albums released in the first half of any given year were "a done deal" before the end of the previous year. You'd be changing the year categorization of tens of thousands of recordings.

 

Relax, nobody's changing any categories. Some people just choose to think outside of said categories' packaging.

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So, if an album is recorded in 1981, but released in 1982, does that make it a 1981 album?

 

I would say if there were even a small part of the creative portion that was handled in the current year, then I'm not into nickle-and-diming - fine, go with the year of release. But I'm imagining boxes of sealed LPs ready for shipping sitting in a warehouse in the last weeks of '79. The album was a done deal before the year - the decade - was done.

 

But most albums released in the first half of any given year were "a done deal" before the end of the previous year. You'd be changing the year categorization of tens of thousands of recordings.

 

It only matters for this one album by this one band. I don't care about the other stuff. I'm a Rush Freak, not an All-Those-Other-Bands Freak.

 

Because of the longevity of Rush, we tend to want to talk about "eras" of the band. Like Tull went through its blues phase, its proggy phase, its folk rock phase, its electronic phase, etc. There was the time that Rush was majestic (the 70s), the period when Rush was great but more poppy (early 80s), the period when They Lost Their Way (the fearsome Guitar-and-Balls Purge from mid-80s on), etc. So, there's an artistic and stylistic argument for slotting Permanent Waves into the 70s majestic period, because it's a f***ing Formidably Awesome Record, an argument which is bolstered by the empirical recognition that it was, in its entirety, created at the end of that period.

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If a decade is ten years, when do the 80's actually begin? 1981. Why...?

 

In spite of what Ghost may declare, there is no Year Zero. Thus, we have Year 1, 2, 3...10 as the first decade. So, the Twenties would be '21-30, the Thirties '31-40, and the Seventies 1971-80. The decade known as the 80's begins in 1981.

 

Settled science. PWaves is a 70s album.

 

math_nerd.jpg

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So, if an album is recorded in 1981, but released in 1982, does that make it a 1981 album?

 

I would say if there were even a small part of the creative portion that was handled in the current year, then I'm not into nickle-and-diming - fine, go with the year of release. But I'm imagining boxes of sealed LPs ready for shipping sitting in a warehouse in the last weeks of '79. The album was a done deal before the year - the decade - was done.

 

But most albums released in the first half of any given year were "a done deal" before the end of the previous year. You'd be changing the year categorization of tens of thousands of recordings.

Sometimes accepting truth means being bold and strong.

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So, if an album is recorded in 1981, but released in 1982, does that make it a 1981 album?

 

I would say if there were even a small part of the creative portion that was handled in the current year, then I'm not into nickle-and-diming - fine, go with the year of release. But I'm imagining boxes of sealed LPs ready for shipping sitting in a warehouse in the last weeks of '79. The album was a done deal before the year - the decade - was done.

 

But most albums released in the first half of any given year were "a done deal" before the end of the previous year. You'd be changing the year categorization of tens of thousands of recordings.

 

It only matters for this one album by this one band. I don't care about the other stuff. I'm a Rush Freak, not an All-Those-Other-Bands Freak.

 

Because of the longevity of Rush, we tend to want to talk about "eras" of the band. Like Tull went through its blues phase, its proggy phase, its folk rock phase, its electronic phase, etc. There was the time that Rush was majestic (the 70s), the period when Rush was great but more poppy (early 80s), the period when They Lost Their Way (the fearsome Guitar-and-Balls Purge from mid-80s on), etc. So, there's an artistic and stylistic argument for slotting Permanent Waves into the 70s majestic period, because it's a f***ing Formidably Awesome Record, an argument which is bolstered by the empirical recognition that it was, in its entirety, created at the end of that period.

I wanted to like this post but I couldn’t over They Lost Their Way. I will admit as I was finishing it I shook my fist in the air screaming YES...my wife yelled “shut up, I’m trying to sleep” from the bedroom.

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Here's what Geddy has to say...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVVCBwDJ5rI

 

In a setlist going back in time, being on the precipice of the seventies means that we're not yet in the seventies. Thanks, geddy!

 

It's not the first time his memory has been faulty.

 

Actually, though . . . of course the album was toured in 1980. What's most important is that he used the word "seventies" in relation to the album, which is of course entirely fitting.

Edited by toymaker
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To take from a song on the album itself

 

The art as expression part occurred in the seventiesr

 

The market campaigns? Mostly 80s

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I think of Signals as the first 80s album.

 

To me Natural Science, Freewill, Tom Sawyer, The Camera Eye, Witch Hunt and Vital Signs absolutely sound like the 80's tunes.

 

I'd add The Spirit of Radio to that.

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IMO Permanent Waves was musically a turning point in Rush discography. That album sounds nothing like Hemispheres or A Farewell to Kings. And it has incorporated some new wave influences.

 

But it does. :codger: It does. :yes: Jacob's Ladder, Entre Nous and Different Strings fit more on AFTK than CTTH. :hi:

 

Permanent Waves looks back and forward. That's why it is such a great album.

Edited by Lorraine
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