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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  

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  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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Topic.

 

We are discussing this in another thread, so I thought I would open it up to the forum at large, rather than continuing to hijack that thread.

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To me, it is and always will be a 1970s album for the two reasons listed above. Also, for my first couple of years of knowing of Rush, I liked the first 8 albums and not the synth era, and so I always had that grouping in mind. Also, when the band breaks up the eras, they seem to group PeW in the AFTK-MP group.
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for the first time ever I agree with gemini

 

it was rush trying to mix the old with the new, and they did it damn near flawlessly

 

Yeah, it was a definite nod to the past with a look ahead to the future. Perfection. Just a flawless record IMO

 

And this is one of the things that make Rush so great,,,they could adapt. I think a lot of bands from there era had a hard time adapting to the changing sounds and styles of the upcoming 80s.

Edited by Xanadoood
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I remember being somewhat disappointed when PeW came out. I thought the shorter, more radio-friendly songs was a harbinger of bad times to come. I loved the production (though I'm sure I didn't use that word at the time), but it took awhile for me to warm to the songs.
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I think this album shows their prog side as well as what they became afterwards. It's a great mix of both sides. Great musicianship and great songs. The first half is the more radio friendly stuff then it slides into the more progressive stuff. Whoever decided the track order on that album was a genius.
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I've always considered Permanent Waves to be a '79 album. It wouldn't be fair to call it an 80's album, seeing how it was released on the first day of the decade.

 

plus, this was right before the synth era TRULY started

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I've never thought of PeW as either a 70's or 80's album. To me, the prog era ended with Hemispheres and the synth era began with Signals. I've always viewed PeW and MP as transitional albums: for the most part shorter, more accessible songs, yet both contain longer compositions (e.g., Natural Science and The Camera Eye).
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My answer is that I think of it as an 80s album. Yeah, it was (barely) released in the 80s, but more than that it was an evolution away from their previous stuff, which was definitely 70s music. I don't see it as "synth-era" music though; to me Signals was their first real "synthy" album.

 

Permanent Waves was the first Rush album I heard and until recently was my favourite. (Now Clockwork Angels is giving it a run for its money.)

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I think of Permanent Waves as a 1980s album. Had "Sir Gawain" been on the album instead of "natural science", it would probably have felt like a 70s album. New Wave was already "in" in 1979 and I can hear it in the album. This album was looking forward to the 80s.
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I think Permanent Waves is an 80s album just because it was released in January 1st, 1980, even though the songs were made in the 70s. It's just like how "Best I Can" from Fly By Night is considered a 1975 song even though it was made in 1974.

 

Some songs like Jacob's Ladder and Different Strings sound like 70s songs, but others like Natural Science sound like an 80s song. So in some way, it could be considered both, but I just go with it being an 80s album.

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As a good contrast, listen to AFTK, then PeW...in just 2 years their sound had changed dramatically. AFTK is DEFINITELY a 70s album.

 

For the same contrast, listen to Signals than PeW. PeW seems more like AFTK than Signals to me.

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my first response is who cares, but when i think about it, it has more in common with their 80's works than their 70's works - it definitely sounds like a new modern sound pretty distinct from what came before it.

 

i'll vote 80's, if for no other reason than to bug ledrush :P

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Well for me, it's 80s all the way, both in date and in sound. One fact I like to boast about Rush is that they kicked off the decade that a lot of people consider to have the most memorable music, and not to mention such a strong testament of a song to kick it off with. Musically it sounds way closer to Moving Pictures than Hemspheres, so I will go with 80s. Though the intro videos for the Time Machine Tour seem to dictate that the band members consider it to be an album from 79 (and moving pictures being from 1980 for that matter). I personally like to look at their albums in pairs rather than quads. They have the Hard Rock, Trio-prog, Synth Prog, Classic rock, Simple Synth, Heavy Synth, Alternative, Heavy Folk Rock, and refined metal combo's. (Feedback not included, Clockwork Angels awaiting duo album name should it come).
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To me, it represents the biggest change in Rush's sound and direction from a previous album. I think that Hemispheres kind of took Rush as far as they wanted to go in that direction, and Permanent Waves was a real conscious change-of-direction, particularly with the shorter, more radio-friendly songs. The album still has a lot of what fundamentally makes Rush 'Rush', with longer songs with acts ('Natural Science') and copious time meter changes ('Freewill'), but the overall take is of change, a departure from their previously established sound, easing into being a truly 'progressive' band. Geddy's vocals in particular I find different from the previous albums - no more extreme high register such as with Hemispheres (though there is that part in 'Freewill'!), and instead more 'radio-friendly' vocals.

 

So, to actually answer the question of whether this album is a 70's album or an 80's album: I guess it would fit more into the 80's, to me. It's not 80's as in blending in with Rush's synth output, but it's heading in that direction, and employs a lot of the things that the 80's albums do, with the shorter songs and non-shrieky vocals (and I don't mean 'shrieky vocals' as a bad thing, at all!).

 

Permanent Waves is the album that closes the door most on the end of an era, if that makes sense. To me, there's no bigger change between two consecutive albums than with Hemispheres and PeW, though some might argue with recent consecutive albums, but this would be obvious because the last few albums have had about five years in between 'em....

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Well for me, it's 80s all the way, both in date and in sound. One fact I like to boast about Rush is that they kicked off the decade that a lot of people consider to have the most memorable music, and not to mention such a strong testament of a song to kick it off with. Musically it sounds way closer to Moving Pictures than Hemspheres, so I will go with 80s. Though the intro videos for the Time Machine Tour seem to dictate that the band members consider it to be an album from 79 (and moving pictures being from 1980 for that matter). I personally like to look at their albums in pairs rather than quads. They have the Hard Rock, Trio-prog, Synth Prog, Classic rock, Simple Synth, Heavy Synth, Alternative, Heavy Folk Rock, and refined metal combo's. (Feedback not included, Clockwork Angels awaiting duo album name should it come).

 

I think most people think that the 80s generally had the worst music of the 1960-2000 period. By far. Compare to the brilliance of the 70s and 90s, I really don't think it's close. I haven't given much thought to the 2000s, though.

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Well for me, it's 80s all the way, both in date and in sound. One fact I like to boast about Rush is that they kicked off the decade that a lot of people consider to have the most memorable music, and not to mention such a strong testament of a song to kick it off with. Musically it sounds way closer to Moving Pictures than Hemspheres, so I will go with 80s. Though the intro videos for the Time Machine Tour seem to dictate that the band members consider it to be an album from 79 (and moving pictures being from 1980 for that matter). I personally like to look at their albums in pairs rather than quads. They have the Hard Rock, Trio-prog, Synth Prog, Classic rock, Simple Synth, Heavy Synth, Alternative, Heavy Folk Rock, and refined metal combo's. (Feedback not included, Clockwork Angels awaiting duo album name should it come).

 

I think most people think that the 80s generally had the worst music of the 1960-2000 period. By far. Compare to the brilliance of the 70s and 90s, I really don't think it's close. I haven't given much thought to the 2000s, though.

 

i don't think most people think that, just as i don't think most people share a lot of your musical views. as far as i'm concerned, each successive decade post-70's has become more and more bleak musically. and i do actually think there was some brilliant music in the 90's, but it was generally non mainstream genres like ambient, shoegaze and trip-hop, but even those by the mid 90's were losing their luster. popular music from the 90's, outside of the rare exception, pretty much sucked. at least popular music in the 80's was fun, if lightweight. popular music in the 90's was just kind of a downer, and popular music post-90's is pretty vapid.

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