Great article on Power Windows.

[Alchemical]

http://progarchy.com...nst-conformity/

 

Makes me wish I was born two decades earlier! I so wish I could have experienced RUSH in the mid-80s!

[jjgittes]

I so wish I could have experienced RUSH in the mid-80s!

Don't say that to the people who experienced RUSH in the 70's! ;)

 

I agree with the point made in the link. I did not like their "synth" era when it came upon us but admit the appreciation for both the songs and the overall theme of that album(which is still relevant up to this moment) has grown on me since the CA tour.

[Xanadoood]

Great album. I love the production. They all sound so crisp on it.

[presto123]

I remember when Power Windows came out. I had a subscription to Rolling Stone at the time and I about fainted when I saw a very POSITIVE review for Power Windows. I think it was the first time Rolling Stone gave a Rush album a glowing review. So many great memories centered around that record for me. Waiting out all night in front of Karma records with temps probably in the mid teens to score front row seats for the tour. Heading off to work at my first real job with headphones on so I could catch my first bits of The Big Money on FM radio. I even bought the 45 of Big Money and had the juke box vendor at the Bowling Alley put it on the juke box because I hung out there a lot:) PW and GUP both have special meaning to me.

[RushBoingo]

Favorite Album, perfect combination of the band's talents with a crystal clear production.

[goose]

Excellent article! I'm not as fond of tyhe production as many of you seem to be, but the songs are top notch.

[calirush]

http://progarchy.com...nst-conformity/

 

Makes me wish I was born two decades earlier! I so wish I could have experienced RUSH in the mid-80s!

 

I saw Rush live for the first time on this tour. The bonus was Steve Morse opening.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gRIIb5yG2s

[analog guy]

An album very much of its time.

 

Excluding the Rutsey-Peart change from the first album to the second, I'm not sure any single Rush album represented a more dramatic sonic change from the one before it more than this one, when compared to P/G. They went into full, 100% balls-out 80s excess overproduction mode.

 

It's grown on me a lot. Strong melodically, strong lyrically.... I always think the themes are close enough together that it could be considered almost a concept album even though it isn't meant to be one.

 

I have to be in the right mood to listen to this one, but it's a joy to hear it when I'm in that mood.

[thirteen]

Amazing (perfect?) sound production + flawless playing. And Geddy's vocals sounds great.

Power Windows LP cranked through an old analog stereo is my heaven.

[LedRush]

An album very much of its time.

 

Excluding the Rutsey-Peart change from the first album to the second, I'm not sure any single Rush album represented a more dramatic sonic change from the one before it more than this one, when compared to P/G. They went into full, 100% balls-out 80s excess overproduction mode.

 

It's grown on me a lot. Strong melodically, strong lyrically.... I always think the themes are close enough together that it could be considered almost a concept album even though it isn't meant to be one.

 

I have to be in the right mood to listen to this one, but it's a joy to hear it when I'm in that mood.

 

The overproduction still seems out of place, to me. Like someone went crazy with a casio filled with barking dogs and glass shattering sounds. I like a lot of the lyrics and themes, but this is the first album (and one of only about 3) where half of the album is just filler that could be tossed.

 

The live versions of these songs were atrocious in the 80s, but the more recent incarnations have down-played the silly casio-sounds and amped up the guitar with a more muscular sound, and I must say I appreciate the album much more because of the recent live performances. The same thing is true with Hold Your Fire, for me.

[Bangster of Goats]

It was my first "new" Rush album and my first tour. Loved it!

 

Like I mentioned in the GUP thread, GUP was really my first big introduction to Rush, so the synth stuff didn't put me off at all. The opposite even. I've always been kind of a synth head...

 

Anyway, I remember recording Big Money off the radio and playing that to death before the album came out.

[Jaminbenb]

I so wish I could have experienced RUSH in the mid-80s!

Don't say that to the people who experienced RUSH in the 70's! ;)

 

I agree with the point made in the link. I did not like their "synth" era when it came upon us but admit the appreciation for both the songs and the overall theme of that album(which is still relevant up to this moment) has grown on me since the CA tour.

 

yep...For someone that discovered Rush with ATWAS, and lived through their mid-late 70's output...the 80's were just crap! I hated PW back then BIG time! MTV's overplay of Big Money pretty much sealed it's fate for me...yeah, it was cool that they were actually playing Rush, but the amount of times they played it made you want to PUKE! (The first 100-200 were ok, then it just got to be "what...again?")

[Chronos]

Haha! Calirush, my first show was the night before at the Cow Palace in San Francisco! Jan. 30, 1986.

[calirush]

Haha! Calirush, my first show was the night before at the Cow Palace in San Francisco! Jan. 30, 1986.

 

And now you're in Ohio? Sorry couldn't resist. :P

Edited December 19, 2013 by calirush

[bathory]

love this album! did not like it at first, first rush album I didn't like I thought at the time (along with presto) but eventually I grew to like both albums, this one a lot more

 

yeah a lot of it's sorta cheesy but its great music and great lyrics and killer bass and vocals

[bathory]

An album very much of its time.

 

Excluding the Rutsey-Peart change from the first album to the second, I'm not sure any single Rush album represented a more dramatic sonic change from the one before it more than this one, when compared to P/G. They went into full, 100% balls-out 80s excess overproduction mode.

 

It's grown on me a lot. Strong melodically, strong lyrically.... I always think the themes are close enough together that it could be considered almost a concept album even though it isn't meant to be one.

 

I have to be in the right mood to listen to this one, but it's a joy to hear it when I'm in that mood.

 

The overproduction still seems out of place, to me. Like someone went crazy with a casio filled with barking dogs and glass shattering sounds. I like a lot of the lyrics and themes, but this is the first album (and one of only about 3) where half of the album is just filler that could be tossed.

 

The live versions of these songs were atrocious in the 80s, but the more recent incarnations have down-played the silly casio-sounds and amped up the guitar with a more muscular sound, and I must say I appreciate the album much more because of the recent live performances. The same thing is true with Hold Your Fire, for me.

 

yeah a lot of the album does sound kinda silly. I love the album but there are parts in some of the songs that embarass me cause they sound so "80s"

[bathory]

and I agree ledrush that the power windows tunes sounded a bit "ballsier" I guess on the CA tour

[gjptest]

Power Windows is one of the albums I had not purchased nor listened to because I thought it would be awful.... the 80's synch reputation and all that.

I finally bought it in like 2009 and have to say that it is one of my favorites. Easily in the top 10 Rush albums. (Close to top 5, but i'd have to think about that.....)

[Segue Myles]

Power Windows is one of the albums I had not purchased nor listened to because I thought it would be awful.... the 80's synch reputation and all that.

I finally bought it in like 2009 and have to say that it is one of my favorites. Easily in the top 10 Rush albums. (Close to top 5, but i'd have to think about that.....)

 

Same! Only I really did hate it when I first bought it!