View attachment 45062
Rush
Power Windows (1985)
1.
The Big Money - Welcome to Corporate America. Synthesizers rise like skyscrapers. Guitars sparkle like casinos. Drums hit you on all sides, just like your bank statements after being sucked into this world of "The Big Money". It's an incredible intro, and it gets quickly replaced by synths and percussion that sounds like scanners and cash registers in a department store, before the guitar pulls everything back to look at the bosses who reap the rewards of low-level people like you and me. "
Big Money goes around the world!" Neil takes a critical look at the narratives of the 1%. It's not totally negative, but it's definitely than you would have expected from someone who used to use Ayn Rand as his biggest inspiration. The production is so in-your-face. So much happening at all times. Peter Collins is immediately making himself known. The solo is awesome, Alex just lights it the fuck up and holds those notes for all he's worth. I love how Geddy's voice rises and falls throughout the track, really pulling on the excitement of this rollercoaster ride. Love the return to the intro, and then ending with an extra riff just for shits and giggles? Impeccable.
10/10
2.
Grand Designs - Continuing on from the themes of "The Big Money", the band now take a look at the products of soulless consumerism and reject them in favor of producing something of substance. It doubles as a continuation from their motto in "Vital Signs" - "
Everybody got to elevate from the norm." It has transformed into a bigger and bolder statement here - "
Against the run-of-the-mill, static as it seems, we break the surface tension with our wild kinetic dreams!" And goddamn do they break that surface tension with something kinetic. This song is GORGEOUS. The keys shine like diamonds, the guitar is energetic, Neil is CRUSHING that kit, and Geddy's voice rings like gold. Fuck me, dude. Holy shit.
10/10
3.
Manhattan Project - Rush take a step outside of the bubble of greed to look at the Cold War tensions of the time, thinking back to the moment that would shape the rest of the century - the dropping of the atomic bomb. Neil goes through picturesque detail of every step in the chain that led up to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the Manhattan Project. Within the song, the lyrics almost border on clumsy at times, but I think they're overall successful. "
The pilot of Enola Gay riding out of the shockwave...!" is pretty powerful. The instrumental, complete with a string orchestra, is as haunting as a nuclear winter. The song's biggest issue is its tight grip on a chorus that's decent but doesn't need to be repeated as much as it is. Still a great song though.
8/10
4.
Marathon - Whether you're a runner, a politician, a businessman, or some guy writing iffy Rush reviews on an Iron Maiden forum, we all have something driving us to achieve something. And once that thing has been achieved, the moment is over. It's slipped into the past. Some people throw in the towel after that. Others get fired up by the next big thing. Neil perfectly encapsulates this feeling in this song. "
One moment's high, and glory rolls on by..." Geddy's voice really lifts off in that chorus (and don't get me started on the key change at the end!). But the secret star of this song is Alex, whose solo is easily one of the best he's ever done thus far.
9/10
5.
Territories - A song that pans the tribal, nationalist instincts of so-called 'civilized' nations deserves a suitably tribal rhythm from the percussion, and Neil absolutely locks in to get the job done. It's not overly showy, but it's so tasty. Alex stays out of the way during the first verse but then comes in with some screeching, fiery guitar before laying down a rocking riff in the pre-chorus. The chorus swirls around you, trying to take a step out of the madness. I wish there was a bigger instrumental section to this one, but that's about it - another excellent song.
9/10
6.
Middletown Dreams - Beautiful song. The synths dominate this track (probably the most '80s-sounding of this utterly '80s-sounding album). They dance all across this track like the lonely dreamers whose pictures line the track - a salesman, a boy, a middle-aged woman. Lonely people with big dreams who get up each day because they have those dreams. Geddy's voice is once again the perfect instrument to bring across their emotions. The chorus is so tender and heartfelt. My favorite part in this song is the little burst of energy after the bridge, leading into an incredible drum fill before returning to the chorus. Almost wish it was longer. So good.
10/10
7.
Emotion Detector - It's so easy to overlook the penultimate track on an album but boy does this one get better with every listen. A call to embrace your emotions filled with really vibrant synths and gorgeous playing from everyone involved.
9/10
8.
Mystic Rhythms - I mean, the fucking title says it all. This is a mystically track. A rhythmic track. After an album about business interests, with glimpses into war and an underlying current of a return to hope and feelings over cold unemotional focus, "Mystic Rhythms" is that final glimpse into the unknown that calls us from out of our daily lives. These are the rhythms that feed "Middletown Dreams", that build "Grand Designs", that pull us to not only complete the "Marathon", but to give it up in favor of something bigger. They come calling us from every walk of life, from any "Territory" we might inhabit. For those people who have not fully lost themselves to "The Big Money", they drive us to take the next leap of faith in the darkness.
This track is magnificent. Neil's drumming is so good. Its structure is almost stripped-down, but Peter Collins and the band throw the entire kitchen sink into the production. Every instrument echoes. There are Eastern influences, tribal influences, with plenty of space left to glimpse the Northern Lights or canopies of stars. Geddy's doubled voice in the last chorus is awesome. It's not often that Rush save the best song for last, but this is absolutely that. The cherry on top of an already incredible album.
10/10
OVERALL
I first became interested in
Power Windows when Jer gave it his highest rating during his Rush discography run. My knowledge of post-
Moving Pictures Rush didn't extend past "Subdivisions", so when I found this CD in a record store I was pretty excited to play it and it did not disappoint. Coming back to it now and dedicatedly uncovering all of its nooks and crannies has been a treat. It's easy to see why some people downplay this album, because it takes the sound of '80s Rush and goes over the top with it, especially in the production side of things, but to me it's also the perfect blend of synths and guitars, of mainstream influence and all the qualities that make Rush so good in the first place. It's almost like you took the great choruses and melodies of
Grace Under Pressure, but then took the brazenness that made "Red Lenses" fail, mixed it together and
succeeded.
Neck-and-neck with
Hemispheres as the second-best Rush album (at least so far), but
Power Windows gets a slight nod for being an impeccable overall package. I also really like the themes within this one as well. There's a cohesive identity to it all. This is the band finally regaining the magic they were firing with on that run that led to
Moving Pictures. Some tinkering along the way allowed them to regroup as fresh and as fiery as ever before.
Total:
94%
