Its a rather popular opinion that Rush went downhill following the release of Fly By Night. What could have been a serious rocking band was ruined by Neil Pearts overindulgence on wasted intellectual fodder lyrics and over-excessive drumming. The first album with John Rutsey was as good as it got with Rush. A debut album packed with serious rock songs, a guitar sound to rival Tony Iommi and groove like nobodys business. The follow up, Fly By Night, was right on target with killer songs like By Tor and Best I Can. Well, after this, it all went downhill rather quickly. The band decided against finding a real singer and decided it was cool to follow Neils new direction and thus ended any shot they had at real stardom and legitimacy. Permanant Waves isn't a bad album by any means but only when you hold it up against their first two albums do you stop and think "where did this go wrong?" Jacobs Ladder is the only song on this album that even heralds back to the once mighty rock unit. Neil is in full force with his songwriting, now used to having all his really important thoughts put to lyrics and trying to make Keith Moon sound like Ringo Starr with his inability to play a straight beat. So, if you're a fan of great rock n roll music, please pick up the first two Rush albums. Then listen to these from a distance and try to figure it out for yourself why they chose this direction when they could have had it all.
Its a rather popular opinion that Rush went downhill following the release of Fly By Night. What could have been a serious rocking band was ruined by Neil Pearts overindulgence on wasted intellectual fodder lyrics and over-excessive drumming. The first album with John Rutsey was as good as it got with Rush. A debut album packed with serious rock songs, a guitar sound to rival Tony Iommi and groove like nobodys business. The follow up, Fly By Night, was right on target with killer songs like By Tor and Best I Can. Well, after this, it all went downhill rather quickly. The band decided against finding a real singer and decided it was cool to follow Neils new direction and thus ended any shot they had at real stardom and legitimacy. Permanant Waves isn't a bad album by any means but only when you hold it up against their first two albums do you stop and think "where did this go wrong? " Jacobs Ladder is the only song on this album that even heralds back to the once mighty rock unit. Neil is in full force with his songwriting, now used to having all his really important thoughts put to lyrics and trying to make Keith Moon sound like Ringo Starr with his inability to play a straight beat. So, if you're a fan of great rock n roll music, please pick up the first two Rush albums. Then listen to these from a distance and try to figure it out for yourself why they chose this direction when they could have had it all.