Permanent Waves 40th Anniversary

It's the best Rush album and great to get the extra live tracks. Been looking forward to them. Shame they faded in and out. Probably a set of tracks considered for Exit Stage Left or an earlier live release. The only other bit I don't like is the way they abbreviated Cygnus and Hemispheres. Just doesn't sound right and they could have done it better. But it is how it was played. Oh well.Otherwise, blinking marvellous! Buy it

Great album, with superior press and packing.

Its with some sadness and genuine disappontment that i find myself reviewing this,after all i have waited 40 years man and boy ,hoping,praying that the full Glasgow Apollo gig would be released in its entirety ( i was there) ..what a night),the last 2 deluxe editions stoked those hopes but here we are and they have been dashed.Disc 1: the original album with a superb remastered sound,i stand by my original review,this is not the best Rush album of the 80's,that would be Moving Pictures and Signals a close second, but it was a stepping stone from the prog 70's to a more streamlined Rush,i still believe that.six tracks,'Spirit of the Radio' the one everyone's heard,its great but after hearing it soo many times... 'Freewill' the best track on the album just perfection and one of the best in their catalogue,'Jacobs Ladder' i thought was a bit slow and ponderous on record much better live,with hindsight that was harsh,its grown on me and 'Natural Science' modern,well it was then, prog that no doubt influenced bands of the future like Dream Theater. That leaves 2 nuggets that are never reallytalked about..'Entre Nous' and 'Different Strings' 2 superb tracks that are a joy to listen to and the guitar solo on the latter ... magnificent.Disc 2, live tracks from the world tour and unlike the last 2 deluxe editions for 'Farewell To Kings/Hemispheres its not a full gig. Sadly its a truncated set of tracks from several gigs...none from Glasgow!!!!!!!,incredibly we lose the opening and ending to the concert set list and some tracks relocated from their original spot , that and the fact that most tracks fade out kinda kills the atmosphere..that being said Rush are on top form and 'ByTor..,Xanadu,Cygnus books 1 and 2 stand along side 4 tracks from the then new album,as ever top notch musician ship and the reason you should buy,this will be listened to over and over despite the flaws.Sound quality excellent but booklet poor,no liner notes whatsoever..i didnt need the lyrics again,was it to much to have a history of the album and maybe an explanation of how and why what tracks were used for the live disc., and what if any plans they have for the tapes of each recorded gig...maybe a 8 disc box set for the 40th anniversary of 'Exit Stage Left' ha ha i can but hope.I cant give it 5 stars,for this release i will settle for 4, for its 40th anniversary release it deserved better

Have the original LP, who can forget the opening Spirit of Radio track? So a remix worth purchasing. 2020 production, the 40th of Permanent Waves release. Product also includes excerpts from Rush World Tour promoting this album: 11 tracks, and includes 4 of the 6 tracks on Permanent Waves. Booklet titles these as World Tour 1980 Credits, and 12 are shown. Our absent track is A Passage to Bangkok, but which is on the 2112 Deluxe Edition. I'll access that later as I don't have a live version yet. 5 tracks each are from the Manchester Apollo and (the then) Hammersmith Odeon, London, now Hammersmith Apollo. Just 1 track from USA: Kiel Auditorium, St Louis, Missouri. This is the awesome Jacob's Ladder, which I've always liked. On the R40 Live DVD and CD set (which I also own) Geddy Lee introduces this song as "rarely played", hence a 2nd live version is now published. All tracks were "newly mixed" by Terry Brown, the original co-Producer of Permanent Waves. But, for now: excellent music for the price, and I fully like the live songs selected. A must have for all Rush fans, and fans of progressive music genre. Gone but never forgotten: Neil Peart in perfect form 4 decades ago, and such a creative lyricist. RIP and thanks for the memories.

I loved the very pretentious and exceedingly overblown Hemispheres album, so this came as a shock. Out went the very lengthy songs and sci-fi inspired lyrics and in came shorter tunes and more "social issues" based lyrics. Did it matter? Not at all! From the moment Spirit Of Radio erupted out of my speakers I knew Rush had done it again - they were different, but every bit as good. There is not a duff track on this album and the "long one" (a little over 9 minutes), Natural Science, is a tour de force. The accompanying live album is made up of performances from the tour, all of them bar one from England. It reminds me how brilliant they were on that tour - I saw them at the Deeside Leisure Centre in Chester, a boarded over ice rink! God, was it cold!! I repeated this error of judgement a few months later seeing Yes on the Drama tour - the less said about that debacle, the better.

Those folk that don't follow Rush probably aren't aware of the recent passing of their long time drummer, Neil Peart. Rush, a Canadian group that started in the 1970s in a similar style to Led Zeppelin, continued to release records well into the millennium though touring was largely scaled back after the 1990s. Peart was signed up as the drummer after the first album but was a staple of the group thereafter through such albums as 2112, A Farewell to Kings and this album, Permanent Waves, the source of possibly their biggest single success The Spirit of Radio. This collection includes the entire album remastered a few years ago and a further disc of live recordings made in London and Manchester from that album's tour including songs going right back to the start.I count myself as lucky to have seen Rush live in the UK (though not on this tour, sadly - the Hammersmith Odeon was always the superior venue compared with places like the Wembley Arena in my opinion) and though it is now unlikely that I shall repeat this, I found this album brought back a lot of memories and plenty of enjoyment. Thanks for everything, guys, and RIP Peart!