Rush “Permanent Waves” 1980. Yesterday, July 29th, was Geddy Lee’s 65th birthday (b. Gary Lee Weinrib, 1953) so I’m spinning the only Rush album we have – I’m not much of a Rush fan (though I did see them in concert once**). In fact, this is probably the first time I’ve played this LP but I’m not surprised that I recognize most of it, Rush being a staple on AOR stations like WAPL in my hometown and we’re guaranteed to hear at least one Rush song every time we visit.

Permanent Waves was Rush’s seventh studio release and it hit #3 in Canada and the UK, #4 in the US. The first two tracks are the ones I’m most familiar with as both were released as singles: “The Spirit of Radio” which hit #13 in the UK, #22 in Canada and #51 in the US; and “Freewill.” “Entre Nous” was also released as the final single from the LP. Allmusic says about Permanent Waves, “By 1980’s Permanent Waves, the modern sounds of new wave (the Police, Peter Gabriel, etc.) began to creep into Rush’s sound, but the trio still kept their hard rock roots intact. The new approach paid off – two of their most popular songs, the ‘make a difference’ anthem “Freewill,” and a tribute to the Toronto radio station CFNY, “The Spirit of Radio,” are spectacular highlights. Also included were two epics, the stormy ”Jacob’s Ladder“ and the album-closing ”Natural Science,“ which contains a middle section that contains elements of reggae. Geddy Lee also began singing in a slightly lower register around this time, which made their music more accessible to fans outside of the heavy prog rock circle. The album proved to be the final breakthrough Rush needed to become an arena headliner throughout the world, beginning a string of albums that would reach inside the Top Five of the U.S. Billboard album charts.”

**So I either saw Rush play at Alpine Valley in either June 1990 or June 1992. I looked at the setlists for both shows but this was of no help whatsoever because I don’t remember much beyond the parking lot. My friend Eric drove me and our friends Mike and Steve from Madison to the rolling hills of Wisconsin south of Milwaukee on a gorgeous summer afternoon. Upon arrival we proceeded to slam a bunch of beer, probably Budweiser which was Mike’s beer of choice, while loitering around the car because it was cheaper than buying beer inside and I know I was underage, not sure if the rest of the group was or not. So I was pretty drunk before we even got to our lawn “seats.” I think  we met up with some other friends and at least a few them fired up a joint or two. Between that smell, the cheap beer and the laser show, I ended up spending the concert quietly puking on the lawn, neatly covering up my mess with a discarded nacho tray. Blech. I vaguely remember Rush playing “Tom Sawyer” but the rest is lost to me.