Permanent Waves - Rush (1980)

Ideated from: Some selections from Youtuber Rick Beato’s 40 Greatest-Sounding Albums video

Rush were in top form here, and were about to kiss their progressive origins mostly goodbye. This is kind of a last hurrah for the rough-edged turn-on-a-dime sound of 70s Rush.

You have two huge radio hits front-loaded, followed by a bit of proggy exploration on the second side.

so does it sound great?

“How well-recorded is this Rush album?” is basically the same question as “How much detail can we hear of Neil Peart’s drums on this Rush album?”. You get to hear him cut loose, and everybody else is well-represented too.