My All Time Fave Albums Pt.1

To kick off my blog, I've decided I'm gonna talk about my fave albums.  These are the albums that have changed my life musically, and in a lot of ways emotionally  This is my religion.  Those albums that you never tire of, and could listen to at any time. The ones that take you to a time and place that you never forget.  Most of the records come from my fave artists of all time as well, and eventually I'll tackle that and share with you too.

So to start off, I'm going with Rush's 1980 masterpiece Permanent Waves.

The very first album by any artist to be released in the 80's (release date: Jan 1,1980), Permanent Waves is an album for me that encompasses all that is brilliant about my fave band.  It is the bridge between the classic prog style of albums such as A Farewell To Kings and Hemishperes, to the more modern approach they would adopt on such devastating albums as Moving Pictures and Signals.  This album has the perfect combination of  hard rock singles (The Spirit Of Radio, Freewill), deep tracks (Entre Nous, Different Strings) and amazing epics (Jacobs Ladder, Natual Science).

This album was not my introduction to Rush, (that title goes to a battered old  vinyl copy of All The Worlds A Stage), but to this day remains a constant in my listening rotation.

I was 11 years old and was already into bands such as KISS (still a fave), Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, and Queen.  I loved my live Rush album, so I put together enough cash to buy PW.  A life changing moment.  These guys had the power of KISS, the eclectic variety of Queen, with musicianship I was not familiar with.  I have vivid memories of pouring over the lyrics and liner notes on hot summer days, with the album blasting out of my little portable record player.  I had no idea what most of the lyrics were about, but there was something there ,and it has stuck with me to this day...except I understand what the lyrics mean now...

My favorite tracks have varied a bit over the years.  I never tire of The Spirit Of Radio or Freewill (which has Alex's best solo ever IMO). Entre Nous has always been near the top, so brilliant!  As I've gotten older the one that floors me every time is Jacobs Ladder.  So much atmosphere and mood, a great and heavy track.  A showstopper live.

I was too young to have gone to the tour when it passed through my neck of the woods in March of 1980, and is a show I always wish I could have seen.

Oh well, there's always the boots.

;)

Thanks for reading, I'll be back with more awesome albums and random thoughts!

Cheers!