Power Windows is the twelveth studio album by Rush, released in 1985. Released at the height of the "synth-era", this album showed Rush going full 80's with digital production, keyboards, synthesizers, sequencers, samplers, etc. The sound was also simplified more, going from progressive rock to a more electronic, arena rock sound.
Regarded by fans and critics alike as one of the band's finest albums, Power Windows contains some of their most popular songs, such as "The Big Money", "Marathon", and "Mystic Rhythms". "The Big Money" and "Mystic Rhythms" also were supported with two music videos that got a lot of airplay on MTV.
Tracklist:
- "The Big Money"
- "Grand Designs"
- "Manhattan Project"
- "Marathon"
- "Territories"
- "Middletown Dreams"
- "Emotion Detector"
- "Mystic Rhythms"
Principal Members:
- Geddy Lee - lead vocals, bass, bass pedals, synthesizer
- Alex Lifeson - guitar
- Neil Peart - drums, percussion
Big Tropes go around the world!
- Animated Music Video: The video for "The Big Money" featured CGI that's primitive by today's standards.
- Brought To You By The Letter "M"
- Darker and Edgier: "Mystic Rhythms".
- Epic Rocking: No song on this album is under 5 minutes. "Marathon" and "Territories" are both over 6 minutes.
- Lighter and Softer
- Literary Allusion Title: Peart has confirmed that "The Big Money" was named after a novel of the same name in the U.S.A. trilogy by John Dos Passos, of whom he is an admirer. However, he has also remarked that the lyrical content of the song differs somewhat from the thematic ideas presented in Dos Passos' novel. Dos Passos had previously provided the title for "The Camera Eye" on Moving Pictures.
- Money Song: "The Big Money".
- New Sound Album: Rush's synth-driven sound goes digital.
- One-Word Title: "Marathon" and "Territories".
- Small Town Boredom: "Middletown Dreams".
- Up to Eleven: With the synthesizers.
- Visual Pun: The album cover.
