Power Windows

Album Context

Power Windows represents the peak of Rush's synthesizer era — and their most globe-trotting recording yet. After the difficult Grace Under Pressure sessions, the band sought a fresh start with new producer Peter Collins and engineer James "Jimbo" Barton. Lifeson described the experience as more pleasant and fun, saying the band decided "not to hold anything back." The album was recorded across five different studios in four countries between April and August 1985.

Writing began in February 1985 at Elora Sound Studios in Ontario, where Peart wrote lyrics at a small desk "about the right size for a five-year-old" in the farmhouse while Lee and Lifeson worked on music in the adjacent barn. Peart had outline lyrics for "The Big Money," "Mystic Rhythms," and "Marathon" before sessions began, and researched the Manhattan Project extensively for the song of the same name. A five-day warm-up tour in Florida in March 1985 let the band test new songs live before recording.

The production was extraordinarily layered. Andy Richards was brought in for additional synthesizer programming, and a 30-piece orchestra recorded strings at Abbey Road Studios. Peart's drum tech drove to London specifically to collect African and Indian drums for "Mystic Rhythms" and bongos for "Territories." This was the first Rush album released directly to CD, and the first where Lee switched to a Wal bass — a small English-made instrument he'd use as his primary bass through Roll the Bones.

The album cover continues Rush's tradition of wordplay: television sets (a type of "power window"), a man using a remote control to operate a sash window, and binoculars as another kind of "power window." Lyrically, Peart's focus on various manifestations of power — financial, military, political, personal — gives the album a thematic unity. Power Windows reached #10 on the Billboard 200.