Signals
Mercury/Polygram, 9 September, 1982.
Subdivisions (5:33) The Analog Kid (4:46) Chemistry (4:56) Digital Man (6:20) The Weapon (Part II of Fear) (6:22) New World Man (3:41) Losing It (4:51) Countdown (5:49)
Geddy Lee - Bass/Synthesizers/Vocals. Alex Lifeson - Acoustic & Electric Guitars/Taurus Pedals. Neil Peart - Drums/Percussion.
Additional Musician: Ben Mink - Electric Violin (Track 7).
Lyrics by Peart, Music by Lee/Lifeson, except Track 3 lyrics by Lee/Lifeson/Peart.
Produced by Rush and Terry Brown. Engineered by Paul Northfield. Assisted by Robbie Whelan.
‘Moving Pictures’ might have finished with the message that ‘signals get lost’, but the upbeat synthesizers that open ‘Subdivisions’ suggest they’ve been rediscovered – though to many observers, this intensely autobiographical song about the self-imposed structures of society was a step too far into the contemporary. Not least Alex himself, whose guitars are no more than one of many electrical signals, each vying for a share of the bandwidth in this opening song. Geddy’s bass is also noticeably absent, but that is through his own choice.
‘Signals’ is mostly about the music, the band’s determination to take their influences centre stage resulting in a decidedly comprehensive overview of what was happening stylistically at the time. ‘New World Man’ is an almost-direct homage to that other power trio, The Police, and songs like ‘Digital Man’ are a patchwork of musical ideas, according to Neil, “We ended up with three pieces of one song held together by Crazy Glue!” There might have been a danger that the album would have resulted as a musical gloop but, despite the internal tensions that were part and parcel of the production, the result is surprisingly good. Following the ill-fated opener there are guitars a-plenty, for example the backbone to ‘The Analog Kid’ presents a frenetic play-off between axe and sticks.
Where there is a central concept to the album it comes across as one man’s trial. ‘Digital Man’ is similar in many ways to ‘Tom Sawyer’, continuing the journey into the digital age as the analog kid becomes a man and does his best to get ahead. The second part of the Fear trilogy is ‘The Weapon’, reminiscent of ‘Room 101’ in ‘1984’ as our ordinary Joe faces his demons. We meet him again in the next song, ‘New World Man’ as he sets out on the path of life, “old enough to know what’s right, but young enough not to choose it.” Finally, it is an older, sadder Joe we see in ‘Losing It’. Side-glances to a despairing Hemingway and a fictional ballet dancer capture the moment when even the most creative and artistic find that the spark has gone.
Not the happiest of themes but to the band at the time, the soul searching was very real. The final song, ‘Countdown’ doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album but it was too big an opportunity to miss, documenting the band’s experiences of the Space Shuttle launch through a mixture of real radio footage, paced vocals and multiple layers of music. A good song nonetheless, the fade-out leaves us hanging in mid-flight, as if to remind us that what goes up, must come down.