Signals marked a noted change in Rush's style of music, one which didn't necessarily sit well with everyone. Toning back the guitar work, the band instead focused on incorporating synthesizers into tracks, splitting their fan base in the process. Even critics were harsh of the change, with Rolling Stone panning the band for choosing synthesizers over Alex Lifeson's guitar work. It appeared that for the time you either liked or hated Signals.
Since then, it's gone on to be praised, with many retrospective polls and reviews citing it as among the best of its time. I think, if anyone cares about what I think, that it was just system shock for a lot of Rush fans back in 1982. They were already losing the rock opera and epicly long tracks which made the band popular by this point, and now the guitars were (purportedly) being taken away too. It was too much change for people.
Personally, I think opening track, Subdivisions is among one of Rush's best. It was one I played frequently when listening to their 1993 double disc greatest hits, Chronicles. Ironically, despite owning Signals back in the day, I frequented the best of album in lieu of their studio releases.
I had to roll my eyes at the song, Chemistry. Mainly because when I was in high school, I failed it before finally getting through my senior year. I hated that class, and having science thrown in my face as an adult, as if Geddy Lee were trying to teach me, just kind of nudged my funny bone.
Signals also contains another of my favorites, New World Man, another which I frequented in rotation from Chronicles. I also semi-enjoyed The Analog Kid. However, as a whole, Signals was a mix of good and forgettable, and I'm talking like the forgettable ones I couldn't even tell you how they go, and I literally just heard them.
Overall, the album was okay. I got a few tracks for my shuffle, and I'll take that win. What I'd like to hear from Rush, and perhaps this is a tall order, is an album I like from start to finish. That's not something that's happened to me but once, and it was 1993's Counterpart. I still have three albums to go, so it's possible. I'm not holding my breath, but it could happen.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS July 12, 1980 |
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS July 12, 1986 |
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