Power Windows (album)

Rush recorded Power Windows from April to August 1985 in five different recording studios. The group recorded Power Windows with a new producer, Peter Collins.[3] During their warm-up gigs in Florida, the band first met Australian engineer James "Jimbo" Barton who Collins had recommended. They accepted, and Peart later praised Barton's contributions and suggestions to the band, considering his small recommendations to improve a song, which he referred to as "events", was "just what we were looking for".[4] Lifeson compared the experience of recording Power Windows as more pleasant and fun than Grace Under Pressure, which presented various problems for the band. He added that the album contained elements that Rush had not incorporated before and broke several boundaries that had existed with previous albums.[3] Lee supported this view and said the group decided "not to hold anything back" and make the album first and focus later on the music's onstage presentation.[6]

Rush relocated to AIR Studios in Montserrat, the ruins of which are pictured here in 2013, to record guitar overdubs.

Recording began at The Manor Studios in Oxfordshire, England, where the basic rhythm, keyboards, and bass tracks were recorded more quickly than usual, in the span of five weeks, to capture more spontaneous performances ready for overdubs.[6][4] Here, the music was recorded using two Studer A800 24-track tape machines with an SSL console.[6] It was during sessions at The Manor where Rush brought in musician Andy Richards to play additional synthesizers and assist in their programming. His rig consisted of a PPG Wave 2.3 synthesizer connected to a Roland Super Jupiter module through a MIDI system, a Yamaha QX-1 digital sequencer, and a Roland Jupiter-8 and Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.[6] In one instance, Peart's drum technician Larry Allen drove with him to London to collect a set of African and Indian drums to use on "Mystic Rhythms", and bongos for "Territories".[4]

In May 1985, the band had relocated to AIR Studios in the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean. They had discussed recording at the studio for several years and booked the facility for three weeks for Lifeson to record guitar overdubs.[4] The tracks were put down using two Studer tape recorders with a Neve console. Collins recalled this period of recording as painstaking work due to the various combination of microphone and amplifier set-ups that were experimented.[6] This was followed by a return to England in June to record in London, firstly at SARM East Studios. The band chose to live together in a single apartment rather than separate hotel rooms. At SARM East, the guitar solos and Lee's vocals were put down.[4]

Mixing began in July after the band took a one-week break from the material, which coincided with decisions on the final running order, artwork, credits, and photos.[4] In August, the string section was recorded which featured a 30-piece orchestra in studio 1 at Abbey Road Studios. Rush wanted musician and arranger Anne Dudley to complete the string arrangements, which she agreed to do,[7] and the group was conducted by Andrew Pryce Jackman. A 25-piece choir was recorded at Angel Recording Studios for the ending of "Marathon".[4][7] The album completed, Lee oversaw the mastering in New York City in September, and proofs were approved for the album cover.[4]

Power Windows lyrics are focused primarily on various manifestations of power. For example, "Territories" comments on nationalism around the world. Like "Subdivisions" from Signals, "Middletown Dreams" explores suburban monotony and the average person's attempts to temporarily escape it.[8] "Grand Designs" was partly written to criticise mainstream music which the group believed was too superficial. The song also echoes individualistic themes such as non-conformism.[9]

"The Big Money" features the sampling of Peart's voice using an AMS sampler and triggered through his Simmons drum kit.[7]

"Manhattan Project" explores the development and explosion of the first nuclear weapon at the Manhattan Project. The track was difficult for the band to put together, partly due to Peart's difficulty in writing lyrics from an objective point of view, rather than as an observer of the event. Lifeson recalled that Peart had "thoroughly" researched on the topic beforehand.[3]

"Territories" was another difficult track for Rush to complete. After Peart had written some lyrical ideas he went through them with Lee, who noticed it was telling a story and found them difficult to sing once he and Lifeson had developed music for them. Peart then rewrote them in a more direct way which suited Lee better.[3]

"Middletown Dreams" involved several rewrites before the band reached a working arrangement. After the album was completed, Lifeson expressed some dissatisfaction with the guitar parts, but it grew to become a "very satisfying" track for him.[3]

"Marathon" was anticipated by Lifeson to be difficult to arrange and record, but it turned out to be one of the easiest songs on the album to complete.[3] It contains various samples, the fewest recorded overdubs, and incorporates the string section and choir recorded in London. Collins had the idea of using a choir and the band, upon witnessing the recording, saw the humour in having "pregnant women and old men sing our song".[7] Lifeson considered the song to be close to Peart as he had taken up cycling during days off on the Grace Under Pressure tour, riding 100 miles each time.[3]

"Emotion Detector" was initially anticipated to be easy to complete, but was actually difficult.[3]

"Mystic Rhythms", as described by Lee, is "the most synthetic track on the record" with each instrument being fed through "a synthesized something".[7] It features Lifeson playing an acoustic Ovation guitar which generated a synthesizer-like sound once fed through amplification.[7]

"Territories" features the lyric "Better beer", which is an inside joke. Peart played his drum kit without a snare drum, and the middle section features a sample of Lee's voice saying the phrase "Round and round".[7]

The pictures on the front and back covers were painted by Hugh Syme, from reference photos taken by photographer Dimo Safari, and the model is Neill Cunningham from Toronto.[10][11]