Expanded 40th anniversary reissue of Rush's 'Permanent Waves' album due out in May

Posted By: Staff
March 26, 2020 @ 1:30 pm
Music News

UMe/Mercury/Anthem

UMe/Mercury/AnthemThe next installment of Rush‘s 40th anniversary album series will be an expanded version of the Canadian prog-rock trio’s seventh studio effort, 1980’s Permanent Waves, which will be released on May 29.

Originally released in January 1980, Permanent Waves reached #3 on the Billboard 200, and featured two songs that became classic rock radio staples — “The Spirit of Radio” and “Freewill.” The album has been RIAA certified Platinum for sales of one million copies in the U.S.

The reissue will be available in multiple configurations and formats, including a Super Deluxe Edition featuring two CDs and three 180-gram-vinyl LPs. The collection will include the 2015 remastered version of Permanent Waves on CD for the first time, plus previously unreleased and newly restored live performances from three stops on Rush’s 1980 tour: London; Manchester, U.K.; and St. Louis. The bonus LPs will include one extra performance that doesn’t appear on the live bonus CD.

The Super Deluxe package also features a 40-page hardcover book with unreleased photos, new artwork by album-cover artist Hugh Syme, and an extensive essay; a replica of the 1980 Permanent Waves tour program; a replica of rare 1980 U.K.-only tour program; a poster; replica backstage laminates; three reproduced lyric sheets featuring late drummer Neil Peart‘s handwritten words for “The Spirit of Radio,” “Entre Nous” and “Natural Science”; and more.

The Permanent Waves reissue also will be available as standalone two-CD and three-LP sets, and as a digital download.

Here’s the track list of the three-LP Permanent Waves reissue:

LP 1: Permanent Waves
Side 1
“The Spirit of Radio”
“Freewill”
“Jacob’s Ladder”

Side 2
“Entre Nous”
“Different Strings”
“Natural Science”
Bonus Live Content: Permanent Waves World Tour 1980 (previously unreleased except *)

LP 2
Side 3
“Beneath, Between & Behind” (Live in Manchester)
“By-Tor & The Snow Dog” (Live in London)
“Xanadu” (Live in London)

Side 4
“The Spirit of Radio” (Live in Manchester)
“Natural Science” (Live in Manchester)
“A Passage to Bangkok” (Live in Manchester)*
“The Trees” (Live in Manchester)

LP 3
Side 5
“Cygnus X-1” (Live in London)
“Cygnus X-1 Book II” (Live in London)

Side 6
“Closer to the Heart” (Live in Manchester)
“Jacob’s Ladder” (Live in St. Louis)
“Freewill” (Live in London)

* = does not appear on bonus CD.