About Signals
Signals is the band’s ninth studio album, released in 1982. It was the follow-up to the (what would become) seminal Moving Pictures album.
Stylistically, the album was a continuation of Rush’s foray into the technology-oriented 1980s through increased use of electronic instrumentation such as keyboards, sequencers, and electric violin. The songs got shorter too. In fact, “New World Man” clocked in at a swift 3:42–it was the last and quickest-composed song on the album, written primarily to even out the lengths of the two sides of the cassette version. The opening track, “Subdivisions,” is a staple of many of the band’s tours since its recording.
Signals was the band’s last collaboration with producer Terry Brown, who had co-produced every Rush album since 1975’s Fly by Night, and had engineered the eponymous first album in 1974.
Credits
Produced by
Rush and Terry Brown, Left Field
Arrangements
Rush and Terry Brown
Mastered by
Bob Ludwig and Brian Lee
Gateway Mastering Studios
Portland, Maine
Special guest performance
Ben Mink
Electric violins on Losing It
(appears courtesy of FM)
Art direction, graphics, and cover concept
Photography
Deborah Samuel
Photographic colour optics
Kineblok Inc.
Management
Ray Danniels
SRO Productions
Toronto
Executive Production
Moon Records
Liner Notes
Geddy Lee – Bass guitars, syntheizers, vocals (Pitcher)
Alex Lifeson – Electric and acoustic guitars, Taurus pedals (First Base)
Neil Peart – Drums and percussion (Third Base)
Recorded and mixed at Le Studio
Morin Heights, Quebec
April, May, June, and July 1982
Assisted by Robbie Whelan (Right Field)
Digitally mastered by JVC
Hydrant courtesy of the Department of Public Works, Toronto
Road Manager and Lighting Director: Howard Ungerleider
Concert Sound Engineer: Jon Erickson
Stage Managers: Nick Kotos and Liam Birt, Shortstop
Stage Right Technician and Crew Chief: William B. Birt
Stage Left Technician: Skip Gildersleeve
Centre Stage Technician: Larry Allen, Coach & Catcher
Guitar and Synthesizer Maintenance: Tony Geranios, Second Base
Stage Monitor Mixer: Steve Byron
Concert Security: Ian Grandy
Concert Projectionist: Lee Tenner
Personal Shreve-of-all Trades: Kevin Flewitt
Concert Sound: National Sound – Tom Linthicum, Fuzzy Frazer, and Dave Berman
Concert Lighting: See Factor International – Nick Kotos, Mike Weiss, Jeffrey Thomas McDonald, Mark Shane
Busheads and Truckfaces: Tom Whittaker, Billy Barlow, Lance Vaughn, Pat Lynes, Arthur MacLear, Red McBrine, Bob Hoeschel
Most Valuable Persons
At Le Studio: André, Yaël, Paul, Robbie, Richard, Solange, Nancy, Lina, Awesome André Moreau and Michel
Al, Pat, Jill, and Maria at The Baldwins; The Embers at Settlers Bay; Warren Cromartie and the Montreal Expos’; Intellivision Baseball; The Ziv Orchestra; Trevor and the Commons Hotel Trevors Tramps (34-15); the Griffin family and the people of NASA; Mr. O. Scar for pre-production work; Bill Churchman; all the Oak Manoroids at SRO
Special Awards for Technical Assistance: John Kaes and See Factor, Ted Veneman, Richard Ealey, Ron Shaughnessy, the Music Shoppe Toronto, the inflationary Ted McDonald, the Percussion Centre Fort Wayne, Tama drums, Avedis Zildjian cymbals
A fond farewell and best wishes to Michael Hirsh and Greg Connolly
© 1982 Mercury Records
© 1982 Anthem Entertainment
Awards
Billboard 200
#10UK Albums Chart
#3Certified Gold by RIAA
November 10, 1982Certified Platinum by RIAA
November 10, 1982Subdivisions
Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Lyrics: Neil Peart
Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown
Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone
Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone
Subdivisions —
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions —
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth
Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night
Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight
Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights…