Rush – Permanent Waves (40th Anniversary)

This 2xcd set of the classic "Permanent Waves" is a really solid buying option if you don't want to buy the more expensive vinyl or box set edition. I'm assuming most people considering buying this already have the original album in some form in their collection. But if not, this remaster is an adequate reproduction of the original album. To my ears it almost sounds like a full remix at times, but it is not. Mainly I notice this on "the Spirit of the Radio", as Geddy's vocals seem to be brought to the front of the mix more than before. I could just be forgetting the original sound, but it seems a bit unnatural and forced. The rest of the remastered album seems just fine tho. Not too loud or anything- it's quite crankable actually.
With this 40th anniversary set it's quite clear that the live disc is the main selling point. It's a pretty solid sounding set, even if at times I felt the mix was a bit unbalanced and favored the low end of Geddy's bass more than the rest of the band. This is easily remedied by just turning the bass adjustment down a touch.
This set really is a steal. I believe I paid less than $15 for it. Obviously you get the original album which is quite short, but the live set is quite massive as it takes up all of disc 2, at about 79 minutes. I think the package could've greatly benefited from more extensive liner notes or essays from the band or those close to them, but I'm happy with what this is for the price.
Also I'm a big fan of the updated cover artwork, as I never was a massive fan of the original.

I'm really not a big fan of the remaster of the main album. While the "loudness bias" has been removed as compared to the Sector 2 remix version, in my opinion this version sounds closed off, muffled, and overall just worse than anything before it. I believe the only reason to buy this 2CD set would be to have the live tracks on the second CD.