A Juilliard prodigy, let’s be honest—most of us reading this site and writing this review to be truthful, know Jordan Rudess as the keyboard player in Dream Theater for 25 years. Alongside that, though, he’s had a remarkable solo career, and “Permission To Fly” is from the more “song-based” end of things, if you will.
To that end, the opener “The Final Threshold” is nearly perfect prog. From the overture opening to the floating, slightly grandiose verses.
Joe Payne has a voice that is perfect for this, and the multi-layered approach is perfectly illustrated on the brilliant “Into The Liar”—where Rudess gets to show his skill, but it’s matched by the rest of the band.
And it feels like a band, even on the tech wizardry of “Haunted Reverie.” Rudess might take centre stage, but he’s happy to bask in its gentle limelight.
At its best—as on “The Alchemist”—it sounds like a soundtrack playing to a film in Rudess’ head. The type of record where you’d call it overbearing, and it would say ‘thanks very much!’
Even the shorter ones, like “Embers” right in the middle of the album, as a kind of sorbet, have so much to enjoy and so much to find within. In this case, the strings are stunning—only matched by the guitar solo.
There is an interesting lack of “metal.” After all, he can get that in his day job. Instead, “Shadow Of The Moon” soars in quite an AOR type way. Which only serves to make the way more strident epic, “Eternal” stand out. The keyboards here are what you’ve waited for throughout the whole thing. Bewildering, dazzling, epic in equal measure, it shines.
Mostly, though, given that is a plea for a gentle world, it’s not surprising that “Permission To Fly” is as smooth as it is plaintive. “Footsteps In The Snow” is both of those things, and when the hook goes “racing through time,” it feels that it’s looking at 2024 through the gaze of one that despairs.
And it’s not hard to think of “Dreamer” as the kind of thing that’s playing as the end credits roll. The strings are lush and the noise, fertile.
Yet somehow, too, it gives hope—hope of a better world. A world that can be kinder, gentler, more equal.
Because after all, if people are making records as good as this one, then it can’t be all bad. Think of “Permission To Fly” as the soaring, graceful silver lining.
Rating: 9/10
REVIEW: JORDAN RUDESS – PERMISSION TO FLY (2024)
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