Best Rush Album [Poll Closes May 7]

I burned "The Manhattan Project" and "The Big Money" onto my iPod a couple of weeks ago; the synth textures and Synclavier effects on the former would be the envy of Some Great Reward-era Depeche Mode.

radiant cocktail of rock

radiant rocktail of cock

I knew there was a Best Rush Album thread!

I just bought Signals on CD! I don't think I've ever owned that on CD! I'm such a goddamn happy camper I don't know what to do with myself. SUBDIVISIONS ALONE!

Holy shit people I am DYING here, listen the the faux reggae beat of "Digital Man"!!!

to me Signals seems to belong more to the run of albums after it than what came before

True

I would go all-in on super deluxe editions of Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, and Hold Your Fire but AFAIK apart from that "Power Windows Demos" bootleg CD (which isn't as interesting as it seems) there's little in the way of extras outside of live shows. I don't think they ever worked in a way that generated lots of outtakes or alternate directions.

Well that run of albums is notable in that even though they were a multiplatinum smash and worldwide megastars, they just kept churning out an album pretty much every year! It's hard to think of another band who refused to rest on their laurels to such an extent. Such output seems to tell me they had a lot of clarity when they went into the studio, hence the lack of outtakes

to me Signals seems to belong more to the run of albums after it than what came before

― imago, Wednesday, August 16, 2023 3:44 PM (yesterday)

glad there ended up being so much Hold Your Fire chat here, because I think that might be my answer (having heard everything between Moving Pictures and it over the last couple of days)

― imago, Wednesday, August 16, 2023 3:12 PM (yesterday)

I appreciate how their first 3 live albums serve as lines of demarcation in their catalogue, like ending credit scenes from a cinematic entry in some grand trilogy. While I don't view "Different Stages" as sharing a similar role, it does serve as a nice in-joke to their whole "trilogies have 4 parts" ethos.

As for HYF, I learned that the key to appreciating it as a whole album (rather than a just a delivery system for the "Force Ten"/"Time Stand Still" opening salvo) is to view it as a prog-leaning New Age-adjacent record, like if Windham Hill let Michael Hedges or Alex DeGrassi create their own sub-label. The choir vocals/synths, calm strings, and empty space of "Mission", "Tai Shan", "Prime Mover", and "High Water" make a fairly enjoyable listen. If you can turn off the whole "Is this supposed to be Rush? Where's the distorted riffage and/or wild drum/bass interplay?" part of your brain - and besides, those *are* there, just in a very subordinate role to those other 3 elements listed above - it is damn near transcendent.

One other HYF point that someone made in a comment section from a surely-dead prog-rock blog that I wish I could find: "Open Secrets" might (ahem) secretly be a great "Invisible Touch"-era Genesis song, especially the chorus.

turns out the person why recommended me HYF was also busy doing a huge in-depth interview about it too :)

https://www.spin.com/2023/08/band-jury-fire-toolz-rush-hold-your-fire/

I remember reading something (no doubt linked to on this thread somewhere) about each Rush album evolution coming in pairs.

to me Signals seems to belong more to the run of albums after it than what came before

It felt like a huge departure from Moving Pictures, which in itself was a little bit removed from the albums immediately prior.

HEMISPHERES

i like their 1st album

y'know before they became libertarians

didja get my skrewdriver joke

ivy. OTM