Best Rush Album [Poll Closes May 7]

The Police would be jealous, right???

NEW WORLD MAN WILL WIPE THE MARBLE FLOOR CLEAN

No seriously, I do not understand how they did this faux reggae thing on "Digitial Man". That shit is the fucking deal.

Stewart Copeland would be so goddamn jealous I know we've been over this before but oh my god.

NEW WORLD MAN

I can't even breathe, man. That is just the absolute shit.

"Losing it"...oh my god. I put that on a comp of sad songs I made in 1989. That shit goes way deep with me.

I'd never say Signals was their best album, but Jesus. I just can't stand it.

Music is the most incredible thing in the world.

Peart actually got lessons from Copeland at one point.

Yes, I'm in the process of discovering 80s Rush right now too. I'm wrapping my brain around Power Windows and Grace Under Pressure right now...

Oh I fucking love Power Windows, dude. Meant to play that last night and didn't get to it. Wish I had Grace Under Pressure on CD. Hell I don't even think I've even got that on cassette anymore.

Quick question, do Rush sell out shows?

Sometimes they do. Follow this link for attendance data on their last tour. I assume the financial info is gross, not net.

http://www.rushisaband.com/tour.php

i find it hard not to listen to Hemispheres with a complete, calm smile on my face, in a room where there is no time or place...

i had forgotten how much farewell/hemispheres seems like a 2112 rewrite

i prefer 'hemispheres' to '2112' -- the sidelength suite is my favorite of their songs, and side two is perfect. it's their 'close to the edge' imho, and "la villa strangiato" gives "siberian khatru" a run for its money in GPM (goosebumps per minute). but i'd take '2112' over 'farewell to kings' for sure

Farewell to Kings has "Xanadu", which is frankly better than any side 2 track on 2112.

side 2 of 2112 is kind of an afterthought for me

but side 1 is so iconic that i dunno, for that stretch of time it dominates the whole idea of the band, so that the albums after that for a while are kind of like, rush doin rush stuff, until the blues/zep/etc. elements have been kind of refined out / absorbed into the 80s style and it seems like things have moved on

I also prefer Hemispheres to 2112, but Hemispheres is one of my favourite albums of all time, so...

does HOld Your Fire suck

No, I think its great. Synth-y in a good way.

As in, I think people have a problem with the production on this album but the sound of it seems inseperable from the writing.

I love hold your fire

I also love hold your fire

'open secrets', 'high water' both slay

I think of power windows and hold your fire as twin records, they have the same production pretty much, but power windows got all the worldly songs and HYF got the introspective ones so its even more deeply uncool than baseline rush

Love Hold Your Fire. Production suits the songs, but there's some incredible playing, particularly the drum fills and guitar solos (even more so than usual). I love the arrangements, too. Like Power WIndows better, though.

thanks dudes. I checked it out and I actually liked it a lot on first listen! reminded me of Peter Gabriel at times.

also checked out Roll the Bones. like quite a few of the songs but the main thing that bugs me is the production is sterile as hell, and the arrangements fairly dull. it sounds like session musicians playing, nothing to stand out as Rush. yet I don't *dislike* it, but weirdly it sounds more dated than the albums that came before it. the bass on the title track sounds like the generic "funk-pop" bass that was popular in those days.

I guess now I've heard all of their albums except the debut and Test for Echo.

Ha, it's possible I'm in the same boat! I mean, I love Rush, and have for ... 25 years? Wow. But I don't think I have ever heard the first album or listened to Test for Echo more than once.

Of all the Rush albums, Presto seems the most outlier to me. Almost singer-songwritery, with this really intriguing spare production totally unlike anything that came before or after.

test for echo is definitely one of the weakest rush records but 'time and motion' is a neat song

roll the bones is also pretty weak but i like 'dreamline' and 'ghost of a chance' is about as close as rush ever came to writing a love song which makes it kinda interesting

presto is definitely a cut above the other 90s-alt-rock-period rush records

cool and remote like dancing girls

For me it's a tie between Hemispheres, Moving Pictures and Caress Of Steel. Rush are one of my favourite bands but I've never felt any of their albums had an "all killer" track list.

I've got the 1989-2007 box set on my wishlist but not sure if I want to get it. Worried it's going to be just diminishing returns. I've heard everything from Fly By Night to Grace Under Pressure and I have a copy of Power Windows waiting.

oh yeah "force ten" is the best song ever

oh wait sorry i was thinking of "prime mover"

"Force Ten" IS the best song ever

the point of the journey is not to arrive

tough times!

Demand tough talk.

anything can happen *4 bar long bass riff*

"Time Stands Still" is great; "Turn the Page" and "Force Ten" are good. Otherwise, I never got into Hold Your Fire. A Show of Hands mostly contains all the 83-89 Rush that I need, and even there I usually skip "Mission".

despite there being a bunch of decent-to-good songs there, Hold Your Fire, Presto, and Roll the Bones is kind of a weak run of albums. I was very happy when Counterparts came out and they ditched that thin, trebly sound for more chunky rock.

That's interesting, because I was really (at the time) into HYF, Presto and RTB, and heard Cpunterparts as a concerted grunge bid. Of course, in retrospect it's pretty much a smart transition, and really sets the template for (slightly) heavier Rush from the '90s on.

Other than Clockwork Angels (which I have a giant conflict of interest about since I worked for their label when it came out), Counterparts is my favorite post-80s Rush album by far.

clockwork angels and vapor trails are both fantastic, the 90s records all sound like a mistake after hearing those

One Little Victory prob the best Rush opener since Show Don't Tell, for sure.

actually i like 'dreamline' a lot in that category but the rest of the album doesn't really follow up on it

I do like that by and large each Rush album has entered at least one song into the always happy to hear it canon.

Counterparts was definitely a nod to grunge, yet I think it holds up better than a lot of the grunge albums of the time.

"Dreamline" is indeed a great tune

Is "We're only at home when we're on the run" the last notable nerd-quotable Neil Peart line? Or maybe "it's not the heat it's the humanity?" I guess lots of people use that one.

Ha, listening to "Caress of Steel" and the coda of "The Necromancer" is totally Rush doing Springsteen.

Synth Rush all fuckin day today. Power Windows then Signals then Hold Your Fire.

Can anyone resist grinning at the minnow-wiggle bass statement at the beginning of "prime mover"?

Also, fyi, a spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission

Like Geddy's funky (but not slap-funk) turn in the '80s.

http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/images/books/guitar-player-04.1986/guitar-player-04.1986-1-s.jpg
http://toygunslinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Davy-Crockett.jpg

i really love the way Geddy sings the old songs like he clearly didn't know he'd be expected to sing them again 40 years later! the notes in "Anthem" are insane, and he's not even really falsettoing.

I mean I do think it's my least favorite era of him vocally because he really had a much richer tone in his mid-range and even those notes were often pretty high!