Hemispheres or Close to the Edge?

[WildRanger]

Most prog Rush album or the most acclaimed Yes album?
Pick a side.

I'm going with CTTE.

[RoeDent]

Most prog Rush album

Umm...Clockwork Angels would like a word with you.

[Stadler]

Most prog Rush album

Umm...Clockwork Angels would like a word with you.

No, I'm good with Hemispheres in that slot.   Four songs, one an album side and another a 10 minute instrumental; doesn't get much more prog than that.  Even the one thing that CA has - a cohesive story - can be fit to Hemispheres.  On later albums, Neil would often have a "theme" to an album, and the theme for "Hemispheres" is "balance".   Both Circumstances (one of my favorite Neil lyrics, by the way) and The Trees can be cast in the light of "balance".   

For me, Hemispheres.    It's one of my top five albums of all time and while CTTE is good, it's not at that level (though to be fair, Going For The One is my number one).

[The Walrus]

Clockwork isn't nearly as prog as Hemispheres. I picked Hemispheres easily, but I really don't like Yes, so I'm biased.

[El Barto]

I see this being a blowout in Yes's favor, but I'm going with H. I dig the shit out of CttE, but H is my favorite Rush album and perhaps my favorite Rush song.

[pg1067]

Geez...this is like being asked to choose between your children (except that neither of these albums is going through an ornery teenage phase).  I'll have to think about this for a bit.

I went back and looked at the 2012 Rolling Stone reader's poll about favorite prog album of all time.  Hemispheres was #8, and CttE was #3.  Of course, 2112 (at #2) beat out both of them, so....

Most prog Rush album

Umm...Clockwork Angels would like a word with you.

Tell Clockwork Angels to sit down and be quiet.   

[King Postwhore]

This is like asking to pick your favorite child out of your 2 children.

[King Postwhore]

Most prog Rush album

Umm...Clockwork Angels would like a word with you.

As one of the Biggest Rush fans here.....


No, just no.

[TAC]

I would take the worst Rush album over anything Yes ever did.

[LudwigVan]

I would take the worst Rush album over anything Yes ever did.

One lick in Siberian Khatru has more balls in it than all of Hold Your Fire

[bill1971]

I would take the worst Rush album over anything Yes ever did.

One lick in Siberian Khatru has more balls in it than all of Hold Your Fire

I would take Rush's eight best album against Yes's third best album.

[The Walrus]

I would take a wound up kick in the balls over Yes's best album 

[bill1971]

Actually both are amazing songs, I just prefer Rush but think Close to the Edge is just as good of a prog song. Yes's run of

The Yes Album
Fragile
Close to the Edge

Is up there with any three albums of any band except for maybe Queensryche's run of

Dedicated to Chaos
Frequency Unknown
Queensryhce self titled.

[Lethean]

Actually both are amazing songs, I just prefer Rush but think Close to the Edge is just as good of a prog song. Yes's run of

The Yes Album
Fragile
Close to the Edge

Is up there with any three albums of any band except for maybe Queensryche's run of

Dedicated to Chaos
Frequency Unknown
Queensryhce self titled.

 

[Mladen]

Hemispheres might be a great album, but Close to the Edge is 10 out of 10. Pretty much a masterpiece.

[busty sinclair]

Close to the edge > Hemispheres

Rush discography > Yes discography

[pg1067]

Actually both are amazing songs, I just prefer Rush but think Close to the Edge is just as good of a prog song.

The original post indicates we're debating between the albums and not the title tracks, but I'd still have the same "choosing between children" quandary if we were only talking about the songs.

[Stadler]

Actually both are amazing songs, I just prefer Rush but think Close to the Edge is just as good of a prog song.

The original post indicates we're debating between the albums and not the title tracks, but I'd still have the same "choosing between children" quandary if we were only talking about the songs.

What's weird is, I love Hemispheres the album better, but I might prefer the title track of CTTE over Hemispheres the song, and while LVS is better than anything on both records, And You And I might be second.   It's not that I love Circumstances or The Trees that much better than Siberian Khatru, it's just that as a whole Hemispheres really works for me.

[The Letter M]

Even though I am a Rush fan first and foremost, I did sit and think about this for a minute or so before deciding on Hemispheres.

I haven't spun the album as a whole in quite some time, and aside from listening to live tracks from the Hemispheres tour, I haven't heard the album version of the title track in awhile either, but I love it just the same, and I love the songs on Side 2 just as much if not more, especially "La Villa Strangiato" (which is FUN to play on the drums).

While I appreciate CTTE for what it means for Yes and their history, it took me an AWFUL long time to really dig it. The albums around it were far easier for me to understand and enjoy as a whole, especially Fragile, TFTO (for as bloated as it is), and even TYA and Relayer, they were all pretty much instant hits for me, but CTTE, especially the title track, took awhile for me to appreciate.

Seeing this post puts me in the mood to spin my Hemispheres live album in my car on my drive home tonight.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Gotta give the edge to Close to the Edge.  I was obsessed with that song when I first got that CD back in '92/'93-ish.  As much as I love Rush (best band ever), I never went through that kind of obsession phase with the Hemispheres song.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Favourite song of all time vs. least favourite Rush epic?

Yeah, no contest here.

[SoundscapeMN]

Hemispheres vs Relayer would be a much better match.

[TAC]

This is like asking to pick your favorite child out of your 2 children.

Uh..NO.

I would take the worst Rush album over anything Yes ever did.

One lick in Siberian Khatru has more balls in it than all of Hold Your Fire

Yeah, I'm being wise. I just cannot get into Yes.

[?]

I love Rush more as a band, but CTTE (song and album) beats Hemispheres in my books.

[Zydar]

I love Rush more as a band, but CTTE (song and album) beats Hemispheres in my books.

Yup.

[jammindude]

I think I have something controversial to say about this.

As good as those classic Yes albums are....Eddie Offord should have been shot.   I really loathe the sound on those classic Yes records.   Relayer is the worst (sound wise)....everything just sounds so “tinny” and it just puts an unbearable “screech” on Howe’s already “jangly” guitar sound. 

I don”t even know if that makes any sense.   I mean, I *LOVE* the music, but the sound on those albums is really dated, and quite frankly, awful.   

Rush’s 70s albums sound infinitely better than any of Yes’ 70s albums do.

[Elite]

Favourite song of all time vs. least favourite Rush epic?

Yeah, no contest here.

I thiught it was for songs as well, but apparently we’re choosing between the albums. That doesn’t change my vote though; CTTE all the way

[Mladen]

As good as those classic Yes albums are....Eddie Offord should have been shot.   I really loathe the sound on those classic Yes records.   Relayer is the worst (sound wise)....everything just sounds so “tinny” and it just puts an unbearable “screech” on Howe’s already “jangly” guitar sound.

Interestingly enough, I think that screech is a signature sound of Steve Howe. It sounds like a car build of a guitar driving across your brain.

[Polarbear]

I love Rush more as a band, but CTTE (song and album) beats Hemispheres in my books.

Yup.

Third!

[Ninjabait]

Definitely Close to the Edge. That wasn't even hard.

Also, genuinely surprised that Hemispheres is winning in the poll so-far. I expected it to be a landslide in favor of CttE.

[ganpondorodf]

I love Rush more as a band, but CTTE (song and album) beats Hemispheres in my books.

Yup.

Third!

Fourth

[WildRanger]

I think a side-long title track from CTTE crushes a side-long title track from Hemispheres, but a side two of Hemi is equally strong as a side two of Edge. CTTE gets the nod from me.

[jammindude]

I acknowledge CttE as a masterpiece of the genre.   But Hemispheres is literally the most perfect album ever made.   Until I heard Supper's Ready, Cygnus X-1 (books 1 & 2 together) made up the single greatest piece of music ever written by anyone ever.   And it is still my #2 behind SR. 

[Fritzinger]

Reading through the posts here kinda made me angry. Yes had a huge influence on Rush as they mentioned when Yes was introduced into the RRHoF last year. And even Geddy joked around about Alex Lifeson not being able to play Starship Trooper. Rush would never have been the same without Yes.

I clicked on the thread and didn't need half a second before deciding for Close To The Edge. The song Hemispheres is a great longtrack but Close To The Edge is a freakin masterpiece and is often said to be the ultimate prog track. Same goes for the album.
Concerning arrangement and composition, CTTE leaves Hemispheres far behind itself, in my opinion.

[jammindude]

All of the "there would be no y without x" arguments fall flat with me.

We would have no progressive rock albums whatsoever without Sgt Pepper (or In the Court of the Crimson King, if you prefer).  Just because something came first doesn't give *anything* an automatic at being better.   EDIT - IF "first" equaled "best" we may as well just all go home and say that ITCOTCK is the greatest prog rock album ever made....but most of us don't feel that way...even though we acknowledge it as a masterpiece and an important stepping stone in the process.

Music moves forward.  People hear something, tweak the idea, sometimes they make it even better than it was before, and then they influence the next thing.   Etc...etc...etc...