Rush for the rest of your life: Side 1 vs Side 2 (1974-1991)

[KevShmev]

Taking Stadler's idea and putting a slight twist on it by featuring only the first 14 albums since Roll the Bones looks to be the last vinyl that had just two album sides (1974-1991). Keeps it nice and easy as well.  If this proves to be difficult or mind-numbing, blame Bill/Stadler.

All Side 1's
Rush Side 1: Finding My Way, Need Some Love, Take a Friend and Here Again
Fly by Night Side 1: Anthem, Best I Can Beneath, Between and Behind and By-Tor and the Snow Dog
Caress of Steel Side 1: Bastille Day, I Think I'm Going Bald, Lakeside Park and The Necromancer
2112 Side 1: 2112
A Farewell to Kings Side 1: A Farewell to Kings and Xanadu
Hemispheres Side 1: Hemispheres
Permanent Waves Side 1: The Spirit of Radio, Freewill and Jacob's Ladder
Moving Pictures Side 1: Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ and Limelight
Signals Side 1: Subdivisions, The Analog Kid, Chemistry and Digital Man
Grace Under Pressure Side 1: Distant Early Warning, Afterimage, Red Sector A and The Enemy Within
Power Windows Side 1: The Big Money, Grand Designs, Manhattan Project and Marathon
Hold Your Fire Side 1: Force Ten, Time Stand Still, Open Secrets, Second Nature and Prime Mover
Presto Side 1: Show Don't Tell, Chain Lightning, The Pass, War Paint, Scars and Presto
Roll the Bones Side 1: Dreamline, Bravado, Roll the Bones, Face Up and Where's My Thing

All Side 2's
Rush Side 2: What You're Doing, In the Mood, Before and After and Working Man
Fly by Night Side 2: Fly by Night, Making Memories, Rivendell and In the End
Caress of Steel Side 2: The Fountain of Lamneth
2112 Side 2: A Passage to Bangkok, The Twilight Zone, Lessons, Tears and Something for Nothing 
A Farewell to Kings Side 2: Closer to the Heart, Cinderella Man, Madrigal and Cygnus X-1
Hemispheres Side 2: Circumstances, The Trees and La Villa Strangiato 
Permanent Waves Side 2: Entre Nous, Different Strings and Natural Science
Moving Pictures Side 2: The Camera Eye, Witch Hunt and Vital Signs
Signals Side 2: The Weapon, New World Man, Losing It and Countdown
Grace Under Pressure Side 2: The Body Electric, Kid Gloves, Red Lenses and Between the Wheels
Power Windows Side 2: Territories, Middletown Dreams, Emotion Detector and Mystic Rhythms 
Hold Your Fire Side 2: Lock and Key, Mission, Turn the Page, Tai Shan and High Water 
Presto Side 2: Superconductor, Anagram (for Mongo), Red Tide, Hand over First and Available Light 
Roll the Bones Side 2: The Big Wheel, Heresy, Ghost of a Chance, Neurotic and You Bet Your Life 

--------------

At first glance, I have to go with the Side 1's.  I'd hate to lose The Trees, La Villa Strangiato, Mission and Territories (among others), but Side 1 is just stronger across the board, and it looks like most of what I consider the weaker tracks are on a Side 2.

[TAC]

Side 1? Side 2? What's this all about?
Don't CD's only have 1 side?
Spotify only has a tracklist.

[KevShmev]

Read the above, Merlin.   The sides are taken from when each was released on vinyl.

[TAC]

What's next Horace, a comparison of 8 tracks?


Side 1 and it's a pretty easy choice, honestly.

[KevShmev]

  If this proves to be difficult or mind-numbing, blame Bill/Stadler.

[TAC]

Stadler be like what reel to reels would you choose..

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Stadler be like what reel to reels would you choose..

You joke, but I actually have a few reel to reels that I've picked up over the years.

[Trav86]

There are so many great songs that are on Side 2’s.  But…most of my favorite Rush songs are on Side 1. So that’s my pick.

[WildRanger]

Side 1's, hands down.
But I think the side 1 of Moving Pictures gets too much love (esp. Red Barchetta and Limelight) and the side 2 never gets proper recognition (TCE, WH, VS).
And the side two of Hemispheres is much better than the side one (a bit of a borefest) though.

[DTA]

Side 2…the only choices that made this tough were HYF, Kings, and maybe Presto due to the strength of the first 3 songs.

[hefdaddy42]

Come on guys WTF

[pg1067]

This is about as random as the odds v. evens suggestion I made (tongue in cheek).  It also looks to be pretty easy.  Best stuff on each album highlighted:

All Side 1's
Rush Side 1: Finding My Way, Need Some Love, Take a Friend and Here Again
Fly by Night Side 1: Anthem, Best I Can Beneath, Between and Behind and By-Tor and the Snow Dog
Caress of Steel Side 1: Bastille Day, I Think I'm Going Bald, Lakeside Park and The Necromancer
2112 Side 1: 2112
A Farewell to Kings Side 1: A Farewell to Kings and Xanadu
Hemispheres Side 1: Hemispheres
Permanent Waves Side 1: The Spirit of Radio, Freewill and Jacob's Ladder
Moving Pictures Side 1: Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ and Limelight
Signals Side 1: Subdivisions, The Analog Kid, Chemistry and Digital Man
Grace Under Pressure Side 1: Distant Early Warning, Afterimage, Red Sector A and The Enemy Within
Power Windows Side 1: The Big Money, Grand Designs, Manhattan Project and Marathon
Hold Your Fire Side 1: Force Ten, Time Stand Still, Open Secrets, Second Nature and Prime Mover
Presto Side 1: Show Don't Tell, Chain Lightning, The Pass, War Paint, Scars and Presto
Roll the Bones Side 1: Dreamline, Bravado, Roll the Bones, Face Up and Where's My Thing

All Side 2's
Rush Side 2: What You're Doing, In the Mood, Before and After and Working Man
Fly by Night Side 2: Fly by Night, Making Memories, Rivendell and In the End
Caress of Steel Side 2: The Fountain of Lamneth
2112 Side 2: A Passage to Bangkok, The Twilight Zone, Lessons, Tears and Something for Nothing
A Farewell to Kings Side 2: Closer to the Heart, Cinderella Man, Madrigal and Cygnus X-1
Hemispheres Side 2: Circumstances, The Trees and La Villa Strangiato
Permanent Waves Side 2: Entre Nous, Different Strings and Natural Science
Moving Pictures Side 2: The Camera Eye, Witch Hunt and Vital Signs
Signals Side 2: The Weapon, New World Man, Losing It and Countdown
Grace Under Pressure Side 2: The Body Electric, Kid Gloves, Red Lenses and Between the Wheels
Power Windows Side 2: Territories, Middletown Dreams, Emotion Detector and Mystic Rhythms
Hold Your Fire Side 2: Lock and Key, Mission, Turn the Page, Tai Shan and High Water
Presto Side 2: Superconductor, Anagram (for Mongo), Red Tide, Hand over First and Available Light
Roll the Bones Side 2: The Big Wheel, Heresy, Ghost of a Chance, Neurotic and You Bet Your Life


It evens out a bit after Signals, but there's more dark text on side 1.

Also, why do we refer to Cygnus X-1, Book II: Hemispheres as Hemispheres but not refer to Book I as "The Voyage"?

[Stadler]

Stadler be like what reel to reels would you choose..

You joke, but I actually have a few reel to reels that I've picked up over the years.

Don't laugh; I'd do a cassette poll in a HEARTBEAT. 

Seriously, though, I proposed this in good faith.  I think it's very interesting, myself, and a LOT harder than I thought it would be.  You basically get to pick between "the epics/the singles" and "the deeper tracks".    I think I'm going with the Side A's, but it hurts to leave out La Villa Strangiato and The Camera Eye.   

[Lowdz]

Some albums are too close to call.Voted side ones but then there’s Hemispheres which is the big argument against that for me.

[TAC]

Some albums are too close to call.Voted side ones but then there’s Hemispheres which is the big argument against that for me.

The heart and mind divided?

[pg1067]

I think I'm going with the Side A's, but it hurts to leave out La Villa Strangiato and The Camera Eye.   

Those hurt (as does Natural Science).  However, once you get past Signals, you average only one good song per side 2 (and, if we'd gone past RTB and estimated where a side split would occur, it would be even worse).

Also...what a mess:

[TAC]

I can still remember the fade out in the beginning of La Villa Strangiato.

[pg1067]

My first stereo system was a combined turntable, cassette deck and 8-track player.

I signed up for the Columbia Record and Tape club in late '81 or early '82 and selected 8-track as my preferred format because I thought it seemed kinda unique.  I didn't know what it was all about, however (including the inability to rewind).  After getting my initial albums for a penny, I never ordered another 8-track.

[hefdaddy42]

Buddy of mine had an in-dash 8-track player in his first car (a Datsun B-210).

Man, that car was butt ugly.  Orange, with yellow and purple racing stripes down the sides.

[Stadler]

Buddy of mine had an in-dash 8-track player in his first car (a Datsun B-210).

Man, that car was butt ugly.  Orange, with yellow and purple racing stripes down the sides.

I LOVED those colors from the early 70's Datsuns.  I had a 280Z that was bright orange (Fun fact:  the Walter O'Brien character in Scorpion drove the exact same car, same color, in the first few seasons of the show).   They had that lemon yellow and fir green too.

I used to put cassette decks in all my cars; I would tape my vinyl to 45-minute-a-side Memorex or Maxell tapes and bring them with me.  If an album was too long - Deep Purple's Live In London, Maiden's Somewhere In Time - I'd cut a song.  To this day I think of some of those albums that way (I cut Long Distance Runner from SiT and it's jarring when it comes on now).

[TAC]

 

My first stereo system was a combined turntable, cassette deck and 8-track player.

Same here, but mine had a dual cassette deck.

[Lowdz]

Some albums are too close to call.Voted side ones but then there’s Hemispheres which is the big argument against that for me.

The heart and mind divided?

Very much. I find the music boring and the lyrics twee. Very un- Rush. It doesn’t like up to the drive and excitement of part one for me.

[pg1067]

 

That's awesome!

Up until 2019, I had a 2005 Honda CRV.  It had a combo CD/cassette/AM/FM unit.

Until the very end, I had and used one of these for playing my iPod.

[TAC]

I went through a dozen of those easily. I hated when they kept going back and forth.

[KevShmev]

Also, why do we refer to Cygnus X-1, Book II: Hemispheres as Hemispheres but not refer to Book I as "The Voyage"?

In my head, they will always be Cygnus X-1 and Hemispheres, probably because the group of friends who got me into Rush in the early 90's all called them by those names.  Call it shorthand, I suppose.  It's like with Dream Theater's 5th studio album, which I always call Scenes from a Memory, even though it is technically called "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory."

[TAC]

Right. The song is called Hemispheres and the album is SFAM.

[pg1067]

Also, why do we refer to Cygnus X-1, Book II: Hemispheres as Hemispheres but not refer to Book I as "The Voyage"?

In my head, they will always be Cygnus X-1 and Hemispheres, probably because the group of friends who got me into Rush in the early 90's all called them by those names.  Call it shorthand, I suppose.  It's like with Dream Theater's 5th studio album, which I always call Scenes from a Memory, even though it is technically called "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory."

Shorthand is fine.  I use it constantly.  However, if we're going to call Book II "Hemispheres" (as pretty much everyone does), then Book I should be called "The Voyage."  Saying "Cygnus" or "Cygnus X-I" is ambiguous.  Does it mean Book I or Book II or both "Books" combined?

I went through a dozen of those easily. I hated when they kept going back and forth.

And it inevitably happened right at the best part of a song.

[KevShmev]

Take it up with Rush.  I am not dragging my original CD out from where it is boxed up at the moment to look, but I am pretty sure it looked just like this:

[Stadler]

Just musing over my coffee on a Saturday morning, but....   wouldn't references AFTER Hemispheres came out be the correct source?   It's their material, they can retcon it however they like.  I would imagine that "Book II: Hemispheres" was a figment of Neil's imagination at that point.

[KevShmev]

Just musing over my coffee on a Saturday morning, but....   wouldn't references AFTER Hemispheres came out be the correct source?   It's their material, they can retcon it however they like. I would imagine that "Book II: Hemispheres" was a figment of Neil's imagination at that point.

Good point.  Different Stages was released in the later 90's, and it featured a disc of live songs from the 70's, one of which was the last song from A Farewell to Kings.  The back CD case listed it as "Cygnus X-1."   Same goes for the back cover of Rush in Rio in reference to it being a part of the encore.  And then on the back cover of R40 as well.  I rest my case. 

[ytserush]

Come on guys WTF

Favorite fifth track is next.

[Cool Chris]

Rush to me comes down to these 5 albums, so let's see how it all shakes out. Bolding the cream of the crop leaves it pretty even. Quick glance at the whole list doesn't swing the balance any. 2112 is my #1 song. I'd also need The Pass. I don't rank Hemispheres as high as most Rush fans, and classic rock radio burned me out on The Spirit of Radio, Freewill, Tom Sawyer, and Limelight. It's really close, so 2112 tips the scales.

2112 Side 1: 2112
A Farewell to Kings Side 1: A Farewell to Kings and Xanadu
Hemispheres Side 1: Hemispheres
Permanent Waves Side 1: The Spirit of Radio, Freewill and Jacob's Ladder
Moving Pictures Side 1: Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ and Limelight

2112 A Passage to Bangkok, The Twilight Zone, Lessons, Tears and Something for Nothing
A Farewell to Kings Side 2: Closer to the Heart, Cinderella Man, Madrigal and Cygnus X-1
Hemispheres Side 2: Circumstances, The Trees and La Villa Strangiato
Permanent Waves Side 2: Entre Nous, Different Strings and Natural Science
Moving Pictures Side 2: The Camera Eye, Witch Hunt and Vital Signs