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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: The Letter M on March 19, 2012, 05:57:53 PM
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As a sort of countdown to the release of Clockwork Angels, I figured I would do this thread as a way of revisiting the band's past catalog! Here's how the schedule will work, starting a new pair every Monday:
3/19-3/25 - Rush + Fly By Night
3/26-4/1 - Caress Of Steel + 2112
4/2-4/8 - A Farewell To Kings + Hemispheres
4/9-4/15 - Permanent Waves + Moving Pictures
4/16-4/22 - All The World's A Stage + Exit...Stage Left
4/23-4/29 - Signals + Grace Under Pressure
4/30-5/6 - Power Windows + Hold Your Fire
(WHOOPS! Missed a week here...waaaay too busy with work this week)
5/14-5/20 - Presto + Roll The Bones
5/21-5/27 - Counterparts + Test For Echo
5/28-6/3 - A Show Of Hands + Different Stages
6/4-6/10 - Vapor Trails + Snakes & Arrows
6/11-6/17 - Rush In Rio + R30
6/18-6/24 - S&A Live + Time Machine
6/25 - Clockwork Angels
And so we begin at the beginning...
Rush - If Led Zeppelin had been a Canadian Power Trio with helium in the studio, this is what they may have sounded like. It's a great debut effort, with some classic cuts ("Finding My Way", "In The Mood" and "Working Man") and a couple sleeper-hits ("Here Again" and "Before And After"), while the rest are largely forgettable. Alex really shines on this album, over his fellow band mates, and his solos in "Working Man" are what definitely sent him into his own limelight.
Fly By Night - Neil's debut with the band, and it's still got that raw power sound, but you can definitely tell they have evolved their sound, with songs like "Anthem", "In The End" and especially "By-Tor & The Snowdog", which was birthed from an extended jam that sat in the middle of "Working Man" in their prior live shows. This album only suffers from the Tolkien-laden track "Rivendell"...perhaps they were still trying to be Zeppelin-y? :lol
Either way, this band shows that they can stretch out musically, and they certainly try a few new (and different) things on this album, a direction that would continue in the albums to come...
EDIT - updated the new schedule for discussion as the release date for the new album has been pushed back. I've decided to add the live albums, just because! That, and it'll give us a couple weeks to absorb Clockwork Angels.
-Marc.
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and his solos in "Working Man" are what definitely sent him into his own limelight.
olol
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and his solos in "Working Man" are what definitely sent him into his own limelight.
olol
Not sure if... wait. :rollin
What's funny? :lol
-Marc.
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Everyone knows he didn't come into his own limelight until Moving Pictures. :p
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Rush
There are some great songs here, and a some forgettable ones. My favorites here are definitely Working Man and Finding My Way, two fantastic tracks which suggest a greater talent hiding beneath the surface of this Zeppelin clone. Here Again is also a nice track, and Before and After is fine, if only for its beautiful introduction. Need Some Love and In the Mood are fun tracks as well, even if they have some pretty silly lyrics (the hour is late? Really? It's 7:45). This was a strong introduction but Rush was capable of so much more.
Fly by Night
Aaaand here's the so much more Rush was capable of. I love this album; with the exception of filler pieces Best I Can and Making Memories, everything here is an instant classic. With Peart's spectacular lyrics and drumming in place, the stage was set for Rush to forge their own identity. Anthem is a great example of this metamorphosis: from the track's 7/8 introduction to its wildly complex lyrical imagery, all signs pointed to Rush being more than just another Zeppelin. Beneath, Between, and Behind was another example of the new, literate Rush, an evolving nerd's rock band.
Anthem and BB&B were plenty to chew on, but Rush was only getting started. By-Tor and the Snow Dog was Rush's first attempt at an epic, multi-part piece, and it was, in my opinion, a successful experiment. Side 2 opens with the stellar pop rocker Fly By Night, proceeds with the mediocre Making Memories, but closes incredibly strongly with Rivendell and In the End, one of the best album-closing duos Rush has ever had. Rivendell is beautiful and peaceful, and In the End marries the classic rock stylings of the debut with a melodic sensibility extremely elegantly. In short, Fly by Night was an instant classic. It would not, however, be the best of things to come.
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Rush
Absolutely love this album. Its just a bunch of Ballsy, rocking fun.
Fly by night
It contains Anthem, which is my favorite Rush song. I was never that big on the title track and I respect the album overall, but its not one of my favorites. They were still feeling each other out and it shows. Its a solid album, but really foreshadows the future greatness.
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Rush
There are some great songs here, and a some forgettable ones. My favorites here are definitely Working Man and Finding My Way, two fantastic tracks which suggest a greater talent hiding beneath the surface of this Zeppelin clone. Here Again is also a nice track, and Before and After is fine, if only for its beautiful introduction. Need Some Love and In the Mood are fun tracks as well, even if they have some pretty silly lyrics (the hour is late? Really? It's 7:45). This was a strong introduction but Rush was capable of so much more.
Fly by Night
Aaaand here's the so much more Rush was capable of. I love this album; with the exception of filler pieces Best I Can and Making Memories, everything here is an instant classic. With Peart's spectacular lyrics and drumming in place, the stage was set for Rush to forge their own identity. Anthem is a great example of this metamorphosis: from the track's 7/8 introduction to its wildly complex lyrical imagery, all signs pointed to Rush being more than just another Zeppelin. Beneath, Between, and Behind was another example of the new, literate Rush, an evolving nerd's rock band.
Anthem and BB&B were plenty to chew on, but Rush was only getting started. By-Tor and the Snow Dog was Rush's first attempt at an epic, multi-part piece, and it was, in my opinion, a successful experiment. Side 2 opens with the stellar pop rocker Fly By Night, proceeds with the mediocre Making Memories, but closes incredibly strongly with Rivendell and In the End, one of the best album-closing duos Rush has ever had. Rivendell is beautiful and peaceful, and In the End marries the classic rock stylings of the debut with a melodic sensibility extremely elegantly. In short, Fly by Night was an instant classic. It would not, however, be the best of things to come.
I haven't listened to FBN in awhile, so I may only remember how bad "Rivendell" was when I first started listening to Rush, but the way you make it, it sounds like it's a glorious piece! I may have to revisit this album soon!
-Marc.
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The debut album opens and closes with excellent songs. The 6 in the middle are just ok. I don't care for the album as a whole.
Fly By Night is much better. The last two songs aren't worth my time, but the first 6 are all winners.
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Rush
There are some great songs here, and a some forgettable ones. My favorites here are definitely Working Man and Finding My Way, two fantastic tracks which suggest a greater talent hiding beneath the surface of this Zeppelin clone. Here Again is also a nice track, and Before and After is fine, if only for its beautiful introduction. Need Some Love and In the Mood are fun tracks as well, even if they have some pretty silly lyrics (the hour is late? Really? It's 7:45). This was a strong introduction but Rush was capable of so much more.
Fly by Night
Aaaand here's the so much more Rush was capable of. I love this album; with the exception of filler pieces Best I Can and Making Memories, everything here is an instant classic. With Peart's spectacular lyrics and drumming in place, the stage was set for Rush to forge their own identity. Anthem is a great example of this metamorphosis: from the track's 7/8 introduction to its wildly complex lyrical imagery, all signs pointed to Rush being more than just another Zeppelin. Beneath, Between, and Behind was another example of the new, literate Rush, an evolving nerd's rock band.
Anthem and BB&B were plenty to chew on, but Rush was only getting started. By-Tor and the Snow Dog was Rush's first attempt at an epic, multi-part piece, and it was, in my opinion, a successful experiment. Side 2 opens with the stellar pop rocker Fly By Night, proceeds with the mediocre Making Memories, but closes incredibly strongly with Rivendell and In the End, one of the best album-closing duos Rush has ever had. Rivendell is beautiful and peaceful, and In the End marries the classic rock stylings of the debut with a melodic sensibility extremely elegantly. In short, Fly by Night was an instant classic. It would not, however, be the best of things to come.
I haven't listened to FBN in awhile, so I may only remember how bad "Rivendell" was when I first started listening to Rush, but the way you make it, it sounds like it's a glorious piece! I may have to revisit this album soon!
-Marc.
Yeah, I'd definitely suggest giving it another go. Rivendell is certainly not up to par with the likes of By-Tor, Fly By Night, and In the End, but in my eyes it's a very pleasant little acoustic piece. The Zeppelin influence is indeed prevalent (Geddy even mentions the "misty mountain" :lol ), but for what it is, a quiet ballad with fantasy lyrics, it's very good.
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Rush
Finding My Way, Here Again, What You're Doing, Working Man are the winners here.
Fly By Night
The only bad track is Rivendell. Anthem & By-Tor are legendary. Everything else is varying degrees of good.
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Finally got around to listening to these tonight. So much great stuff on Fly By Night I had kinda forgotten about.
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Rivendell is wretched. That ranks down there with Time and Motion and War Paint when discussing the worst songs the band ever did.
But the rest of Fly by Night is rock solid, and even occasionally great (By-Tor and Anthem, most notably). Beneath, Between and Behind is still one of their most underrated songs ever.
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Rush- Not really put much effort into this album. I'm familiar with the tracks on the live albums and they are ok, but I don't have any emotional attachment to them. I'm not a Led Zep fan so knowing it sounds like Zep always put me off.
FBN- A great Rush album- one of the first I heard. Peart's drumming is so great, the guitar jumps out at you. By-Tor was my favourite song ever at one point. But Rivendell was and will always be awful. I'll take the rest though. Favourite shorter song? BB&B.
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Alrighty folks, now we start the week with Caress Of Steel and 2112! I haven't listened to these albums in awhile, but I probably will today or tomorrow and some more as the week goes on. From what I remember though...
Caress Of Steel - Definitely a step towards prog, here, more so than Fly By Night, especially with it's two longer pieces. The opening track really sets the tone, and as it was once put, the song ends majestically, and for being less than 5 minutes long, it's got a LOT in it! The next two tracks are fun, while "Lakeside Park" is only slightly less forgettable. The real meat of the album lies in "The Necromancer", being the sequel (or prequel?) to the last album's epic "By-Tor & The Snow Dog", and while it continues the Tolkein-esque pastiche of "Rivendell", it does so in a hard rocking manner! The band must have been listening to lots of Yes and Genesis when constructing a song like this as there are hints of those styles in here (and the following side-long epic). "The Fountain Of Lamneth" was a great 'try' at the side-length suite, but they got it right on the next album! However, it's not without it's merits - Neil's showcase in "Didacts & Narpets" and Alex's solo in "No One At The Bridge" are spectacular, and Geddy's vocals really soar on the whole thing. In the end, it becomes sllightly more disjointed than "Supper's Ready" and only because of the literal dead-stops between movements. Had they segued the tracks together, it might have sounded a bit better, especially had "Bacchus Plateau" not faded out.
2112 - And here it is - the album that set the tone for Rush for the next two albums. Prog and Hard Rock/Metal finally come together in the title suite, where everyone shines. What else can be said about this piece that hasn't already? Neil does some great and creative drumming here, to his fills in "Temples" to the outro of "Grand Finale", while Alex just COOKS all over the place, from his gentle plucking in "Discovery" to some of his best solos to that point. Geddy performs amazingly as usual, and his shrieks reach higher highs as his fingers spider-along all over the fret board.
Side two is pretty interesting, but the power of side one seemingly overshadows the shorter pieces, but the opening and closing songs on side two are pretty memorable. "Tears" is a great softer piece, and one I think the band should bring back (perhaps as part of their "acoustic set"), while the quirky and odd "Twilight Zone" pays homage to the show of the same name, while giving fans a lot to talk about (like the weird tin-can sound? WTF IS that sound?!).
-Marc.
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CoS is the first album I ever bought, and I still have it. I love every song other than I Think I'm Going Bald.
I agree that the B side of 2112 is overwhelmed by the suite itself, by least favorite here is Twilight Zone.
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And now we get to what may be my two favorite back-to-back Rush albums of ALL time...
A Farewell To Kings definitely shows the band stepping it up and going in a more diversified "prog rock" direction, with more dynamic changes, more guitars, more keyboards, more percussion, and just more of everything. Gone is the Zeppelin-infused hard-rock sound, and in its place is something more akin to Kansas, Yes, and Genesis, but with the same raw intensity and power that a trio could produce. The opening title track is quite a change from what had come before, and the following "Xanadu" is even wilder, with it's lengthy spacey/nature-sounding intro, with a powerful thematic opening, then going into the song proper, which continues to develop and evolve as it reaches the end.
As side two opens, we're greeted with the radio hit "Closer To The Heart", and it's as catchy of a tune as they've ever written. The following two tracks are some of their better "mid-album-forgettables", but the real gold lies in the closing track, one of their most experimental tracks ever, and it features some AWESOME playing and great vocals from Geddy, who reaches some of his highest notes yet! But the journey didn't end there...
Hemispheres - the opening title, side-length suite is an amazing piece, that takes everything they learned about side-length suites and condenses it all into a compact, concise composition that blends and weaves various themes and motifs throughout to create a (mostly) seamless opus that is a brilliant sequel to "Cygnus X-1 Book I".
After the amazing 18 minute side one, one would think they couldn't top that in side two, but they open with one of their shortest songs (and the shortest on the album), and it's a quick but fun track, while the following "The Trees" is a quirky metaphor involving Oaks and Maples (a bit silly, but they have to show us they still weren't taking themselves TOO seriously). The closing epic instrumental is a 12-part romp through a few various themes, the focus of which revolves around a melody from Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" (a cartoon staple), as well as one of Lifeson's most highly regarded guitar solos in "A Lerxst In Wonderland".
These two albums form what I think are one of the best one-two-punches of album releases ever, by any band (even rivaling such pairs like Fragiles/Close To The Edge, Foxtrot/Selling England By The Pound, Leftoverture/Point Of Know Return, A Night At The Opera/A Day At The Races, and so so many more).
-Marc.
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AFtK and Hemi are my two favorite albums of all time, so needless to say I'm looking forward to spinning them them.
On the rare occasion I listen to Caress of Steel I always forget how much I do enjoy the final two tracks. Really is a pretty solid album minus I Think I'm Going Bald.
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AFtK and Hemi are my two favorite albums of all time, so needless to say I'm looking forward to spinning them them.
On the rare occasion I listen to Caress of Steel I always forget how much I do enjoy the final two tracks. Really is a pretty solid album minus I Think I'm Going Bald.
I think I agree with you. I've been spinning AFTK and HEMI over the last 5 days and I have forgotten just how GOOD, no... AWESOME these two albums are! I've not really listened to Rush in recent years, having been focused on other, newer bands, but this revisiting is really rekindling my relationship with Rush, and I've just recalled just how great these two albums really were! There's no bad tracks on here among these two albums and ten tracks (yes, even "Madrigal" is pretty good).
I'd almost have to say that 2112-MP is one of the greatest 5-album runs of ALL time, contending with Kansas' first five albums, any run of Yes albums (TYA-Relayer or Fragile-GFTO), any run of Genesis albums (Trespass-TLLDOB or NC-ATTOT or Foxtrot-W&W), etc. etc.
Also, gotta say the run of "Broon's Bane"/"The Trees"/"Xanadu" on ESL is just insanely good. One of the best side of live vinyl I've ever heard, the whole 19:37 is just great. I can't really explain it. Every member of the band just pushes the songs to a new level, and Neil in particular is just on FIRE.
-Marc.
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For 5 albums runs I have to go with Marillion (Script>Season's End) or Queensryche (Warning>Promised Land), but Rush is a close 3rd.
I did listen to AFtK and Hemi this past week. Not much to say, many orgasms were had.
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What about a 7 album run, Fly By Night -> Moving Pictures.
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For some reason I'm not that into Hemispheres, but A Farewell to Kings is my favourite Rush album. That said, I have to get into Rush more.
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:corn enjoying the write-ups now that ive finally opened this thread.
AFTK and Hemispheres arent only my favorite back to back albums of theirs, but my favorite two of theirs period! :metal (okay, so not quite the amount of love Nick gives the two of em).
i also havent been in a huge Rush mood in recent times, but i think this thread might change that...in fact, i'll throw on AFTK as soon as my current album has finished spinning (Unfold the Future....apparently, she's a prog night tonight) .
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What about a 7 album run, Fly By Night -> Moving Pictures.
How about we just expand it to 8 album runs, and we can safely call 2112 through Power Windows the greatest one ever.
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One of these is in my top 5 albums of all time and one isn't anywhere near.
Yes, I'm not a fan of Hemispheres- the track, though the rest of the album is awesome.
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Permanent Waves - what can I say about this album...hmm, well, every song is at least 7/10 - "Entre Nous" being 7/10 for being pretty good but not insanely great, while "Different Strings" gets an 8/10 for being just a bit too short! It should've been longer!
Side 1 is just spectacular, with the the classic "The Spirit Of Radio" opening the album, you know this band means business, even in 5-minute songs. Highlights of Side 1 include the bridge in TSOR, the bridge in "Freewill" (well, ALL of "Freewill" is just great), and the entirety of "Jacob's Ladder". It's like they took what made their proggy epics of past albums, condensed it into a under-8-minute piece and made it even heavier with it's various odd-meter riffs before the quiet middle verse, then the mind-numbing 13/8 section! This took me FOREVER to learn on drums, but it was worth the wait as it's fun to play! Neil had a unique way of phrasing each measure of 13/8 (or 6/8+7/8) just to be slightly different each time when that section starts, then he falls into a groove. Just wonderful!
Side 2, as I said above, starts with two shorter pieces that are pretty good, but following the 3 songs on side 1 would be hard to do, but they close the album with, what I think, it's one of their best epics. "Natural Science" has some great riffs and solos and everyone's playing is top notch here, everyone gets time to shine on this track, and it was amazing that they've brought it back in the last 15 years after a long break from the setlists! I was also glad they pulled out "Entre Nous" a few years back! Now they just need to play "Different Strings" and "Jacob's Ladder"!
Moving Pictures - it's no coincidence that this album is often abbreviated as "MP", which could also stand for master-piece, because this album is truly that. Every song is constructed so well, and while Side 1 gets more praise (and play from the band) as the songs were more radio-friendly, Side 2 shows the band still had some proggy/experimental roots in them, ranging from a 10-minute epic, to a haunting almost-program-music-esque piece, ending with something of a mash-up of electronic and reggae influences that would hint at what's to come. This album shows a LOT of sides of the band - where they were and where they were going, and while the keyboards had become more prominent than ever, the songs on here really showed us that they were still the power-trio they had always been.
-Marc.
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Updated the new schedule for discussion as the release date for the new album has been pushed back. I've decided to add the live albums, just because!
All The World's A Stage - With four albums under their belts, they figured it was a good time to toss out a live album, and what a strong one it is! We get most of the "2112" suite, a couple from COS, and a good chunk from their first two albums, including an awesome (but short) drum solo from "The Professor" (with Geddy's introduction). I love the raw intensity on this album, though I wish songs like "The Necromancer" had made it on there, but I can understand that they needed to include some other songs, especially the shorter ones, but they still included "2112" and the "Working Man"/"Finding My Way" medley, paving way for them to play and release longer tracks in the coming albums. It's nice to hear all of "By-Tor", even though we get the first half of it 3 times later (ESL video, Different Stages Disc 3, and Rush In Rio).
Exit...Stage Left - Now, on the other side of the "live coin", this is a more clean, studio-like, polished-sounding live album. The songs are crisp, clear, and clean but there's a distinct lack of "live sound", with a few exceptions like "Closer To The Heart". But we do get all the great songs from this era, with the hits from PEW and MP, but we're also treated the longer tracks like "La Villa Strangiato" and "Jacob's Ladder", but we miss out on "Natural Science" and both parts of "Cygnus X-1". I suppose if the band had more guts, they COULD have made a triple LP (eventually a double CD), and given us ALL their epic songs, but tough choices had to be made. At least we got "Broon's Bane"/"The Trees"/"Xanadu", which is probably my favorite part of ESL.
-Marc.
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All the World's a Stage was my first Rush album, and I'm sure that's true of a lot of Rush fans from the 70's. Getting into a band via their live album was pretty common, and live albums in general I think were more common and more popular back then. Anyway, it blew me away and I ended up buying all four studio releases, by which time A Farewell to Kings had come out and it was time to be blown away all over again and Rush moved into their next phase.
I was so stoked when Exit... Stage Left came out and I bought it right away. ...And was honestly a bit disappointed. It was the first album I owned that was digitally mastered, and I didn't know if that was the problem, but overall the album just didn't sound very "live" to me. It sounded very dry. You could hear the audience, you could tell that it was recorded live, but something wasn't right. Some spark was missing. The performances themselves were very good, and "Broon's Bane" into "The Trees" was cool, but I don't find myself playing this one very often.
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Signals is an interesting album that has a bit of a different feel and direction than MP had, and it's a sound that doesn't really develop after the album either (GUP is nearly a sort of polar opposite of this), but this album produced some of the band's greatest songs like "Subdivisions" and "The Analog Kid", along with the radio hit "New World Man". A lot of fans say Signals rounds out a Top 3 Consecutive run of PEW/MP/SIG, and while I would agree, I think it's a bit more different from PEW and MP were with each other. The songs are all a bit shorter, but the band still has a lot of punch to it, especially Alex, despite his sound slowly being enveloped by keyboards and synths. I'd say this album has a good balance of both, while keeping the sound warm and not as cold as it would be in later albums. I'd say most of this album is pretty good, but there have been a couple songs I just struggle with liking like "Chemistry" and "Countdown".
Grace Under Pressure has a bit more of a cold, sterile sound but it works with the overall theme and general feel of the album. And while it's still got 8 songs, they all have quite a different feel than the 8 songs on the previous album, but there is still a lot of power, like in "Red Sector A" and "Between The Wheels". I don't think, when I first listened to this album, there were any songs I didn't initially like. The album, as a whole, is better than Signals and a lot more consistent, and starts and ends with a bang, whereas "Countdown" just sort of fizzles out.
-Marc.
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Pretty sure that Signals is better than P/G, although i love them both. And Countdown is a beast of a song. I didn't always like it - took me a long time to appreciate it - but these days it hits me right in the sweet spot.
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Funny timing,
cause I was just listening to Grace under pressure while buying tickets and I am now listening to Signals.
Signals took me a long time to warm up to, but as of now I absolutely love it. Losing it and Subdivisions in my top five favorite Rush songs.
Grace Under Pressure is fantastic. The first half I feel is a bit stronger then the 2nd half, but its still an incredible album, and the album art is truly inspiring.
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I took a long time to appreciate Signals as at the time I was into the Metal :metal It grew on me but some songs I just couldn't stand (Chemistry, Digital Man, The Weapon). Analog Kid was a winner and as a sci-fi geek I loved Countdown. Losing It is a great ballad and the other songs are very good. As time has gone on I've come to nearly love it with only the verse reggae bits in DM and Chemistry being crap.
P/G was an instant classic. I loved the icy sound to the guitars and the awesomeness of side 1 (hey it was vinyl at the time). Side 2 doesn't match up but the only track I skip is Red Lenses- poor. It ends well with BTW and Kid Gloves is great too- Love the solo there. And Rush's best album cover too.
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Yesterday I took care of PW>GUP, and there isn't too much to say other than... SO MUCH FUCKING WIN.
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Signals was the my introduction to Rush. After the first 30 seconds of Subdivisions I was hooked. Thirty years later, it's still one of my favourite Rush tracks and Signals still holds huge sentimental value to me.
GUP is probably my absolute favourite Rush album. Every track is killer. Particular favourites are Red Sector A and Afterimage. Peart's lyrics and drumming are simply incredible. Has there ever been a more poignant song about suicide? What is so impressive is that it is not at all morbid or depressing, simply tells it as it is for those left behind.
suddenly you were gone
from all the lives you left your mark upon
....
try to believe it but you know it's no good
this is something that just can't be understood
etc
likewise the lyrics for Losing It, a song that's come to have far more meaning now I'm getting closer to fifty, the hairs falling out and the eyesight is failing. Love the philosophical question he raises to
"Sadder still to watch it die than never to have known it"
Don't know if I agree with him on that one or not.
Two absolutely brilliant albums!!!! :hefdaddy
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Afterimage was written for Robbie Whelan, who died in a car accident.
The Pass (from Presto) was written about youth suicide
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Afterimage was written for Robbie Whelan, who died in a car accident.
Didn't know that - thanks. The lines I quoted about the sudness and trying to understand but it being something that can't be understood immediately made me think of suicide. I suppose those sentiments apply equally to the loss of someone close in a car accident or any kind of sudden accident I suppose. Really beautiful and touching song.
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Afterimage is definitely my favorite track of of p/g. We just discussed it over in the Rush Song of the Day thread a few days back...
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Almost forgot to update this! Whoops...
Power Windows, for me, struck a good balance between what made SIG and GUP both good, and churned out 8 pretty good-to-intensely awesome songs, with a right amount of balance between guitars and keyboards. The opener makes a good single, but doesn't click as well as "Subdivisions" or "Distant Early Warning" did for me, but the following tracks definitely kicked the album up a notch, and the 1-2-Punch of "Manhattan Project" and "Marathon" is a great way for the album to reach it's climax. On to side 2, "Territories" is a quirky tune with a great groove from Neil, while the next song, "Middletown Dreams" is one of those sleeper-songs that just HITS you after repeated listens, and is a sort of long-lost-brother to "Subdivisions", lyrically speaking. The unplayed-live tune on this album is the aptly named "Emotion Detector", which is one of those Rush songs you either really like or just skip, while the closer "Mystic Rhythms" gives Neil a chance to show off some of his electronic drum grooves once more. POW is an album that is probably my all-time favorite of the band's 3rd era, and with good reason - the album isn't over-rated due to a couple great hits, nor does it suffer from containing too many songs that are under-par.
On the other hand, Hold Your Fire, for me, has always been half-good/half-okay. Of it's tracks, the only 5 I really do enjoy are "Force Ten", "Time Stand Still", "Prime Mover", "Lock And Key" and "Mission"...and possibly "Second Nature". Every other song has been on varying levels of forgettable-to-meh for me. The last two songs are "alright", while "High Water" almost sounds like a rehash of bits from "Mystic Rhythms" (Neil's grooves have some similarities and the tempos are nearly the same, and they're both the closing songs). I just don't like this album as much as the previous, and the keyboards were becoming a BIT overwhelming in areas, but the band realized this and they would tone it back. At least half the album is pretty good for me, which is more than I can say for some of the albums that would come after this...
-Marc.
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Power Windows- I have a lot of respect for this album and I really do love it, but kind of half to be in the right mood to listen to it. Its solid from beginning to end with strong songs and some incredible heights like Middletown Dreams and Mystic Rhythms. As a matter of fact, while listening to Middletown dreams last week, it actually brought me to tears.
Hold your fire- This album gets a lot of shit, but it really deeply resonates with me. I just find myself getting lost in the songs, since most have these extremely catchy parts. Pretty much love the album from beginning to end, with the exception of Tai Shan which I have never cared for and skip while listening to HYF. and on a side note, HYF was released 2 months before I was born so perhaps I have some strange Birth bias to it or something, but I do really love it.
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HYF was released 2 months before I was born so perhaps I have some strange Birth bias to it or something, but I do really love it.
:lol That's interesting. I don't have one like that for GUP, which was released 42 days after my birthday, but GUP *is* a good album.
I think I do have a bias towards POW, though, especially as it's where my screen name here (and at many other places) comes from.
-Marc.
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HYF is a solid album. I don't think the band should ever apologize for any of the songs on it. So what that it doesn't sound like Moving Pictures? It has an originality about it that makes it lovable. And some damn strong tracks.
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Two great Rush albums.
PW is all kinds of awesome from start to finish. One of only a few Rush albums with no songs below par and the sound. My God, it's so full. Great lyrics throughout and even has NP trying to be funny.
HYF- Class songwriting. More stripped down than PW on the production front but crystal clear and lively. Such melody... gazes into the distance nostalgically...
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Can't say enough about these 2 albums and how old am I that I saw both tours? :lol Damn!
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Can't say enough about these 2 albums and how old am I that I saw both tours? :lol Damn!
Saw 'em on the Power Windows tour with Blue Oyster Cult opening myself, and I had a ticket to see them on the HYF tour with the McAuley Schenker Group opening but they cancelled the day of the show, dammit. :lol
As for the albums themselves-Hold Your Fire is actually the first Rush album that I found to be merely good. And in fact it started the current trend where I haven't liked an entire Rush album since, just individual songs. Power Windows, however, is a masterpiece. Especially the first four songs, which made for one of the better vinyl sides ever. The second side isn't QUITE as memorable, but given it's competing with a side that good, it merely means the songs are just good. When I list Rush's 80s output, Power Windows is third to Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures, but it's right on their tails. Brilliant album.
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We can never give enough love to Open Secrets, the oft-overlooked killer tune from HYF.
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It's easy to see why people consider Power Windows to be their best Post MP album in the 80's. The album feels so full, compete, and has a lot of depth. Now I don't mean it's aggressive in any way, but PW has a certain all around musical intensity to it.
While HYF has some nice parts, to me, it just feel like it lacks the effort of PW.
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I would agree with that, TAC, but I still like HYF a lot. Geddy once called it very much of a romantic album, and I think that it is a good description; there is no other Rush album that sounds like it. That is another great thing about Rush: even the albums from their synth era all sounds pretty different from one another.
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I would agree with that, TAC, but I still like HYF a lot. Geddy once called it very much of a romantic album, and I think that it is a good description; there is no other Rush album that sounds like it. That is another great thing about Rush: even the albums from their synth era all sounds pretty different from one another.
That's definitely a great way to describe it.
Whenever a girlfriend has asked me about those "Rush guys" that I was always talking about, I would break-out HYF as a sample, usually with a decent amount of success. So that's definitely another thing that HYF has going for it.
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I would agree with that, TAC, but I still like HYF a lot. Geddy once called it very much of a romantic album, and I think that it is a good description; there is no other Rush album that sounds like it. That is another great thing about Rush: even the albums from their synth era all sounds pretty different from one another.
That's definitely a great way to describe it.
Whenever a girlfriend has asked me about those "Rush guys" that I was always talking about, I would break-out HYF as a sample, usually with a decent amount of success. So that's definitely another thing that HYF has going for it.
ditto. My female friends always take to HYF before any other Rush album.
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It's easy to see why people consider Power Windows to be their best Post MP album in the 80's. The album feels so full, compete, and has a lot of depth. Now I don't mean it's aggressive in any way, but PW has a certain all around musical intensity to it.
While HYF has some nice parts, to me, it just feel like it lacks the effort of PW.
I also always felt that the album was uplifting. I'm always in a good mood listening to PW.
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SO...I totally forgot to update this last week and missed a week, but now I've adjusted the schedule one last time and hopefully I'll keep up for the next month...
Presto - as I recall, this was an album I couldn't get into very much when I first heard it. Perhaps it was the thin and tinny production, or that some of the songs just lacked the power of the last 2-4 albums, but there are some gems on here, like "Show Don't Tell", "The Pass", "Presto", and "Available Light". It has some great lyrics from Neil, but the songs are just a bit...different, lighter and have a bit less punch, and they've written even more this time with a total of 11 songs. I'd also have to give some props to "Chain Lightning" for Alex's use of the backwards solo technique, as well as "Scars" for Neil's awesome groove (which would later appear in his drum solos), and "Superconductor" because the band were doing something...well, completely different. They were daring to change as they headed into the 90's, and it was an interesting direction.
Roll The Bones was a better, far more polished look at the new direction, and the first 3 tracks are one of the best 1-2-3 punches that the band ever had. After that, it's a bit hit-and-miss, but "Ghost Of A Chance" is quite a hit, along with their first instrumental since "YYZ", with "Where's My Thing?". The rest of the songs are OK, and rank at a level equal or just above those of the "other tracks" on Presto. The production was much better this time around, but the band would still be experimenting and trying new sounds, looking toward their new direction, which would eventually bring them back to heavier songs and riffs and ideas...
-Marc.
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Presto- For a very long time I just outright dismissed Presto. I love aggressive, passionate or catchy Rush and Presto just feels lackluster. Yes there are killer songs like Show don't tell and beautiful The pass, but besides that I don't think I've ever been able to make it from beginning to end. Half way through, I get bored and start thinking about other things I could be listening to, and this usually happens around Superconductor, which is one of my least favorite Rush songs. Now over time I have begun to enjoy it a little bit more. It is indeed my least favorite Rush album, but at this point I do like it and can appreciate it to some degree. This is the single and only Rush album you will ever here me talking negatively about. Every other album I pretty much love (except TFE, which I half-love)
Roll The Bones- Its almost like Presto was the practice run they needed to make Roll Bones and I love Roll the bones. The first five songs are just killer and fairly catchy. I can really throw this album on in almost any mood and really enjoy it. Now for a long time I just liked this album, but never made it all the way through, and then one day I discovered Ghost of a Chance :hefdaddy
My god, what an incredible, powerful and beautiful song, and one which brings tears to my eyes. After hearing that, I went from really liking Roll the bones to Loving it. (You bet your life doesn't do anything for me though, and I turn the album off after Neurotica).
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Presto/RTB contain the most mature and thoughtful songs the band has ever written. Presto is my #2 all-time favorite, and RTB, as i have opined earlier, is Neil's masterpiece.
Thin production causes many to turn away from these two, but i think they represent Rush at its best.
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Presto is an ok album. As others have said, the production didn't help- not nearly enough "oomph!". Miles better than what was to come just a few albums later though.
RTB is a great album. Love it and no need to skip any tracks. It all clicked.
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Love both of these albums, they're both awesome. I've always been shocked how identical they sound in terms of production, it's almost like they were recorded as a double album, but split at the last second.
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this thread wins because these are my top 2 Rush albums.. ever. with Roll the Bones being number 1 :metal :metal :metal :metal
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Love both of these albums, they're both awesome. I've always been shocked how identical they sound in terms of production, it's almost like they were recorded as a double album, but split at the last second.
Eh, I think Roll the Bones sounds a lot better than Presto. Still too thin for the most part, but still an upgrade over Presto. Plus, the songs are just better written on Roll the Bones. Even the least best songs are pretty good, and highly enjoyable within the context of the record, while Presto, IMO, has a few songs that are just mediocre and never really worth listening to.
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this thread wins because these are my top 2 Rush albums.. ever. with Roll the Bones being number 1 :metal :metal :metal :metal
Scrub - where have you been? There aren't many of us here to defend the greats! We need you around in the Rush threads!
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I really love Presto. I think it's one of the most underrated albums in their catalog, and I love almost every song. The only songs I'm fairly meh on are Hand Over Fist and Red Tide. Everything else is stunning. (just wish it didn't sound so terrible)
Roll the Bones is another story. I agree about the fantastic 1-2-3 punch to start it off...but it's really fairly bad after that. The first three songs are the best, WMT and GoaC and both good....but Face Up, Neurotica, You Bet Your Life, The Big Wheel and Heresy... BLECH. With those five songs, you have what I would rate as Rush's all time WORST material. If you were to replace those songs with Rivendell, Madrigal, High Water, Dog Years and Out of the Cradle...the album would be improved....but it would also sound like a patchwork quilt. Still...you couldn't make RtB much worse. My least favorite Rush album, and the only Rush album that I never bothered to buy the remaster for.
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Counterparts continues the trend of less-keyboards/more-guitar that began at Presto, but this time, they've returned to their hard and heavy roots to give us something that's more in tune with the times - 90's hard rock. Rush were always heavy hitters, but this time they really blended their sounds together and the opening 3 songs really show that, all of which have amazing riffs and grooves in them. They really came out of the gate running on this album. Of course, there's the obligatory ballad in "Nobody's Hero", but it's such a good one that I wish the band would bring back (acoustic set, maybe?). Then there are a couple pretty-good songs in the middle, but "Double Agent" to "Everyday Glory" is just golden. Not since POW had an album's second half been as good as it's first half, especially the rocking instrumental "Leave That Thing Alone" into the roaring riffs of "Cold Fire", finally closing with a song that is certainly a lot better than "High Water" and "You Bet Your Life" (and probably about as good as "Available Light"). Over-all, this album was far more consistent than it's 2 predecessors, and my favorite album of the band's 4th Phase.
Test For Echo was a great effort, IMO, to try and move forward from the greatness that was CP, but some of the music and half of the lyrics were a bit out there, and thus, a bit harder to swallow initially. There IS a lot of great MUSIC on here, some awesome riffs and such, but some of the lyrics have a "WTF?" moment. Either way, the first half of the album is pretty good, from the title track to "Time And Motion" (another one I'd like to see brought to the stage again), but the next 3 are a bit odd. After that, they close with 3 relatively strong songs (though not as good as the first 2 songs on the album). "Resist" gets props for being able to stand out amongst such odd tracks, and then we get the album's instrumental "Limbo", a highly underrated piece on this album. "Carve Away The Stone" is a good closer and works well for the album. TFE isn't as exploratory or heavy/hard as CP, but it does venture out a bit in to some uncharted territoriality. If CP was a few steps in the right direction after RTB, TFE might be a step back and one to the side.
-Marc.
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Counterparts- Is one of my favorite Rush albums. Just an incredibly solid album, pretty much from beginning to end and the instrumental is probably my favorite of their instrumentals. My favorite tracks would probably be Nobody's hero and Leave that thing alone.
Test for Echo- This would be the first time I ever experienced Rush, back in the summer of 96. I popped my uncle's cd in, after the album art caught my eye and I remember absolutely loving the title track and Driven, but I didn't have a chance to listen to the rest until later on. To me the album is a flawed gem. It had the potential to be just as good as, if not better then Counterparts, but tracks like Dog Years, and Time and motion really bring it down. In the end, TFE has my respect and always will, but its not something that I listen to very often.
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Counterparts is still one of my favorite Rush albums; always will be. :coolio
Test for Echo is pretty good, but just seems to be missing something. And Time and Motion still sucks something awful.
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Counterparts is a very good Rush album. Catchy songs, well played. A couple of songs don't hit the spot but overall very good.
TFE- as a fan from 82 this was the first time I played a Rush album other than the debut and thought it was terrible. Crap songs, crap lyrics. Not much to even interest me in ever playing it again. revisited it recently because of the Rush song discussion thread and it's still crap. IMO of course.
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Counterparts and Test for Echo both fall into the same basic category for me: latter-day Rush. I've listened to each album maybe a dozen times total, and have no objection to either of them, but nothing has really grabbed me, either. Therefore I haven't taken the time to really dig into either of them, not like in school days when I spent hours and hours absorbing every little nuance. The result is that I'm just not that familiar with either of them and have no strong opinions of either. I'll put them on for background music while gaming on the PC or on road trips when I make a specific effort to listen to stuff I haven't listened to very much.
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Some good tracks on each for sure, but overall these two albums begin a long and gradual decline in songwriting...
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Counterparts was a breath of fresh air after the *miserable* Roll the Bones. It was really good to hear them *really* rocking out again. I seem to remember Alex saying in an interview when it came out that it was the first time he had "mic'ed" the guitars in a very long time...so it gave the whole album a very raw feel. Still, I couldn't help but think that I really didn't care for about half the songs. Animate is good. Stick it Out was OK...but felt like they were trying too hard...like it was over compensating for lost time because they hadn't done anything really heavy in a long time. Cut to the Chase is probably my favorite on the whole album....that and Alien Shore. Nobody's Hero was great the first dozen or so times...but got very old, very fast. Between the Sun and Moon wins the award for worst chorus since the self titled album. And the rest of the album is just hit and miss. Over all, this album just feels like they were trying WAY too hard to say "LET'S BE HEAVY!!!" instead of just being Rush.
TEST FOR ECHO on the other hand, is a darn near perfect album. T4E-T&M is to my ears the single greatest 1-5 opening on any album since Moving Pictures. Just a non-stop, kick ass, 10/10 wall to wall kick assery. There's not a single note of those first 5 songs that I don't absolutely LOVE. Then the album sags in the middle with Totem and Dog Years...pretty meh stuff, and the lyrics for Dog Years are just awful. But then Virtuality grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go until Resist comes and lullabies you with one of the sweetest melodies they've ever done. Limbo is *GROSSLY* underappreciated ("what ever happened to my Transylvania twist?") and Carve Away the Stone is a sweet closer.
T4E has been a top 5 Rush album for me from the day it came out. Counterparts was trying too hard... What Counterparts failed to do, T4E accomplished perfectly.
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I was just listening to TFE today and remembered how much the title track has a Tool vibe to it, which is really sweet. Anybody else picking up on that?
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inb4 I get mocked for saying that these 2 albums both witness to the influence of alternative/grunge.* However, I still prefer CP because Alex still played the technical guitar solos. With T4E, I feel like he drifted a little too far into Sonic Youth territory with the solos.
*
(https://www.gamereplays.org/community/uploads/post-96414-1283789216.jpg)
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So I listened to Counterparts yesterday and realized that I'm more familiar with it than I think I thought I was. Mostly just from putting the album on and letting it play while I do something else on the computer, or while working out, or from seeing/hearing songs played on the concert videos. The thing is that all of these lead to me getting to know the songs but not know their titles. So yesterday's commute (to and from) was Counterparts, with me grabbing the iPod once in a while to see what the name of the song was.
Impressions: I guess I can understand why longtime Rush fans don't really like this one, but at the same time, I can see why lots of people do. It is different somehow. But it's still Rush, and I'm in the "any Rush is good music" camp. There are very few songs of theirs that I just plain don't like.
Today's commute: Test for Echo
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Wow. So they can still get heavy. Not rip-roaring balls-out rocking like "Anthem" but slamming, stomping heavy like... I don't know... some of the songs on this album. Some of those tunes were pretty face-smacking. And as always, there was contrast; acoustic guitars, some auxilliary percussion, even hammer dulcimer. "Texture" is the word that comes to mind. Cool stuff.
I know you youngin's get tired of hearing this from us old fogeys, but damn, I wish I had the time to get into albums like in the old days. Gone are the days of buying a new album and just spending half a day laying on the bed listening to it while studying the liner notes. Not only does free time seem to evaporate the older you get, but albums are twice as long, too. I feel like I have to specifically set aside time to immerse myself in albums in order to grok them in fullness. And that just doesn't happen.
So I listen to albums in the car, and enjoy them, but even if I could remember some of names of the songs, I'd be hard pressed to put names and tunes together. Such is life.
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...in order to grok them in fullness...
Greatest...book...ever....
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Isn't it? But that's rhetorical. Of course it is.
I whip out that expression ("grok in fullness") every once in a while, just to see who catches it.
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Grokin' Them Angels
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I fell behind on this, mainly because I've wanted to make sure my gf was around when I was playing the stuff (she's seeing them with my in Oct), finished with HYF, and will hopefully zoom all the way up to T4E this weekend.
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I fell behind on this, mainly because I've wanted to make sure my gf was around when I was playing the stuff (she's seeing them with my in Oct), finished with HYF, and will hopefully zoom all the way up to T4E this weekend.
It's cool, I totally forgot to update this for a week, so I guess I've given you time to catch-up! Glad to hear you're sharing the journey with your gf! :tup
-Marc.
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A Show Of Hands was their most "balanced" live album of their first three, it wasn't too raw and loud, but it wasn't too polished and clean. The band found a comfortable medium of live ambiance and perfection and compiled some of their best songs into a live album, and other than the closer "Closer To The Heart", the whole album is new material! And what a spread of material it is, although we only get 1 song from Signals and 2 songs from GUP, 8 of the songs come from the band's then two newest albums, which is okay because they're some of my favorites! It's hard to top live albums like ATWAS and ESL, but I think they did quite a good job on this one.
Different Stages has two unique properties - it's 2-disc live show (the main set) contains, for the first time ever, the complete live performance of "2112" AND it comes with a bonus disc of a show from the 1978 AFTK Tour! Now that most of the main show is taken from a single concert (with some swapped songs from various other shows on the CP and TFE tours), we're treated to a LOT of different songs, not just from that band's 4-album phase (as the previous 3 live albums were). So we get gems like "The Analog Kid" and "Natural Science" (which might've been eliminated from a single-disc show), in addition to the aforementioned full performance of "2112". My only gripe is that we get 7 songs that have already been released live (at least once) in lieu of other newer songs from Presto and Roll The Bones, and even to this day, Presto remains highly under-represented in the live setting. However, we are treated to 11 new songs (out of the 25 they had played live from the Presto-TFE tours), so it's not ALL a big loss.
The REAL treat, however, to this whole set is the 1978 show, where every song is killer. We get a sweet rendition of the "By-Tor"/"Xanadu" medley, as well as one of the band's early "Working Man" Encore medleys, although it saddens me that they had to edit the drum solo. I was okay with them taking away "2112" but the drum solo!!! IT'S THE PROFESSOR!!!
-Marc.
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Both A Show of Hands and Different Stages are two of my favorite live albums of all time.
and that 3rd disc of Different stages just smokes. :metal :metal
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The Test for Echo tour was awesome since this was still pre-internet for all of us who went, so we had no idea what was gonna be played. Sadly, a deejay on KSHE95, the local hard rock radio station, spoiled it the day before about them playing all of 2112, but Natural Science was still a massive surprise. I also remember being shocked that they played Resist and not Totem from TFE, as on the Rockline show pre-release for TFE, they spoke glowingly about Totem, while Resist almost seemed like an afterthought, so who knows what happened there.
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Two excellent live albums, though I've not played either for a long time (I did watch the dvd of ASOH recently). I've gone off live albums on the whole, but I used to love them.
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The Test for Echo tour was awesome since this was still pre-internet for all of us who went, so we had no idea what was gonna be played. Sadly, a deejay on KSHE95, the local hard rock radio station, spoiled it the day before about them playing all of 2112, but Natural Science was still a massive surprise. I also remember being shocked that they played Resist and not Totem from TFE, as on the Rockline show pre-release for TFE, they spoke glowingly about Totem, while Resist almost seemed like an afterthought, so who knows what happened there.
:lol Wasn't pre-internet for me! Full setlist was on the web, FYI. I also got the Counterparts tour setlist off the web in '94. I made a replica mix-tape of it for the drive to the show.
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The Test for Echo tour was awesome since this was still pre-internet for all of us who went, so we had no idea what was gonna be played. Sadly, a deejay on KSHE95, the local hard rock radio station, spoiled it the day before about them playing all of 2112, but Natural Science was still a massive surprise. I also remember being shocked that they played Resist and not Totem from TFE, as on the Rockline show pre-release for TFE, they spoke glowingly about Totem, while Resist almost seemed like an afterthought, so who knows what happened there.
:lol Wasn't pre-internet for me! Full setlist was on the web, FYI. I also got the Counterparts tour setlist off the web in '94. I made a replica mix-tape of it for the drive to the show.
:tup Nice! What about the RTB Tour? Did you freak out when they played "Xanadu", then launched into "Superconductor" halfway through? :rollin
-Marc.
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I believe the website was The National Midnight Star.
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The Test for Echo tour was awesome since this was still pre-internet for all of us who went, so we had no idea what was gonna be played. Sadly, a deejay on KSHE95, the local hard rock radio station, spoiled it the day before about them playing all of 2112, but Natural Science was still a massive surprise. I also remember being shocked that they played Resist and not Totem from TFE, as on the Rockline show pre-release for TFE, they spoke glowingly about Totem, while Resist almost seemed like an afterthought, so who knows what happened there.
:lol Wasn't pre-internet for me! Full setlist was on the web, FYI. I also got the Counterparts tour setlist off the web in '94. I made a replica mix-tape of it for the drive to the show.
:tup Nice! What about the RTB Tour? Did you freak out when they played "Xanadu", then launched into "Superconductor" halfway through? :rollin
-Marc.
Counterparts tour was my first 3 Rush shows. Did that really happen???
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I believe the website was The National Midnight Star.
I posted this story in another thread, but some dude on some online Rush forum actually sent me a copy of Counterparts a full TWO MONTHS before the album was released. No idea who he was or why he did it, but i had the album before anyone. Just arrived in my mailbox, no questions asked.
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Counterparts tour was my first 3 Rush shows. Did that really happen???
Oh unfortunately. at the time, I was only 6 years old, so I didn't know Rush (and I wouldn't until nearly a decade later), but I have read setlists and listened to soundboard boots of that tour, and they really did play "Superconductor" at the half-way point of "Xanadu". They did a similar thing on the Presto Tour, except they went into "YYZ", which was less surprising and jarring. After the CP Tour, where they played "Hemispheres: Prelude" after "Xanadu" (the best of the 3 Xanadu 90's medleys), they laid "Xanadu" to rest until the R30 tour a decade later.
-Marc.
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And now, a nearly a decade later again... it's time.
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Never cared for ASOH.
1) It sounds very stale to me. The live versions sound *way* too much like the studio versions. I think the band had become so synth heavy, there was no wiggle room to play things differently. Half the performance was programmed before the show even started. At least, that was the way it felt.
2) The *TWO BEST SONGS* from the video were left off the CD. I would have MUCH rather either had a two disc version, or drop CttH in favor of Territories and Prime Mover.
3) Other glaring omissions. WHY...WHY did they not include the complete Fear Trilogy as it stood at the time? We would have to wait for the P/G soundtrack to be released almost 20 years later!!! Also. The live versions of RSA with the explosion after "shouting guards and smoking guns" are far superior than this version. I remember being instantly disappointed. It was just one more thing that made this album lose it's "live" feel, and just made it sound like they were recreating the studio versions verbatim.
Different Stages is a different story. The highlight of the whole album for me is the way Geddy goes off on the middle section of Driven. That's the kind of moment that makes a live album, A LIVE ALBUM.
Different Stages beat out ESL as my all time favorite Rush album, and it's STILL my favorite live Rush album to this day. Great set...great tour....top 5 album they were touring for...2112 in its entirety. It's nearly perfect. (I would have liked to see more T4E material though. I would have been happy to drop the repeats of The Trees, Closer to the Heart and Freewill in favor of Half the World, Virtuality (or Time and Motion) and maybe something from Presto like War Paint or Scars)
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And now we come to the band's latest two albums...
Vapor Trials was the band's big "come back", after Neil's tragedies, this was an album of healing and moving forward, and they came right out of the gate with "One Little Victory". This album has some of my favorite Rush songs of the last 6 albums - "Earthshine", "Vapor Trail", "Freeze", "Secret Touch" and "How It Is" (yep, I actually enjoy that one!). There's some great pieces on here, but unfortunately the production/mastering ruins a bit of the enjoyment of the album, but I recently gave this whole album a spin (with pretty good headphones on my iPod) and it wasn't so bad. It is an album that sorely needs remastering/re-issuing, and hopefully the band get around to it ASAP.
It is a shame, however, that so few songs from this album have been played live, and in the 3 tours since, we haven't gotten a new live track from here! There are 8 tracks that haven't been played from this album, and at least HALF of them deserve to be played live at least ONCE - "Freeze" (to complete the "Fear" Series live!), "Vapor Trail", "How It Is", and possibly "Peaceable Kingdom" and/or "Stars Look Down".
Snakes & Arrows was move into a heavier direction, something that the band has zig-zagged around since Roll The Bones. This album also had a couple of firsts for the band - songs that segued into each other and more than one instrumental! This album definitely broke the mold for the band, IMO, and showed us that they weren't afraid of still experimenting and changing, I guess you could say, Progressing. Despite the feeling that songs in the 2nd half of the album are the weaker tunes, every track on here is on-par, if not better, especially "Bravest Face" and "Good News First". I'd say the only weak tune on the album is the closing track (then again, Rush have had some pretty weak closing tracks over the last few albums).
Also, playing 9 out of the album's 13 tracks live on the S&A Tour was a bold move, and then playing "Faithless" on the following tour - we haven't had that many "new" tracks played from the last album in awhile (I think not since Power Windows, with 7/8 songs played lie). I can only hope that the remaining 3 tunes ("Bravest Face", "Good News First" and "We Hold On") get some live play time in the coming years. Then again, if Clockwork Angels is a hit, there may not be enough room in the set list in the coming years to fit S&A tunes!
-Marc.
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Vapor Trails- VT was my first Rush record and I like it a lot. Its pretty damn good, considering the circumstances and the possibility that the band may never have re-formed. VT is a very solid album, but it suffers from its length. I don't even think I've ever made it from beginning to end. Overall, its a full album of good, with the occasional really good songs. But nothing really stands out as excellent or masterpiece material.
Snakes and Arrows I love this album and it may be one of my top ten favorite Rush albums. It just scratches every itch I've got. And Hope frequently brings me to tears. This was the first album that I felt was really great since PW and HYF, even though I really do like Counterparts. In short I love this Snakes and Arrows :heart
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My opinion on these two, especially when comparing and contrasting them, remains the same:
VT has the higher highs, but also the lower lows.
S&A is pretty consistent in that almost every song is good, some being very good, but I am not sure there is any song on there I would call truly great.
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Vapor Trails was a huge disappointment. I love the first 5 tracks...then it's pretty uninteresting, loud and obnoxious. There's a saving grace down the stretch with Freeze...but that's it. I think Geddy's double tracked vocals are particularly bad...and Earthshine in particular reminds me of Slim Whitman doing heavy metal. I can only picture Martian heads exploding every time I hear the song. High points are most definitely Ghost Rider and Freeze. But Peaceable Kingdom and And the Stars Look Down are both really good as well.
Again...VT had the same problem that Counterparts had. Trying to be really over the top heavy...just for the sake of being heavy....and not just being *RUSH*.
Snakes and Arrows was a much mellower album to my ears. And I don't think Hope and Faithless should ever be separated under any circumstances. There really is not a bad song on the entire album, and even picking out my favorites are difficult. But Workin' Them Angels, Faithless, Far Cry, Malignant Narcissism, The Main Monkey Business, Larger Bowl, Spindrift, Bravest Face, We Hold On.....oh forget it. I started to type a list of just my very favorite stuff, and realized I was 2/3rds through the album and still going. But that's exactly how good S&A is.
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So I've decided to add a week for the last decade of live albums from Rush, just to give everyone a week to digest the new album before we discuss it here.
-Marc.
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Going to listen to these two when I get home. Works out since I get home around 4:15 and I'm waiting till about 6:30 (when the gf gets there) to listen to the new album for the first time.
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Going to listen to these two when I get home. Works out since I get home around 4:15 and I'm waiting till about 6:30 (when the gf gets there) to listen to the new album for the first time.
:tup
-Marc.
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Rush In Rio is such a, well... RUSH! Canada's great power-trio staged in front of 40,000 fans - that's just about 13,333 fans per band member there! Can you imagine having 13,333 show up to a concert JUST FOR YOU. Mind-boggling, yes, but this show was one for the ages. Not only does it break out of the shell of past concerts for being a show with a HUGE crowd, the crowd itself is now a part of the whole show (and not just "Closer To The Heart" as on ESL). They sing and chant along with all the songs, lyrics AND music (like in "YYZ"). And, also, for the first time, we get a COMPLETE Rush show on a live album, as well as 2 bonus tracks of songs they alternated on the set list (although I am saddened we didn't get "Ceiling Unlimited", giving us ALL the songs they played that tour).
The set list itself is full of great choices, including "Natural Science" (a hold-over from the previous tour), "La Villa Strangiato", and the entire encore! Not to mention, Neil has an amazing solo, and Geddy gets the spot-light in "Driven" and at the end of "Leave That Thing Alone". The band fires on all cylinders and pull off an amazing show. If ATWAS was the band at it's most raw on stage, ESL showed them fine-tuned and polished, ASOH gave us a balance of power and perfection, while DS treated us to the entire "2112" and a bonus show, RIR's uniqueness is the CROWD and the ENERGY and the POWAH!
This show also holds a special place in my heart because I got the CD set from my brother and the DVD set from my dad back in Christmas 2003, about 2 months after it was released. I was shocked and amazed at the same time, and I spent months watching the DVD and listening to the show. I got those sets about a year after I started getting REALLY into Rush, so it's release really sticks to me as a special memory.
R30 is a bit more of a polished show than RIR, but it's got a unique feel to it, although I am upset we did not get the whole show, especially considering we would get the whole show for the next two live releases. Either way, the best things about this show are the opening overture that segues into "The Spirit Of Radio", as well as the trio of "2112"/"Xanadu"/"Working Man", although the full-run of "2112", "By-Tor & The Snowdog", "La Villa Strangiato", "Xanadu" and "Working Man" makes for a KILLER final 35-38 minutes of the 2nd set!!! Too bad we didn't get it on the official live release - they haven't had an epic 5-song run like that in their setlists in YEARS.
There isn't much else special about this show, at least for me, though I enjoy the inclusion of "Red Barchetta", "Between The Wheels" and "Animate". It upset me that Presto was the only album not represented on this tour, and any song would've been great to hear live...heck, even "Superconductor" would've been interesting!!!
-Marc.
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R30 is easily the one Rush live DVD of the last four that I watch the least, which is a shame since it was shot so brilliantly. But just about everything on there, I can get on one of the other newer DVDs, the notable exceptions (for me) being Animate (which is too slow and suffers by shortening the choruses), Xanadu (which doesn't have the whole intro, which is criminal) and the R30 Overture (which IS awesome).
But Rio...yeah, that is just beyond awesome. Great performances, great set list and tremendous energy from the crowd. :tup :tup
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Rush in Rio- In 2004, I had only a vague idea of who Rush were and never had any inclination that they would become my favorite band in the world. That all changed the day my Step-dad gave me Rush in Rio. Its like buffet of their music, letting me taste and sample a little bit of everything. It was the perfect entryway into their music. After a few viewings I was hooked. And because of Rush in Rio, they are now and forever will be my favorite band in existence.
R30- Its great, but I always find myself going back to Rush in Rio.
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R30 looks fantastic, but otherwise is also my least watched Rush DVD.
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I keep hearing that R30 is great but the least-watched or least popular.
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^^^ in all the years I've owned R30 I think I've only watched it once.
and that's not a knock against it. I just usually end up watching Rio when I'm in the mood for a Rush DVD.
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^^^ in all the years I've owned R30 I think I've only watched it once.
and that's not a knock against it. I just usually end up watching Rio when I'm in the mood for a Rush DVD.
I may have to agree with this sentiment - I do recall watching RIR many times after I got R30, but only R30 a couple of times. I find the following pair of live shows (S&A Live and Time Machine Tour) to be better shows and sets in general. Although I'll also agree with Nick in that R30 *looks* good, but it doesn't save it from being any better than RIR (which, on the other hand, has a lot camera changes that can be jarring).
-Marc.
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That's part of the problem with Rush releasing so many concert vids. Yeah, choice is good, variety is good, more is better, but when you're in the mood for a Rush concert, you're going to tend to go with your favorite, or maybe second favorite, or maybe one with a particular song you're in the mood for. Something's gotta drop to the bottom of the list, and it sounds like R30 just has a few things stacked against it.
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Rush in Rio is what made me a die hard Rush fan. Then R30 came out and kind of dissappointed me.
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Rush in Rio is what made me a die hard Rush fan. Then R30 came out and kind of dissappointed me.
I can echo most of these statements.
I may have told this story before, but here it goes...
When I started getting into music, I happened to buy 3 CDs at Best Buy one day, one of which was The Spirit of Radio compilation. After being floored by that I raided my dad's collection to find Fly By Night, Moving Pictures, and Counterparts. At this point I was primed and ready for Rush to take over my life. I went back to Best Buy looking to get more, and to my surprise there was a big Rush display... why? Well, turns out Rush in Rio had just been released a few days prior, and so I picked the DVD up. I must have played that DVD nearly to death in the following weeks, and after my initial CD contact with TSoR, I consider that to be the thing that plunged me down the rabbit hole.
As for R30, I wasn't wholly disappointed, just had a few big gripes. The first being that as someone who saw the tour I wanted the whole show (which was finally reconciled recently with the Blu-Ray), and the show needed more energy. There was pretty much no crowd in R30, and after the amazing experience of Rush in Rio that was simply unacceptable. And overall, while some people think it just needed to by dialed back a little bit, I think RiR crowd volume is perfect. The crowd helps to make the live album.
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yeah, the crowd almost makes the band a quartet for that show.
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i listened to some rush for the first time today
they are pretty good
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i listened to some rush for the first time today
they are pretty good
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/534276_3320089202983_59983380_n.jpg)
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HA!
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And now to the last pair of albums to discuss for this thread (Unless anyone can think of any more...)
Snakes & Arrows Live presents to us a complete show from the first leg of the tour, giving us such gems as "Digital Man", "Circumstances", "Entre Nous", "Witch Hunt" and "Mission", as well as the return of "Natural Science"! This is quite a different set list than the previous two tours gave us, especially with 9 out of 13 new songs played from the S&A album! It's an impressive show with a great set and there really isn't much more to it. The band plays admirably and Neil's solo has changed more than it had in the past, and was even SHORTENED! Who knew he could pull back so much after 2 decades of adding/swapping parts and arrangements of his solo? Here, he's taken parts out completely, and added brand new ideas, and even learned to start improvising parts of his solo even more than usual. This was a good tour and this show is a great piece of it. The inclusion of the Atlanta bonus songs on the video set gives us every song played on the tour between both legs! After dropping 8 tunes from R30, I guess they decided to make up for not giving us everything (again, as RIR had 2 bonus tracks) by adding the Atlanta songs, which gives us a nice treat in the form of "Ghost Of A Chance"
The Time Machine Tour is the band's most recent live release and it's got the unique pleasure of presenting the entire Moving Pictures album live, and it's quite a doozy! This album hasn't been spun by me often since it only came out recently, but I'm listening to it now and I enjoy the first performances of "Faithless" and "Presto", as well as the return of "Marathon", "Stick It Out" and "Leave That Thing Alone" to the set, and the encore is just awesome! I'd say the band did a great job picking a well-balanced set list this time around.
-Marc.
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So I am reviving this topic with a twist - Each pairs of albums will now be pitted against each other!! I'll update every Friday (if I can remember to :lol )
7/13-7/19 - Rush VS Fly By Night
7/20-7/26 - Caress Of Steel VS 2112
7/27-8/2 - A Farewell To Kings VS Hemispheres
8/3-8/9 - Permanent Waves VS Moving Pictures
8/10-8/16 - Signals VS Grace Under Pressure
8/17-8/23 - Power Windows VS Hold Your Fire
8/24-8/30 - Presto VS Roll The Bones
8/31-9/6 - Counterparts VS Test For Echo
9/7-9/13 - Vapor Trails VS Snakes & Arrows (just in time for the first week of the Tour!)
For this week, we start with the first two albums. While their debut is pretty good (for what it is), their 2nd album pretty much wins for me - songs like "Anthem", "By-Tor & The Snow Dog" and "Beneath, Between & Behind" really put this album over the top. Even though FBN has "Rivendell" (which is an interesting piece in of it self), it doesn't tarnish the whole album enough to put their debut ahead of it.
-Marc.
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I'm gonna go with the debut since I feel like its consistently good from beginning to end where as Fly by Night has peaks and valleys and they were still feeling each other out.
I also listen to the debut more often then FBN. (even though Anthem is my favorite Rush song)
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Fly By Night but it is really, really close. Finding My Way, In the Mood, and Working Man are strong but they are edged out by Anthem, BB&B, and By-tor. The title track is the icing on the cake.
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I know you're looking for a definitive vote, but I have to say it depends on my mood. Completely agree about debut being more consistent from beginning to end, but higher highs on FBN.
I would say Best I Can and Making Memories (in addition to Rivendell) are less good than any of the songs on the debut. There are so many good songs on the debut that are underrated. Before and After comes to mind.
So in the end (pun intended) more of the time I prefer Rush as a complete listening experience. But sometimes I'm in the mood (no pun intended!) for Anthem, By-Tor, BB&B, and In The End.
p.s. Anthem has been the basis for many of my passwords since the 90s. That's how awesome I think the song is. (But if you try to log in as me on this site, you'll be out of luck; the password is not "Anthem" :D )
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Now we come to the band's 3rd and 4th albums, each with a side-long epic, but as many fans will recognize, "2112" (the song) was a far better and more cohesive attempt at the prog rock staple, the multi-movement, side-long epic.
For me, these two albums might be an even draw - 2112 has the amazing opening self-titled track, as well as "A Passage To Bangkok", but I only find the rest of the album to be okay-to-good, not great or amazing. On Caress Of Steel, everything but "I Think I'm Going Bald" on Side 1 is just amazing, especially the epic "The Necromancer", a sequel/prequel/sidequel to "By-Tor & The Snow Dog", while Side 2's suite ranges from good-to-great. If I were to weigh these two albums out, it might come close to being even, there's just great charms to both, but also some less memorable moments as well. Unfortunately, 2112 might always be seen as the better album, considering it was pretty much their breakthrough and thus, overshadowed it's predecessor, which has now attained some sort of cult-following-status in that it's either greatly admired or unfairly ridiculed, with everything from the Tolkien-esque cover art to the more fantastical Side 2 story... and of course, a song about going bald.
-Marc.
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I prefer 2112 by a pretty wide margin, but I also realize that Caress of Steel had to come first. They really learned a lot about songwriting on CoS, and those lessons learned are a big part of what made 2112 so amazing. And yes, I'm mostly talking about the title epic, but Side Two isn't bad, just often overlooked. The songs are all under four minutes long, and that's short in general for a band on the verge of going prog, but short for Rush specifically. I think that after doing some musical exploration with Caress of Steel, there was a conscious decision to restrict that side of them to the title epic, and make the rest of the songs concise and to the point. And they are. If you don't like one of them, it's over soon. If you like, it packs its punch and you move on.
I play Side One of Caress of Steel sometimes, but I've never gotten into "The Fountain of Lamneth". The way it's so fragmented keeps taking me out of the experience. It just has no flow. It's literally a bunch of shorter pieces put together.
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This ain't even fair. Caress of Steel is quite good and pretty underrated by a lot of people, but 2112 is just a whole other animal and a top 5 Rush record.
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This is rough. 2112 is one of the seminal songs in the history of music. The problem is Side B, where APTB & Circumstances are good, but the other songs, not so much.
Caress of Steel is more consistently good, where only ITIGB falls down. But nothing comes close to the eargasm that is 2112's title track.
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Let's see...
Honestly, 2112 only wins BECAUSE of the title track. I like Passage to Bangkok and Something For Nothing, but I like Bastille Day and The Necromancer better. 2112 is a far more realized side long epic than Fountain, so that puts it over the top.
But it's closer than you'd think!
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This is rough. 2112 is one of the seminal songs in the history of music. The problem is Side B, where APTB & Circumstances are good, but the other songs, not so much.
Caress of Steel is more consistently good, where only ITIGB falls down. But nothing comes close to the eargasm that is 2112's title track.
"Circumstances"??? That's on Hemispheres my friend. Did you mean "Something For Nothing"? :tup
-Marc.
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Now I pit two of the band's greatest albums ever, and probably my favorite back-to-back Rush albums.
It's hard to pick one over the other - they are both so ridiculously good, it's insane! If I *had* to pick one, however, I would go with AFTK. While I like "Cygnus X-1, Book II: Hemispheres" quite a bit, I'd take "A Farewell To Kings" and "Xanadu" over it. And while AFTK only has 6 tracks, it offers a bit more variety than HEMI's 4 tracks, even though "La Villa Strangiato" is a Top 10 Rush song for me.
Although, I could always change my mind on any given day and time. They're practically equal, for me, I just think (at this moment), AFTK has a slight edge.
-Marc.
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Hemispheres>Farewell to Kings
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Hemispheres>Farewell to Kings
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These 2 albums are twins, and should not be separated.
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A Farewell to Kings was my favourite Rush album for years, and then I really got into Hemispheres, big time, and bumped Farewell down to 2nd. For me, Hemispheres is four 10/10 songs, whereas Farewell is four 10/10 songs and two 9/10 songs (Cinderella Man and Madrigal). These two albums are just so so good. I think the run from 2112 through Moving Pictures is among the best five-album runs any band has ever had.
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Farewell to Kings. Every song on it is perfect. Even "Madrigal."
Hemispheres is so grossly overrated in the Rush community.
"Cygnus" takes a song that was perfectly concise on AFTK and expands it to new, uninteresting levels and lengths. Honestly, I always zone out during this song. It holds no appeal to me whatsoever.
"Circumstances" is a good, concise little song. Fun but not a favorite.
"The Trees" is the same. I didn't like it much at first, but I do like it now.
"La Villa Strangiatto" is the standout and it's their best instrumental and probably one of the best instrumentals ever.
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A Farewell To Kings is my #2 Rush album after Moving Pictures. Xanadu is one of their very best songs (A Top 3 for me).
I'm not equally crazy over Hemispheres though. Circumstances and La Villa Strangiato are my favourites there.
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Hemispheres is my favorite Rush album, and AFtK is number 3, after Moving Pictures. I love every song on Hemispheres, but the same cannot be said for AFtK. Xanadu is my favorite track by Rush, but Madrigal and Cinderella Man drag the album down. The remaining songs are all excellent, however.
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Hemispheres>Farewell to Kings
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Funny because I find Cygnus X-1 to be the weakest part of the entire piece. It feels more like an "intro" to me...a prelude to the REAL song.
Book 2, for my money is not only the greatest Rush song ever...but quite possibly the single greatest piece of rock music ever recorded. (well...at least I thought that until I heard Supper's Ready...but I digress) You can really tell how much Rush matured from 2112 to Hemispheres, because while 2112 feels more like 6 different songs that were pasted together and then tied together with an Overture, Hemispheres feels much more like a single cohesive piece of music....AND it even harkens back to Book 1 as an intro. Every note is just absolutely brilliant.
AFTK is really fantastic, but Hemispheres is Rush perfection.
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Agreed that Hemispheres is my preference for similar reasons as others, but I wish the production on Hemispheres could be more like AFTK. The later album lacks the punch of the earlier one, and I also like Geddy's bass sound on AFTK more than just about any other Rush album.
Oh, and that gong at the end of Hemispheres is a total ripoff of SDOIT :P
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Two of the band's best albums, right here, PEW and MP. They produced a lot of great hits (among fans and on the radio), and are probably two of the band's most popular albums (next to 2112).
Sure, MP gets a lot more notice since Side 1 is full of recognizable hits, but Side 2 also has their more experimental stuff with their last 10+ minute epic and a couple pieces that were unlike anything they had done before.
However, PEW is a bit more consistent, IMO, and has greatness all over it, in every song, and it's got heavy epic tracks like "Jacob's Ladder" and "Natural Science", while giving us more concise prog-pieces in "The Spirit Of Radio" and "Freewill".
It's a toss-up, really, both are great albums, but if I had to give one the edge over the other, I'd choose PEW, mostly because if I didn't choose, I still would have made a choice.
-Marc.
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Neil has said that in some ways, MP was the first Rush album. I disagree. The beginning of the new era started with PeW. 2nd favorite Rush album behind Hemispheres. Rush had perfected the all-out prog of the 70's, and were ready to move on...but not by selling out like so many other bands did.
4 shorter concise pieces, 2 mini-epics...this album is just amazing. PeW wins for me. MP is also a top 5 album...and it's the one that got me into Rush in the first place. Maybe it's just because Vital Signs (while great) is not *as* great as the stuff on the rest of the album or PeW...maybe it's because MP is slightly more overplayed. But I think mostly it's because the PeW epics are better than the MP epic. The Camera Eye is a great song...but it's also over-rated, and probably the poorest of all the 10+ min Rush songs.
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I've always preferred Permanent Waves to Moving Pictures. I find the second half of Pictures to be noticeably weaker than the first half (which is a problem with a lot of Rush albums), but I like all of Waves. Natural Science is probably the best Rush song.
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These 2 albums are twins, and should not be separated.
This. Goes for both A Farewell To Kings/Hemispheres and Permanent Waves/Moving Pictures
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First 5 tracks of Moving Pictures > All of Permanent Waves. And that's not an easy hurdle. If you take out Different Strings, I would rate PeW higher. But Jacob's Ladder, as good as it is, has a little too slow a tempo to be thoroughly enjoyable. Instead, it feels a little too plodding. (But I do like it a lot.) Entre Nous is fun, but probably as generic as Rush songs come. (see also: New World Man). I actually usually skip Vital Signs. But it doesn't matter, MP is still stronger.
Finally, the production/mixing on MP is meatier, the guitar sound clearer, overall better.
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I've always preferred Permanent Waves to Moving Pictures. I find the second half of Pictures to be noticeably weaker than the first half (which is a problem with a lot of Rush albums), but I like all of Waves. Natural Science is probably the best Rush song.
This is how I feel. Everything up to Camera Eye on Moving Pictures is killer. I usually skip Witch Hunt, and while I like Vital Signs, it's not open your eyes awesome Rush... However, as far as epics go, Natural Science >>>>>>>>>>>>> Camera Eye. And I don't skip ANYTHING on Permanent Waves. Spirit of Radio is my favorite pump you up song, Natural Science is my 2nd favorite overall Rush song (behind Subdivisions)... so yeah. Permanent Waves for me.
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I've always preferred Permanent Waves to Moving Pictures. I find the second half of Pictures to be noticeably weaker than the first half (which is a problem with a lot of Rush albums), but I like all of Waves. Natural Science is probably the best Rush song.
This is how I feel. Everything up to Camera Eye on Moving Pictures is killer. I usually skip Witch Hunt, and while I like Vital Signs, it's not open your eyes awesome Rush... However, as far as epics go, Natural Science >>>>>>>>>>>>> Camera Eye. And I don't skip ANYTHING on Permanent Waves. Spirit of Radio is my favorite pump you up song, Natural Science is my 2nd favorite overall Rush song (behind Subdivisions)... so yeah. Permanent Waves for me.
if we're going to go there, Natural Science is a highly enjoyable song, but from about 5:06 to 7:17 it's really not my cup of tea. If you took that out and replaced it with something less clunky and more propulsive like the rest of the song, I would agree that it would be in the all time top 5 probably.
so you combine my opinion of Natural Science with the lackluster Different Strings, Entre Nous, and Jacob's Ladder, and you see why I can't pick Permanent Waves over Moving Pictures. Plus, production again. It's no contest there.
Of course neither one of these is my favorite Rush album, start to finish. I know they're the best-selling ones, but that doesn't mean they're my faves.
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Both amazing albums, but I slightly prefer MP.
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So Rush moves head-forward into the 80's with some more influences outside their comfort zone, ever keeping up and changing their sound and style while still being absolutely Rush.
Between these two, I'd cal it a draw. It took me awhile to get into these two albums, although initially I liked GUP a bit more than SIG, but over the years, they've evened out a bit. Rush's follow-up to their hit Moving Pictures is a bit of everything, introducing more "The Police"-type sounds while including more synths and keys, where as GUP really amp'd up the synthesizers while the guitar slowly took a back seat, but Alex still ripped some great solos.
I think Signals has a bit more of an organic sound than GUP, but there's some cool synth-stuff in many of the songs.
-Marc.
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tough call on this one.
Signals is consistently good from beginning to end, where as GUP starts out incredible, but then drops off a little bit in the back end. Having a Chorus derived in Binary may have seemed like a good idea on paper, but doesn't really do it for me.
I have probably listened to GUP more overall, but since Signals has two of my top 5 Rush songs Subdivisions and Losing it, I guess I'll go with Signals, but its very close.
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Close call for me as well. These albums came out when I was at the peak of my Rush fandom.
They both have classics, and they both have duds. But I can never seem to agree with anyone else on what those are.
With Signals, I love the first three tracks...but even after 30 years, I can't get into Digital Man. The Weapon is (to me) the strongest song of the Fear suite...then NWM cheezes things out a bit. But it ends pretty strong with Losing It and Countdown...which in spite of some fairly tepid lyrics, has one of the strongest ending riffs of any Rush closer.
P/G starts strong as well...again, the first three tracks are all fantastic. Then TEW just loses me. I was so excited to hear Part I of Fear, and it was just a huge disappointment. Not a very good song, and still the weakest in the Fear suite. Body Electric was really cool when it came out, but really hasn't aged well. Kid Gloves is a lost classic that gets overlooked too often. I *ADORE* Red Lenses. The lyrics come across as corny, but they are actually quite humorous and fairly intelligent. Some of the wordplay is quite clever, and I never understood why people hate on it so much. And of course, Between the Wheels.... :hefdaddy
The great songs from each are a tie...and they both have one clunker with Digital Man and The Enemy Within. So this is just too close to call.
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I agree with most of what you said, Jammindude.
But I don't like New World Man at all-- that song has no redeeming value and I suspect it was put on because they wanted a second single. I don't like The Weapon as much as you do, I find it pretty hard to get through. But what can you say about Subdivisions, clearly in the top 5 Rush songs ever. And I, along with a lot of others here apparently, love Losing It (Of all things to choose to quote in my yearbook, this is what I chose!). But I also like The Enemy Within better than you do apparently, and I also like The Body Electric, especially the solo. And I agree with the rest of what you said about GUP. I can't believe you didn't mention how awesome the instrumental section of Afterimage is. They really nailed a lot of the instrumental sections, when you think about Between the Wheels and Red Lenses as well.
So for me it is a decisive victory for GUP.
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Power Windows VS Hold Your Fire - the first pair of Peter Collins' produced Rush Albums! (The 2nd pair will be up later...)
Without a doubt, POW > HYF. The latter has some great songs like "Lock And Key", "Mission", "Prime Mover", "Force Ten" and even "Time Stand Still", but half of the album is slightly under par, especially after the greatness of POW, where nearly ever song is top-notch.
The expansion to 10 songs from 8 due to the allowances of CDs length being greater than vinyl let them write more than they usually did for an album, but to be honest, I think they could have written a better album with 8 songs and excluded "Tai Shan" which, at the time, sounded okay, but in retrospect, even the band themselves find it a bit embarrassing.
-Marc.
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Even though I love HYF, I'll have to go with Power Windows.
And I totally agree about Tai Shan.
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I keep flip flopping on this. I used to almost dislike Hold Your Fire, then it became one of my favorites. I suppose I prefer Power Windows, due to my insatiable love for Middletown Dreams
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I've grown to really like Tai Shan. But for me, HYF will forever go down in history as the very first flawed Rush album. The very first album that I felt compelled to skip a track. On previous albums, even if there were songs that weren't as great as others, I would still listen to them and enjoy them. But after 11 nearly flawless albums, HYF was just too slick, and not enough substance.
Power Windows is the the synth era what Hemispheres is to the "prog" era. It is Rush synth rock perfection.
Power Windows by MILES for me.
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HYF has some great stuff on it. There's nothing quite like Turn The Page on any other album-- what a bass line. I'm not going to mention most of the tracks, because I think they're all enjoyable. I agree that Tai Shan is one of those you have to be in the mood for. But for someone who's been to Huangshan (but not Taishan) it brings new meaning and I really find the song peaceful and meditative. Add Open Secrets and Second Nature to the list of songs that I have to be in the mood for, but when I am they are great. I dare say that High Water is a better closer than Mystic Rythyms (which I like immensely, don't get me wrong). Also, the synth palate expanded somewhat on this album, and is used in more creative ways, and doesn't overpower as it does sometimes on Power Windows.
The only problem with HYF is that you can't compete with the overall awesomeness that is Power Windows.
So, Power Windows. But I would probably take Power Windows over any other Rush album, so it's not fair that HYF is the one that has to go up against it.
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Presto VS Roll The Bones - the only pair of albums Rush released that were produced by Rupert Hine.
Many say the original mix of Presto was thin, and the album sounded a bit flat because of it, but the recent Atlantic Remaster breathes a bit more life into the album, and in the last year or so, having revisited the album with more open ears, I've come to love this album more and more. It already had great tracks on it, like "Show Don't Tell", "The Pass", "Chain Lightning", "War Paint", "Scars" and especially "Available Light", but since then, I've come to really enjoy "Presto", "Red Tide", and "Hand Over Fist". I suppose many fan's qualms probably lie with "Superconductor" and the cheesiness of "Anagram (For Mongo)", but they have a certain endearing factor - the former being a really good rock tune that rocks so well, some might not even notice it's in 7/4, while the latter is just full of some clever (if still cheesy) word play that will have you seeing letters and words in your mind.
Over-all, Presto has some great moments, some good pieces, but nothing I would call really bad or un-listenable. They stepped up from HYF and presented a good album. Could it have been a stronger 8-song collection? Definitely, but they gave us everything they had and it was pretty good.
(Note - AFAIK, "Scars" is the last song Neil recorded with the electronic kit in the studio, right? I've been trying to figure out why he hasn't used his electronic kit for any songs since then...)
Roll The Bones was the next step in the band's direction toward heavier material, but for me, I still think the previous album had better OVERALL song writing. RTB has great songs on it as well, but it's highs equal Presto's, while it's lows are just a BIT lower than Presto's.
For me, Presto > RTB.
-Marc.
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Presto was definitely an improvement over HYF. It was nice to hear them get stripped down to the basics again....too bad it lacked the punch that it could have. There are *A LOT* of really fantastic underappreciated songs on this album. Chain Lightning, War Paint, Scars, Superconductor, Presto, Available Light. It was a decent return to form, although I think I was expecting *a bit* more.
Roll the Bones. UGH. I think I can sum up by saying that my top 5 all time least favorite Rush songs in their entire catalog are:
1. You Bet Your Life
2. Neurotica
3. Heresy
4. Face Up
5. The Big Wheel
The only album that I never bought the remaster for, the only Rush album I never listen to any more, the only Rush album I *actively* dislike. The only Rush album in their entire catalog I would qualify as a *BAD* album.
The first three songs are good...Ghost of a Chance and Where's My Thing are the other two saving graces. Everything else on the album...I'm sorry...is crap.
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Oh goody. I get to have the dissenting opinion.
I'm going to agree with pretty much everything M said about Presto. Spot on.
Now we have Roll the Bones. First, there's Dreamline, which in my opinion is Rush's single best song since Subdivisions (although I can't really give you the long view of Clockwork Angels yet, but I don't think that's going to change my assessment.) Bravado is great, as is Roll the Bones (yes, the rap is cheesy, but still a good song.) Guess what, I love Face Up. Where's My Thing is better than Leave That Thing Alone or Limbo, it should have won the grammy that year except it was unfortunate to go up against some great Eric Johnson material. Big Wheel is a great song, I don't know why this doesn't get more love. Heresy is a great bittersweet song that you have to be in the mood for, but if you are it's not lacking at all. Ghost of a Chance is actually sort of meh for me except the solo is great of course. Neurotica has a nice broody mood to it, not their best but not bad. And You Bet Your Life is a decent closer. It's a pretty unique song from a Rush standpoint. And yes, the production is better than Presto, definitely more life.
I can't give a clear winner of these two fine albums. I might as well throw darts, they are that equal as far as I'm concerned.
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I agree with much of what nicmos said. RTB is really good. However, Neurotica is a song I skip more often than not. Don't really like that chorus at all.
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Just going to take some snippets from earlier posts about this:
It took me a very long time to appreciate Presto - about 6 months. Since then - 1993 - it has grown and evolved in ways that i would never have imagined. Now, it is hands down my desert island Rush CD.
Presto also came along at a magical time in my life. But all things considered, RTB is a better and more developed record. It's kind of like relationships. You may love one person from your past more than another, or there may have been one person that came along "at a magical time." But that doesn't mean they were a better person/mate. RTB has a couple throwaway songs, but there are at least 3-4 that are far better than any of the tracks on Presto.
The Pass is a great song, and has a lot of emotional charge to it, but Ghost/Chance, Bravado, Dreamline - i believe they are stronger songs. The themes on Presto don't seem to be as fully developed as on RTB. They are more raw. Some - like me - love that rawness.
That being said, i would take Presto to a desert island before RTB. Such is life.
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And now we're to the 2nd pair of albums produced with Peter Collins.
Again, I'd have to go with the first of the two. It seems like with this, and the previous two pairings, the first album of the two always seems to hold me more (and to some extent, same with AFTK>HEMI and PEW>MP). Counterparts has some GREAT songs, some hard stuff, some heavy stuff, and some pretty proggy stuff that is quite a few steps forward and sideways from Roll The Bones.
Compared to Test For Echo, they really kept SOME of the hard/heavy sounds, but the lyrics were a bit weirder, and so some of the songs suffer from that. There's some good stuff on there, but only about half of the album, IMO, is as good as what they had on CP.
Easy for me, CP > TFE.
-Marc.
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Before CA, I would have said that counterparts was the high water mark for modern day Rush. Its still pretty damn good, where as TFE is is a mess of a album. Its has really decent highs such as resist, TFE, and driven. But the lows are rock bottom, dog years, time/motion. Then there's the bland in-between songs like Half the world waits, The color of Right and carve away the stone which very Meh.
TFE could have been great, but it dropped the ball.
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Love Counterparts for the most part, but can't abide TFE. There is nothing there that matches anything they had done previously, even the poor tracks from previous albums. I tried it again recently and it just confirmed what a poor album it is. It was the start of a rot that it's taken them nearly 20 years to put right.
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I almost forgot about this thread!!!
Now we're up to date with the band's previous 2 full-length studio albums: Vapor Trails and Snakes & Arrows.
Both albums feature 13 tracks each, and are about the same length. If I had to choose, I might say I couldn't - The material on VT is just raw and full of energy, a kind of energy the band had on CP and (only a bit on ) TFE, but even MORE so. However, S&A has some well composed, well written, well CRAFTED songs, not to mention 3 instrumentals that are all fantastic.
I think I would have to give a SLIGHT edge to VT, since it was released around the time I got into Rush, so the copy I own is VERY worn out from months of over-playing. The songs went deep into my veins and I absorbed the whole album like water. I air-drummed to every song, sang every lyric, and just fell in love with the album, and it was release at a time when I was getting into Rush and prog in general, so it's a special album to me.
Also, lyrically speaking, many of the songs on VT are very personal in nature, but also universal. I can sympathize with Neil's writings and understand and feel the emotions that went into many of the lyrics for the album. I also read his book, Ghost Rider, so that album and the book really mean a lot to me, especially when I was going through some tough times back then.
However, S&A was the heavily anticipated follow-up, and I did take the time to learn "The Main Monkey Business" by ear within the first week of the album's release. It's a great album, but I find the songs on VT to be slightly better (production/mastering notwithstanding). Lyrically speaking, S&A is good but it's not very personal for me - it's a bit preachy and, while I agree with many of the lyrics, they can also be a bit obtuse and un-relate-able. I think they're good, but there's a bit of magic missing in them that was on VT.
-Marc.
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I almost forgot about this thread!!!
Now we're up to date with the band's previous 2 full-length studio albums: Vapor Trails and Snakes & Arrows.
Both albums feature 13 tracks each, and are about the same length. If I had to choose, I might say I couldn't - The material on VT is just raw and full of energy, a kind of energy the band had on CP and (only a bit on ) TFE, but even MORE so. However, S&A has some well composed, well written, well CRAFTED songs, not to mention 3 instrumentals that are all fantastic.
I think I would have to give a SLIGHT edge to VT, since it was released around the time I got into Rush, so the copy I own is VERY worn out from months of over-playing. The songs went deep into my veins and I absorbed the whole album like water. I air-drummed to every song, sang every lyric, and just fell in love with the album, and it was release at a time when I was getting into Rush and prog in general, so it's a special album to me.
However, S&A was the heavily anticipated follow-up, and I did take the time to learn "The Main Monkey Business" by ear within the first week of the album's release. It's a great album, but I find the songs on VT to be slightly better (production/mastering notwithstanding).
-Marc.
There are only two Rush albums I consider to be practically unlistenable. Roll the Bones, and Vapor Trails.
With Roll the Bones, it was just subpar songwriting. Probably the only case of that in the entire Rush catalog...so I still consider that to be their worst album.
With Vapor Trails (the second worst) it's all about production. I just can't listen to it. I like some of the songs, but if the production hasn't ruined a song, then the yodeling does.
My favorites are Ghost Rider, Peaceable Kingdom, And the Stars Look Down and Freeze. Freeze and Ghost Rider are the only songs that I consider to be *AMAZING*. The rest of the album is a pretty big letdown. The riff for Earthshine is good, but the yodeling in the pre-chorus sounds like Slim Whitman...terrible. Completely ruins the song for me.
S&A OTOH is nothing short of incredible!! I love every single song on the album (Hope/Faithless is a particular highlight...I NEVER play one without the other) and I always count it among the Rush classics.
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S&A by far....has more songs on it that I like, while VT is at the bottom of the list for me for Rush....I just can't digest the songs on that album, they go down like a brick.
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Vapor Trails does have the raw energy going for it, and it has a different sound to it, not talking about the production, but the approach to the songwriting itself. Unfortunately, there are the well-known issues with the sound quality of the album itself, and I just can't listen to it. I never got into it enough to where I feel like subjecting myself to an aural assault just to here some cool riffs.
Snakes & Arrows is also very dense, but at least I can hear it. I'm still not a huge fan of the modern, ultra-compressed production, but the quality of the songs makes it worth it.
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VP is good, but goes on way too long. I've never been able to make it from beginning to end and because of this, I rarely listen to it.
Snakes and Arrows is one of my favorite Rush albums. I just love it, especially Hope.
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VP is good, but goes on way too long. I've never been able to make it from beginning to end and because of this, I rarely listen to it.
Snakes and Arrows is one of my favorite Rush albums. I just love it, especially Hope.
:rollin This is like the 4th time this week I've seen someone refer to Vapor Trails as VP... are you thinking of "Vapor Pails"? or... "Va Portrails" as the title? Maybe you're hearing it as "Vay Portrayals"...which, doesn't really make much sense.
-Marc.
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VP is good, but goes on way too long. I've never been able to make it from beginning to end and because of this, I rarely listen to it.
Snakes and Arrows is one of my favorite Rush albums. I just love it, especially Hope.
:rollin This is like the 4th time this week I've seen someone refer to Vapor Trails as VP... are you thinking of "Vapor Pails"? or... "Va Portrails" as the title? Maybe you're hearing it as "Vay Portrayals"...which, doesn't really make much sense.
-Marc.
:facepalm: Oops.
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THREAD NECROMANCY! Poll added for fun!
I thought about doing strict pairs (i.e. 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6, etc.) but decided to include ALL the back-to-back pairs. So pick your three faves and discuss!
-Marc.
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I voted on the thought that you don't take any of the other pairs into account. Of course, this is how it should be, I assume. Anyways, I picked AFtK and Hemispheres, PW and MP, and p/g and PoW. The first pair because of Cygnus, obviously. The second pair showcases their changing style into being slightly more mainstream while still proggy. And the final pair because it shows the synth era perfectly IMO.
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Always open for Rush-related polls :smiley:.
Hemispheres - Permanent Waves: my two favourites
Signals - Grace Under Pressure: can't go wrong with the synth era
Counterparts - Test for Echo: I wanted to have Counterparts, and I slightly prefer TFE to RTB.