Some really good Rush discussion over the past week.
I envy anyone discovering Rush or any other band with a huge back catalog. I remember doing that back in the 80s and how great it was to have discussions like, "you think AFTK is good, wait until you hear Hemispheres!"
I don't remember what my first exposure was to Rush. It might have been seeing the videos for Countdown and Subdivisions on MTV. To this day, I seem to love Countdown more than just about anyone else and will always be bummed that I never got to see it live (my first Rush concert was on the P/G tour).
I think Signals was the first album I bought (via the Columbia Record & Tape Club), and I remember being disappointed with some of the tracks like Digital Man and The Weapon. I later fell in love with Digital Man, but I wasn't ready at that time for the reggae flavor. The Weapon is, IMO, the weakest track on Signals, and I HATED the live bit on the P/G video.
I worked my way backward through the first eight albums, and that was such a great time. Hemispheres is a perfect album (albeit not long enough). AFTK is underrated IMO -- especially the title track (a tour de force for Alex) and Cinderella Man. I find myself skipping Closer to the Heart and Madrigal most times I listen to it. The Exit Stage Left version of CttH is MILES better than the studio version (and one of the few songs that doesn't suffer from the poor mix on ESL). The ESL version of La Villa also slays (although the guitar on some of the early parts after the intro gets lost in the mix). Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures are albums I can listen to over and over without getting tired of anything I hear. I can never decide which I like better
The first four albums are a bit of a mixed bag. Back in the day, I thought 2112 was perfect. Nowadays, I rarely listen to side 2. Side 1 of Caress of Steel is good (although I Think I'm Going Bald is a dud). Fly By Night is extremely strong (only Rivendell gets skipped). The debut album is spotty, but the high points more than make up for the low points.
Unfortunately for me, the first albums Rush released after I became a fan were mostly bottom of the barrel works. I tried to like the "synth era" stuff, but to no avail. In retrospect, I probably like more of P/G than either Power Windows or Hold Your Fire. Manhattan Project and Marathon are the only two songs I listen to off PW anymore. Side two was and is terrible. Between the Wheels is a mostly neglected gem in Rush's catalog. Distant Early Warning still holds up reasonably well, and Kid Gloves is pretty good. The rest of P/G ranges from tolerable (Afterimage) to what-were-they-thinking garbage that should have been left on the cutting room floor (The Body Electric and Red Lenses). I'll admit that some of the recent live versions of Red Sector A have been pretty good. Hold Your Fire is just awful, with Mission and Time Stand Still being the only songs I ever listen to anymore.
Presto was a huge improvement. Available Light is the single most underrated song in Rush's catalog, and The Pass and Red Tide are very strong. On the other hand, Presto contains two of Rush's absolute worst songs ever: Scars and Hand over Fist. I'll stop there for now.