Just popping in to say how much more I appreciate and enjoy Caress Of Steel now than when I first discovered Rush over 20 years ago. Every song just hits me harder now, and it's easily my favorite of their first three albums. The more I've been listening to COS, the more I think I might like it over 2112 as a whole, whose second side is a bit hit-or-miss for me.
It's a tough call for me. In the recent Rush countdown, I ranked 2112 at #19 and The Fountain at #30. There aren't any throwaway sections in 2112, but The Fountain has Didacts and Panacea, and In the Valley and The Fountain are really similar. Overall...
19. 2112
27. The Necromancer
30. The Fountain of Lamneth
37. Bastille Day
50. A Passage to Bangkok
55. Lakeside Park (although the ATWAS version is MUCH better than the studio version)
65. The Twilight Zone
66. Something for Nothing
76. Tears
104. Lessons
134. I Think I'm Going Bald
Not entirely sure how that shakes out in terms of ranking them against each other, but I think it's really close, and the gap isn't anywhere near as big as it was back in the day.