Favorite Rush Sector?

[ytsejam58]

This might already be a thread so if it is, feel free to delete this one.

But pretty much anyone who knows anything about Rush know that their career can be split up into 5 distinct sectors.
1 The early Led Zeppelin and Cream inspired era Rush/Fly By Night/Caress of Steel/2112 and All the World's a Stage
2. The difinitive Rush sound that helped define Progressive Rock (along with Yes amd others) Farewell/Hemespheres/Waves/Moving Pictures and Exit...
3. The synthy 80's era Signals/Grace/Windows/Fire and Show of Hands
4. Return to a more "balls to the wall" sound Presto/Bones/Counterparts/Echo and Different Stages
5. Rebirth with Vapor Trails/Feedback/Snakes/Clockwork Angels and all the live albums and remixes in between.

To me, Sector 1 marked the landmarks that made up Rush and I acknowledge them as important albums, but to me Secor 2 is The Difinitive Rush era. It was the perfect blend of prog and hard rock and every song just shone with great musicianship and lyrics. Sector 3 experimented with more melodic driven songs and some of them work really well! Grace under Pressure would be the only miss with me though. The whole album feels a bit dark for my taste. Sector 4 I didn't quite get, half the songs are forgettable and I really didn't connect with Neil's lyrics around this time.

Vapor Trails was when I got introduced to Rush so thats a very important album to me. Feedback was okay. I feel they screwed up Summertime Blues and A Heart full of Soul sounds so much better on R30 but it still has 7 and 7 is and The Seeker but other than that it was okay. Snakes and Arrows was another dark heavy album but the Lyrics are really great and the instrumentals are really tastey. Faithless relates to me so much and I use it when I try to explain my views on religion.

Clockwork Angels I felt was a return to the 2 sector and I felt it was really good! I just wish they didnt milk it so much. An okay novel that turned into an okay graphic novel series and the book got an okay sequel and... Okay guys, thats enough clockwork angels... I'll stick with the album. I was afraid Dream Theater was going to do this with their Astonishing stuff too. God I hope not.

And releasing a new 3CD length album every single tour felt like it was getting too much. True I do love the exciting moments that are special for that tour, but there are so many songs that get overburned that I was starting to find it hard to find a reason to buy the new albums, but Clockwork Angels tour added the strings, R40 reintroduced Hemispheres, and so on. I keep buying them for Neils drum solos

So what is your favorite sector of Rush? Which would you recommend to a friend as their first taste of Rush?

[ytsejam58]

I think for the new Rush Live albums, I'd rather watch the Blu Rays than listen to the CDs. See, before, All the world's a Stage didn't have a video companion, Exit..'s video companion was Okay, and A Show of Hand's video companion was really different than the CD version. I don't know if there is a DVD for Different Stages but again Rush in Rio - R40 all have complete set lists on DVD and CD. Except for R30. I don't know why but they cut La Villa Stangiato out of the DVD and CD versions, it's only available on the Blu Ray. but either way, since the full concerts are already on DVD, I guess there's not a lot of reasons why to keep the full setlists on my iPod right? I mean, unless you have a big enough iPod to fit all of that

[Zantera]

Out of those options, I'd say #2 definitely.

[Zydar]

Out of those options, I'd say #2 definitely.

[Architeuthis]

2 and 5, they are all good though!

[Polarbear]

Permanent Waves to Power Windows, so a mix of 2 and 3.

Although, i like all the albums they have done!

[Stadler]

I think "what I like" and "what is definitive" are two different things.   

I like things from all Sectors; my five favorite albums are Hemispheres, Signals, Moving Pictures, Farewell to Kings, and Presto.

But Sector 2 is definitive.  That's where the band became something that was unique and that formed the base for their rather unique level of fan dedication (something like 20 straight gold records).   

[Art]

2 and 4. But 2 is the most important.

[Nekov]

Out of those options, I'd say #2 definitely.

[TAC]

I would absolutely say #2. THAT band easily could've been my favorite of all time, but the direction they took in the 80's totally lost me.

When I discovered Dream Theater, I would always say the THIS is the music Rush should be playing. It's no wonder that that era Rush would be the blueprint for DT, who would become my all time favorite band.

[King Postwhore]

Sector 2 of course though my favorite Rush album is Power Windows.

[TAC]

Damn, your auto correct is at it again. It just turned Moving Pictures into Power Windows.

[King Postwhore]

Damn, your auto correct is at it again. It just turned Moving Pictures into Power Windows.

Don't get me wrong I love MP, PW Hemispheres.  I just connect to PW so much.  It's emotion.  Plus, it's such an uplifting album musically.

[fadetoblackdude7]

Tie between 2 and 3.

2, because that is the 'golden era' of Rush that is untouchable, period.

3, because of the reasons you said, more melodic hook-oriented songs. And my favorite Rush album (Power Windows) is from this sector.

[The Letter M]

2
3 / 5
1 / 4

It's easily 2 for me, as those four albums are insanely good, and of the songs I've learned by them, most of them come from this era.

-Marc.

[ytserush]

I'd put the original Vapor Trails, Snakes and Arrows and Clockwork Angels up again any other three Rush studio albums.

[?]

Permanent Waves to Power Windows, so a mix of 2 and 3.

Although, i like all the albums they have done!

This, but if I was forced to pick one Sector, it'd be 3.

[Architeuthis]

I'd put the original Vapor Trails, Snakes and Arrows and Clockwork Angels up again any other three Rush studio albums.

The original Vapor trails is much better than the remix. The remix is a mess, especially on the title track ( the vocals seem to have got separated from the music with bathroom reverb or something). 
  There was a huge cry from the fans of a VT remix. They finally did it but it didn't come out very well.

[TAC]

I'd put the original Vapor Trails, Snakes and Arrows and Clockwork Angels up again any other three Rush studio albums.

I wouldn't.

[eric42434224]

Red Sector A

[ytsejam58]

The vapor trails remix is bad? -tilts head-
I didn't hear anything bad with the original album until my friend pointed out just how overblown everything was.
And than finally hearing the new Remixed versions with much cleaner mixing kind ruined the original for me.
There were a couple of things that I noticed change from album to album like an added guitar solo here and there or moving the emphasis from bass to guitar or something but it still felt like a much more cleaner sound.
But I guess now we have the option of choosing which version we want.

[panicattack123]

 Original VT was so distorted and hot that I couldn't even listen to it for very long and I love that record. The REMIX was a vast improvement and a minor miracle considering the band didn't even think it was fixable without re-recording it. David Bottrill did a fabulous job. I can only hope they give him the keys to CA at some point. Also, Moving Pictures belongs in Sector 3, not 2. That was the beginning of the more straight ahead accessible keyboard era IMO. Overall, give me the 80's keyboard era over all others.

[The Letter M]

Also, Moving Pictures belongs in Sector 3, not 2. That was the beginning of the more straight ahead accessible keyboard era IMO. Overall, give me the 80's keyboard era over all others.

Historically speaking, the band's first 16 albums were always divided into groups of 4 studio albums, followed by one live release, and so, those groups became known as phases, or eventually Sectors (taken from the 3 Sectors remaster boxsets by Mercury). Each group represents a period of the band's sound that would start with one sound, and evolve to the next, but there were always hints of what was before in the 1st ones, and hints of what would come in the last.

So while MP does have some hints as to what the band would sound like with Signals and onward through the 80's, it's proggy roots firmly keep it in the same setting as AFTK/HEMI/PEW, much in the same way that 2112 introduces some heavier proggy stuff, but is still firmly rooted in the hard rock sound that the band began with.

-Marc.

[ytserush]

I'd put the original Vapor Trails, Snakes and Arrows and Clockwork Angels up again any other three Rush studio albums.

I wouldn't.

Now how did I know you would say that?

[ytserush]

The vapor trails remix is bad? -tilts head-
I didn't hear anything bad with the original album until my friend pointed out just how overblown everything was.
And than finally hearing the new Remixed versions with much cleaner mixing kind ruined the original for me.
There were a couple of things that I noticed change from album to album like an added guitar solo here and there or moving the emphasis from bass to guitar or something but it still felt like a much more cleaner sound.
But I guess now we have the option of choosing which version we want.

Having the option is great. I really gave the remix a chance when it came out.

The original mix is a sonic nightmare, but I still prefer it to the remix because it hacks off the energy, passion and balls from the original material. It's very direct despite the sonic flaws.

The remix (although I'm sure the band heard it and signed off on it, they weren't involved in the details.)
The music was changed. Parts were added and subtracted and much of the original vision was lost. I think it's more Bottrill's vision than it is Rush's. Not a fan of revisionism and that's what this sounds like to me.

So while it may "sound"  better sometimes, the side effects from that are more severe in my opinion.

I still listen to the remix sometimes, mostly just to hear the differences, but the original mix is almost always the one I reach for.
 

[TAC]

I think half of Vapor Trails is really good.

[KevShmev]

The original mix is a sonic nightmare, but I still prefer it to the remix because it hacks off the energy, passion and balls from the original material. It's very direct despite the sonic flaws.

The remix (although I'm sure the band heard it and signed off on it, they weren't involved in the details.)
The music was changed. Parts were added and subtracted and much of the original vision was lost. I think it's more Bottrill's vision than it is Rush's. Not a fan of revisionism and that's what this sounds like to me.

So while it may "sound"  better sometimes, the side effects from that are more severe in my opinion.

I still listen to the remix sometimes, mostly just to hear the differences, but the original mix is almost always the one I reach for.

I mostly agree, except that I NEVER listen to the VT remix.  Yeah, it technically sounds better, but like you said, a lot of the energy was sucked away, and it doesn't sound anything like a Rush record would normally sound like.  It's a goofy mix, where vocal and drum parts are changed to sound very unnatural.  It's pretty gross.

iTunes did a remaster around the same time that is the one I always go for.  It cleans up the sound a little, while still retaining the fury and energy of the original mix.  Granted, I don't listen to VT that much in general - I tend to go for a handful of songs from it, rather than listening to all of it from start to finish - but when I do, that is the one I choose.

[ytserush]

The original mix is a sonic nightmare, but I still prefer it to the remix because it hacks off the energy, passion and balls from the original material. It's very direct despite the sonic flaws.

The remix (although I'm sure the band heard it and signed off on it, they weren't involved in the details.)
The music was changed. Parts were added and subtracted and much of the original vision was lost. I think it's more Bottrill's vision than it is Rush's. Not a fan of revisionism and that's what this sounds like to me.

So while it may "sound"  better sometimes, the side effects from that are more severe in my opinion.

I still listen to the remix sometimes, mostly just to hear the differences, but the original mix is almost always the one I reach for.

I mostly agree, except that I NEVER listen to the VT remix.  Yeah, it technically sounds better, but like you said, a lot of the energy was sucked away, and it doesn't sound anything like a Rush record would normally sound like.  It's a goofy mix, where vocal and drum parts are changed to sound very unnatural.  It's pretty gross.

iTunes did a remaster around the same time that is the one I always go for.  It cleans up the sound a little, while still retaining the fury and energy of the original mix.  Granted, I don't listen to VT that much in general - I tend to go for a handful of songs from it, rather than listening to all of it from start to finish - but when I do, that is the one I choose.

It's still in heavy rotation for me. I love that record even if it's a sonic nightmare. The music still blows through all of that and demands to be heard.

[splent]

A combo of 2&3, all albums from Kings to Hold Your Fire are my favorites.

[skydivingninja]

Honestly, I've grown to really love 80s Rush. They still played complicated stuff, and the lyrics became a lot more relatable. Less about Coleridge poems and more about things that were happening in the world. They weren't doing prog epics, and some of it is definitely dated, but the songwriting on the whole is super strong.

That being said, A Farewell to Kings, Permanent Waves, and Moving Pictures are 3 of my favorite albums from the band (with Power Windows lodged in there somewhere) so I'd have to go with #2. #3 is honestly very close though.