POLL: What Is Your Favorite Four-Album Run by Rush?

[WildRanger]

Which one is your pick?

I'm going with AFTK, Hems, PEW, MP.

[Zydar]

AFTK, Hems, PEW, MP

[NoseofNicko]

Moving Pictures, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

This is a toss up between AFTK, Hemispheres, PeW, MP and MP, Signals, GUP, PoW.

[Cool Chris]

2112, AFTK, Hems, PEW. And it isn't close. When MP is added at the end it is at the top of my 5-Album runs by any band.

[ProfessorPeart]

AFTK, Hems, PEW, MP

Yep

[Elite]

I'm going with AFTK, Hems, PEW, MP.

Me too, and I've never heard Permanent Waves. The other three are great, with AFTK being my favourite Rush album of the ones I've heard.

[jammindude]

This in INCREDIBLY difficult. Because Hemispheres, PEW, And MP are 1, 2, and 3 respectively. So it just comes down to AFTK vs. Signals, and that’s a dead heat in my book.

I’m going to have to think about this one.

[The Letter M]

Gotta go with the solid Sector 2 set (AFTK-MP).

-Marc.

[DTA]

Signals through Hold Your Fire

[Lowdz]

This was harder than I thought. Went with the four from Fly By Night. My favourite albums have sequences ruined by either Hemispheres or Signals. Not that they are bad, but they aren’t my favourites.

[pg1067]

The only question here was whether it would be AFTK through MP or Hemispheres through Signals.  In other words, it's AFTK v. Signals.  Love 'em both, but AFTK gets the nod.

Interesting that one of the choices tied for second is GUP through Presto, which I might rank as my least favorite 4-album run.

2112, AFTK, Hems, PEW. And it isn't close. When MP is added at the end it is at the top of my 5-Album runs by any band.

Hard to argue with that, although I think I'd actually give the nod to AFTK through Signals.

[HOF]

This is hard because my three favorite Rush albums are Signals, Grace Under Pressure, and Power Windows, but the albums on either side of that run are very similar in terms of albums I like but don’t love. Without a doubt, HYF has some of my least favorite Rush songs, but also three that I think very highly of in Force Ten, Time Stand Still, and Mission. Moving Pictures has always been one that I just don’t get super excited to listen to it. Mostly great songs, but also probably the two biggest Rush hits which I’ve heard a little too much maybe. The two tracks I really care about on MP are Red Barchetta and The Camera Eye. I don’t care much at all for Witch Hunt or Vital Signs. YYZ is fine but for some reason I don’t ever really connect with Rush’s instrumental tunes.

All that to say, I do think MP is the stronger all around album, but just in terms of my own affection, I think I might favor HYF. Anyway, that’s how I voted but ask me again on a different day maybe. If I could swap Presto for HYF that would definitely be my four favorite (or Permanent Waves for MP).

[jammindude]

Decided to give Signals the nod over AFTK.   I love AFTK, but CTTH and Madrigal drag it down a bit.  I used to think of Digital Man as being the weak track from Signals, but after hearing it live on the SNA Live release a couple of weeks ago, I've decided that it's a much stronger track than I remember.   I just think of Signals as a stronger "start to finish" album, even though AFTK has higher highs. 

[TAC]

I just think of Signals as a stronger "start to finish" album, even though AFTK has higher highs.

I think this is a fair statement. I'm kind of torn on these two albums. On the whole, I think I enjoy Signals more, though Xanadu is my 2nd all time favorite Rush tune.

[Nekov]

Moving Pictures, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows

This, but the previous 4 was also a real option. Those 5 albums are probably my favorite by Rush.

[wolfking]

Moving Pictures, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows

[Stadler]

See, I'm the opposite; it's not what "awesome album" I have to choose from, it's which DUD I have to choose from.   AFTK, Hemispheres, MP and Signals are as good as it gets for me, but in there is Permanent Waves, which I don't love, and if I go too far in the future, we tread into p/g territory, which is to me what Power Windows is to TAC (I think).   

I like FBN and COS, but not as much as the top four.

[Fritzinger]

Signals through Hold Your Fire

Yeah, I'm one of the weird ones too. I just love their 80s stuff.

[The Curious Orange]

I'm the only person who voted for it, and probably the only one that ever will, but Hold Your Fire / Presto / Roll The Bones / Counterparts. HYF was the album that got me into Rush, and I just love that run. HYF is full of great songs, Presto brings back the rock (despite the hideously dated 80s tinny production - sounds awful now, but every rock album sounded like that back then. I was hoping the last remaster would modernise the sound a little, but it didn't) and is full of great songs, RTB is a classic, and CP really showed that the band could hold their own in the grunge era.

[The Curious Orange]

God I miss Rush. Still can't believe there'll be no new album, no new tour, no new live DVD. No new drum solo. Can't quite get my head around that.

Still can't believe there'll be no new Terry Pratchett book either.

[Fritzinger]

I'm the only person who voted for it, and probably the only one that ever will, but Hold Your Fire / Presto / Roll The Bones / Counterparts. HYF was the album that got me into Rush, and I just love that run. HYF is full of great songs, Presto brings back the rock (despite the hideously dated 80s tinny production - sounds awful now, but every rock album sounded like that back then. I was hoping the last remaster would modernise the sound a little, but it didn't) and is full of great songs, RTB is a classic, and CP really showed that the band could hold their own in the grunge era.

I absolutely understand your point of view! I think Presto and Counterparts are very good albums. I don't even have any issues with Presto's sound. On the contrary, I actually like that thin, treble-heavy sound.

[Architeuthis]

I'm going with AFTK, Hems, PEW, MP.

Me too, and I've never heard Permanent Waves. The other three are great, with AFTK being my favourite Rush album of the ones I've heard.

I highly recommend making Permanent Waves your next purchase! 

I chose Hemispheres through Signals.   I would also like to add Exit Stage Left as a bonus to that list,  as it is the most listened to album in my entire life. 

[a51502112]

I went with AFTK, Hems, PEW, MP...
But I could go from 2112 all the way to Signals, and include most of GUP.

[DTA]

Signals through Hold Your Fire

Yeah, I'm one of the weird ones too. I just love their 80s stuff.

It's such a great stretch of albums. I think the only one most people have an issue with is HYF and it's pretty much due to one song. I could just as easily put MP through PoW but HYF has 7 songs I could rank in my top 50 whereas MP has only 4.

[Stadler]

I'm the only person who voted for it, and probably the only one that ever will, but Hold Your Fire / Presto / Roll The Bones / Counterparts. HYF was the album that got me into Rush, and I just love that run. HYF is full of great songs, Presto brings back the rock (despite the hideously dated 80s tinny production - sounds awful now, but every rock album sounded like that back then. I was hoping the last remaster would modernise the sound a little, but it didn't) and is full of great songs, RTB is a classic, and CP really showed that the band could hold their own in the grunge era.

That works for me up to Roll The Bones.  That's a dud for me.   But I LOVE HYF and Presto!

[Stadler]

Signals through Hold Your Fire

Yeah, I'm one of the weird ones too. I just love their 80s stuff.

It's such a great stretch of albums. I think the only one most people have an issue with is HYF and it's pretty much due to one song. I could just as easily put MP through PoW but HYF has 7 songs I could rank in my top 50 whereas MP has only 4.

By that I assume you mean Tai Shan; I find the hate for that song to be, odd.  I can't prove it, but I suspect if Geddy hadn't trashed it, it wouldn't be as reviled as it is.  I don't LOVE it, but I do love HYF, and it doesn't ruin the album for me or anything.   I actually prefer it over "Turn The Page".

[fadetoblackdude7]

It was hard but I went with Hemispheres - Signals.

That being said, Power Windows is my favorite Rush album.

[hefdaddy42]

2112 through Permanent Waves

[HOF]

I really really love Presto (despite the tinny sound). But HYF and RTB make it hard to fit it into a favorite four album run, and I think I’d still choose Signals over Presto, but it’s close. A four album run of Presto, Counterparts, Test for Echo, and Vapor Trails would actually rank pretty highly for me if I could skip RTB altogether.

[pg1067]

Signals through Hold Your Fire

Yeah, I'm one of the weird ones too. I just love their 80s stuff.

It's such a great stretch of albums. I think the only one most people have an issue with is HYF and it's pretty much due to one song. I could just as easily put MP through PoW but HYF has 7 songs I could rank in my top 50 whereas MP has only 4.

"Most people"?  I get that there are fans of the '80s material, but I don't think there's any way to generalize about Rush fans.  Looking at Signals through HYF, Signals is the only album that I'd rank in the top half of the catalog.  HYF is certainly the worst of the so-called "synth era" albums, but that's not only because of one song.  The only songs I even bother with on that album are Mission and, to a much lesser extent, Time Stand Still.  There are moments in some of the other songs, but every time I listen to that album, it literally makes me sad.  After two straight disappointing albums, I so wanted HYF to be a comeback album and, for a while, I pretended to like it.  But I remember playing it for a friend who was, at best, a casual Rush fan.  His reaction was, "if that weren't a Rush album, you would hate it."  That comment threw me because I had no response because I realized he was right.  Fortunately, the "comeback" album did come two years later.

By that I assume you mean Tai Shan; I find the hate for that song to be, odd.  I can't prove it, but I suspect if Geddy hadn't trashed it, it wouldn't be as reviled as it is.

I disliked it LONG before I ever heard Geddy speak poorly of it.

[Fritzinger]

Signals through Hold Your Fire

Yeah, I'm one of the weird ones too. I just love their 80s stuff.

It's such a great stretch of albums. I think the only one most people have an issue with is HYF and it's pretty much due to one song. I could just as easily put MP through PoW but HYF has 7 songs I could rank in my top 50 whereas MP has only 4.

"Most people"?  I get that there are fans of the '80s material, but I don't think there's any way to generalize about Rush fans.  Looking at Signals through HYF, Signals is the only album that I'd rank in the top half of the catalog.  HYF is certainly the worst of the so-called "synth era" albums, but that's not only because of one song.  The only songs I even bother with on that album are Mission and, to a much lesser extent, Time Stand Still.  There are moments in some of the other songs, but every time I listen to that album, it literally makes me sad.  After two straight disappointing albums, I so wanted HYF to be a comeback album and, for a while, I pretended to like it.  But I remember playing it for a friend who was, at best, a casual Rush fan.  His reaction was, "if that weren't a Rush album, you would hate it."  That comment threw me because I had no response because I realized he was right.  Fortunately, the "comeback" album did come two years later.

Did you just call... Grace Under Pressure AND Power Windows two... disappointing albums?

[Samsara]

A year ago, I would have said something completely different. But for me, it's Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, Signals, and Grace Under Pressure.

[WildRanger]

2112 through Permanent Waves

2112 over Moving Pictures?

[hefdaddy42]

2112 through Permanent Waves

2112 over Moving Pictures?

*looks at my post*

Yeah, I guess so.