About Rush eras, of course the end of one blends a bit with the begginning of the next and it's an aproximation - after all, Rush's music complexity defies any categorisation, but I hear them this way: heavy blues rock (Rush-FBN), prog (CoS-MP), keyboard (Signals -HYF), pop (Presto-RTB) and hard rock (Counterparts-CA).
I'm not sure about labels, but for me:
- Rush kinda stands by itself (heavy blues, standard rock lyrics)
- FBN through 2112 (proto-prog - By-Tor is probably the most prog song; other than the length, 2112 isn't all that proggy, and side 2 really isn't much at all)
- AFTK through Signals (prog hard rock; could split this even further between Hemispheres and PEW; Signals is MUCH more connected with MP than with the next 3 albums)
- GUP through HYF (the synth era)
- Presto through T4E (adult contemporary Rush; the corrected most of the production issues that plagued the synth era; every album has some super clunkers, and every album except RTB has some great songs)
- VT through CA (this is really a continuation of the prior era, but with Alex's guitar playing more focused on chords than on melodic lines; also Geddy's yodeling vocals)
Seven lists submitted already, and I have to say I am stunned at how poorly a classic from what most consider their peak era is doing so far.
Gonna guess Limelight or Tom Sawyer here.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say 2112.
All three in the top 20 for me.