Official Top 75 Rush songs Thread!!! (Top 2 revealed!!)

[HOF]

Neither of these made my top 75, but Prime Mover for sure would have been in the next 25. Open Secrets  would have been considered. I do think both of these suffer a bit from sounding like Power Windows rejects/retreads. Similar style but the lyrics are a bit awkward and it just doesn’t all come together in the same way for me.

I did recently learn something cool about Prime Mover from a Rush YouTube channel. They were talking about Power Windows, and apparently the middle section of Prime Mover was supposed to be about the kid from the Power Windows cover looking out the window and imagining/believing he could control the whether and world outside his window. The whole “I set the clouds in motion” section.

[KevShmev]

See, I don't agree about Power Windows and Hold Your Fire. Even though both are heavy on the synths, they sound very, very different, sonically and tonally.

[wolfking]

From memory Prime Mover was around 50 and Open Secrets was around 30.  Open Secrets is so damn underrated.

[TAC]

Neither of these made my top 75, but Prime Mover for sure would have been in the next 25. Open Secrets  would have been considered. I do think both of these suffer a bit from sounding like Power Windows rejects/retreads.

You might talk me into Prime Mover in regard to this, but to me, Open Secrets feels like a precursor to Presto.

[wolfking]

See, I don't agree about Power Windows and Hold Your Fire. Even though both are heavy on the synths, they sound very, very different, sonically and tonally.

I can't argue with that.

[HOF]

Neither of these made my top 75, but Prime Mover for sure would have been in the next 25. Open Secrets  would have been considered. I do think both of these suffer a bit from sounding like Power Windows rejects/retreads.

You might talk me into Prime Mover in regard to this, but to me, Open Secrets feels like a precursor to Presto.

I can see that, but I also think Open Secrets is awfully similar in places to Middletown Dreams.

[TAC]

Er..I'll have to take your word for it.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

73 Prime Mover
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 10 (Stadler)


72 Open Secrets
Appeared on 11 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 17 (Tomislav95)

Prime Mover - This ended up at #50 on my list. I really love all the little bass trills on this song, plus the general groove of the song is amazing. To kind of counter what Setlist Scotty said about the lyrics, I feel like the lyrics resonate with me. Actually the whole HYF album resonates with me a lot lyrically.

Open Secrets - This was just a few spots lower at #56. I love how open (pun intended) this song feels. And again lyrically is really resonates with me. Like Prime Mover the bass really stands out to me and Neil's drumming is perfect.

See, I don't agree about Power Windows and Hold Your Fire. Even though both are heavy on the synths, they sound very, very different, sonically and tonally.

I agree with this 100% and yet I love them both a lot. Power Windows a bit more though.

[nick_z]

Prime Mover (ranked #34)

Great song. Lifeson's clean arpeggiated guitar work is so tasteful here. And the "I set the wheels in motion" middle section is fantastic. I always though the band Enchant was strongly influenced by that type of atmosphere in their first record, A Blueprint of the World.


Open Secrets (ranked #47)

I mentioned this before, but strongly agree with Wolfking here. A sleeper track in the album, such a well constructed song. Again, beautiful guitar (and bass!) work. Love the tempo change coming out of the bridge into the solo around 3:30

[wolfking]

Love that solo section from Alex.

[425]

So, I'm going to follow along with y'all even though I did not submit a list. About half of Rush's discography I know very well, and the other half is almost completely unfamiliar to me. I'm going to follow along with every song either way and give either my defined opinions or my first impressions, as the case may be.


75. Roll the Bones

I've heard this one a few times.

I enjoy it, even though it's somewhat outside my usual wheelhouse. I like the groovy approach to the verses, and the choruses are pretty catchy. The rap is... something? I think it's funny, which may or may not have been what they're going for? I can see myself finding it to jar with the more serious lyrics on the rest of the song.


74. Double Agent

I think I may have listened to this once, the one and only time I listened to Counterparts, years ago. So it's essentially new to me.

The verses didn't really grab me here, but I really like the "Wilderness of mirrors" part, which I guess is the chorus. Not sure how well the spoken parts are really working for me, but I could imagine this being a grower.


73. Prime Mover

Like Counterparts, Hold Your Fire is an album I heard once many years ago, so this song and the next one are virtually new to me.

This one is alright, but not something I find immediately compelling. I do like the chorus, and could see it resonating more with me over time.


72. Open Secrets

There's some cool stuff going on musically here. I was immediately struck by what was going on under "I never meant what you're thinking." I also like the guitar tone under the chorus. Also feels pretty proggy in terms of the song structure and middle section, so it could be interesting to dig into over time.

[The Realm]

Today's two are from the same album!

73 Prime Mover
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 10 (Stadler)

72 Open Secrets
Appeared on 11 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 17 (Tomislav95)

Prime Mover - I didn't rank this but I'd say it just missed out.

Open Secrets - I had this at 57. I just really like the vibe of this song.

[Cool Chris]

Interesting to have a pair from HYF back to back.

Interesting to have a pair from HYF on this list at all. 

[HOF]

Neither of these made my top 75, but Prime Mover for sure would have been in the next 25. Open Secrets  would have been considered. I do think both of these suffer a bit from sounding like Power Windows rejects/retreads. Similar style but the lyrics are a bit awkward and it just doesn’t all come together in the same way for me.

I did recently learn something cool about Prime Mover from a Rush YouTube channel. They were talking about Power Windows, and apparently the middle section of Prime Mover was supposed to be about the kid from the Power Windows cover looking out the window and imagining/believing he could control the whether and world outside his window. The whole “I set the clouds in motion” section.

Listening back to them now, I think I’d probably have ranked Open Secrets higher than Prime Mover if I had built out my list further. I remember now that when I first did the ranker I somehow got Open Secrets and Second Nature confused and it ended up way down on my list. I didn’t really go back and arrange things carefully after number 75, though I do think I thought about both of these tracks for the last few spots on my list. I ended up going with another HYF track at 75 actually (which I’m guessing won’t place at all on the overall list).

[Deadeye21]

Today's two are from the same album!

73 Prime Mover
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 10 (Stadler)

72 Open Secrets
Appeared on 11 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 17 (Tomislav95)

Prime Mover was my number 57. Really strong bop of a song, not surprised it made it that high up someone’s list, and really wish they’d have brought this back at least once after HYF.

Open Secrets, another that made it so close to the list. That bass run in the intro sells me on the song immediately, the solo is fantastic, and the bridge is awesome! Actually, why didn’t this make the list?

[Tomislav95]

Had Prime Mover on #61, could've been even higher. Anything can happen. It has that nostalgic feeling to it, is catchy and instrumentally very interesting.

Open Secrets in one of my recent favorites, I like how dreamy and spacey it is. Again, catchy tune, and I'm sucker for catchy choruses.

[nobloodyname]

Open Secrets 140 - all a bit tuneless
Prime Mover 149 - heard this on a hard rock compilation in the very early 90s before I became familiar with Rush. It was so out of place; I just couldn't understand why such an uncool looking and distinctly un-hard rock band was featured. Dream Evil were on the same compilation. I didn't like their song, either. But there was a bigger problem, one that would affect my musical outlook for another 13 years or so: I managed to conflate Prime Mover with Dream Evil who I later thought were Dream Theater. I dismissed Dream Theater as a consequence and actually actively avoided listening to them until I circled back around in late 2002. Strange and shocking but I got to DT eventually and became a fan of Rush, too! I actually had the opportunity to see DT in a tiny club in the west midlands here in the UK in 1992 and turned it down. Dear me.

So two relative turkeys for me, I'm afraid. But what do I know? Tai Shan made my list at 75, after all.

[Deadeye21]

So two relative turkeys for me, I'm afraid. But what do I know? Tai Shan made my list at 75, after all.

Oh… so it’s you… Was wondering who had that one in their list.

[DTA]

Prime Mover and Open Secrets are both outstanding tracks. The bass in Prime Mover is really overlooked when it comes to talking about Geddy's catchy bass lines. There's so much going on underneath the vocal melodies.

[KevShmev]

Alright, let's slip in two more this morning...

71 Test for Echo
Appeared on 15 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 26 (devieira73)

This was unranked for me, but I do like the song, and consider it one of the better songs from what I consider a bottom 3 Rush album.  It is one of two songs from the album that made the top 75.


70 Fly by Night
Appeared on 13 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 12 (DragonAttack)

Considering what a classic rock radio mainstay this was and still is, I always found it interesting that the band ignored it since the 70s in the live sets.  It's another I like, but can't say I love. That bass line is killer, though.  It's the first of three from the album of the same name.

[ReaperKK]

I didn't have Prime Move or Open Secrets on my list at all, I don't really think they're terrible songs, just didn't much for me.

Test for Echo and Fly by Night were ranked 58 and 66 respectively. Test for Echo was really hard to rank because some days I feel more enamored with the song than others. Fly By Night suffers from overplay to me which why it landed where it did.

[nick_z]

Test For Echo (ranked # 40)

Test for Echo - the album - was the first I bought "live" as a fan. While it has sentimental value that way, it's not among my favorites. In this respect, I feel differently than jammindude, as I actually tend to see it as a slightly "muddier" version of Counterparts. There are some very good songs on it, though, and this one is my favorite. Great opening, setting the right tone.

Fly By Night (did not rank)

This one didn't rank for me. It was one I trimmed before I ranked the top 100. I actually like the song, and it does have that "classic rock staple" feel. Like Kev said, great bass work.

[HOF]

Test for Echo didn’t rank for me. I do like that album a lot, but this is actually one of the weaker tracks to me. Just a little too slow paced I think. The parts where the song picks up a bit and Neil especially cuts loose are pretty cool though. Not a bad song at all, but not my favorite either.

I have Fly By Night at 39, and listening back to my list the other night I felt it might have been too low. As it is, it’s my second highest ranked song from the 70s and one that just always puts me in a good mood when I hear it. The drums especially are just so lively. Great song!

[Tomislav95]

Fly by night is at #55 for me, probably one of their firsts songs I heard, short and sweet. Also, beside Limelight, the only Rush riff I know how to play on guitar

[King Postwhore]

Test For Echo was # 67 for me.

Fly By Night, (My first Rush song I was taught on guitar) I ranked #49.

[devieira73]

73 Prime Mover (-) - There's a lot of parts that I love, but some with too much programmed keyboards that put me a bit off (by the way, my only real complain about PoW and HYF). It's only my 8th favorite song from HYF.

72 Open Secrets (#31) - Always loved this song and it's a rare case in Rush discography that they allowed something a bit more jazz rock to surface. They should have done something like this more often!

[Setlist Scotty]

From a pair of songs on the same album to a pair of title tracks that seem like they come from 2 completely different bands!

I've always like T4E - it has always been one of the tracks I like most on a very uneven album (sorry Ben!) In particular I love the guitar sound at the very beginning of the song and I also agree with the message that the lyrics convey, even if a bit dated in some respects now. Ended up as #54 on my list.

FBN is a decent enough song. One that I heard plenty on the radio when I was young and to a limited degree may have helped with turning me on to Rush, but once I started to get into them, picking up their albums and becoming familiar with their catalog, it quickly dropped in favor. For my list, it ended up at #139 although in hindsight I think that ranking is lower than it should be.

[Stadler]

Interesting to have a pair from HYF back to back.

Interesting to have a pair from HYF on this list at all. 

I have a TON of HYF on my list.  Prime Mover is #10 (that BASS LINE!), though Open Secrets is #9495* and didn't make the cut here. That's really a function of "there's better on that record"; the melodies just aren't quite as strong as some of the others.  It's not a bad song, and another that I would kill to hear acoustically. 

[Stadler]

Can we stop taking shots at Tai Shan? Haha.  It's #145 on my list, but I almost want to go back and put it at #75 out of spite.  In fact, I'm going through my list again to find the songs Kev is posting and I'm bewildered how the Ranker put it at #145; Test For Echo is #113114* and I would listen to Tai Shan on repeat all day long over T4E.

EDIT: I did it.  I edited my list. *Tai Shan is now #92. 

Fly By Night is #30.   I got the Sector 1 set, and listened to the album in 5.1 and it REALLY opened my eyes to that record.  Plus the sort of "throw back" deja vu of looking at the gatefold with the hand-written lyrics...  an album of it's time, but WHAT a time!   

[Deadeye21]

71 Test for Echo
Appeared on 15 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 26 (devieira73)

70 Fly by Night
Appeared on 13 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 12 (DragonAttack)

Test For Echo made it into my number 68 slot. If it weren’t for the acoustic version of Resist, this would easily be the only thing from T4E on my list. I like the music well enough, and the lyrics are decent. The solo isn’t a great one, but I do love Neil’s drumming in that intro riff.

Fly By Night… hmm… yuck. I just never liked this song that much. One of my lowest ranked songs from the 70s, just ahead of Madrigal, Rivendell and I Think I’m Going Bald. Ok, it’s got decent lyrics, but that’s it. And then they’re really far from the best lyrics on its parent album. Just not a fan!

[Setlist Scotty]

Open Secrets 140 - all a bit tuneless

I dunno about you Paul!      
 
 

Prime Mover 149 - heard this on a hard rock compilation in the very early 90s before I became familiar with Rush. It was so out of place; I just couldn't understand why such an uncool looking and distinctly un-hard rock band was featured. Dream Evil were on the same compilation. I didn't like their song, either. But there was a bigger problem, one that would affect my musical outlook for another 13 years or so: I managed to conflate Prime Mover with Dream Evil who I later thought were Dream Theater. I dismissed Dream Theater as a consequence and actually actively avoided listening to them until I circled back around in late 2002. Strange and shocking but I got to DT eventually and became a fan of Rush, too! I actually had the opportunity to see DT in a tiny club in the west midlands here in the UK in 1992 and turned it down. Dear me.

What a crazy and sad story! Funny how we ignorantly make bizarre connections sometimes. IIRC, way back around 1980 when I first started listening to rock radio, I remember hearing Smoke on the Water and for whatever reason, I thought it was from the Rolling Stones for at least a year or two. Not that it had a severe impact on me one way or the other, but in a small way, I can relate to your experience.
 
 

So two relative turkeys for me, I'm afraid. But what do I know? Tai Shan made my list at 75, after all.

Well nobody's perfect!   

[nick_z]

Open Secrets - This was just a few spots lower at #56. I love how open (pun intended) this song feels. And again lyrically is really resonates with me. Like Prime Mover the bass really stands out to me and Neil's drumming is perfect.

Many times yes to the bolded part. Sometimes I think Power Windows/Hold Your Fire is "peak-Neil" when it comes to "compositional drumming" (if that makes any sense). His drumming on Rush's 70s-early 80s run is groundbreaking and iconic, but I just can't get enough of what he does on the synth-heavy albums, and especially these two. HYF is most certainly not a "heavy" album and yet, Neil manages to pound those drums with such power (powah) and finesse at the same time. Fantastic stuff.

[billboy73]

I have Test for Echo (the song) much higher, and rate the album much higher than most.  It's a great album opener, and I love the darker vibe of the track.  I can't believe it was only played on the T4E tour.  I was really hoping it would find it's way into the R40 set, but the whole album was passed over for the setlist.

[devieira73]

71 Test for Echo (#26) - Amazing song (almost a Top 20 for me), with amazing drumming by NP, specially that paradiddle part in the toms - it sounds like an avalanche! It has a great groove, excellent guitar parts, riffs and solo. All of it is really well crafted and at the point. As for all T4E album, a stronger sound production like in Counterparts would benefit the song more.

70 Fly By Night (-) - Good song, it has that more embrionary Rush vibe, but it's cool.

[romdrums]

73 - Prime Mover (N/A) Didn't make my list, but I never skip it when it comes on.  Lots of cool little details in this one.
72 - Open Secrets (68) Under appreciated in my book.  Love Alex's solo.
71- Test for Echo (48) I've always liked this song.  I love Neil's drumming on this, especially on the pre choruses.  It's also a nice change to hear him playing on coated drum heads for this album, because it gives his drums a bit of a darker, warmer sound that really ended up fitting the vibe of this record.
70 - Fly By Night (N/A) Just missed the cut on my list.  Solid tune, but there's so much I like more.