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

[Stadler]

Come on guys!!  There IS a Kiss thread for this!!

I get that, I do.   But there ARE a lot of parallels between the two bands early on (and, in the sense that they tangled for a while for bands with the most gold records, later too) and they toured together a lot. It's an interesting side bar to some of these songs.

[Deadeye21]

Cool, yeah I am not sure it is that easy! Quick story, I actually used to perform as Gene Simmons in a Kiss tribute band (full costume, make up, fire breathing, blood spitting etc...) today though I very rarely listen to Kiss.

That's really cool!!  What part of the country?  Ever play in the Northeast?

Yeah, that's interesting!

I'm actually from Australia, so played around Australia and also New Zealand.

Awesome to meet a fellow Aussie on here! Which state are you in?

Nice one. I'm from Melbourne.

Excellent, we're taking over.  About fucking time!  Brissie boy right here.

I’m a Bunbury boy myself. 2 hours south from Perth!

[Stadler]

C'mon guys!  There's an Aussie thread for this!       

[Deadeye21]

C'mon guys!  There's an Aussie thread for this!       

Wait, there is? Legit, please link it and I’ll be right there!

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

C'mon guys!  There's an Aussie thread for this!       

Wait, there is? 

[TAC]

I know in my Swimming With Crocs Thread, every other post was Australia WTF?? 

[pg1067]

This is another way that Rush is like Kiss; both bands have pretty good 2nd and 3rd albums, but for both bands, the better ALBUM is the 2nd album ("Hotter Than Hell", "Fly By Night") even if the best SONG is on the third album ("She" and "The Fountain Of Lamneth").  I think in both cases there was one classic album across the two records, but at the time, you put out an album every six months and toured the shit out of it.  That's what you did.

I can't speak intelligently about those two KISS albums or any song on either of them (other than the one everyone knows), but The Fountain of Lamneth isn't the best song on COS, much less the best song on both FBN and COS.


And, before we get too far removed from Double Agent, I just found out last night that there's a Cold War spy novel called Wilderness of Mirrors and that "wilderness of mirrors" is a term used to describe the "spy game."  I had never before taken the time to look into the meaning of the lyrics of that song.  Kinda makes it even cooler than I already thought it was.

[HOF]

This is another way that Rush is like Kiss; both bands have pretty good 2nd and 3rd albums, but for both bands, the better ALBUM is the 2nd album ("Hotter Than Hell", "Fly By Night") even if the best SONG is on the third album ("She" and "The Fountain Of Lamneth").  I think in both cases there was one classic album across the two records, but at the time, you put out an album every six months and toured the shit out of it.  That's what you did.

I can't speak intelligently about those two KISS albums or any song on either of them (other than the one everyone knows), but The Fountain of Lamneth isn't the best song on COS, much less the best song on both FBN and COS.


And, before we get too far removed from Double Agent, I just found out last night that there's a Cold War spy novel called Wilderness of Mirrors and that "wilderness of mirrors" is a term used to describe the "spy game."  I had never before taken the time to look into the meaning of the lyrics of that song.  Kinda makes it even cooler than I already thought it was.

Apparently the term "wilderness of mirrors" is from TS Elliot, who inspired the song. But Neil also acknowledged the spy world aspect of it:

"In a deeper level, without wanting to get too profound about it, but it's a style of writing which I've been wanting to get towards, which I've read with John Dos Passos is a prose writer who exemplifies it, T.S. Eliot is a poet who exemplifies it, where they throw so much at you, so many images and so many pictures that are all individually beautiful, not necessarily interconnecting, but they just come at you and they come at you, and all the way through it your head is spinning, and you think, 'oh, I'm not understanding this, why am I not understanding this, am I stupid?' And then at the end of it, you sort of put it aside and after the dizziness subsides, you're left with something. You're left with something beautiful. And when one will mention that book to you or that poem to you that story to you, then this beautiful thing, indescribable, intangible, image which you have drawn out of all that comes into your mind. So I just, just wanted to get towards that style of writing where its carefully refined, each little image is worked out so that on its own its something, but all together its a little bit obscure and a little bit vague, so you almost seem to be saying nothing, but in fact you're saying, you know, a great many things. This was probably the hardest song I have ever worked on, it just, in spite of the pleasure it gave me and how much I enjoyed doing it, it went through so many rewrites and changed its title so many times, everything about it just went through constant refinement, each little image was juggled around and I just fought for the right words to put each little phrase together and to make it sound exactly right to me, so that it sounded a little bit nonsensical. I wanted to get that kind of Jabberwocky, uh, word games thing happening with it and also there's little things going on that your mind sort of catches without identifying, like a lot of poetic devices. You take the, uh, number of words that sound the same or start with the same letter or whatever, you just certainly don't start in the middle of it and go, "oh, that's alliteration!" But those words fall upon your ear in a melodious way, or if you're reading them they, they run through your mind in a rhythmic and attractive way." Neil Peart, Jim Ladd "Innerview", 1984

"'Wilderness of mirrors' is a phrase from T.S.Eliot's 'Gerontion,' and was also applied by former CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton to describe the world of espionage-hence the twist on 'Double Agent,' reflecting the clandestine workings of dreams and the subconcious. Disinformation or intelligence? Let the mirror decide." - Neil Peart, "Reflections in a Wilderness of Mirrors"

http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/rushinspirations.html

[pg1067]

Yup.  That's one of the things I read.  There's another one where he said that a friend was writing a novel about the "war" between FBI and CIA and wanted NP to read what he had written.  Not surprisingly, this caused NP to read a bunch of other spy related stuff.

[Stadler]

Fish had a vigil there, as well. 

Anyone interested in good spy novels would do well to read "The Company" by Robert Littell.

[wolfking]

C'mon guys!  There's an Aussie thread for this!       

There is? 

[wolfking]

Cool, yeah I am not sure it is that easy! Quick story, I actually used to perform as Gene Simmons in a Kiss tribute band (full costume, make up, fire breathing, blood spitting etc...) today though I very rarely listen to Kiss.

That's really cool!!  What part of the country?  Ever play in the Northeast?

Yeah, that's interesting!

I'm actually from Australia, so played around Australia and also New Zealand.

Awesome to meet a fellow Aussie on here! Which state are you in?

Nice one. I'm from Melbourne.

Excellent, we're taking over.  About fucking time!  Brissie boy right here.

I’m a Bunbury boy myself. 2 hours south from Perth!

Nice mate.  Great to have you here.

[King Postwhore]

C'mon guys!  There's an Aussie thread for this!       

There is? 

Yes, look in the General Discussion forum.   

[romdrums]

C'mon guys!  There's an Aussie thread for this!       

There is? 

Yes, look in the General Discussion forum.   

And it's separate from the "Swimming With Crocs" thread?  I thought that was the Aussie thread!!

[King Postwhore]

Sure, take a look.

[faizoff]

Cool, yeah I am not sure it is that easy! Quick story, I actually used to perform as Gene Simmons in a Kiss tribute band (full costume, make up, fire breathing, blood spitting etc...) today though I very rarely listen to Kiss.

That's really cool!!  What part of the country?  Ever play in the Northeast?

Yeah, that's interesting!

I'm actually from Australia, so played around Australia and also New Zealand.

Awesome to meet a fellow Aussie on here! Which state are you in?

Nice one. I'm from Melbourne.

Excellent, we're taking over.  About fucking time!  Brissie boy right here.

My brother lives in Brisbane, I'll ask him to look out for pools that have broken tiles. 

[DragonAttack]

Isn't there a thing called 'private messages'?  Just asking.

[Setlist Scotty]

Isn't there a thing called 'private messages'?  Just asking.

You would think, but I know at least some Kiss fans can't keep their PM boxes from being full....   

But yeah, let's get back to the discussion about Rush! What are the next few selections Kev?

[pg1067]

Isn't there a thing called 'private messages'?  Just asking.

You would think, but I know at least some Kiss fans can't keep their PM boxes from being full....   

But yeah, let's get back to the discussion about Rush! What are the next few selections Kev?

I PM'd him, and he said he'll probably get to it later today when he's home and has time.

[TAC]

So..a couple more hours of KISS talk?

[wolfking]

So..a couple more hours of KISS talk?

I'm going back to the Aussie thread then.

[TAC]

So..a couple more hours of KISS talk?

I'm going back to the Aussie thread then.

Cool, meet you there!

[Deadeye21]

Alright, no more KISS or Aussie talk. I wanna know the next lot of songs.

[KevShmev]

Okay, as we continue with Rush's greatest songs, tonight's two will be presented by one of the greatest songwriters of the 21st century...



69 Presto
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 13 (kingshmegland)

It feels like this song got the live bump, as it seemed like this song was rarely talked about until it got played on the Time Machine tour. I admittedly liked it more after seeing it live, although it still didn't crack my top 75.




68 Countdown
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 18 (Dream Team)

I had to admit that I was quite shocked at how much love this song got.  I like it, but always thought it was somewhat of an average ending to an otherwise fantastic record.  Feels like one of those songs where the end result didn't meet the ambition they had for it. 

[King Postwhore]

WTF.  Presto is absolutely amazing. I was always screaming for them to play it live.

[KevShmev]

WTF.  Presto is absolutely amazing. I was always screaming for them to play it live.

I guess Boston is too far from St Louis for me to have heard ya.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

69 Presto
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 13 (kingshmegland)


68 Countdown
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 18 (Dream Team)

Presto - I really like this song, even though it's not one of my favorites from the album and it didn't make my top 75. Just missed in fact at #78. I really like the creative drumming and how the band weaves in and out of various time signatures and tempos.

Countdown - I know some people really love this song. I honestly, for the life of me, have no idea why. I get the sentimentality of it, but the lyrics feel forced and awkward and the music is uninteresting. Therefore this finished at #154 on my list. And looking my list over again, it probably should have been lower at about #162.

[TAC]

Okay, as we continue with Rush's greatest songs, tonight's two will be presented by one of the greatest songwriters of the 21st century...

Gene and Paul?   

69 Presto
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 13 (kingshmegland)


68 Countdown
Appeared on 12 of 25 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 18 (Dream Team)

I had Presto as Not Rated. It a fine song. I definitely don't not like it.

I had Countdown at #68. Hey, whaddya know? Kev, I understand what you're saying about it. Like maybe it doesn't quite get there, but I definitely like it. Maybe you just had to be there youngster.
 

[King Postwhore]

Kev, I will send you a voice text you will never forget.  Lolol

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Okay, as we continue with Rush's greatest songs, tonight's two will be presented by one of the greatest songwriters of the 21st century...

Gene and Paul?   

In no century should either of them ever be considered "greatest songwriters"

[KevShmev]

Countdown doesn't strike me as a "you had to be there" song.  Although I swear I sorta remember seeing the video for Distant Early Warning a few times on MTV back in the mid 80s, I wasn't "there" for any of the synth era in real time, yet I have mad love for the vast majority of the songs from the four albums that generally comprise that era.

[TAC]

Countdown doesn't strike me as a "you had to be there" song.  Although I swear I sorta remember seeing the video for Distant Early Warning a few times on MTV back in the mid 80s, I wasn't "there" for any of the synth era in real time, yet I have mad love for the vast majority of the songs from the four albums that generally comprise that era.

Well, I say that because if that song wasn't with me from the time I was 12, I may not hold it in as high regard, though I'm not sure listing it at #68 is high regard. I got Signals at a sensitive time and while I was thrown back by the direction of the music, it still occupies a soft spot for me.

[KevShmev]

I get that. While neither made my top 75, I doubt I'd like Stick It Out and The Speed of Love nearly as much if they hadn't been on Counterparts, which was the first new Rush album after they became my favorite band.

[TAC]

I get that. While neither made my top 75, I doubt I'd like Stick It Out and The Speed of Love nearly as much if they hadn't been on Counterparts, which was the first new Rush album after they became my favorite band.

And conversely neither made my list, and I think The Speed Of Love is one of their worst songs.

[King Postwhore]

Can't argue with that Tim.