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Best Rush Album


Billy Apple

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50 minutes ago, Oopsdabassist said:

Not much mention of Snakes and Arrows I've noticed, I think Far Cry is a cracking opening number!

 

 

I love Far Cry as a stand alone track, the chorus section makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. However, I do find the mix very dense à la Clockwork Angels.

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My favourite album changes depending on mood and listens. I think all of them have been my favourite at one point or another.

I am enjoying the various re-releases and expanded 40th anniversary discs on Spotify, although most of their Live 70s stuff is broadly the same clangy drums in a box and Geddy shrieking, with Alex playing Guitar Hero.

I agree that the last 3 albums have been very dense (loudness wars, yuck), and that Geddy's playing, while still brilliant, got quite chuggy and over-indulgent with the flamenco-flapping on Vapor Trails.

I do think your personal favourite partly depends on what came out when you discovered them, or perhaps what you listened to first.

In my case the first New album was Test for Echo, and I must have listened to it a thousand times at Uni while struggling with depression. The first album I bought was Exit.. Stage Left and it's the reason I bought a bass (I was a guitarist at the time. I'm sorry, we all have to start somewhere). The first album I listened to was Hold Your Fire - a writer friend of mine was a big fan and said  'You like Prog. Listen to this...' 

'Chords, on a Bass! Bass I can hear properly!' It was an epiphany, and I still get goosebumps listening to Force Ten and Time Stand Still when played loud.

I have various musical and lyrical reasons for loving every album. I agree that the odd song got too indulgent: Tai Shan, or Resist, anyone? but I admire Neil's approach to writing (I have most of his books too), and the fact that they are truly progressive. Every album is different enough to the last that most bands would not have written them within 10 years of each other.

Edit for post I saw later: I've seen them twice: Snakes and Arrows, which was really good, and R30, which was mind-blowingly good. Until you've watched Neil's drum solo on his 2 1/2 kits projected on the giant screen above stage, and loud across the arena, I don't think you can appreciate his mastery, over regular car or home speakers (audiophiles with fancy systems notwithstanding)

 

Edited by Daz39
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10 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

True. Also, does anyone think Alex's side-project Victor is frankly the band Rush could have been?

Totally agree - I remember making a comment on a Rush fan site when Vapor Trails was released - "... too much My Favourite Headache, not enough Victor ..."

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45 minutes ago, TrevorR said:

Easy, Caress of Steel. End of new thread

No - CoT is brilliant! Although you have to turn the volume up to INSANE to hear the talky bits on The Necromancer.

My current least favourite would be Fly By Night - mishmash of blues rock and prog with a lot of screeching. Guitar work is good though. Hang on, it's not that bad I guess...

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3 hours ago, Daz39 said:

No - CoT is brilliant! Although you have to turn the volume up to INSANE to hear the talky bits on The Necromancer.

My current least favourite would be Fly By Night - mishmash of blues rock and prog with a lot of screeching. Guitar work is good though. Hang on, it's not that bad I guess...

The Necromancer is absolute bottom of the list of my least fave Rush songs. Juvenile sub-Tolkien Hobbit bothering hogwash roughly thrown together and poorly presented... apart from that I love it! 🤣 Fountain Of Lamneth ranks down there next to it, with Bald ranking third from bottom. Didacts and Narpets is the runner up on my least fave pieces of recorded music ever (only beaten by Jewel’s gawd awful version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer). But like I said, apart from those 36 minutes and 30 seconds of its 45 minute running time, Yup, its a classic! 😂

Edited by TrevorR
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Just rewatched Rush in Rio live dvd for first time in ages because of this thread. Firstly....Geddys voice was so much better then ( not a criticism as we all age and his vocals are crazy, but listen to R40 and the poor fella is really struggling), secondly....THE SOUND.....yeah, thirdly... what a great set list, a bit of everything and little tastes of all the Rush flavours. Happy.😊

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19 hours ago, sykilz said:

Just rewatched Rush in Rio live dvd for first time in ages because of this thread. Firstly....Geddys voice was so much better then ( not a criticism as we all age and his vocals are crazy, but listen to R40 and the poor fella is really struggling), secondly....THE SOUND.....yeah, thirdly... what a great set list, a bit of everything and little tastes of all the Rush flavours. Happy.😊

Great bass tone on it as well - divides opinion - but I love it! 😀

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Nice to see the love for Power Windows on this thread- a friend of mine was the engineer on that record (AIR Montserrat sessions). He recalls using a tape machine for each of the band, plus a slave, each! And 32 mics on the kit, as you do...

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42 minutes ago, scalpy said:

Nice to see the love for Power Windows on this thread- a friend of mine was the engineer on that record (AIR Montserrat sessions). He recalls using a tape machine for each of the band, plus a slave, each! And 32 mics on the kit, as you do...

IMO the best album of the synthy mid-80s era by a long way - sounds terribly dated now but I loved Peter Collins' production back in t'day.

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Read through the thread and I think I'm right in saying no mention of Rush's own self-confessed low-point on 'Tai Shan' from 'Hold Your Fire'? I find the early albums a bit, 'Led Zeppy' but enjoyed '2112' onwards until 'GUP'. I quite like the rest of 'HYF' & 'RTB' but lost the plot thereafter... But great band and musicians... 

**Edit - sorry to honour the OP, 'Moving Pictures' narrowly pipping 'Permanent Waves'. Replicating the awesome 'Fragile' being clipped by the god-like 'Close to the Edge'.

Edited by visog
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7 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

I’m the guy who likes Tai Shan.

I don't mind it. The lyrics are a bit cringey, but it is Peart after all. Their real low-points (Dog Years, Anagram, Virtuality, Superconductor, Freeze, for example) are far better illustrations of a lack of quality control. Or perhaps self-awareness. :)

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My sister gave me A Farewell to Kings during a clear out of her tapes in the mid-80s. I loved it and when I went to find something else I liked the cover of Caress of Steel.

I've bought a few since, some good stuff but the first two I heard is all I listen to them now.

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On 17/08/2019 at 17:42, Bassassin said:

I don't mind it. The lyrics are a bit cringey, but it is Peart after all. Their real low-points (Dog Years, Anagram, Virtuality, Superconductor, Freeze, for example) are far better illustrations of a lack of quality control. Or perhaps self-awareness. :)

I like Tai Shan and Superconductor. Superconductor has a really great middle eight with that soaring synth line. In fact, I think 'Presto' as a whole has some real bangers on it, and like RTB, is perhaps a bit overlooked as it's not as cohesive as 'Power Windows' or 'Hold Your Fire'. I do find the lyrics in Tai Shan to be a bit hokey, but their focus on mysticism and a 'romantic orient' simply reflects the western view of Asia at the time. Look at 'The Chinese Way' for another song that would probably be written differently today. 

My favourite Rush album is, on alternating days, either 'Power Windows' or 'Hold Your Fire'. Both are front to back quality, just utterly exceptional in every regard. Rush had really honed their craft then, bookend their best songs with the best instrument tones and perfect production. 

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