Wow, this really shows Rush's greatness... I mean, that would have been quite a neat little concert, touring with Presto, LOL: 1. Chain Lightning (Presto) 2. Lessons (2112) 3. Fountain of Lamneth (Caress of Steel) 4. Making Memories (Fly by Night) 5. Red Tide (Presto) 6. Emotion Detector (Power Windows) 7. High Water (Hold Your Fire) 8. I Think I'm Going Bald (Caress of Steel) 9. Different Strings (Permanent Waves) 10. Open Secrets (Hold Your Fire) 11.Madrigal (A Farewell to Kings) 12. Hand over Fist (Presto) 13. Available Light (Presto) 14.Take a Friend (Rush)
Presto Again, everything is new to me at this point. While the previous two albums were surprisingly good for me, Presto is their least memorable album to this point. It began very promising though... that first one and a half minute or so of Show Don't Tell is a breath of fresh air... unfortunately the chorus is not that great, the synths are a bit weird, and overall, the song feels just a tiny bit too long... which seems to be a pattern on the whole album. The next two tracks are my favorite ones here, Chain Lightning once again kickstarts with that rockier sound, but I like the song more than the opening track. Strangely I had some "proto-Dream Theater" associations with the first three tracks... But after The Pass (which is great), it goes downhill for me. There are interesting ideas in almost all of the songs, but they don't really gel as fully finalized songs... Superconductor seems to be the most intriguing song around these parts. Overall, the songwriting dips for me, compared to previous albums, and yes, the production doesn't help either. I don't feel that usual urge to listen to it over and over again. It's still a good album, just Rush's standards are too high. For now, I very much prefer the "pre-classic" first three albums or the duo of PW/HYF to Presto, and I'm not even mentioning the classic albums. Presto is at last place, and this is the single biggest gap between to adjacent rankings. However, I'm now curious about the band's further journey, where this change of sound will lead to... 1. Hemispheres 2. Permanent Waves 3. Moving Pictures 4. 2112 5. A Farewell To Kings 6. Grace Under Pressure 7. Signals 8. Caress of Steel 9. Rush 10.Hold Your Fire 11.Power Windows 12.Fly By Night 13.Presto
My Rush album rankings tend to fluctuate a bit from year to year, but based on listens of each this year, I think this sounds about right: 1. Power Windows 2. Moving Pictures 3. Permanent Waves 4. 2112 5. Hemispheres 6. Counterparts 7. A Farewell to Kings 8. Signals 9. Clockwork Angels 10. Roll the Bones 11. Grace Under Pressure 12. Hold Your Fire 13. Fly by Night 14. Caress of Steel 15. Presto 16. Snakes and Arrows 17. Rush 18. Vapor Trails 19. Test for Echo If I had to spitball a list of 25 favorites, I will go with this off the top of my head: 1. 2112 2. La Villa Strangiato 3. Xanadu 4. Red Barchetta 5. Jacob's Ladder 6. Marathon 7. Tom Sawyer 8. The Spirit of Radio 9. Mission 10. Territories 11. The Trees 12. Leave That Thing Alone 13. Subdivisions 14. Red Sector A (based on the live versions) 15. Freewill 16. Distant Early Warning 17. Dreamline 18. Limelight 19. Middletown Dreams 20. YYZ 21. Natural Science 22. The Pass 23. The Weapon 24. Animate 25. By-Tor and the Snow Dog
Still get a kick out of listening to Vapor Trails (original mix) and always feeling it was recorded yesterday.
Roll The Bones It's funny that we are now at 1991. It's the exact date of my musical roots back then. Pearl Jam's first albums, R.E.M.'s Green, Out Of Time, Automatic for the People, Metallica's Black Album, Faith No More's Angel Dust, Soundgarden's Superunknown, Alice In Chain's Dirt... that kind of music was our soundtrack, of course we haven't even heard about Rush. It seems that Pearl Jam's Ten came out basically at the same time as Roll The Bones, wow! I have been quite enjoying RTB. It's still Rush, although a lesser version, no question about it. A close cousin of Presto (just like the PW/HYF pairing), those two are very close to eachother in quality as well. Typical of Rush, the album is front-loaded again: Dreamline is a rocking gem, and I love the infectious groove of Roll The Bones, including the catchy chorus. I don't mind the rap part at all. (Imagine LL Cool J doing it, LOL... although R.E.M.'s Radio Song is from the same year with KRS-1, and it's a little cringy...). Somehow that title song gives me positive feelings of nostalgia, despite hearing it first only a couple of weeks ago. My third favorite song on the album is Where's My Thing. They are clearly having fun, and that's the whole vibe of the album for me. Where I differ from most of the reviews in this topic is Heresy, which I find one of the most forgettable songs in their discography, and Bravado is also kind of boring to me (although still better than Heresy). Maybe those types of songs are not my cup of tea. I like all the other tracks, again, you have to listen to the album without expectations of a Hemispheres or Signals. They work quite well in the album setting... it's a groovy, at parts even funky, and certainly poppy album. It just edges out Presto for me. I'm looking forward to the next album, as a lot of promising words have been written about it. 1. Hemispheres 2. Permanent Waves 3. Moving Pictures 4. 2112 5. A Farewell To Kings 6. Grace Under Pressure 7. Signals 8. Caress of Steel 9. Rush 10.Hold Your Fire 11.Power Windows 12.Fly By Night 13.Roll The Bones 14.Presto
Counterparts On paper, I should love it. My first love of music was grunge, from that same period. In fact, if you only knew the first three tracks on Counterparts (not knowing the band Rush), you would assume it's a grunge band. A technically highly skilled band, with very well crafted musicianship, but... something is lacking. The songs are just not really memorable. Animate reminds me of Pearl Jam... but I tend to forget about it. Stick It Out reminds me of Soundgarden (maybe from Badmotorfinger)... but I tend to forget about it. Cut To The Chase is great for headbanging... but I tend to forget about it. And then comes Nobody's Hero... which is anything but forgettable, only problem is that its lyrics are pretty awkward and cringey... still a decent ballad, I guess. My favorite songs here are Between Sun & Moon and Alien Shore, and to an extent Leave That Thing Alone (and still, I might prefer the instrumental from RTB). My overall impression on the album is that I like their high-level playing and the refurbished rocking sound, BUT... the songs are not that exciting (for Rush's standards!), and there is even more "generic" stuff here than on the previous two albums. It's still a good album, but not great. At this point, it would be my last option if I want to listen to a Rush studio album. I know I'm in the minority here and also in general, but that's my personal preference. Let's listen to A Show Of Hands instead... Now, rateyourmusic has a score of 3,49 for Counterparts, while 3,03 for the next album... khmmm... I'm getting curious. 1. Hemispheres 2. Permanent Waves 3. Moving Pictures 4. 2112 5. A Farewell To Kings 6. Grace Under Pressure 7. Signals 8. Caress of Steel 9. Rush 10.Hold Your Fire 11.Power Windows 12.Fly By Night 13.Roll The Bones 14.Presto 15.Counterparts
Test For Echo From the first tacts on, I liked this one immediately more than the previous album. In fact, the first three songs, Test For Echo, Driven, Half The World are for me the strongest string of three songs since Hold Your Fire! They have that Rush-y vibe for me, sprinkled with some Dream Theater and Tool (especially in the first two songs). Unfortunately, it goes downhill from there on, which seems to be a pattern with Rush albums at this stage. For example, The Color of Right feels like a mediocre Foo Fighters song, lol... not bad... just unmemorable. And then the next songs tend to be even more generic and boring... again, not bad, just... not really great. Resist is a needed change of pace, and is kind of charming and sweet... although maybe a minute too long (which again seems to be a pattern, see the previous albums). Limbo is a solid instrumental, not their best, but I enjoy it, and then I quite like Carve Away the Stone, again, the instrumental part is great. All in all, Test For Echo is closer stylistically to Presto and Roll The Bones. I even made a list on Spotify combining those three albums, and it is quite a triple album, LOL. (Of course, a "best of" of those three would be a very high quality album, but we are hardcore Rush fans .) Of these four albums, Counterparts is the odd one out... and I can see why the majority rates it higher than P, RTB or TFE, but for me, these three are more enjoyable. If I have to rank them, these three are very close to eachother too... I tend to like the "lesser" tracks on RTB more, but Presto gets edged out by the strength of the first three songs of TFE. 1. Hemispheres 2. Permanent Waves 3. Moving Pictures 4. 2112 5. A Farewell To Kings 6. Grace Under Pressure 7. Signals 8. Caress of Steel 9. Rush 10.Hold Your Fire 11.Power Windows 12.Fly By Night 13.Roll The Bones 14.Test For Echo 15.Presto 16.Counterparts So, three studio albums to go it seems...
Not sure if anyone has posted this, and I haven't had time to read it. Geddy and Alex talk about Neil and the future RUSH's GEDDY LEE And ALEX LIFESON Reflect On NEIL PEART's Final Years, Discuss Their Musical Future
There's also a beautiful article about Neil on RollingStone, one year after his passing (I played Presto in his honour, Show Don't Tell is such a great & fitting lyric...) Great links all around here: Rush is a Band Blog: Updates and other random Rush stuff
Exit The Warrior I came across this just browsing. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. This is part 1, I assume two will be linked to it.
Vapor Trails It must have been quite a treat back then, after that seven-year hiatus (which seemed to be the end of the band). I can imagine how in 2003 many fans may have found the sound of the record disappointing - I have been listening to the remixed version, but also checked out the original mix on youtube. I'm almost like the polar opposite of an audiophile , so the soundscape doesn't bother me... and the SONGS shine through the mix (whichever it is)! Maybe more so than on previous albums, finally the songs seem to have their own "identity" here, they are all memorable to my ears, nothing to skip their until at least Nocturne. There is no track on here (until the final parts of the album) that would bore me, I find the album surprisingly energetic, it's remarkable how Rush once again managed to kind of reinvent themselves... no keyboards, but whenever I hear Secret Touch for example, I always have the feeling that they manage to convey powerful melodic textures here just as well as on Hold On Fire for example with all those synths. My favorite tracks are Ceiling Unlimited, Peacable Kingdom and The Stars Look Down, but the absolute higlight of the album is that trio of songs Vapor Trail - Secret Touch - Earthshine. That sequence of songs really resonate with me emotionally... stylistically very different from prime Rush, but for me it's on par with Rush's best work, and Secret Touch is definitely one of the greatest songs in their entire catalogue. I very much like Sweet Miracle as well, and Nocturne begins promisingly, but then I find the chorus a bit flat... I don't really care for the last two songs. All in all, I think it's their best album (at this point!) since Hold Your Fire. If the album ended with Sweet Miracle, it might even challenge the first two albums or the PW/HYF duo on my ranking. 1. Hemispheres 2. Permanent Waves 3. Moving Pictures 4. 2112 5. A Farewell To Kings 6. Grace Under Pressure 7. Signals 8. Caress of Steel 9. Rush 10.Hold Your Fire 11.Power Windows 12.Fly By Night 13.Vapor Trails 14.Roll The Bones 15.Test For Echo 16.Presto 17.Counterparts And there are still two albums to get to know...
Randomly today.... “There’s no safe seat at the feast/Take your best stab at the beast” Anagram for Mongo, I can’t quit you!
It was a good interview! First impressions: Feedback - Apart from a couple of bands like the Beatles, I'm not at all acquainted with 60's music... I have only known The Seeker... and track three as Public Enemy's He Got Game. I'm now checking out the originals. I like this "album", it has somewhat of that rock&rolly vibe of the first album. Snakes & Arrows - This is their least accessible album for me. I have listened to it at least five times, but at this point it still hasn't grabbed me. (I already quite liked Vapor Trails at a similar phase.) One song I love though: The Main Monkey Business. I am going to read the topic to maybe get some new angles.
I know I'm late to the party here, and I really wish I could have participated in this conversation about one of my favorite bands in real time, but I only recently joined this forum. However after discovering this topic I have been following it and enjoying everyone's input and commentary. Hopefully I can join in on an album-by-album conversation on another band soon. Maybe Yes? They are another group I have enjoyed immensely through the years. At any rate, thank you for this wonderful diversion from our crazy world. Needed it. And just to feel like I did participate in some level, I'll give my brief thoughts on each studio album. Thanks again. It have me an excuse to take a deep dive. Part 1: RUSH Great: Finding My Way Working Man Good: Before and After What You're Doing Average: Need Some Love Take a Friend In the Mood Here Again Skippable: (none) FLY BY NIGHT Great: Anthem Fly by Night Good: Beneath Between and Behind By-Tor and the Snow Dog Making Memories Average: Best I Can In the End Skippable: Rivendell CARESS OF STEEL Great: Lakeside Park Good: Bastille Day Average: I Think I'm Going Bald The Necromancer The Fountain of Lamneth Skippable: (none) 2112 Great: 2112 Something for Nothing Good: A Passage to Bangkok Tears Average: The Twilight Zone Lessons Skippable: (none) A FAREWELL TO KINGS Great: Xanadu Closer to the Heart Good: Cinderella Man Cygnus X-1 Average: A Farewell to Kings Madrigal Skippable: (none) HEMISPHERES Great: The Trees La Villa Strangiato Good: Circumstances Average: Hemispheres Skippable: (none)
Part 2: PERMANENT WAVES Great: The Spirit of Radio Freewill Natural Science Good: Jacob's Ladder Entre Nous Average: Different Strings Skippable: (none) MOVING PICTURES Great: Tom Sawyer Red Barchetta YYZ Limelight Good: The Camera Eye Witch Hunt Average: Vital Signs Skippable: (none) SIGNALS Great: Subdivisions The Analog Kid New World Man Good: Digital Man The Weapon Average: Chemistry Losing It Countdown Skippable: (none) GRACE UNDER PRESSURE Great: Distant Early Warning The Enemy Within Good: The Body Electric Red Sector A Average: Afterimage Kid Gloves Red Lenses Skippable: Between the Wheels POWER WINDOWS Great: The Big Money Marathon Mystic Rhythms Good: Grand Designs Manhattan Project Territories Average: Middletown Dreams Skippable: Emotion Detector HOLD YOUR FIRE Great: Force Ten Time Stand Still Turn the Page Good: Prime Mover Mission Average: Open Secrets Second Nature High Water Skippable: Lock and Key Tai-Shan PRESTO Great: Show, Don't Tell The Pass Presto Good: Chain Lightning Scars Superconductor Available Light Average: War Paint Hand over Fist Skippable: Anagram (for Mongo) Red Tide
Part 3: ROLL THE BONES Great: Dreamline Bravado Good: Where's My Thing? The Big Wheel Average: Face Up Heresy Neurotica Ghost of a Chance Skippable: Roll the Bones You Bet Your Life COUNTERPARTS Great: Animate Stick it Out Cut to the Chase Leave That Thing Alone Good: Between Sun and Moon Alien Shore Double Agent Cold Fire Average: Nobody's Hero Everyday Glory Skippable: The Speed of Love TEST FOR ECHO Great: Driven Time and Motion Resist Good: Half the World Totem Virtuality Carve Away the Stone Average: Test for Echo Limbo Skippable: The Color of Right Dog Years VAPOR TRAILS Great: One Little Victory Vapor Trail Earthshine Good: Ceiling Unlimited The Stars Look Down How It Is Secret Touch Nocturne Average: Sweet Miracle Freeze Out of the Cradle Skippable: Ghost Rider Peaceable Kingdom SNAKES AND ARROWS Great: Far Cry The Main Monkey Business Good: Workin' Them Angels Average: Armour and Sword The Way the Wind Blows Spindrift Hope Malignant Narcissism We Hold On Skippable: The Larger Bowl Faithless Bravest Face Good News First CLOCKWORK ANGELS Great: Caravan Headlong Flight The Garden Good: BU2B Clockwork Angels The Anarchist Carnies Seven Cities of Gold The Wreckers Average: Halo Effect Skippable: Wish Them Well BU2B2
I have been going through my hard drives lately and came across a Rush boot I had hiding out. It's a monitor mix from the Vapor Trails tour and I have to say the Vapor Trails songs, Earthshine, Between The Sun And The Moon, One Little Victory, Ceiling Unlimited, & Secret Touch sound so good. It's too bad we can't get a decent-sounding copy of that album.
