Best Rush Album

[odysseus]

23 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Let's give 'Turn the Page' a shout out too, eh? What a smasher of a tune.

One of my all time favourites along with The Enemy Within. 😎

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, odysseus said:

One of my all time favourites along with The Enemy Within. 😎

Great track that could have easily been lifted from The Police’s Sychronicity album (I love both bands, so win/win for me).

[TrevorR]

2 hours ago, odysseus said:

One of my all time favourites along with The Enemy Within. 😎

Possibly my all time fave Rush track!

[Chris2112]

4 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

Let's give 'Turn the Page' a shout out too, eh? What a smasher of a tune.

I had actually forgotten how heavy the groove in the first chorus is. It's not the strongest track on the album but it's certainly a good effort. 

[jacko]

I don't really have a favourite album per se (although my favourite track is The trees) but the album I appreciate the most is Vapor trails as it marks the return of Neil from one of the darkest places imaginable.  The intro to One little victory gets me going every time. 

[odysseus]

6 hours ago, jacko said:

….. but the album I appreciate the most is Vapor trails as it marks the return of Neil from one of the darkest places imaginable.  The intro to One little victory gets me going every time. 

Anybody else read Ghost Rider?  All respect to Neil for coming back from the sort of devastation that he went through..

[Daz39]

3 minutes ago, odysseus said:

Anybody else read Ghost Rider?  All respect to Neil for coming back from the sort of devastation that he went through..

I have. I also have most of his other work which touches on this (if written after) but also on wider themes of humanity.

Bereft is not even close to how Ghost Rider left me feeling.

[wishface]

3 minutes ago, odysseus said:

Anybody else read Ghost Rider?  All respect to Neil for coming back from the sort of devastation that he went through..

Wouldn't wish that on anyone, but from what i've read the guy has a terrible personality.

Of course the correct answer to the orignal question is Permanent Waves. However Prest is desperately underrated IMO. Very quirky little album. I think they lost it a bit in their later years. Clockwork Angels is pretty decent but I don't listen to it that much, Vapour Trails has a couple of decent tracks (Earthshine is outstanding) and Snakes and Arrows is pretty dire IMO. Shame Geddy isn't playing so much, but he seems to have gotten better as a player and worse as a singer. BY the end his voice was pretty shot

[odysseus]

I pretty much lost interest after Counterparts.... not that any of it was 'bad' as such, it just didn't move me the way earlier albums did...

[wateroftyne]

IMO after Counterparts they stopped writing and recording songs as a band, and you can feel the shift.

Instrumentally, too... the classic 'Rush as power trio' instrumental breaks, thoughout their career, where the band cuts loose. Y'know, Freewill... A Farewell to Kings... Camera Eye... Distant Early Warning... Marathon... you wait for these parts of the songs.

Where are they in later albums? Bass, drums, guitar, all stretching out as a band? Nowhere. That's where. Just layers of uninspired sludge.

Edited August 20, 2019 by wateroftyne

[wishface]

1 hour ago, wateroftyne said:

IMO after Counterparts they stopped writing and recording songs as a band, and you can feel the shift.

Instrumentally, too... the classic 'Rush as power trio' instrumental breaks, thoughout their career, where the band cuts loose. Y'know, Freewill... A Farewell to Kings... Camera Eye... Distant Early Warning... Marathon... you wait for these parts of the songs.

Where are they in later albums? Bass, drums, guitar, all stretching out as a band? Nowhere. That's where. Just layers of uninspired sludge.

Is that true? 

That was certainly the case in the eighties. Hold Your Fire particularly is promarily Geddy compositions.

 

[wishface]

1 minute ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Fair enough that you may have found him difficult to get on with if you had met him first hand. But from what you've read? C'mon, we're better than that surely.

Have you read the reviews for his written accounts o flife on the road where he seems to hate it. 

The anecdoate where he encountered a fan who had busted his way on to his tour bus. Not a smart move, but the overreaction is crazy.

Of course I don't know him personally, I imagine most of us don't. 

[Bilbo]

I have read all the Peart books and I think his personality is fine. It is the expectations of the rest of us that is at fault. His relationships are precious to him and he enjoys people's company but he doesn't want to have relationships with Rush fans because they want more of him than he is prepared to offer. 

[wateroftyne]

25 minutes ago, wishface said:

Is that true? 

That was certainly the case in the eighties. Hold Your Fire particularly is promarily Geddy compositions.

 

...but prepped in a band environment prior to recording. Loads of great instrumental breaks on that album.

Contrast that to later albums, recorded with (to quote Neil) 'Boosh [producer Nick Raskulinecz] in front of me conducting...'

Just prep the songs beforehand, man. Don't leave it to the producer.

[wateroftyne]

...anyway, they did pretty well for themselves, so I'm sure they don't care what I think 😄

[wishface]

18 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Have you read the account of Tim Commerford who describes Peart as a complete Richard. This from someone who sabotaged an awards ceremony by climbing up into the stage setting.

There are two sides to every story. Just because someone might think it's cool to meet their drumming hero, don't expect it to be OK with him - especially when he is widely known not be the sociable type and hates touring.

 

I'm not sure how Tim's behaviour is relevant.

Neil just doesn't come across well at all, by his own words it seems. I'm sure he has many friends and good luck to him, he was an exceptional drummer. I can understand finding fame difficult, but he just comes across badly. Like the old adage: never meet your heroes. I enjoy their music, but that's as far as it goes.

[wishface]

Well neil's retired now, to raise his kid, so he can enjoy his life. Good luck to him. 

[BrunoBass]

I have never listened to Rush and would struggle to even name one of their songs.

What’s a good entry point for a newbie?

[Chris2112]

3 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

IMO after Counterparts they stopped writing and recording songs as a band, and you can feel the shift.

It is certainly noticeable. They were still capable of turning out a decent tune like 'How It Is' but the real instrumental interplay was dialled back. There was a sense that collectively, they would push each other and really craft the arrangements to make the instruments work together. It seems like in the later years, they didn't bother writing like that anymore but they could certainly nail the parts live. Geddy's eventual over-reliance on his flamenco strumming technique also changed his basslines dramatically, with his tendency to write interesting fills and melodies replaced by repetitive strumming over one note. 

That eventual fading of creative energy must be a part of being a prog rock band, the same thing happened to Dream Theater. Their 90's output was a million times better than the rubbish they've committed to disc since. 

 

 

 

[BrunoBass]

7 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

You’ve probably gathered from the pages in this thread that it’s not an easy question to answer. For my money, if you don’t find something redeemable in A Farewell to Kings or Hemispheres, then Rush may not be for you.

I already suspect they probably aren’t, but as I refuse to dismiss anything without a fair hearing I thank you for your pointers, and will investigate accordingly.

[wishface]

1 hour ago, BrunoBass said:

I have never listened to Rush and would struggle to even name one of their songs.

What’s a good entry point for a newbie?

Permanent waves seems to straddle the earlier long song stuff like Hemisphers or 2112 and the stuff immediately after which was a bit more radio friendly. Most cite Moving Pictures, which came after, as their best, but I thought it was overrated. Some classic tunes on there (Tom Sawyer, Limelight, YYZ - instrumental). 

[wishface]

Just now, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

It's just not a favourite of mine. I think the production is poor compard to what came before. THe songs aren't bad, but they've been played to death and there are better. YYZ is definitely overrated though. The live versions of Witch Hunt are much better. 

 Permanent Waves is a more interesting album IMO

[KevB]

12 hours ago, BrunoBass said:

I have never listened to Rush and would struggle to even name one of their songs.

What’s a good entry point for a newbie?

Same as with most bands - find a good solid retrospective compilation, see if there are songs from a particular album that you like best then explore the rest of that album.

[Billy Apple]

12 hours ago, BrunoBass said:

I have never listened to Rush and would struggle to even name one of their songs.

What’s a good entry point for a newbie?

I'd say Hemispheres.

 

[jacko]

14 hours ago, BrunoBass said:

I have never listened to Rush and would struggle to even name one of their songs.

What’s a good entry point for a newbie?

The aforementioned Spirit of Radio greatest hits compilation gives a taste of them up to 1987.   Chronicles is a two disc compilation that goes a bit further.