Rush

Top 5 Rush Albums/Next Band


  • Total voters
    73
Not the right thread, but what the hell...

It's nice to see Rick getting back into rock and even bringing in the Triumph guys as guests. Labrie too..
I'll have to check this out. I imagine the majority of you won't be that interested, but I was a fan back in the day and Rik always could play.
Here's a great little instrumental that shows off his skills.

Fast forward to about 2:30 if you want to skip the anecdote (even though I remember exactly what he's talking about)

 
Well I got the 2112 40th. Just the standard 40th anniversary. I wasn't going to buy it, but received it as a Christmas gift. The remaster sounds fine, not sure if it's different from the last one they put out. Still doesn't beat the original regardless. But I don't think anyone is interested in yet another remaster of 2112 at this point.

The real meat is, of course, the bonus disc. I'm still disappointed at how filled with cover songs it is, but I understand they didn't have a lot of bonus material to choose from. The covers themselves vary from bad to pretty good.

Overture by the Foo Fighters is fine I guess. They play it pretty straight. Seems like more of a safe choice, would've liked to see them do a part of the suite with vocals. Is it safe to call Nick Raskulinecz a hack at this point? I don't think I've heard any production job by him that sounds good. Always way too loud and compressed to the point where the life is sucked out of the music.
Passage to Bangkok - Not sure Billy Talent is, this one just sounds like the same song with modern production and glam rock vocals. It's OK.
Twilight Zone by Stevie is the best of the bunch and I don't just say that because he's my avatar. The creepy psychedelic tone to this song is perfect for his style. It's close enough to the original but Stevie gives it his own stamp.
Wow, that is excellent. Better than the original.
I don't like it. Too busy. There are some interesting sounds but I really like how stripped down the original is. But I also consider Tears the second best song after the title track, so I'm pretty biased there.
Something For Nothing is good. It's the same guy who did that awesome Subdivisions cover that was posted in this thread awhile back.

Hilarious that Lessons got snubbed for the covers. I always forget that song exists and apparently they did too when putting this together. Even Alex seems pretty indifferent toward it during the Q&A interview on the DVD.

Live tracks are cool. It's nice to get an almost complete rendition of 2112 from the 70s, I had never heard one before.
I didn't even know they ever performed Twilight Zone live. In the liner notes it says it was only performed twice. Anyway, this recording is really low quality. I'm glad they included it for historic significance, but it shows that once again they are digging at the bottom of the well with this release.

Then you have a radio ad and the solar federation spoken word section isolated. Meh.

The DVD is pretty neat. Almost makes the whole set worth it. The live video is awesome. You get a nearly complete version of 2112 and some other 70s tracks. I've seen clips of this on various documentaries but never the full video. I'm sure the bootleggers are already familiar with this, but it was new to me. Love vintage video. The Q&A was surprisingly really interesting. I thought I had heard everything there was to know about this album by now, but there was actually a lot of new information. I think it helped that they got Alex and Terry Brown to do it instead of the usual suspects, Geddy and Neil. Since Terry is there they spend a lot more time talking about the production side of things. how the songs were recorded and such. Less about the songwriting which has been discussed to death. So I found all that really fascinating.

Liner notes are very expansive. Those are worth a read. You get bits on every song.

Overall, I'd say give this one a pass unless you're a hardcore fan. The whole release seems pointless. I get that there's not a lot to choose from, but why not do something like this for other albums? Or a box set type thing covering the band's entire early period. Just seems like a cash grab. It is better than the last 2112 deluxe edition, but at this point falls under the category of too little too late.
 
So the current "Alltime" (December 2012 - January 2017) Rush album ranking by Maidenfans is:


01 Moving Pictures (1981) 27 votes

02 Permanent Waves (1980) 20 votes

03 Hemispheres (1978) 13 votes
03 Grace Under Pressure (1984) 13 votes


05 A Farewell to Kings (1977) 11 votes
05 Clockwork Angels (2012) 11 votes

07 Signals (1982) 10 votes

08 2112 (1976) 8 votes
08 Power Windows (1985) 8 votes

10 Counterparts (1993) 6 votes

11 Caress of Steel (1975) 5 votes
11 Snakes & Arrows (2007) 5 votes

13 Vapor Trails (2002) 4 votes

14 Roll the Bones (1991) 3 votes

15 Rush (1974) 2 votes
15 Hold Your Fire (1987) 2 votes
15 Test for Echo (1996) 2 votes

18 Fly by Night (1975) 1 vote
18 Presto (1989) 1 vote

Most popular album by decade

1970s: Hemispheres (1978) 13 votes
1980s: Moving Pictures (1981) 27 votes
1990s: Counterparts (1993) 6 votes
2000s: Snakes & Arrows (2007) 5 votes
2010s: Clockwork Angels (2012) 11 votes

Least popular album by decade
1970s: Fly by Night (1975) 1 vote
1980s: Presto (1989) 1 vote
1990s: Test for Echo (1996) 2 votes
2000s: Vapor Trails (2002) 4 votes
2010s: Clockwork Angels (2012) 11 votes ;)

In the bottom half of the list: The 1987-2007 albums. The only sort of exception (call it a highlight!) from this period is Counterparts, which is exactly halfway the list (spot 10 out of 19 albums). The only pre-1987 material in the bottom half: the first three albums (1974-1975). Every album in the discography had at least one vote.
 
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That poll should really be reset. My top 5 is probably different now.
 
If you do, let's try to have it open for another 1500 days! (this one was open for 1508 days: 4 years and 1 month, 2 weeks and 2 days). ;)
And we had 5 votes per person.
 
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Two-thirds of Rush will introduce Yes at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on April 7th.

As is sometimes the tradition at the music industry back-patting event, past inductees are invited back to introduce members of the new class.

In homage to their fellow prog-rock torchbearers and kindred spirits, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will step onto the Barclays Center stage in Brooklyn, New York to wax lyrical about Yes and then hand the honour to Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Alan White, Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin and Chris Squire’s wife Scottie who is accepting on her late husband’s behalf.

A huge fan of Yes, Geddy Lee said in 2013 that it was “disappointing” and “just wrong” that Yes weren’t inducted alongside his band that year.

(Alongside Rush, it has been confirmed that Neil Young will be introducing Pearl Jam while Jackson Browne will introduce folk icon Joan Baez at the ceremony. Also being inducted this spring are Journey, Electric Light Orchestra and the late rapper Tupac Shakur.)
 
The whole Yes thing is pretty offensive IMO. It's obvious they are doing it now because Chris Squire died and they will act as if they always respected Yes and how Chris was a huge loss for the rock community etc.
 
I'm sure Geddy will. The whole thing will likely be centered around Chris, as it should be. He is the reason why Yes survived through 6 decades with very few extended breaks.
 
As mentioned in the Maiden thread, Rush is releasing an EP of Cygnus Books I and II on RSD. The artwork came out today and it's very bad:

rushcygnussingle2017.jpg
 
Geddy just smashed Roundabout with Alan White, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Trevor Rabin and of course Jon Anderson.
Is this the RNR Hall of Fame? Been a long time since Jon Anderson played with Yes. Also Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin together is a rare moment (afaik this only happened during the Union era).
 
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