Rush

Top 5 Rush Albums/Next Band

  • Total voters
    76
Jer said:
I finally finished up my run through all the Rush studio albums, and here’s what I wound up with. Scores are weighted averages, since the early albums in particular have some giant variations in song lengths.

1. Power Windows: 8.7 >
2. Moving Pictures: 8.6 >
3. Hemispheres: 8.2 >
4. Permanent Waves: 8.1 >
5. Vapor Trails: 8.1 >
6. Vapor Trails Remixed: 8.0 >
7. A Farewell To Kings: 8.0 >
8. Clockwork Angels: 7.8 >
9. Presto: 7.7 >
10. Grace Under Pressure: 7.6 >
11. Roll The Bones: 7.3 >
12. Signals: 7.2 >
13. Hold Your Fire: 7.2 >
14. Snakes & Arrows: 7.2 >
15. Fly By Night: 7.1 >
16. 2112: 7.1 >
17. Counterparts: 6.8 >
18. Rush: 6.4 >
19. Test For Echo: 6.3 >
20. Caress Of Steel: 5.7 >

I’ve always felt like more of an 80s Rush guy (specifically from Moving Pictures onward), so it was interesting to see A Farewell To Kings, Hemispheres, and Permanent Waves rate so high this time through. I guess I’ve grown to appreciate them more.

I was surprised that Snakes & Arrows avoided the bottom five — I rarely listen to that one because it never really grabbed me at the album level, but there are a number of good songs on it. I was also a little surprised that Counterparts landed as low as it did, since I played the hell out of it when it was new; but I guess while the production may hold up on that one, the songwriting doesn’t.

It’s still hard to believe that Peart is dead and the band is done, but what a legacy they’ve left behind. By my rating system they had 2 excellent albums, 8 great albums (7 if you don’t double-count Vapor Trails), 7 good albums, and only 3 that were merely OK. That’s a hell of a standard to maintain.

RIP Neil...
Click to expand...
I never took the loss of a musician so personally as I did when I heard that Neil died.:(
 
Just finished another discography run! It's been 5 years since my last go through (and 5 years since they retired) and boy was it enjoyable. Lots of numbers coming up:

My updated album ranking is (technically) as follows:

01. Moving Pictures - 9.2
02. Permanent Waves - 9.0
03. Clockwork Angels - 8.8
04. Grace Under Pressure - 8.7
05. Counterparts - 8.3
06. Roll the Bones - 8.2
07. Signals - 8.2
08. 2112 - 8.1
09. Hemispheres - 8.0
10. Power Windows - 7.6
11. Snakes & Arrows - 7.6
12. A Farewell to Kings - 7.6
13. Vapor Trails - 7.4
14. Presto - 7.3
15. Test for Echo - 7.2
16. Fly By Night - 7.0
17. Hold Your Fire - 5.6
18. Caress of Steel - 5.6
19. Rush - 5.2

However, I truly believe that these ratings are not accurate depictions of my favorite Rush albums. Rating Rush based on the average song score per album simply doesn't work due to the wild differences in their album lengths (Hemispheres literally has 4 songs, some albums have up to 13). Thus, my actual preference, roughly adjusted for what I feel are the best albums:

01. Grace Under Pressure
02. Clockwork Angels
03. Moving Pictures
04. Permanent Waves
05. 2112
06. Roll the Bones
07. Signals
08. Counterparts
09. Snakes & Arrows
10. Vapor Trails
11. A Farewell to Kings
12. Test for Echo
13. Hemispheres
14. Power Windows
15. Fly By Night
16. Presto
17. Hold Your Fire
18. Caress of Steel
19. Rush
 
Forostar said:
Obligatory reading:
A lengthy new article in which Neil Peart's bandmates and widow discuss his legacy and his final years for the first time since his passing.
www.rollingstone.com

The Spirit of Neil Peart

For the first time since the passing of Rush's drum god, Neil Peart, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson speak about his legacy.
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com
Click to expand...

I read it earlier today and I wholeheartedly agree. Excellent article.
 
Great article...

But at the same time it's tragic. A man, who worked and wished 25 years (since 1989) to retire and live happily to spend time with his daughter... And then...

Just sad.
 
This was both beautiful and sad.
The way Neil frames his thoughts and his views on the world really makes me want to buy his motorcycle memoirs. Anybody read those?
 
Spambot said:
This was both beautiful and sad.
The way Neil frames his thoughts and his views on the world really makes me want to buy his motorcycle memoirs. Anybody read those?
Click to expand...
I've read Ghost Rider and Traveling Music. His book-writing style is basically the same as his lyric-writing style.
 
So, the discussion of Vapor Trails over in the "black sheep" thread got me thinking about the elusive HD remaster of the original Vapor Trails mix, and today I hunted that down. It was apparently released to HD download services in 2013 a little before Vapor Trails Remixed dropped, and many of those services flat-out replaced the HD remaster with an HD version of Remixed instead, but some of them continue to offer the original. The place I went to get my copy after a bunch of corroboration was 7digital.

For $17.50 I got non-DRM'd, 96KHz/24-bit FLAC files of Andy Van Dette's HD remaster of the original mix. This remaster increases the dynamic range slightly, and all of the clipping and crackling from the original CD pressing is gone as far as I can tell. There are parts that are still more compressed than they probably ought to be, but the objective blemishes appear to be gone while preserving the punch of the guitars and the emphasis on the high melody lines during the vocal harmonies, which were the two things that drove me nuts about Remixed.

I'll need to listen to this a few more times to be sure, but this certainly appears to be the definitive version of Vapor Trails to me, even after downsampling to 320kbps MP3.

EDIT: Yep, after multiple listens and some A/B-ing it’s pretty clear to me that this is the best version of the album. If you’re a fan of the original release, I think the HD remaster upgrade is worth it. I just wish I’d pursued it earlier…
 
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