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Why do you like some Rush albums much more than others?


9/4
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With Neil's passing, I'm rediscovering Rush by listening to the albums, contemplating the lyrics, reading books about Neil and Rush, etc.

 

It's partly a trip down memory lane, since I listened to a lot of Rush from the late 1970s through the 1980s. I loved (and still love) all of the studio albums from Rush to Power Windows, and I listened to them all many times.

 

Starting with Hold Your Fire, the albums didn't grab me as much because they either had a softer, sweeter, pop aspect, or when the albums had heavier tracks, those tracks didn't strike me as having the same brooding intensity and creative fire as the older albums. So by the late 1980s, I wasn't listening to Rush nearly as much, though I still considered them to be close to my heart, and I've remained a lifelong fan.

 

I'm now going back and listening to the albums from Hold Your Fire onward again (some of which I've hardly listened to), and they're starting to grow on me, but I don't know if I'll ever develop the same fondness for them as the older albums. This may be partly due to the stylistic changes I mentioned. It may also be partly due to the older albums being part of the 'soundtrack of my youth' and therefore imprinted on me in a way that no subsequent albums could be, i.e. a result of my personal history and how that lined up with Rush's album releases. Related to this aspect, I wonder if I'm dealing with a self-imposed obstacle of expecting Rush albums to have certain characteristics because they're Rush albums, so the albums don't resonate as much with me if they don't have those characteristics, whereas I might enjoy the albums more if I just listened to them as music, without thinking of them as Rush albums. I'm trying to approach the albums with this kind of open mind, but it's hard to do because Geddy's voice always reminds me that I'm listening to Rush.

 

I'm curious about the thoughts and experiences of you all regarding all of this.

Edited by 9/4
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Its different for everyone. I like pretty much all the '70s albums, but believe it or not I've never been crazy about Moving Pictures or Signals because one was over played and the other I thought rather dreary. I actually like Hold Your Fire and Presto the most from that mid-late 80s era because I enjoy pop Rush more than the back to a heavier sound Rush from their final albums.

And some of their experiments just didn't work. While certain fans will say that going the safe soft pop jazzy rock route (Hold Your Fire through RTB) didn't work for them, I'll say that the early '00s nu-metal and folk rock direction they took with Vapor Trails & Snakes was a mistake. Especially Snakes. God, I simply CANNOT listen to any of those songs aside from Far Cry and the instrumentals all the way through. Its too much of a chore. Clockwork too. I know a lot of fans plus the band themselves seemed to really enjoy that album its a drink coaster at my house. The songs are too long, too dense,poorly mixed & badly sung by an aging creaky sounding Lee to enjoy. But that's just my opinion, if someone else thinks its the best thing they ever did I'm not going to try and change their mind

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Its different for everyone. I like pretty much all the '70s albums, but believe it or not I've never been crazy about Moving Pictures or Signals because one was over played and the other I thought rather dreary. I actually like Hold Your Fire and Presto the most from that mid-late 80s era because I enjoy pop Rush more than the back to a heavier sound Rush from their final albums.

And some of their experiments just didn't work. While certain fans will say that going the safe soft pop jazzy rock route (Hold Your Fire through RTB) didn't work for them, I'll say that the early '00s nu-metal and folk rock direction they took with Vapor Trails & Snakes was a mistake. Especially Snakes. God, I simply CANNOT listen to any of those songs aside from Far Cry and the instrumentals all the way through. Its too much of a chore. Clockwork too. I know a lot of fans plus the band themselves seemed to really enjoy that album its a drink coaster at my house. The songs are too long, too dense,poorly mixed & badly sung by an aging creaky sounding Lee to enjoy. But that's just my opinion, if someone else thinks its the best thing they ever did I'm not going to try and change their mind

 

I can see your point about some of the albums being overplayed. That made the older albums a bit stale for me too, but I'm listening to Rush differently now that I'm rediscovering them, and that's making those albums sound fresher to me, which is increasing my appreciation for them. I'm noticing things I didn't notice before, and I'm paying more attention to the lyrics than ever before. I think the incredible brilliance of those albums, which don't sound dated decades later, is part of the reason for Rush's fan base remaining so strong in the past couple decades, and I predict that Rush will be a band people still talk about a century from now, just as we still talk about Stravinsky, Beethoven, Rembrandt, etc.

 

While I consider Geddy to have been an excellent singer whose vocals I always loved on the older albums, I agree that, with age, he has inevitably struggled with higher notes, which reduces my enjoyment of the vocals from the past 10-15 years.

 

Of course, in the end, this is all personal and subjective. If a piece of music doesn't resonate with a particular listener (such as a music critic), that doesn't make the music objectively bad. And if someone likes a piece of music that many people don't like, that's good for that person, and they don't need to justify or defend why they like it. What's interesting about Rush is that they created music which appeals extremely strongly to a subset of listeners, even decades after the music was created. I think that makes Rush quite special.

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I had much the same pov as the original poster. I think I was introduced to Rush sometime around 1977. 2112 was the first song I heard and it was like a bolt of lightning. My older sister had ATWAS and that held me over until I had enough birthday money saved to buy Hemispheres and then the back catalog. Loved every album right away until.... Signals. From there on in, took me until the next new album to warm up to the previous release.
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GuP, PWaves, Caress, the Debut, 2112, Presto, VT, Hemi Side 2, and MP I just connect with lyrically and sonically. The rest is hit and miss for me. Edited by goose
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Since Neil's passing, I've summoned the courage to (try to) play drums along with Rush albums, including albums which didn't resonate with me as much (post Power Windows). In the past week, I've played along with Hold Your Fire and Presto a few times, and I'm enjoying those albums more and more. I'm realizing that the experience playing one of the instruments and being 'inside' the music is different than just listening to the music and being 'outside' it. This may partly explain why Rush liked all of the music they made, and enjoyed playing much of it countless times live, whereas many of their fans like the albums quite unequally.
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The other problem I had with late era Rush albums starting with Vapor is that they were all three or four songs too long. Just because its possible to fit over an hour onto a CD doesn't mean you should. The last three albums 100% would've been better served to trim off the lesser songs
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I was listening to GnR's 2008 Chinese Democracy album the other day and a lot of it reminded me of the issues I had with Rush's final three albums.

-Three or four songs too long

 

-A couple of really good stand out songs, a bunch of mediocre ones that don't quite live up to their potential and a couple skippable clunkers

 

-Was obviously pieced together with Pro Tools with many overdubs and punch-ins

 

-Over reliance on a choir effect with the backing vocals. (In this case a choir of autotuned Axls instead of Geddys which gets really tiring three or four songs in)

 

I don't know how many of you are also GnR fans but the Chinese Democracy album despite all the criticism when it finally came out ten years late had some good material on it...the title track and Better are two that come to mind

 

 

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I like the albums with:

 

Better songs

Heavier guitars

More organic, dynamic production values

No filler

Guitar solos

No layered backing vocals

No tupperware drums

 

 

Interesting Pat. I agree with your list however you keep telling me that "Vapor Trails" ROCKS! Musically yes, but one thing I learned upon trying to like the record again is that Geddy's layered backing vocals drives me fuckking crazy. Hence the issue I still have with the record.

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terry brown

 

great things happened with him

 

afterwards not so much...........

 

I love every RUSH record up to "Counterparts."

 

"Hemispheres" will always be my favorite record until I die.

 

correct hemispheres is king

 

i like to love post terry brown.

 

they finished strong with the last three. i am another vapor trails fan. over the snakes and clockwork

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I like the albums with:

 

Better songs

Heavier guitars

More organic, dynamic production values

No filler

Guitar solos

No layered backing vocals

No tupperware drums

 

 

Interesting Pat. I agree with your list however you keep telling me that "Vapor Trails" ROCKS! Musically yes, but one thing I learned upon trying to like the record again is that Geddy's layered backing vocals drives me fuckking crazy. Hence the issue I still have with the record.

Yeah well it took me a while to get into it like I said. I'd prefer he didn't do that but hey it is what it is.

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terry brown

 

great things happened with him

 

afterwards not so much...........

 

I love every RUSH record up to "Counterparts."

 

"Hemispheres" will always be my favorite record until I die.

 

correct hemispheres is king

 

i like to love post terry brown.

 

they finished strong with the last three. i am another vapor trails fan. over the snakes and clockwork

Hemispheres has always been locked in my top 5 RUSH albums for about 40 years and the rest of my top 5 have been locked in as well.

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terry brown

 

great things happened with him

 

afterwards not so much...........

 

I love every RUSH record up to "Counterparts."

 

"Hemispheres" will always be my favorite record until I die.

What if Terry Brown was brought in to produce the new KK's Priest album??

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terry brown

 

great things happened with him

 

afterwards not so much...........

 

I love every RUSH record up to "Counterparts."

 

"Hemispheres" will always be my favorite record until I die.

 

correct hemispheres is king

 

i like to love post terry brown.

 

they finished strong with the last three. i am another vapor trails fan. over the snakes and clockwork

 

 

Awesome Tang! Sorry I try hard to get back into VT. I've learned that it's Geddy's voice and background vocals loops that make me want to put icepicks in my earholes!

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terry brown

 

great things happened with him

 

afterwards not so much...........

 

I love every RUSH record up to "Counterparts."

 

"Hemispheres" will always be my favorite record until I die.

 

correct hemispheres is king

 

i like to love post terry brown.

 

they finished strong with the last three. i am another vapor trails fan. over the snakes and clockwork

Hemispheres has always been locked in my top 5 RUSH albums for about 40 years and the rest of my top 5 have been locked in as well.

 

Nice Pat.

 

What Rush albums do you have ahead of "Hemispheres?"

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terry brown

 

great things happened with him

 

afterwards not so much...........

 

I love every RUSH record up to "Counterparts."

 

"Hemispheres" will always be my favorite record until I die.

What if Terry Brown was brought in to produce the new KK's Priest album??

 

I'm in....

 

 

Hell, you know I am going to get the Japanese pressing with the bonus track.

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terry brown

 

great things happened with him

 

afterwards not so much...........

 

I love every RUSH record up to "Counterparts."

 

"Hemispheres" will always be my favorite record until I die.

What if Terry Brown was brought in to produce the new KK's Priest album??

 

I'm in....

 

 

Hell, you know I am going to get the Japanese pressing with the bonus track.

There might be a few bonus tracks!

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