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JohnnyBlaze's Definitive Method of Ranking Rush


JohnnyBlaze
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There have been several threads on ranking and rating Rush albums. And honestly, I enjoy most of them. But overall, they are either TOO complicated or TOO simplistic. Here, I think is something in the middle. Here, you can find the definitive answer of which is YOUR best. Do this by rating EACH song. THEN, find the album's average after that. Follow these steps:

 

1) Do NOT think about which album you think is best.

2) Use this point scale to rank each song:

5: the song is great-->perfect

4: the song is good-->very good

3: the song is so-so-->okay

2: the song is not good BUT it's not 100% awful

1: the song shouldn't have been made

3) Add all the song points for the album then get the album's average.

example: I got 31 points for the 8 songs on the debut album. So, the album's average was a 3.875.

4) In the event of a tie (it only happened once with me), THEN you make the gut choice of which is the better album.

 

Believe me, it doesn't take as long as you might think. And, I think you might be surprised at where the albums fall. But I cannot stress enough: rate the songs INDIVIDUALLY; do not think of the album and how much you love it. I'd be interested to know if your album rankings were the same or very different than if you were asked to straight-up rank the albums.

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My results. I was very VERY suprised by this. If I had been asked to rank them without using this scoring method, my answers (anything between 6-17 anyway) would have been totally different.

 

So here it is:

1) Moving Pictures (average: 5)

2) Hemispheres (5)

3) Permanent Waves (4.83)

4) Farewell to Kings (4.66)

5) Signals (4.625)

6) Power Windows (4.5)

7) 2112 (4.33)

8) Grace Under Pressure (4.25)

9) Hold Your Fire (4.2)

10) Rush (3.875)

11) Fly By Night (3.875)

12) Clockwork Angels (3.83)

13) Counterparts (3.818)

14) Caress of Steel (3.8)

15) Presto (3.636)

16) Vapor Trails (3.615)

17) Snakes and Arrows (3.461)

18) Test for Echo (3.454)

19) Roll the Bones (3.1)

 

Overall average: 3.98

Other stats (I feel like rushgoober now tongue.gif ):

- 62 songs rated at "5" (37.57%)

- 49 songs rated at "4" (29.69%)

- 42 songs rated at "3" (25.45%)

- 11 songs rated at "2" (6.66%)

- 1 song that "Shouldn't have been made" (.01%)

 

My shockers:

- Power Windows beating 2112?!!! MASSIVE shocker there ohmy.gif

- Hold Your Fire cracking the top 10?!! ohmy.gif

- Clockwork Angels all the way down to #12?!! I thought it would've easily been in the top 10. ohmy.gif

- Snakes Arrows ONLY beating out Test for Echo & RTB?!:o Some very weak songs on that gave it lower overall average.

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My God, you must have put an awful lot of thought into this!

 

I've been a Rush fan since the early 80's, and at times have driven friends and family crazy with my "Rush talk" , but even I would never concoct something like this rating system.

 

I'm new around here, and I'm honestly not having a go at you, but am I the only one who thinks this is just a bit over the top?

 

That said, if anyone decides to do this, I hope you have fun.

 

I'm almost afraid what I'll discover when I return to this thread tomorrow morning!

 

 

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QUOTE (substancewithoutstyle @ Jul 15 2012, 02:24 PM)
My God, you must have put an awful lot of thought into this!

I've been a Rush fan since the early 80's, and at times have driven friends and family crazy with my "Rush talk" , but even I would never concoct something like this rating system.

I'm new around here, and I'm honestly not having a go at you, but am I the only one who thinks this is just a bit over the top?

That said, if anyone decides to do this, I hope you have fun.

I'm almost afraid what I'll discover when I return to this thread tomorrow morning!

No worries. Being new, you wouldn't know about some of the other threads that have much more complicated ways to rank/rate the Rush albums/songs. Really, this one is quite simple: Rank each song from 1-5 then find the album average. From there you can see how it compares. And 'no' it didn't take much time to think of it...it was more of a reaction to the other threads of "Rate album X from 1-10" and the other complictated rating/ranking methods that I already mentioned.

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Good idea. My findings:

 

1. Hemispheres (Avg: 4.25)

2. Fly By Night (Avg: 4)

3. Moving Pictures (Avg: 3.71)

4. A Farewell to Kings (Avg: 3.5) (Tie)

5. Clockwork Angels (Avg: 3.5) (Tie)

6. Permanent Waves (Avg: 3.5) (Tie)

7. Vapor Trails (Avg: 3.46)

8. Caress of Steel (Avg: 3.4)

9. Rush (Avg: 3.375)

10. 2112 (Avg: 3.33)

11. Grace Under Pressure (Avg: 3.25)

12. Signals (Avg: 3.125)

13. Snakes & Arrows (Avg: 2.92)

14. Roll the Bones (Avg: 2.2)

15. Counterparts (Avg: 2) (Tie)

16. Hold Your Fire (Avg: 2) (Tie)

17. Test for Echo (Avg: 1.81)

18. Presto (Avg: 1.54)

19. Power Windows (Avg: 1.5)

 

Here's how that compares to how I recently ranked the albums in another thread:

 

QUOTE
1. Hemispheres
2. Fly By Night
3. Moving Pictures
4. A Farewell to Kings
5. Clockwork Angels
6. Vapor Trails
7. 2112
8. Permanent Waves
9. Caress of Steel
10. Grace Under Pressure
11. Signals
12. Snakes & Arrows
13. Rush
14. Roll the Bones
15. Counterparts
16. Test for Echo
17. Presto
18. Hold Your Fire
19. Power Windows

 

Overall, it was pretty consistent.

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QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Jul 15 2012, 01:46 AM)
QUOTE (substancewithoutstyle @ Jul 15 2012, 02:24 PM)
My God, you must have put an awful lot of thought into this!

I've been a Rush fan since the early 80's, and at times have driven friends and family crazy with my "Rush talk" , but even I would never concoct something like this rating system.

I'm new around here, and I'm honestly not having a go at you, but am I the only one who thinks this is just a bit over the top?

That said, if anyone decides to do this, I hope you have fun.

I'm almost afraid what I'll discover when I return to this thread tomorrow morning!

No worries. Being new, you wouldn't know about some of the other threads that have much more complicated ways to rank/rate the Rush albums/songs. Really, this one is quite simple: Rank each song from 1-5 then find the album average. From there you can see how it compares. And 'no' it didn't take much time to think of it...it was more of a reaction to the other threads of "Rate album X from 1-10" and the other complictated rating/ranking methods that I already mentioned.

I feel this is the most honest ranking system when it boils down to the songs on the albums without the sentiment or bias that comes with "favorites".

 

I'm not gonna rank them though.

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Signals - 4.875

Permanent Waves - 4.833

Hemispheres - 4.75

Moving Pictures - 4.714

A Farwell to Kings/Grace Under Pressure/Power Windows - 4.5

Clockwork Angels - 4.333

Counterparts - 4.272

2112 - 4.166

Fly By Night - 3.875

Hold Your Fire - 3.7

Vapor Trails - 3.692

Presto - 3.545

Snakes & Arrows - 3.461

Rush - 3.375

Roll The Bones - 3.3

Caress of Steel - 3.2

Test For Echo - 2.181

 

 

Edited by ColdFireYYZ
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QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Jul 15 2012, 01:54 PM)
QUOTE (treeduck @ Jul 15 2012, 03:28 PM)
I may have a go at this...

trink36.gif

Me too. I like Blaze's logic here.

This system should be time weighted. Or at least the epics should be stripped down into parts.

 

Otherwise, for example, Tears and the Twilight Zone have twice as much weight as 2112.

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QUOTE (OGr8imL84AD8inF8sBlackSedan @ Jul 15 2012, 08:15 PM)
QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Jul 15 2012, 01:46 AM)
QUOTE (substancewithoutstyle @ Jul 15 2012, 02:24 PM)
My God, you must have put an awful lot of thought into this!

I've been a Rush fan since the early 80's, and at times have driven friends and family crazy with my "Rush talk" , but even I would never concoct something like this rating system.

I'm new around here, and I'm honestly not having a go at you, but am I the only one who thinks this is just a bit over the top?

That said, if anyone decides to do this, I hope you have fun.

I'm almost afraid what I'll discover when I return to this thread tomorrow morning!

No worries. Being new, you wouldn't know about some of the other threads that have much more complicated ways to rank/rate the Rush albums/songs. Really, this one is quite simple: Rank each song from 1-5 then find the album average. From there you can see how it compares. And 'no' it didn't take much time to think of it...it was more of a reaction to the other threads of "Rate album X from 1-10" and the other complictated rating/ranking methods that I already mentioned.

I feel this is the most honest ranking system when it boils down to the songs on the albums without the sentiment or bias that comes with "favorites".

 

I'm not gonna rank them though.

Fair enough trink38.gif

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QUOTE (laughedatbytime @ Jul 16 2012, 09:49 AM)
QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Jul 15 2012, 01:54 PM)
QUOTE (treeduck @ Jul 15 2012, 03:28 PM)
I may have a go at this...

trink36.gif

Me too. I like Blaze's logic here.

This system should be time weighted. Or at least the epics should be stripped down into parts.

 

Otherwise, for example, Tears and the Twilight Zone have twice as much weight as 2112.

I didn't think about time-weighting (but that is a reasonable point). I wanted to keep it simple. Besides, imho, a song is a song whether it's 3 minutes or 15. It's how they wrote it so that's how I'll judge it. 2.gif

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QUOTE (Shreddy Lee @ Jul 15 2012, 07:40 PM)
Good idea. My findings:

1. Hemispheres (Avg: 4.25)
2. Fly By Night (Avg: 4)
3. Moving Pictures (Avg: 3.71)
4. A Farewell to Kings (Avg: 3.5) (Tie)
5. Clockwork Angels (Avg: 3.5) (Tie)
6. Permanent Waves (Avg: 3.5) (Tie)
7. Vapor Trails (Avg: 3.46)
8. Caress of Steel (Avg: 3.4)
9. Rush (Avg: 3.375)
10. 2112 (Avg: 3.33)
11. Grace Under Pressure (Avg: 3.25)
12. Signals (Avg: 3.125)
13. Snakes & Arrows (Avg: 2.92)
14. Roll the Bones (Avg: 2.2)
15. Counterparts (Avg: 2) (Tie)
16. Hold Your Fire (Avg: 2) (Tie)
17. Test for Echo (Avg: 1.81)
18. Presto (Avg: 1.54)
19. Power Windows (Avg: 1.5)

Here's how that compares to how I recently ranked the albums in another thread:

QUOTE
1. Hemispheres
2. Fly By Night
3. Moving Pictures
4. A Farewell to Kings
5. Clockwork Angels
6. Vapor Trails
7. 2112
8. Permanent Waves
9. Caress of Steel
10. Grace Under Pressure
11. Signals
12. Snakes & Arrows
13. Rush
14. Roll the Bones
15. Counterparts
16. Test for Echo
17. Presto
18. Hold Your Fire
19. Power Windows

 

Overall, it was pretty consistent.

Yeah, that's pretty close yes.gif

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QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Jul 15 2012, 12:54 PM)
QUOTE (treeduck @ Jul 15 2012, 03:28 PM)
I may have a go at this...

trink36.gif

Me too. I like Blaze's logic here.

It may take me a few days but I'm game smile.gif

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QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Jul 14 2012, 09:44 PM)
Other stats (I feel like rushgoober now tongue.gif ):

ohmy.gif

 

dazed025.gif

 

tongue.gif

 

Ok, let me preface my stats by saying that while interesting, doing it this way for me is only somewhat accurate:

 

1. Rating songs in very general 1-5 categories is a LOT less accurate than doing a full 1-10, or as I would usually do 1-20 if you consider that you can do half points. What would be a 5 on this scale would usually be 4 scores (8.5, 9, 9.5 & 10). What would be a 4 on this scale would also be 4 scores (6.5, 7, 7.5, 8). There can a TREMENDOUS difference between 6.5 and 8 or between 8.5 and 10. There's a lot more room for subtlety, and if you start adding in 8.25, 8.75, etc. fuggedaboutit!

 

2. The end results for a given album don't take any of the more intagible aspects into consideration. For example, I can't stand the last 2 songs on HYF, but the rest of the album is SO strong that I rate it a lot higher than several albums where every song is strong or very strong. Often you CAN'T just break this stuff down into basic math equations when certain albums have a higher emotional connection or give you a better overall feeling or you just plain old listen to it more, even if the individual numbers when broken down don't reflect that. It's often just not as logical as breaking it down mathematically.

 

That said:

 

My results:

1. Hemispheres (5)

2. Signals (5)

3. Moving Pictures (4.86)

4. Permanent Waves (4.66)

5. 2112 (4.66)

6. Grace Under Pressure (4.63)

7. A Farewell to Kings (4.5)

8. Rush (4.5)

9. Clockwork Angels (4.5)

10. Power Windows (4.38)

11. Counterparts (4.36)

12. Fly By Night (4.25)

13. Hold Your Fire (4.1)

14. Caress of Steel (3.6)

15. Snakes & Arrows (3.38)

16. Presto (2.55)

17. Roll the Bones (2.2)

18. Test For Echo (2)

19. Vapor Trails (1.08)

 

Overall average by individual songs: 3.70

 

Overall average by full album averages: 3.91

 

Other stats:

- 79 songs rated at "5" (47.8%)

- 27 songs rated at "4" (16.4%)

- 14 songs rated at "3" (8.5%)

- 20 songs rated at "2" (12.1%)

- 25 songs that "Shouldn't have been made" (15.2%)

 

My shockers:

- Hold Your Fire actually rates a LOT higher for me than 13. The last 2 tracks make the raw numbers go deceptively low, but the first 8 songs are of such high quality that it beats out a lot of albums that technically rate higher - those last 2 songs drag down the average unfairly.

- 2112 actually rates a bit lower for me than 5. Yes, all the songs are great or better, but overall the album doesn't flow well (I rarely listen to both side one and side two in one sitting - it's usually one or the other), and I listen to it a lot less as a whole compared to some other albums that technically rate lower.

- Other than that the biggest shocker is that everything else is fairly spot on in terms of what I would rank if doing it based on the tangible AND the intangible factors.

 

Comparisons to JohnnyBlaze's results:

You have quite a lot at 5, 4 & 3 with very few at 2 & 1. Your list descends while mine is more of a curve, but heavily weighted towards the top. My results tend to be a bit more all over the map with a distinct drop in the middle. I guess for me, I'm more emotional - I seem to LOVE a song or HATE a song seemingly more intensely. I put a full 45 songs at 2 or 1 (including 25 at 1, as opposed to your 1) where you only put 12. So even though I have a lot more 5's than you do, my overall average is a good bit lower.

Edited by rushgoober
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QUOTE (Shreddy Lee @ Jul 15 2012, 03:40 AM)
Good idea. My findings:

1. Hemispheres (Avg: 4.25)
2. Fly By Night (Avg: 4)
3. Moving Pictures (Avg: 3.71)
4. A Farewell to Kings (Avg: 3.5) (Tie)
5. Clockwork Angels (Avg: 3.5) (Tie)
6. Permanent Waves (Avg: 3.5) (Tie)
7. Vapor Trails (Avg: 3.46)
8. Caress of Steel (Avg: 3.4)
9. Rush (Avg: 3.375)
10. 2112 (Avg: 3.33)
11. Grace Under Pressure (Avg: 3.25)
12. Signals (Avg: 3.125)
13. Snakes & Arrows (Avg: 2.92)
14. Roll the Bones (Avg: 2.2)
15. Counterparts (Avg: 2) (Tie)
16. Hold Your Fire (Avg: 2) (Tie)
17. Test for Echo (Avg: 1.81)
18. Presto (Avg: 1.54)
19. Power Windows (Avg: 1.5)

One thing you share with my list that differs from JohnnyBlaze's is how low your rankings can go.

 

For example, Johnny's lowest is 3.1. You have SEVEN albums rated lower than his lowest, and I have FOUR. For him he seems to "not like something quite as much" where you and I seem to have no problem either "not liking it much at all" or outright "hating it."

 

Interestingly, your highest is at 4.25, with #2 at 4 and #3 at 3.71. Here we seriously differ as that seems shockingly low to me. I guess you don't think Rush have any perfect albums, and only 1 that's even close to perfect. Your numbers seem to show (and feel free to violently disagree with me) that you're more of a casual Rush fan than many of us. Either that, or you're a lot harder to please. I have a full ELEVEN albums rated higher than your highest rating. Johnny has SEVEN. I have 13 rated higher than your top 3, and Johnny has 14! ohmy.gif

Edited by rushgoober
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This is an interesting ranking system! Nice idea. I've actually been thinking how it would be cool if we could have a communal ranking thread - everyone votes on all the songs, on an scale of 1-5, say, and watch what happens after a while. I think that would be interesting!

 

And Goober, you say you ranked 25 songs as 'shouldn't have been made' - I'm curious what they are, if you wouldn't mind sharing them! (Hmm, maybe almost the entirety of Vapor Trails? tongue.gif )

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no.gif Albums don't work that way. This way give no weighting to how the album flows and how enjoyable it is to listen to the album all the way through. Besides, not all 5-star songs are equal.

 

confused13.gif

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QUOTE (Mika @ Jul 16 2012, 09:05 AM)
And Goober, you say you ranked 25 songs as 'shouldn't have been made' - I'm curious what they are, if you wouldn't mind sharing them! (Hmm, maybe almost the entirety of Vapor Trails? tongue.gif )

Chronologically:

 

I Think I'm Going Bald

 

Tai Shan

 

Superconductor

 

Face Up

Heresy

Neurotica

You Bet Your Life

 

Dog Years

Virtuality

 

Ceiling Unlimited

Ghost Rider

Peaceable Kingdom

The Stars Look Down

How It Is

Vapor Trail

Secret Touch

EarthShine

Sweet Miracle

Nocturne

Freeze

Out of the Cradle

 

Faithless

Bravest Face

Good News First

 

BU2B2

 

 

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QUOTE (Tommy Sawyer @ Jul 16 2012, 09:58 AM)
no.gif Albums don't work that way. This way give no weighting to how the album flows and how enjoyable it is to listen to the album all the way through. Besides, not all 5-star songs are equal.

confused13.gif

I addressed that, and while I agree, only a couple of albums ended up significantly out of place when I did the exercise. It's still worth doing IMHO...

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QUOTE (rushgoober @ Jul 16 2012, 12:20 PM)
QUOTE (Mika @ Jul 16 2012, 09:05 AM)
And Goober, you say you ranked 25 songs as 'shouldn't have been made' - I'm curious what they are, if you wouldn't mind sharing them! (Hmm, maybe almost the entirety of Vapor Trails? tongue.gif )

Chronologically:

 

I Think I'm Going Bald

 

Tai Shan

 

Superconductor

 

Face Up

Heresy

Neurotica

You Bet Your Life

 

Dog Years

Virtuality

 

Ceiling Unlimited

Ghost Rider

Peaceable Kingdom

The Stars Look Down

How It Is

Vapor Trail

Secret Touch

EarthShine

Sweet Miracle

Nocturne

Freeze

Out of the Cradle

 

Faithless

Bravest Face

Good News First

 

BU2B2

Further curiosity: is it the songs that you don't like on Vapor Trails, or is it the mixing that makes the songs unlistenable for you?

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Anyone have this in a spreadsheet already? I am feeling lazy.
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QUOTE (rushgoober @ Jul 16 2012, 11:04 AM)
One thing you share with my list that differs from JohnnyBlaze's is how low your rankings can go.

For example, Johnny's lowest is 3.1. You have SEVEN albums rated lower than his lowest, and I have FOUR. For him he seems to "not like something quite as much" where you and I seem to have no problem either "not liking it much at all" or outright "hating it."

Interestingly, your highest is at 4.25, with #2 at 4 and #3 at 3.71. Here we seriously differ as that seems shockingly low to me. I guess you don't think Rush have any perfect albums, and only 1 that's even close to perfect. Your numbers seem to show (and feel free to violently disagree with me) that you're more of a casual Rush fan than many of us. Either that, or you're a lot harder to please. I have a full ELEVEN albums rated higher than your highest rating. Johnny has SEVEN. I have 13 rated higher than your top 3, and Johnny has 14! ohmy.gif

I do have to disagree, I'm not a casual fan at all. I'm just as passionate about Rush as anyone else here. The fact that I took the time to rank the albums this way on a Rush forum should prove that. tongue.gif

 

I don't think I'd say it's that I'm harder to please, but rather that I'm just much more strict with calling something "perfect". He did put that word next to the 5, and I kept that in mind when rating. I only gave it to a handful of songs that I really, really love. If I had just considered it to be "great" or "the highest rating a song can get" then it would likely have turned out differently.

 

So I think my results are simply explained by the way this particular rating system works. I agree with you that when I looked back at all my averages, and saw how low they tended to be, I was surprised. It's not at all how it would have come out if I had just done it on my own, without this system. The album rankings were very close to my other list, but the numbers make it seem very different.

 

For example, I consider Hemispheres to be the best album. So if I was asked to rate it on a scale of 1-5, just in comparison to the other albums, it would get a 5. But on this scale, I gave Cygnus and La Villa both 5s, The Trees a 4, and Circumstances a 3. That drags the overall average down to 4.25. Similarly, my distaste for some of the late 80's and 90's stuff really dragged down my overall numbers, when I don't actually feel that strongly negative towards it. I don't hate it and think it's horrible music, it's just not for me. I did give a lot of 1s to the songs in that period that don't appeal to me at all, but perhaps that wasn't the right way to do it.

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