Most Underrated Rush Album

[ANTHEM75]

Just curious as to what ppl think. I think Roll The Bones, FBN, and Vapour Trails never get the credit they deserve.

[hammerofthor]

Rush and Test For Echo.

[bathory]

amongst rush fan circles, pretty much anything after 1982 is underrated I think. the synth era as a whole is especially underrated - I get it, I love loud guitars too, and I love the 70s stuff, but I think their synth era stuff is almost as good as the 70s/early 80s stuff. not as heavy of course, but it's great music anyway. there seems to be a sentiment among lots of rush fans that anything the band did between signals and counterparts didn't even happen, but I think if you really pay attention to some of those records you'll hear some fantastic shit. at my last rush show, me and my friend were the only people who stood in our section during the synth-era part of the set. I don't get it - what's wrong with synthesizers?

 

outside of rush fan circles, every album the band has ever made is underrated except 2112 and moving pictures.

[Cyclonus X-1]

Caress of Steel, Rush, and Hold Your Fire.

[jamie]

Presto or Test For Echo

[Ancient Ways]

Caress of steel. Obviously non rush fans don't know anything about album but a lot of fans don't like it and I don't get it. I didn't hear it until after moving pictures but I immediately got into it and still love it. The music is fantastic throughout. A lot of criticism is pointed at lyrics and necromancer narration. The narration is a little cheesy but I still like the lyrics. Fountain is a cool story about the journey. Plus, no fountain no 2112.

[laughedatbytime]

p/g

[Mika]

Vapor Trails, Presto, and Caress of Steel.

 

CoS I heard fully for the first time last year, and I still can't get enough of 'TFoL', though I try not to indulge in it too much lest I burn myself out on it. Some really great Geddy singing on the album, and the music is awesome - great guitar riffs, good melodious guitar work, good production sound.... I'm surprised it's not higher up on the general fan scale.

 

Presto is one that I also didn't hear much of (apart from the 'hits') before last year, and I grew impressed with the songs on it - some really nice tunes, such as 'Scars', 'Chain Lightning', and 'Red Tide', not to mention 'Show Don't Tell', 'The Pass', and 'Superconductor' (I think it's a good song!). Oh, and 'Available Light'! The first time I heard that one, I thought, "How have I not heard this before? This is great!"

 

Vapor Trails is one album I've consistently played all the tracks from evenly, so that I'm not more familiar with some songs more than others - I like enjoying albums as wholes. I love the rawness of it - or bad production, or whatever you want to cal it - and the different musical approach, with layered guitars and Geddy choruses and even the lack of guitar solos. There's some really good music in there, such as 'Ceiling Unlimited', 'How it Is', 'Freeze', and 'Ghost Rider'. I hope that with the VT re-issue, more of these songs will be given a chance on the next tour (being optomistic!) - hopefully other than 'One Little Victory', but that's me being picky.

 

So that's my three underrated albums, off the top of my head.

[Citizen of the World]

Rush and Counterparts (ranks right up there with Vapor Trails in the love/hate debate)

[tas7]

Signals, starting to appreciate what they were trying to do, ahead of its time for 1982 and has dated well when you compare it to other synth rock albums.

Caress of Steel, wonder if it would have been more successful if the sides were swapped and Fountain of Lamneth was promoted as side one.

[LedRush]

Caress of Steel

Roll the Bones

Test For Echo

Vapor Trails

 

Many Rush fans that love the synth era criminally underrate the great music that came after.

[losingit2k]

There are many underated RUSH albums, Vapor Trails, T4E, Roll the Bones, Presto, Caress of Steel. The truth is many af these albums, just like every RUSH album holds much to offer. The only negative is that they aren't "Wall to Wall" albums like Hemispheres, PeW or Moving Pictures which means you can't listen to the entire album without skipping a track. Consequently, they might be underated as an album. But what are we camparing them too? Obviously, we are comparing them to the best that RUSH has to offer. We are comparing Nissans to Ferraris. Obviously one car is better than the other but that doesn't make the other any less of a car. Now if you would take albums like T4E or Roll the Bones which came later in their career and compare it to say a Who album in the same period of their career like say Its Hard or Face Dances then you begin to see the value of these Rush albums for what they are. Most of these RUSH albums have 4 to 5 worthy tracks insteas of 1 or 2. So yeah maybe they are underated but only cause we are comparing them to the best. We're comparing them to Mount Everest, to a Saturn V rocket, to the Concord, to Ferraris to Star Wars!

 

Sorry had to throw that last one in.

[Pause Rewind Replay]

Presto. People focus on the thin production and ignore the great songs. I didn't notice the production until I heard Show Don't Tell on DS and then I did want to Rubert Hine, but that still doesn't diminish how much I enjoy War Paint, Red tide, Scars, Chain Lightning, and I love Superconductor too :madra: Now just give me one more Rush tour and play something besides The Pass off Presto.

 

Vapor Trails. Suffers IMHO from sounding like no other album in the Rush catalog: No keyboards plus no guitar solos made lots of fans go on the first listen and they never came back for a second one to appreciate that heavy and beauty can coexist (Earthshine, Nocturne, OLV, Vapor Trail, Ceiling Unlimited, Ghost Rider..)

 

Counterparts: I decided to put this in because there seems to be a sharp split between 2 large factions regarding Cp. It seems to be loathed nearly as often as praised, and I can't understand what the detractors complain about.

[Pause Rewind Replay]

at my last rush show, me and my friend were the only people who stood in our section during the synth-era part of the set. I don't get it - what's wrong with synthesizers?

 

Nothing wrong with them at all, my part of the floor in Minneapolis 2012 still had people standing, just not as animated as for, say, TSOR, TS, YYZ, and 2112. I did have to at one guy walking out after the show talking to his friend and saying he hadn't recognized anything between Subdivisions and YYZ... something like 20 songs. :o Poor dope

[bathory]

at my last rush show, me and my friend were the only people who stood in our section during the synth-era part of the set. I don't get it - what's wrong with synthesizers?

 

Nothing wrong with them at all, my part of the floor in Minneapolis 2012 still had people standing, just not as animated as for, say, TSOR, TS, YYZ, and 2112. I did have to at one guy walking out after the show talking to his friend and saying he hadn't recognized anything between Subdivisions and YYZ... something like 20 songs. :o Poor dope

 

I dont see how anybody can go to a rush concert without at least knowing SOMETHING after 1982....why go to the concert?

[LedRush]

at my last rush show, me and my friend were the only people who stood in our section during the synth-era part of the set. I don't get it - what's wrong with synthesizers?

 

Nothing wrong with them at all, my part of the floor in Minneapolis 2012 still had people standing, just not as animated as for, say, TSOR, TS, YYZ, and 2112. I did have to at one guy walking out after the show talking to his friend and saying he hadn't recognized anything between Subdivisions and YYZ... something like 20 songs. :o Poor dope

 

I dont see how anybody can go to a rush concert without at least knowing SOMETHING after 1982....why go to the concert?

 

I bring a lot of friends to concerts who like the hits they hear on the radio and nothing else, meaning the only songs they know after signals are Dreamline and maybe Ghost of a Chance. But my friends also liked Far Cry and much of Clockwork Angels. They didn't like the first set though. Shows with Limelight had a much better energy than shows without it.

[rushgoober]

Caress of Steel

Roll the Bones

Test For Echo

Vapor Trails

 

Many Rush fans that love the synth era criminally underrate the great music that came after.

 

LOL! You picked 4 of their 5 weakest efforts and called them underrated - why am I not surprised? :P

 

For me the criminally underrated album are their debut album and HYF - both excellent, the last two songs on HYF notwithstanding.

[bathory]

at my last rush show, me and my friend were the only people who stood in our section during the synth-era part of the set. I don't get it - what's wrong with synthesizers?

 

Nothing wrong with them at all, my part of the floor in Minneapolis 2012 still had people standing, just not as animated as for, say, TSOR, TS, YYZ, and 2112. I did have to at one guy walking out after the show talking to his friend and saying he hadn't recognized anything between Subdivisions and YYZ... something like 20 songs. :o Poor dope

 

I dont see how anybody can go to a rush concert without at least knowing SOMETHING after 1982....why go to the concert?

 

I bring a lot of friends to concerts who like the hits they hear on the radio and nothing else, meaning the only songs they know after signals are Dreamline and maybe Ghost of a Chance. But my friends also liked Far Cry and much of Clockwork Angels. They didn't like the first set though. Shows with Limelight had a much better energy than shows without it.

 

shows with limelight disappointed me... I was ready for middletown!

[ANTHEM75]

I LOVE Test For Echo. Its one of my top 5 favorite rush albums.

[LedRush]

Caress of Steel

Roll the Bones

Test For Echo

Vapor Trails

 

Many Rush fans that love the synth era criminally underrate the great music that came after.

 

LOL! You picked 4 of their 5 weakest efforts and called them underrated - why am I not surprised? :P

 

For me the criminally underrated album are their debut album and HYF - both excellent, the last two songs on HYF notwithstanding.

 

Phew. I'm proven correct yet again!

[LedRush]

at my last rush show, me and my friend were the only people who stood in our section during the synth-era part of the set. I don't get it - what's wrong with synthesizers?

 

Nothing wrong with them at all, my part of the floor in Minneapolis 2012 still had people standing, just not as animated as for, say, TSOR, TS, YYZ, and 2112. I did have to at one guy walking out after the show talking to his friend and saying he hadn't recognized anything between Subdivisions and YYZ... something like 20 songs. :o Poor dope

 

I dont see how anybody can go to a rush concert without at least knowing SOMETHING after 1982....why go to the concert?

 

I bring a lot of friends to concerts who like the hits they hear on the radio and nothing else, meaning the only songs they know after signals are Dreamline and maybe Ghost of a Chance. But my friends also liked Far Cry and much of Clockwork Angels. They didn't like the first set though. Shows with Limelight had a much better energy than shows without it.

 

shows with limelight disappointed me... I was ready for middletown!

 

They disappointed most fans who've seen the band a bunch of times or who are tired if the classics. But that's not most people at the concerts.

[HomesickAlien]

Hold Your Fire

 

Too many people can't get past their aversion to synths to appreciate the brilliance of this album. Although I prefer PoW to HYF, the synths on HYF seem more atmospheric and exotic, even experimental.

 

Unlike others, I don't see Alex playing a diminished role. He plays some of his most intricate work on this album.

 

There are no bad songs to be found here, not even Tai Shan and High Water.

[ANTHEM75]

Far Cry from Snakes and Arrows is a great song, perhaps their best song of the 2000's

[Citizen of the World]

Actually when it comes to the crap that gets played over the airwaves, and how little Rush is appreciated by the general public, I'd say every album is underrated.

[LedRush]

Presto. People focus on the thin production and ignore the great songs. I didn't notice the production until I heard Show Don't Tell on DS and then I did want to Rubert Hine, but that still doesn't diminish how much I enjoy War Paint, Red tide, Scars, Chain Lightning, and I love Superconductor too :madra: Now just give me one more Rush tour and play something besides The Pass off Presto.

 

Vapor Trails. Suffers IMHO from sounding like no other album in the Rush catalog: No keyboards plus no guitar solos made lots of fans go on the first listen and they never came back for a second one to appreciate that heavy and beauty can coexist (Earthshine, Nocturne, OLV, Vapor Trail, Ceiling Unlimited, Ghost Rider..)

 

Counterparts: I decided to put this in because there seems to be a sharp split between 2 large factions regarding Cp. It seems to be loathed nearly as often as praised, and I can't understand what the detractors complain about.

 

I don't like Counterparts because the songs aren't that good, and the lyrics are Neil's worst. It is the quintessential example of style over substance. People love the sound, and so they love the album. I can't see how this album can be underrated by the rush loyal when the rush loyal rank it so highly.