Which Rush Album Has The Best Sound?

[Narps]

Caress Of Steel.

 

But AFTK, MP and PeW come straight after!

Nice choice... :cheers:

[jamie]

I would pick Moving Pictures, but Permanent Waves is just..louder. I can't find a single flaw in it.

[goose]

I would pick Moving Pictures, but Permanent Waves is just..louder. I can't find a single flaw in it.

PeWaves has a tighter sound to it. It really is beautiful.

[goose]

Listening to Lakeside Park. Tough for me not to vote for Caress of Steel. Of course, if I follow this with Jacob's Ladder or Freewill, PeWaves will have to be my choice. But then, the Camera Eye...or the Trees...

 

But then again...Ged's vocals on Caress are so perfect. "Everyone would gather...on the 24th of May...". And the guitar crescendo at the end of Lakeside...

[goose]

I would pick Moving Pictures, but Permanent Waves is just..louder. I can't find a single flaw in it.

PeWaves has a tighter sound to it. It really is beautiful.

Listening to Freewill...and it is absolutely perfect.

[Blue J]

I would pick Moving Pictures, but Permanent Waves is just..louder. I can't find a single flaw in it.

PeWaves has a tighter sound to it. It really is beautiful.

 

Yeah, I agree. I think Moving Pictures is fantastic...but like I said at the outset of this thread, Permanent Waves just has something extra. I can't even define it.

 

But I don't have to. :)

[Blue J]

Even the Terry Brown albums must have a gem among them.

 

I'm wondering what everyone thinks is the best and sharpest recording of a Rush album.

 

I just now noticed the "none" option. Nice touch.

 

(But I think that's far from true).

[Lorraine]

I didn't even vote in my own poll because I honestly have no idea.

[Na na na]

A Farewell To Kings is pretty amazing in my book...

[Lorraine]

Even the Terry Brown albums must have a gem among them.

 

I'm wondering what everyone thinks is the best and sharpest recording of a Rush album.

 

I just now noticed the "none" option. Nice touch.

 

(But I think that's far from true).

 

Maybe, but someone might not agree with you and genuinely think their albums have poor sound quality.

 

In case you haven't already noticed, we get all kinds here. :lol:

[Blue J]

Even the Terry Brown albums must have a gem among them.

 

I'm wondering what everyone thinks is the best and sharpest recording of a Rush album.

 

I just now noticed the "none" option. Nice touch.

 

(But I think that's far from true).

 

Maybe, but someone might not agree with you and genuinely think their albums have poor sound quality.

 

In case you haven't already noticed, we get all kinds here. :lol:

 

:P

 

Yeah. I get that.

 

I listened to almost all of Moving Pictures in the car. Waiting on some Chinese take-out right now, and I'll finish listening on the way home. I've noticed that some particular songs on that album, in terms of production/balance, are phenomenally good, while some of the others are merely excellent. But overall...yeah, it's pretty good.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Surprised by the number of votes for PeW vs. MP just a tad, but not vs. the rest of the catalogue. Pew and MP are twin peaks of the kind of sound quality which every album should aspire to have a few come close to or match (a couple of Pink Floyd albums come to mind). In my book they're pretty much equal, so I pick which ever one I feel like today, which means MP.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

A number of other albums have great production as well, but these cases tend to be a more exotic "flavor" than MP/PeW, great for the album, but never as strikingly brilliant as MP/PeW. Such albums include A Farewell To Kings, Power Windows, Counterparts, Hemispheres, Caress Of Steel (to an extent), Signals, Clockwork Angels (will explain), and 2112. 2112 is a special case as it is the absolute benchmark of production for their just hard rock power trio songs and albums, but it's not the core of their sound and isn't necessarily remarkable rather than just being great. A Farewell To Kings is awesome and my favorite Rush album, but it has a huge Tolkien/high fantasy vibe to it all over which is not central to their sound as a band. Hemispheres actually probably comes closest to the MP/PeW benchmark, but the production here is almost too perfect for its own good. It's overly sophisticated and seems to lack a certain punch and tension which MP/PeW thrive on. Perhaps it's just the fact that the band was really quite stressed out making this album and it comes out in the playing, but nevertheless, the sound lacks a certain humanity which is fundamental to any good band's sound. I would argue that on Hemispheres they sound more like an orchestra or a concert band than a hard rock power trio, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Power Windows is stellar production wise as well, but the sound is not core Rush, it's just the perfect example of balance, blend, and synthesis between guitar and synthesizer while not drowning out the rest of the band. Signals is great because it brings with it the kind of freshness that PeW emirates on every listen, but of course it's very synth heavy, and, more importantly, not as guitar heavy as Rush aught to be. Counterparts seemed loud to me at first, but that was probably just the fact that they hadn't really rocked out like they do here since the seventies. Great sound on CP, but, like 2112, not really remarkable. Caress Of Steel shares the freshness and summery vibe if PeW and Signals, but the production isn't masterful. Perhaps it's just the sound of the early/mid seventies, but it's easy to tell that the band didn't sound quite like Rush yet, and Rush sounds better than the best moments of CoS. Jacob's Ladder vs. The Necromancer sound wise? A bit close, but Jacob's Ladder wins every time. Clockwork Angels is a touchy case, because, while the production or mastering or whichever one is responsible makes the album sound almost overbearingly loud. However, if you can manage to hear past the "wall of sound" production/mastering (and I've heard you can on vinyl), so much great stuff is going on sonically. The guitar tones are sick and deep like MP/PeW, the bass is heavy but definite, and the drums, while not perfect, aren't particularly bad. All other instruments on the album are certainly audible enough, and Ged's voice somehow manages not to get significantly buried under the many sounds going on. They sound classic, it's just the filter they've been put through which doesn't translate that cleanly/clearly.

 

Worst sound goes to Roll The Bones. It should have been what Counterparts was, but a few unremarkable songs and totally misguided production kept it from being great.

[Texas King]

I think it's Moving Pictures.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

A number of other albums have great production as well, but these cases tend to be a more exotic "flavor" than MP/PeW, great for the album, but never as strikingly brilliant as MP/PeW. Such albums include A Farewell To Kings, Power Windows, Counterparts, Hemispheres, Caress Of Steel (to an extent), Signals, Clockwork Angels (will explain), and 2112. 2112 is a special case as it is the absolute benchmark of production for their just hard rock power trio songs and albums, but it's not the core of their sound and isn't necessarily remarkable rather than just being great. A Farewell To Kings is awesome and my favorite Rush album, but it has a huge Tolkien/high fantasy vibe to it all over which is not central to their sound as a band. Hemispheres actually probably comes closest to the MP/PeW benchmark, but the production here is almost too perfect for its own good. It's overly sophisticated and seems to lack a certain punch and tension which MP/PeW thrive on. Perhaps it's just the fact that the band was really quite stressed out making this album and it comes out in the playing, but nevertheless, the sound lacks a certain humanity which is fundamental to any good band's sound. I would argue that on Hemispheres they sound more like an orchestra or a concert band than a hard rock power trio, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Power Windows is stellar production wise as well, but the sound is not core Rush, it's just the perfect example of balance, blend, and synthesis between guitar and synthesizer while not drowning out the rest of the band. Signals is great because it brings with it the kind of freshness that PeW emirates on every listen, but of course it's very synth heavy, and, more importantly, not as guitar heavy as Rush aught to be. Counterparts seemed loud to me at first, but that was probably just the fact that they hadn't really rocked out like they do here since the seventies. Great sound on CP, but, like 2112, not really remarkable. Caress Of Steel shares the freshness and summery vibe if PeW and Signals, but the production isn't masterful. Perhaps it's just the sound of the early/mid seventies, but it's easy to tell that the band didn't sound quite like Rush yet, and Rush sounds better than the best moments of CoS. Jacob's Ladder vs. The Necromancer sound wise? A bit close, but Jacob's Ladder wins every time. Clockwork Angels is a touchy case, because, while the production or mastering or whichever one is responsible makes the album sound almost overbearingly loud. However, if you can manage to hear past the "wall of sound" production/mastering (and I've heard you can on vinyl), so much great stuff is going on sonically. The guitar tones are sick and deep like MP/PeW, the bass is heavy but definite, and the drums, while not perfect, aren't particularly bad. All other instruments on the album are certainly audible enough, and Ged's voice somehow manages not to get significantly buried under the many sounds going on. They sound classic, it's just the filter they've been put through which doesn't translate that cleanly/clearly.

 

Worst sound goes to Roll The Bones. It should have been what Counterparts was, but a few unremarkable songs and totally misguided production kept it from being great.

 

Hm... two years later and I still agree with all of this, lol.

[DistantEarlySignals]

Snakes and Arrows, Counterparts, Signals, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire on the best end

 

Presto, Vapor Trails, Roll The Bones, Caress of Steel, Test For Echo on the lower end.

 

 

Interesting how these correspond to my top / least 5 Rush albums exactly...

[EagleMoon]

I would say the worst are Vapor Trails (including remix), Presto and Roll The Bones. Best would be most of the albums up to Signals then Power Windows and Counterparts. The rest kind of fall somewhere in the middle. To me, Grace Under Pressure and Test For Echo sound very similar production wise.

[YYZ Working Man]

MP or PeW .. Product of the SSL console at LeStudio . was way ahead of its time coupled with the near perfect acoustics in the main room pretty much made a perfect sounding album .slight edge to MP