EagleMoon Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Rush's worst album vs. CA? Is this a joke? I think you are talking about the poll before this Presto. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J2112YYZ Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Counterparts gets my vote here. I became a fan when this was their newest album and it will always hold a special place with me. For a long time it was my favorite album from them but it has dropped a bit over the last couple years. It still makes my top ten Rush albums. The last album before this where Alex's guitar work was able to shine this much was Permanent Waves. Great songs, musicianship and most importantly, Rush finally got back to rocking hard again with Counterparts. A criminally underrated album on this forum that deserves a ton more respect than it gets. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexMike Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I know for a fact that Counterparts turned some people into bigger Rush fans. Because I'm one of them. I first saw the band live on the PoW tour, but still hadn't really become a big fan yet. You could say I was one of those people who didn't quite "get" Rush for a while. I liked them, but didn't love them (I was more into metal back then). Then when they went *really* poppy starting with HYF, I became even less interested until 1993. First time I heard "Stick It Out" on the radio, I was blown away. Such a ballsy tone from Mr. Lifeson. And despite a slightly cheesy chorus, I thought it was a great hard rock tune. I picked up the album and saw the tour. From that point on, I became a hardcore fan and grew to love all that previous Rush music that I didn't "get" before. I think it just took age and my taste evolving to be able to appreciate the richness in what the band does. So CP is a special album for me and while it's definitely not their very best, it would still make my top 10. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnRogers Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I can't believe the vote is close. Counterparts is such a mess. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Segue Myles Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Counterparts by far, I just love it! Counterparts also have my first Rush song that I loved. Stick It Out. You love Stick It Out... ... ... Respect buddy! Yes I do... what´s wrong with that? It´s a great song! I hate it a lot. It's awful to my ears! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnRogers Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Counterparts by far, I just love it! Counterparts also have my first Rush song that I loved. Stick It Out. You love Stick It Out... ... ... Respect buddy! Yes I do... what´s wrong with that? It´s a great song! I hate it a lot. It's awful to my ears!Unlike Girls in their Summer Clothes a song I replay at least twice when it shuffles up on my iDevice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Na na na Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Clockwork Angels :martini: :martini: :martini: :martini: :martini: :martini: :martini: :martini: :martini: :martini: :martini: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narps Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I will go with CA too this time. I like five songs from CA and only three from Counterparts.This will work. Close enough... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue J Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I used to love Counterparts, but it just hasn't aged that well, overall. Some of the songs on it I still really love. But Clockwork Angels wins pretty handily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabesCavesOfIce Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Since Signals, the only Rush songs I recall getting a buzz on the radio here in NYC (hi Lorraine, btw NYers kick my butt!) were Big Money and Stick it Out. Force Ten a little bit. CP was the first Rush record to début #2 on the billboard charts. I think CA might have matched it. Following HYF,P and RTB, which didn't sell well by their standards, that's no small accomplishment. Great songs on CP- SIO captured the hard rock grunge sound of the early 90s, a great return to hard rock for Rush. CTTC and BSAM are awesome Rush tunes. DA is a close call, should have been a monster tune, still decent. It fell victim to the Rush Unusual Lyric Era. . RTB sold better than the previous 2 albums, and is a reason that CO sold well out of the gate. However, when people heard the single and the album, sales died and it never matched RTB. You are right, I forgot RTB sold a million albums. There is some dispute about CP, as the record company initially said CP did a million, but it was never credited. HYF and Presto were the albums that sold less. I recall a huge buzz when SIO hit the radio before CP was released. Very heavy guitar sound, the DJs loved it back then. Ah the good old days, we had 20+ years of Rush to look forward to, with a bit of a hiatus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabesCavesOfIce Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I can't believe the vote is close. Counterparts is such a mess. Believe it JR... CP is actually the clean crisp album. Angels is the mess. But CP falls victim to two unfortunates, the weird lyric era and Rush still had their swimmies on. Who came up with the swimmie analogy, its awesome. As I am re- learning now, I do like their synths era a bit, but the harm it did was it hurt their ability, their INSTINCT to rock hard. So many albums they tried to get the guitar back, RTB, Presto, CP. All albums were hurt a bit by the synths era, as they were consumed with where " the future of rock sound was heading." Angels is a sonic mess. The more I listen to it, the more it falls in my rankings. So many good songs yet so unfortunate. Its shocking TRFers are so willing to give a pass to an albums sound. Sound is why we listen to music? CP is easily the best post Boone album regarding quality of sound. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormtron Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I like Counterparts, but CA still wins easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LedRush Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Rush's worst album vs. CA? Is this a joke? I think you are talking about the poll before this Nope. CP is more painful than a kick to the nuts, and it scared off a lot of fans who came back to Rush for RTB. Uh, really? Just who are these fans who "came back" for RTB? And why the hell would they? For Roll The Friggin' Bones??? We all get that you hate Counterparts, but RTB certainly wasn't a step back towards classic Rush either. And that's putting it mildly. Every album from MP to Presto sold fewer than the one before it...HYF and Presto went gold. RTB went platinum, and CP went gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancient Ways Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 If sound quality is so much more important than song quality I wonder why you all aren't listening to smooth jazz or classical primarily. Nothing sounds better than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemispheres4Echo Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Clockwork Angels gets my vote, though there are some really good material on Counterparts. One song that I really like on Counterparts is actually Nobody's Hero. I think it has very powerful lyrics. But as I said, CA gets my vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theredtamasrule Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 While I think CP is a very good album with some great songs it also has Speed of Love (gag), Cold Fire (boooooring) and Everyday Glory (zzzzzz)...whereas I love CA. CA quite easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabesCavesOfIce Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 If sound quality is so much more important than song quality I wonder why you all aren't listening to smooth jazz or classical primarily. Nothing sounds better than that. 2112,Kings, Hemi, PeW, MP,Signals do sound better than jazz. Angels, as good as the songs are, hurts the ears. Thats fairly important. The singing and guitar solos, in addition to the production, are significantly superior on CP. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Segue Myles Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Counterparts by far, I just love it! Counterparts also have my first Rush song that I loved. Stick It Out. You love Stick It Out... ... ... Respect buddy! Yes I do... what´s wrong with that? It´s a great song! I hate it a lot. It's awful to my ears!Unlike Girls in their Summer Clothes a song I replay at least twice when it shuffles up on my iDevice. Not sure if you are being serious or not, but Girls In Their Summer Clothes is one of my favourite songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnRogers Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Seriously probably his best song in twenty years. I rarely listen to it just once I often hit the replay button. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cat 3 Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Went with "Counterparts" without hesitation. This album was Rush sounding confident and back to being Rush. I really felt the previous three albums they were kind of lost in the wilderness looking for "a sound". I remember clearly listening to this album the day it came out. From the opening of "Animate", I was like, "damn, this is the Rush album I had been waiting for!" Great stuff...and a notch up from Clockwork Angels, in my opinion. Definitely better sounding sonically. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue J Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Went with "Counterparts" without hesitation. I remember clearly listening to this album the day it came out. As do I...I was in college, and I remember clearly that I skipped a class in order to go to the record shop :codger: (where I had just started working, a month before) at 10:00 AM, to buy it. It was a rainy Tuesday morning in October of 1993... I put it on in the car and had a reaction much the same as you did. I thought it was wonderful. But as I said before- to my ears, it hasn't aged as well as a lot of the '80s catalog. Or I'm just not as taken with it as I used to be. So...Clockwork Angels it is, for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabesCavesOfIce Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 (edited) Rainy ☔ Tuesday in October, such a great memory! Double Agent is a great comparison song to Angels, it has that hard rock CA fire, yet the CP mix in comparison is spectacular. Geds singing, especially the multi track vocal, is crisp and clear, among his best singing in the canon. The background CP synths remind me alot of the background noise (synths? Strings?) on Angels, yet without the clutter, without the blocking of other instruments. And when Lifeson goes for the higher tones, it just doesn't work on Angels (something he gets perfect on the opening day of alien shore). . Edited June 14, 2015 by Gabrielgil513 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue J Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Double Agent is definitely one of the great deep tracks in Rush's catalog. In my opinion. But I still think a song like Headlong Flight or The Anarchist trumps it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabesCavesOfIce Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Yes Blue, HF and The A are awesome CA songs. I thought DA was a good comparison song, it has that hard rock fire, but CP, for me, has a few better, CTTC, LTTA, Anim, SIO, BSAM, DA, 6th CP song for me. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexMike Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 (edited) Rush's worst album vs. CA? Is this a joke? I think you are talking about the poll before this Nope. CP is more painful than a kick to the nuts, and it scared off a lot of fans who came back to Rush for RTB. Uh, really? Just who are these fans who "came back" for RTB? And why the hell would they? For Roll The Friggin' Bones??? We all get that you hate Counterparts, but RTB certainly wasn't a step back towards classic Rush either. And that's putting it mildly. Every album from MP to Presto sold fewer than the one before it...HYF and Presto went gold. RTB went platinum, and CP went gold. I'll take your word for it that CP sold less than RTB because I honestly don't know (or care, really). But higher sales doesn't prove quality. You claimed that RTB sold better because many previous Rush fans "came back". I would say that more likely it sold well because NEW fans were being drawn in from Rush being lost musically and continuing to pander to the mainstream. RTB could not sound any less like classic Rush. If anything, CP was the album that drew old fans back because it at least showed them back to a heavy guitar driven sound reminiscent of their classic period. Whether people prefer that or a softer sound like RTB is just opinion. One last thing you have to remember is that grunge mania was in full force by the mid 90s. ALL hard rock/ metal acts starting selling less. Edited June 14, 2015 by TexMike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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