thizzellewashington

I think what I like so much about these videos is that these guys don't come from a rock background. If you look at their older videos, it's mostly all rap until they start branching out into other genres and start reviewing rock and country songs. People like us who post on Rush forums can kind of get into our own bubble sometimes, so it's cool to hear what people who come from a different background and have a totally different perspective on them think.

I was unfamiliar with these guys. "Funky" is not a word usually used to describe Neil's drumming, and "universal appeal" is not usually how people describe Rush. These guys are great.

HYF has some great songs and some others that would be great if they weren't oversaturated with keyboards. And Tai Shan. It's a lower-tier Rush album to me but I don't hate it by any means.

Power Windows is the best of three, and very possibly my favorite Rush album overall. I'd argue no Rush album has better choruses.

Dog Years, Tai Shan, Nobody's Hero, Speed of Love, Rivendell

Jeff Jones or Lindy Young.

Slightly OT but I actually prefer the original six-song Leeds to any of the expanded versions that came out. Those are good performances and are good to have but as a listening experience, the original version is just relentless and captures the essence of that period of the Who better than anything. The best Tommy performance from that period is Isle of Wight,

What I don't get is why any of you would want to see Rush with a different drummer. Isn't part of their appeal that it's the same three guys making all this incredible music for 40 years and evolving over time? At least that's part of it for me. If you just want to see that music played live, there are plenty of perfectly competent tribute bands you can go see for a lot less money than "Rush with a different drummer" would probably charge.

Nobody comes out of this thread looking good.

I never had a problem with the way the original sounded.

They wouldn’t do it.

Honestly Clockwork Angels is a perfect album to go out on. If the last song we ever hear from them is "The Garden," that's fitting. I personally thought CA was their best album since Power Windows (which is my favorite Rush album) but taste is subjective so not all of you feel that way. And the R40 tour was great. I'm perfectly happy with them hanging it up while they're (relatively) at the peak of their powers rather than turning into a joke. I saw the Who 12 years ago and Roger Daltrey's voice was shot even back then and it was a really disappointing show. Rush never became washed like that. I don't think we've heard the last of Geddy and Alex making music, whether it's together or separately.

Ringo is an underrated drummer.

I agree when Neil said he was done, it was time for HIM to retire. My frustration with Neil is with the way he handled it...he gave everyone short notice, and he took Geddy and Alex into retirement with him. It now appears there will be no Lee Lifeson "project." They clearly weren't ready to call it quits at that moment picked by Neil. It would have been nice for Neil to acknowledge that and to publicly encourage his two lifetime co-workers to record together again. . Part of being a Rush fan is accepting the fact that even if Geddy, Alex and Neil are your personal heroes, they're not saints. Nobody's perfect 100% of the time. Personally, I always hated how Neil forced Ged and Al's hands into retirement even though they didn't want to, and to be honest, I'm also a bit disappointed in Geddy for not having a spine. He should have told Neil "Look, you may be done, but I'm not. I still want to perform, I still want to make new music, and whether you want to participate or not is your perogative." I guess he's just too nice to do that. You really believe that three guys who have been in a band together for 40 years have not had these conversations with each other? Just because they aren't doing interviews or making public statements about it doesn't mean they haven't talked about all of this stuff. And nobody said that just because Neil wants to retire Geddy and Alex have to, too. They can do whatever they want. Who's to say they won't work together again? The only thing that's clear is if they do do a project together in the future it won't be under the name "Rush." Which is the right thing to do. To me this comes back to not being able to understand how someone can look at the body of work they've put out — 20 largely great albums over 40 years, plus near-constant touring in that time — and say "no, you know what, that's not enough, I'm mad they aren't going to do more." That's a lot of albums and tours. You'd be hard-pressed to find another band that's kept up this level of quality and consistency for that long a time. I can't think of another one that comes close. Go back and revisit one of their albums you haven't listened to in a while and see if you can discover something new in it. Or, god forbid, get into other bands. There are lots of them out there!

Neil didn't "give up" on Rush — he decided after 40 years that he didn't want to do a physically grueling job anymore, that involves a ton of travel and being away from his young daughter. I'd be excited if they ever did anything again but if 20 albums in 40 years isn't enough for you, I don't know what to tell you.

Well, they do say "crap" in Heresy. :eyeroll:

If live albums aren't cheating, Clockwork Angels Tour. If studio albums only, Power Windows.

My default answer is usually "Red Barchetta" but there are about a dozen others you could talk me into.

I've been watching a ton of Rush live videos from all different eras lately for a project I'm working on, and in the past I've always gravitated towards more recent versions of the '80s songs but revisiting them, I think I agree with the OP that for the most part, they sounded better in the '80s. "Subdivisions," "Force Ten" and "Distant Early Warning" sound better on recent tours but most of the other stuff I like better on mid-80s recordings. In particular, I hate the electronic hi-hats Neil started using on "Red Sector A" in the 2000s. They kill any subtlety compared to the '80s versions. Now, the '90s stuff on the other hand definitely sounds better live in the 00s than it did on the 90s tours.

One of the cool things about being a Rush fan is that since they never had real mainstream success or were considered "cool," you don't see kids wearing Rush t-shirts to be cool even if they only know a few songs like you do other bands from the 70s like Floyd or Zeppelin. If you see someone wearing a Rush t-shirt in public, there's a pretty good chance they're about that life.

Signals had more keyboards than previous albums but to me the real shift happened when they parted ways with Terry Brown on Grace and went full-on in that direction. The end point is HYF — Presto and Roll the Bones still had keyboards on them but they weren't the focus anymore. Those three mid-80s albums are what I think of when I think about that era. Signals has more in common with Moving Pictures than it does with the three albums that followed it.

The video that Rush released for "The Pass" single isn't on YouTube for some reason. Most of their other official videos are. Anyone know where I can find it online?

I just can't bring myself to understand the resentment many on this board have for a guy in his 60s who doesn't need the money deciding after 40 years that he doesn't want to do an incredibly physically demanding and travel-intensive gig anymore, especially with a young child after what he went through in the 1990s.

The original press release for R40 said it was likely their last tour, and then a year later they released a feature-length documentary about coming to terms with being done, so I'm not sure what the confusion is.

Neither of them played any of those albums live. Geddy did a promo tour of record stores I believe, but he was only signing stuff not singing stuff. I believe Geddy planned a tour for MFH but scrapped it because Neil called and said he was ready to do Rush again and that took priority.