Powderfinger

Yes! Hard Nose the Highway is SO underrated. I'm a huge fan of Van the Man. Everything from Astral Weeks through Veedon Fleece is brilliant and essential. For my money, It's Too Late to Stop Now is the single greatest live album of all time. Yes, I mean better than At Fillmore East, Live at Leeds, et al. The versions of "Listen to the Lion," "Saint Dominic's Preview," "Caravan," and "Cyprus Avenue" on It's Too Late to Stop Now leave me speechless. A musician at the absolute height of his extraordinary powers, in complete control of his band, and complete uncontrol of his ancient passion. Truly transcendent music. Truly. It's difficult for me to rank the albums from this classic period. I can make an argument for all of them as the best. But here's how I rank them today: 1) It's Too Late to Stop Now 2) Astral Weeks 3) Moondance 4) Hard Nose the Highway 5) Tupelo Honey 6) Saint Dominic's Preview 7) Veedon Fleece 8) His Band and Street Choir Again, I could make a case for any of these as the best of the bunch. Hope this helps. I envy anyone who is exploring Van for the first time. It can be something of a religious experience! What would you say is the essential releases after this classic period!? For me it becomes a mixed bag, not unlike Neil Young after his classic period. You'll find some incredible music on a par with Van's classic period alongside material I could take or leave. Most every album has at least one or two great songs. The first thing I would track down is The Philosopher's Stone. This is an outstanding album of outtakes that contains some of Van's all-time greatest songs--the original version of "Wonderful Remark," for example. I love Wavelength's title track Into the Music is an excellent album, and most fans agree. Common One is very underrated IMHO. "Wild Honey" is absolutely gorgeous, and "Spirit" is a great cut. No Guru, No Method, No Teacher and Poetic Champion's Compose are both excellent. I'm personally a big fan of Magic Time. Just some musings off the top of my head...

Yes! Hard Nose the Highway is SO underrated. I'm a huge fan of Van the Man. Everything from Astral Weeks through Veedon Fleece is brilliant and essential. For my money, It's Too Late to Stop Now is the single greatest live album of all time. Yes, I mean better than At Fillmore East, Live at Leeds, et al. The versions of "Listen to the Lion," "Saint Dominic's Preview," "Caravan," and "Cyprus Avenue" on It's Too Late to Stop Now leave me speechless. A musician at the absolute height of his extraordinary powers, in complete control of his band, and complete uncontrol of his ancient passion. Truly transcendent music. Truly. It's difficult for me to rank the albums from this classic period. I can make an argument for all of them as the best. But here's how I rank them today: 1) It's Too Late to Stop Now 2) Astral Weeks 3) Moondance 4) Hard Nose the Highway 5) Tupelo Honey 6) Saint Dominic's Preview 7) Veedon Fleece 8) His Band and Street Choir Again, I could make a case for any of these as the best of the bunch. Hope this helps. I envy anyone who is exploring Van for the first time. It can be something of a religious experience!

This is exactly how I felt when I began reading this thread. Thank you for this compelling post. Come on guys! It's Rush. We are on a Rush message board for chrissake. Let's not kick one member of the Holy Trinity as he walks out the door. Neil is imperfect. We are all imperfect. Most of us just don't have to live under the scrutiny of thousands of hardcore fans. He has a right to live life according to his own terms. Neil, Geddy, and Alex gave their lives to Rush. They gave us so much. How many bands compare to Rush's longevity, loyalty, and creativity? Do you even need more than one hand to count them? I love Rush, too. But I'm not going to hold it against them because they can't be Rush forever. Neil was the first one to say he wants to retire. That was probably an agonizing decision. How can he avoid the role of the villain? He's now responsible for taking away something we all love. But it's more complicated than that. It's bigger than Neil. It's the passage of time. Neil navigates it in his own way. Who am I to judge? Rush is Dead, Long Live :rush:

I like Janis Joplin, so much so that I assign a book about her in my upper-division US history course. But I LOVE Stevie Nicks--for my money one of the greatest female vocalists of the classic rock era. Stevie is also a great songwriter, whereas Janis only wrote a handful of songs, and her most memorable songs are not her own. Again, I don't at all mean to slight Janis here; Janis's contributions to blues rock and women's position within the music industry are undeniable. But voting for Stevie is a no-brainer for me.

This was difficult for me. I initially thought I'd vote for Peter Gabriel--a no-brainer. But I like A Trick of the Tail, Wind & Wuthering, and portions of And The There Were Three and Duke more than most anything in Gabriel's discography, with a few important exceptions. But after Duke it's Peter Gabriel all the way.

Love = Rush Hate = Red Hot Chili Peppers Underrated = Black Crowes Overrated = Cream Secret = Journey Guilty Pleasure = Some of Phil Collins's solo material Most Favorite = Black Crowes

Glad to see Blue J helped introduce some of you to the Black Crowes--a most misunderstood, but deeply rewarding band. My all-time favorite group. I got a lot of help with Yes here. I was already interested, and had always liked the radio hits. But fellow TRF members helped me really explore Yes. And Close to the Edge became a top-five, truly life-changing album for me. I think TRF members helped me with King Crimson, too.

Yeah but we would see it different than he would being on the inside and creating it. He has memories about them that we don't. Artists never look at their own creations like outsiders do. This is what I was thinking. I remember watching this when it first aired. I doubt Geddy would say Rush is objectively better than Signals. I would guess nostalgia for the excitement of the time--making your first record!--influenced his thinking. It does look different from the inside for reasons we cannot understand as fans. But hey, what do I know? Full disclosure: Signals is my favorite Rush album. Perhaps I just can't bear to believe that Geddy rates it so low.

Yes, Chamberlain was outstanding at his peak. Matt Cameron comes to mind, too. His work with Soundgarden was awesome.

I haven't been connecting with Hemispheres as much lately. I've been focusing more on Permanent Waves and A Farewell to Kings. But most of the time Hemispheres battles with Signals for favorite album status. I discovered Rush albums out of sequence. I listened to Book II extensively before I had ever heard any of 2112 beyond whatever is included on Chronicles. So when I arrived at 2112 I immediately thought, "Meh, this isn't as good as Cygnus Book II." It hurt my appreciation for 2112, which has grown on me, but will always live in Hemispheres's shadow. And I agree with everyone who cited Alex's playing and tone. His best years tonally. (Although, his tone on The Necromancer is especially dope if you like that sort of guitar sound.) Lost in all the debates about the introduction of keyboards is the degree to which Alex's guitar itself started to sound like a keyboard. It isn't just that his guitar went AWOL with Signals--his guitar sound also dramatically changed. He surrendered that warm and fuzzy Gibson>Marshall sound.

1) Chemistry. Three virtuosic musicians who encourage each others' idiosyncratic inclinations. 2) Unique lyrics. Only Rush offered what Rush offered when it came to storytelling, iconography, and an alternative to songs about chasing women. 3) Longevity. They kept going and stayed together whereas so many others did not.

...how? It's literally one of their top three most synth filled albums, and the only one of those top three where the guitar really gets blocked out by the sytnth parts regularly. This is just my humble opinion. When I listen to Signals I still hear the Broone Era. The album is certainly a harbinger of what is to come. Yet the snyth still compliments the traditional instruments. Then comes GUP where to this day the snyth sounds almost jarring, seemingly overwhelming the strings and drums. Then The Snyth Era has begun for me. I actually agree with this. I consider the synth era P/G through Hold Your Fire. Certainly Signals is synthy, but I too hear it as a Terry Brown production first. I mean, Moving Pictures, which I've been listening to frequently over the past few days, has quite a bit of synth. I do not hear a jarring transition between Moving Pictures and Signals. But I do hear a jarring transition between Signals and P/G. Vital Signs flows pretty seamlessly into Subdivisions if you play those records consecutively.

Subdivisions The Analog Kid Manhattan Project Marathon Mission

Down By the Seaside

Just for my clarity, you came on a message forum in 2017 to put to bed something some unnamed source said in the 1970s? How do people have this much free time? What am I doing wrong in my life?