bri-tor

To me this is an absolute no brained. While CTTH may emotionally resonate with people, the construction of Tom Sawyer, and what it represents in Rush's development, make this an essential song. The sheer creativeness of the bass line, the drum solos, the structure, all represent an apex in Rush's songwriting. Closer to the heart is just filler, by comparison

I would never be without Grace under Pressure, as I find the songwriting has incredibly strong elements to it (notwithstanding Body Electric and Red Lenses, which I really don´t enjoy). If I had to choose three discs for you to start with, I´d say Counterparts (arguably my favourite cd, and a really welcome return to a hard trio sound), Power Windows (arguably the most produced Rush cd, but with incredible textures and concepts of keyboard use in the Rush sound) and Clockwork Angels (simply an amazingly strong album from start to finish)

It´s so refreshing to have releases which do NOT include the following: Tom Sawyer Closer to the Heart Spirit of Radio Speed of Love Tai Shan ok, those last two I just put on there because they should be officially musica non grata ;)

I´m a Canadian and British citizen (born in Canada, British father), living in Germany, with a Polish mother, a Croatian wife and a Romanian ex-wife :P hahahahahaha

Yes! Finally another Middletown Dreams lover! :D Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Middletown Dreams, it is my favourite song on the album (along with Mystic Rhythms). But while I have a strong emotional connection to the song, in terms of songwriting, it's not exactly a big step forward for the band, hence why I gave it only an 8. If I was voting simply for songs that I like, it would have been a 10. But I'm trying to rate the songs in terms of composition. Ah. OK, that makes sense; based on composition alone I would also give it an 8. I guess we interpreted the poll differently... len(songs), I really try to interpret these polls as being concerned with which songs really rate as great compositions and innovations for RUSH. It gets monotonous to simply write again and again which songs are favourites. I think we could be a bit more critical, it might add a new dimension to these polls!

And Out of the Cradle

It's a song that, lyrically, aspires to heights it has no hope of reaching with the words being used. Musically, the main riff is poor, the contrasts between sections are average, and the song as a whole has no sense of purpose. The lyrics assign such heights and wonders to the concept of love, yet the song as a whole is as flat as a pancake, plodding and ponderous

It would be nice to have a critical discussion of the songs. Rather than interpreting "what is the best song" as " what is my favourite", I think it would be more interesting to actually try and choose the best song from the albums, based on songwriting, and how the songs are an important point in the bands career. On HYF, I'd have to say that Mission is the best song. The opening verses really romanticize the concept of creating art and receiving inspiration in order to create that art, and the half time feel in the second verse is a really ice change of pace. Add to that the very Freewill-esque middle part, and the half time last verse, the structure is very well related to the emotional content of the lyrics. I know, that explanation is kinda wordy, but sometimes it just gets boring writing again and again about which song is a favourite.

Yes! Finally another Middletown Dreams lover! :D Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Middletown Dreams, it is my favourite song on the album (along with Mystic Rhythms). But while I have a strong emotional connection to the song, in terms of songwriting, it's not exactly a big step forward for the band, hence why I gave it only an 8. If I was voting simply for songs that I like, it would have been a 10. But I'm trying to rate the songs in terms of composition.

For me it's top 5 (tied with VT for 5th)... Emotion Detector is the only weak spot for me. I think it may be a top five for me as well, although I like HYF just a tad more than this! HYF is 10th for me, for... obvious reasons ;), but I love the first 8. I just can't get into the last 2... HYF is a straight 10/10. Third place is likely to be Moving Pictures, with my least favourite song (Vital Signs) an 8/10. WHAT???????? How come you don't like Vital Signs??? I would trade many a song on each tour to hear that one, I think it's a very creative song from the band, in terms of the groove and the structure. Plus the buildup at the end is just massive!

I'll gladly rate this one, as it is one of my favourites. But as some of you may know, I try not to let my emotional attachment to the record colour my critical appraisal of it ;) The big money - 8 Grand designs - 8 Manhattan project - 7 Marathon - 8 Territories - 7 Middletown dreams - 8 Emotion detector - 8 Mystic rhythms - 10

Force Ten - 7 Time stand still - 8 Open Secrets - 6 Second nature - 4 Prime mover - 7 Lock and key - 9 Mission - 10 Turn the page - 7 Tai Shan - 2 High water - 2

As this is arguably my favourite album, I'll attempt to be critical ;) and let it be known, I reserve 10 for an absolute masterpiece, something special that Rush have seldom captured in their career (don't misread this as saying that Rush haven't done anything special, we all know that their catalogue is the best. But I'm talking about Rush outdoing Rush (as in 2112, Mission, La Villa, Freewill). Animate - 9 Stick it out - 7 Cut to the chase - 8 Nobody's Hero - 8 Between sun and moon - 8 Alien shore - 8 Speed of love - 0 Double Agent - 9 Leave that thing alone - 9 Cold fire - 7 Everyday glory - 3

My quandry, too. I went with Signals, just because I know there are good sounding SB boots from the Tour of The Hemispheres. Oh, but for an A+/official live recording of a full show from the Signals tour... swoon. :) Have you seen the Auburn Hills bootleg video? It's not the best quality (VHS) but it's pro-shot and pretty cool. If nothing else, it's a stunning visual document of some of the band's worst fashion choices! I have, thanks. A Great set, nice stage show.....but as you wrote, oh those clothes! Darn that fashion sense

I'd have to go for Counterparts. Given that it's my favorite album, and signaled a welcome return to a real power-trio sound, I'd like to have a visual document of the tour for those songs. Plus the set list for that tour was GREAT!

I think the more important question is: Should there be an R41 tour? In my opinion, the answer is a heartfelt no. I would rather they go in the studio, rather than on the road for another anniversary tour. At this point, new music is more important than another tour

Red Sector A is one of the gaffes songs I could hear every tour and be ecstatic. The emotions of the lyrics are perfectly matched by the key signature and the pulse of the keyboard bass, the groove is dark and the chord work by alex is fantastic. The song simply has more to offer than Distant Early Warning

To me, the choice is not at all difficult. While Hemispheres is without a doubt a major song in the catalogue, it is nowhere near as challenging or daring as La Villa. Given that much of Hemispheres is based on repetition, and La Villa is arguably Rush's ultimate expression of variation, I find that voting between these two songs is not really fair. Are we debating what merits the songs have? Because in that case, there is certainly no argument that Hemispheres is more important than La Villa in terms of the bands output. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Hemispheres. But i' m trying to be critical and find a way to judge these two songs against each other. Given the fundamental differences, the vote is easy to cast.

Given the intricacy of the instrumental parts, and the wonderful use of shifting meters in Caravan, this seems like an easy choice. Regardless of the brilliant use of the Hemispheres chord, Far Cry is just a bit too straight for me (I think my choice may also be coloured by the fact that it was during a performance of Far Cry that I saw and heard Neil mess up so badly, my heart almost stopped. I was convinced I was going to experience my first ever Rush train wreck. MAJOR kudos to Geddy and alex for carrying on, regardless of what the hell Neil was doing back there.).

FOH Lights, do you know some crew members who have confirmed that they know nothing of a 2015 tour? As to the setlist idea, it would certainly be nice to have 8 songs that haven´t been played in quite a while, but I would be quite surprised if the 70´s were only represented by the 2112 Overture. I would more than gladly welcome Show Don´t Tell back, as I´ve really missed hearing that song. And Cut to the Chase would be a real treat. I guess after featuring so many tracks from Power Windows on the CT tour, they´ll be ignoring that album this time around. And let me say once more that I would rather have a new album than a new tour. So there!

Why do you regret getting the limited edition CAT set? I´d be interested to know, as I have it and my feelings are not so strong that I regret getting it ;)

Doesn´t the R30 Blu-Ray have extra tracks not on the dvd?

So what to do for those of us (and I´m guessing this means ALL of us) who already have the 5 concert discs? I sure as heck won´t buy the box for the bonus disc, especially after shelling out for the limited edition CAT set

In my haste and emotion to get this topic out, I completely forgot to add one or two other things, which to me are as damaging to the recording as Geddy´s voice. In my opinion, having the string ensemble was an absolute travesty. Not only are their parts complete fluff and filler (meaning poorly composed), adding nothing to the songs, but the balance is done so that they are incredibly present in each song, and the moods and atmospheres captured so well on the stuido album are simply gone. And don´t get me started on the older songs which have the string ensemble. To quote Abraham Simpson, FOR SHAME! I hope the band NEVER comes up with such an idea again. One last gripe about the cds. The fact that they just throw a soundcheck recording of Limelight on, is quite disrespectful. Somehow they managed to record every other song from the tour, but not that one? Come on!! Even RiR had soundboard recordings which were brilliant in my opinion. They should have just put a Karaoke version on, and left Geddy´s mic turned off. Who wants to hear him singing half-assed because his voice isn´t warm? If Neil says the only thing he owes the audience is a good show, then this is a complete contradiction of that point, for the band as a whole. Nice to read others commenting on the bum notes. I do agree that this, while perhaps being the most `freestyle´ RUSH recording, is also the sloppiest in terms of execution.

Given how subjective music (and all art) is, I have a hard time classifying anything as being `my favourite´. At any one moment, I may enjoy Hemispheres more than the other records, the next while I might be all about Fly by Night. I think that Hemisphres was a great place for RUSH to leave the 20-min epic songs behind. There are many stellar moments in the song, but to me it doesn´t have the same thrust or relentless energy of 2112. La Villa still ranks as THE instrumental (alongside YYZ) to which all should be compared, The Trees carries on from the sound world of Kings (in my opinion) and Circumstances is just a great rock song from Rush. It´s merely the title track which in many ways bogs the album down. Would I trade Hemispheres for something from another band? Definitely not, as the sheer effort of creativity is exceptional. But a little more rein on the creativity and a little more flow and less repetition would have made the title track much better.