Mosher

Every single season is peak tv for me. I loved this last season maybe the most, but if I go back I know I might choose another. Whichever one I'm currently watching. So very good.

I actively seek out music from all around the world looking for music. It's not easy, I listen to a lot of bad music, or boring music. But I'm rewarded all the time. It's ridiculous to think there's nothing new.. The industry works hard at controlling taste, and it's more successful than ever. Independence in radio is harder to find, so a dj can't break a band as often as they used to. It's harder to create a strong local scene around a new sound when instant entertainment is already in your hand every minute of every day. It's harder to commit to a band, hit the road and work for it, when the chances of making enough money for gas and food are lower than ever. Harder to sell music, merch, and tickets. The airwaves are more dominated by corporate music than ever before, switching dials in many markets is just an exercise in old music or pop music. Pop music is overly controlled now, and other new music is ignored. Of course old music is huge. A lot of people are new to it, and it's got more variety because more variety has a way to get heard. But music is art, creative people exist, and there's always someone playing around with a guitar doing something new. Music isn't exhausted. Old people have always been annoying in this claim. If it's new and good it's derivative. If it's new and not derivative, it's not good. Nothing says I'm stuck in the past like that. I could mention new bands I like and everyone will either say it's not good, or point out the styles they recognize, or both. Just like their fathers did to them, just like their grandfather's did to their father. Music is art, a lot of people who get into at want to create something new. It's harder to find than ever, but that's not the fault of the artist. There out there trying. A lot of them have to make money, though, and it's harder than ever to get your music listened to and paid for.

Fantastic band, fantastic writers.

Great job Goose. There's a decent pool of contributors, now. I'd love to see more, of course. The Anarchist, by the way, can easily be a top 5 song. :)

I love the ranking of Camera Eye. It has steadily risen over the decades, and it seems to keep rising. It might not be here for me yet, but who knows what the future holds? Great song. Jacob's Ladder had an early peak for me, but the initial drop hasn't led to a steady decline. Just an initial modest drop. Great atmosphere, but doesn't go far enough for me to keep it very high. no skipping, though. Still an excellent song. And Fountain. I've always loved it. And bizarrely it is the very first epic I heard by Rush, because radio wasn't playing the epics and my first Rush was a cassette bought by my parents. I requested Rush, and I received CoS. I guarantee it was the cheapest available (no disrespect, we weren't exactly well off). Fountain blew me away. It was my first epic of any kind, actually, and I wanted more and more and more.

Working Man is brilliant and deserves a high ranking. I don't really include it the same way for my own list, but it's importance is huge, and it's a great song. And of course Clockwork is truly excellent

Three of these are forever top 20 songs for me. Musically Limelight and Freewill are phenomenal, and lyrically excellent. Subdivisions was one of the first wordy songs I learned the lyrics to. Musically not up with the other two but lyrically even better. All three are fantastic. Passage was a huge favorite at one time. Now, while I like it, I find the 9-note stereotype at the beginning eye-roll inducing. So that detracts. That aside it still rates high.

All brilliant songs. Kid Gloves is the superior one here for me, always top 10, but nothing to argue here.

Agreed on Clockwork's impact, and I personally view the whole album as one track. Headlong isn't as high for me, but that's no slight. Everything about the album is great. Even BU2B2, which I don't really count as a song, works within the larger piece very well. Main is a fantastic instrumental. I have MalNar higher, but so what. Either are better than most other songs on Snakes. Here Again is climbing as we speak. :) (you're not the first to do that. It just shows how readily songs can shift in their catalog depending on the day.

...because it's here again, right?

I really enjoy the structure of Before and After and I agree that this one, along with Working Man, does speak to their potential. And in fairness to my typical first album criticism, I believe that even without Neil, Geddy and Alex would still have soon been writing better lyrics and more complex music. The seeds are there. Afterimage was the final song from Grace that really clicked for me, but now it's a favorite. The Trees was such a clever song to the child in me. Its simple metaphor is so applicable to almost any cause that it reads like a children's fable. Certainly to adult ears it feels forced and obvious, but never underestimate the power to impact youth. Attach it to your favorite issue: Quebec vs English Canada, Canada vs US, rich vs poor, labor vs management, capitalism vs communism- it can be made to fit it all. And therefore someone out there has already done that. To the kid I was it was even more simple. It was just a warning that when two groups start hating each other there's a third that's waiting to cut you all down together. Musically it's great as well. I agree that the lyrics are weak until I remember how it resonated when I was young. By-Tor is the perfect first epic. It's fun, blistering, creative, and not remotely serious. It opens the door for riskier experiments later. Necromancer has a spoken post that ages very poorly, at least to me. Good thing they did By-Tor first. But musically Alex steals the show and singlehandedly makes the song one of their best.

And here I am commenting on Sweet Miracle, when you clearly wrote "Stars Look Down" Stars Look Down is is a great song, the only reason it suffers is Geddy's vocals right directly before the first "Stars Look Down"--- 'What is the meaning of this?' The meaning of this complaint is that you sing that part way too high. The rest of the song is brilliant.

By the way, I love your analogy. I need to use that for my super-inflated picks- like Prime Mover.

Critical error? I do not hear what you hear. I agree on Sweet Miracle lyrically, but not yet capable of liking the song. Red Lenses musically is excellent. But lyrically, or at least the quasi-comical delivery of the lyrics, hurts me. When Geddy says, 'not blue' I feel blue. Why oh why make a great song and sing it like ...this? I actually only skip it if I'm really listening- if it's just on for my background it always plays through- the music is great fun. Sweet Miracle I used to always skip but lately I don't, I'm still waiting for it to click.

Chain Lightning is by far my favorite off Presto. I relate to that song so much. Nice to see it top 50. BU2B is great as most Clockwork songs are. Is it the most radio friendly? I don't know that any of them are. Dreamline was, to me, a necessary course correction song. It didn't prove to be the course correction I expected, but when I first heard it I was so sure. Great song. Test For Echo is better every time I hear it, but this is too high for me. Big Money has one of their best outros, I love this one live. Distant Early Warning- interestingly I really liked that video when I was young. I remember falling for that song while watching videos late night at a friends house on weekends. It's dropped for me since then, but still a great song. New World Man was the first Rush song I owned. K-Tel! Thank you, mom. Memorized this one early. Closer was always great but it has dropped by a lot. Overexposure dropped it below a lot of songs for me. Earthshine, hands down best on Vapor, although several tracks there are finally climbing the ladder. Fly By Night- so radio friendly, yet so good. It has the best of the debut with the creativity of their prog combining into a great rock song. Finding My Way. Oh Well. Can't agree on everything. Great music, though. Tom Sawyer. What can I say. People new to the Rush community would be surprised to see how often it missed the top 20 among fans. We all love it, though. I wonder if it is the most down-graded song because we like the overall catalog so much and Tom Sawyer will always get it's due? It's never threatens my top 20, but I never ever ever would skip it. Essential live.

A lot of songs here that I would drop quite a bit below so many already eliminated. Here Again- the horse is dead on that opinion. First album songs need not apply for top 60 status. Sweet Miracle I don't like. yet? We'll see. Hope is nice, but without the rest of the team it's far too high. Lakeside Park has always annoyed me vocally. Available, Ghost, Time&Motion are good songs that nevertheless are too high considering what came before. Vital, Middle, Time Stand are excellent. I really need to make a playlist of a few songs a lot of you keep inflating. I like Finding My Way to liking new songs.

I love that Take a Friend is high, because musically I love that one. I slam the first album for lyrics, and drop a lot of songs because to me they barely count as Rush. But taking the songs out of the catalog this one is good, and while I have Need Some Love extremely low, it is a fun rocker on it's own. Best I Can is another pre-Rush Rush song, it just fell to album two. It's mostly forgettable to me. Making Memories I love more all the time. Very simple, but it works really well. Now on to the fully formed Rush contributions to this group- I love them all. The rap was a fun surprise that got old really quick, and was probably a bad idea as rap outside their actual voice as well. But you are right, it's a great tension break live. Every other song is strong. Another great grouping.

Actually you're right for me on that as well. Mystic Rhythms once was a top 20 for me. The world music effects started sounding like more mature versions of A Passage to Bangkok's. (Compare the stereotypical Passage Intro to the sound in Mystic after "African Sun." That's unfair, just my brain over used to them. But I still love the song. Losing It you're also right on. Those lyrics I loved from day one. On the same album with Subdivisions and Analog Kid it was a nice look at the other end of life. I probably should have it higher, too.

Still not into Freeze. Musically I should be- it's got a complexity and dissonance I often love in music. But in this case it's the music that halts me. I'll keep at it. High Water, Enemy Within, and Between Sun and Moon are favorites of mine, so I have them much higher. I agree on the others. All fine songs, indeed.

I never hated Dog Years even while acknowledging that the lyrics are a forced metaphor. And I too like the sentiment. It's a middling song for me lyrically, though. But that's as Rush goes, so better than most bands. Musically it's pretty damn good. Cold Fire has improved for me, and it's got the word play that Neil likes and I too enjoy. But it's a middle song for me. Tears bores me to tears, more than any other song Rush has made. Red Tide I like, it could tone down the synth blasts and replace with anything Alex wants, though. Open Secrets and Bravado have both improved for me, but I have them lower. Different Strings is also my favorite Geddy song (with Rush)- I do like his solo album. Ghost Rider has risen a lot for me off VT, it's an excellent song. It probably will keep climbing higher. The Pass never did for me what it does for most, but Rush's sparing use of curses makes "Christ, what have you done" punch hard as hell. Witch Hunt is a song that resonates really well with me and is probably by far my favorite of this group. Interestingly it seems to speak to people of many beliefs. I've had debates with people that see the song as backing their beliefs while I see it as backing mine. To the point we both think the other must be wrong. That might be the strength of the song- that it can make me feel it is on my side when it's actually criticizing thinking in dichotomies. I hope that's the case. That makes a smart song even smarter.

There are no songs here I am needing higher, except maybe Beneath. That's by far the best song here. Agreed, it's a case of Neil showing us what he can do. I'd also have Out of the Cradle a lot lower, it annoys me. I'm glad you have Bald higher than most. It's not seriously intended and it's a much better version of a 'first album' style song.

As Rush instrumentals go, Limbo is lower echelon. But Rush really has a small bit of musical proficiency, so as rock instrumentals go, Limbo is still very good. Leave that thing Alone- same thing. I too love Face UP. More word play affection in this song, but it drives a point and it doesn't overreach. Faithless just doesn't work for me. Snakes and Vapor take more listens and more work for me, but I am getting there. I have to listen around what I don't like to hear what's good, and after that the elements I don't like diminish and the song rises. Maybe this will happen with Faithless. BTW- this is why I like lists. You gave me something to focus on. Maybe this killer solo you speak of will be my in. I honestly don't remember it because I already wasn't liking the song. Same thing for Peaceable Kingdom. I'll attend to that break. Others have pushed it as a good song. Maybe I should listen. Show Don't Tell was a minor let down for me. It didn't click. I never hated it, but I was disappointed. I wanted great, and for me it was middling. As Rush goes, for me it's mediocre. As music goes I still like the song. I don't skip it. Heresy I agree with you on. Body Electric has always been a song I love, no apologies. But I'm fine with it here. Everysong I have in this range I like. Grand Designs is way over indulgent in special effects, but the song is really good and I have it much higher. Lock and Key fluctuates for me. It's never bad, never great, but bounces up and down the middle range constantly. I guess you have it placed pretty accurately.

Ok, a lot to look at here. In the Mood holds charm because it's such a common tension break in concert. Simple and fun, nothing to think about. I have it quite low because it's a first album song that I barely see as Rush, but I like it. Like all of the first album songs it drops because to my ears it doesn't belong in the first place. Presto is a pretty song where nothing musically happens. A perfect in the middle song. Countdown is a song I love. It's low for many people, though. I've learned to accept that. :) Entres Nous has risen over the years. But it's a middle song for sure. Marathon has also risen, but not very high. Another middle song. Bastille Day has dropped for me as well. And honestly it might be my own fault. I asked for something by Rush for Christmas, it was going to be my first Rush album. I recieved Caress of Steel. It was always the under selling cheapest tape available. But Bastille Day was the first song, and for a long long time it was the best song. I probably overplayed it. Something for Nothing is the best song off 2112, and I have it very high. I agree, Goose, you should like it more. :) In the End I've always loved and it's never risen it dropped. Always ranked high. It's slow, it's simple, and I love it anyway. Double Agent I'd have lower. The talking just doesn't work. Armor is a Good song off a very weak album. It's fine here. One Little Victory I agree completely on. That opening was a lie. That opening says the song and the album will be a return to greatness. And then it lets you down. Far Cry out performs One Little, because that song is good to the end. The chorus pulls it through the faults. I have it higher. The album though, another disappointment. Prime Mover is a song I love beyond explanation. It's top five for me. I don't think anyone else will have it even top 20.

I love Anagram. It's completely self indulgent but it's an indulgence I share. It's odd that it wasn't vetoed, though. I agree on Larger Bowl, though in fairness he did the same thing with Anagram. Animate's a good song In fine with it. But it's not Synchronicity. Totem doesn't really work for me. I like Farewell, Outside of an epic it's hard to convey every nuance. Hemispheres II is sloppy lyrically, but that music is perfection for me.

I like all of these on some level, but none of these need to be higher, either. Rivendell was sooo boring when I first heard it, but when playing my tape I had to either fast forward or just deal. So usually I dealt. And then something clicked. I really like this song. It's another one that is all about the payoff. The slowest build ever to the most subtle of invigorating moments, but when it happens, I just love it. Resist just doesn't offer much beyond platitudes. It's a nice break for Neil in concert. I like Hand Over Fist. It's so pop, but whatever. I like it. Nobody's Hero makes a great point in a painful way, like Second Nature. But it's a better song. Cinderella Man, the line you refer to, fits the story referenced pretty well, I think. This is my favorite of the bunch. The Garden, whatever. One of my favorite albums, and the emotion of the track is well done, but it's no where near my favorite off that album.