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These lists have me constructing my own, which means they have me re-listening to some long-neglected tunes that my brain needed a refresher course on. Never a bad idea. With most of the songs the refreshers didn't change their rankings much, but there are a few songs that did not benefit at all from a re-listen -- they haven't aged well for me and I dropped them way down the list despite them being revered by many of the old-school prog era fans.

I forgot all about this, haven't seen it in years, great call! It's a song that fits right into VH's wheelhouse, though I like the slower tempo of ZZ's version. Billy Gibbons did the right hand fretting notes on the neck thing in this solo, which was back in 1973 -- five years before VH1 came out. Hearing Eddie doing that solo and putting his own tapping style into it sounds like a proper follow-up.

Songs like Peaceable Kingdom and Open Secrets would be near the bottom of most Rush fans' lists, but I consider them underrated gems. PK has all those snarky dirty guitars and Neil actually does a decent job of grooving -- an accomplishment for him. Open Secrets has that adult contemporary sound, but it's deceptively upbeat and propulsive, with lots of great bass work by Geddy and one of Alex's very best solos. Time and Motion is my third fave from T4E. hi_water also had it ranked relatively low on his list. What bothers you about it?

Obviously all of the songs on the VT Remix sound better than the original. Given that, there are few songs that lost some of their "magic" from the admittedly ear-blistering original mix. Ceiling Unlimited lost some of its intensity and gained a useless guitar solo that was left out of the original for a reason, while How It Is got a huge lift. For me, the better-sounding remix of this song wouldn't affect it's position on a list. I like the song no matter what. I haven't included this song on my list yet -- working backwards I'm up to 106 so I have it ranked higher than this.

I love both tracks, but VH edges out a win here. Eddie's rhythm playing on TYWH is stellar.

BTW, if Garden Road was included on the debut it'd be my third favorite track from that album, possibly second fave.

Yeah, Broon's Bane. It's a standalone original track and not just the intro to The Trees, so my list will include it. You could make the argument that the drum solos are also original compositions, but I wouldn't include them in my rankings.

No, Garden Road was not released on an official live album. If that were the case I would have included it.

Mine has it at #164, but only because I have 166 songs on the list, not 165. 164. Half The World 165. Anagram (For Mongo) 166. Second Nature There's no arguing that bottom-2.

I'm starting to make up a list, but I'll take my time with it and probably wait till you and hi_water are close to finished with yours. I've got the top-10 and maybe the bottom-70 done. Ranking the songs you don't like is pretty easy. The hard part is ranking the songs that you do like but aren't in the top-10. Starting at the bottom, our lists were looking kinda similar, but after the bottom-10 or so, there are some obvious differences.

Gotta give Geddy credit, he went from writing meathead rock lyrics like that to the thoughtful ones he wrote for Different Strings. That's a pretty decent level of maturation.

Joan Baez was more of a folk singer. I couldn't picture her singing Second Nature. Can't say the same for Celine Dion.

That indeed would have been something, seeing as Celine Dion wasn't a thing yet.

I'm toying with the idea of making a list, and I know right off the bat that Red Barchetta would be in my top-20, easily. Again, that's a credit to this band that their fans can rank their songs at completely different positions.

One of my least favorite from the debut. Can't argue with the ranking here.

Only if I were in the mood to be caned to death.

Another way of looking at that approach -- if I were looking to introduce somebody to Rush, what are the absolute last songs I'd recommend?

Anywhere in the bottom-20 is fitting for that song. Would I recommend it to a Rush-curious person? Hell no.

For me, if I were making a list (and maybe someday I will) I'd start from the bottom, and with one thought in mind: If I were to hear a Rush song and it was the first time I heard a song from them, would it encourage me to seek out more of their music? Obviously any song that answers to that would be at the bottom part of the list, and Half the World, Second Nature and Anagram would be in the bottom three spots.

I'm apparently one of the few who really likes Peaceable Kingdom. It's a different song for them, but in a good way. Not sure I would have ranked Stick it Out and Out of the Cradle quite this low. There are other songs in their catalog that are far worse.

I get the feeling my list wouldn't be too much different than yours. We'll see as you get further into it.

No hate from me. My bottom-2 are included in your bottom-10, so you may continue your ranking. You came thiiiiiis close...

This is exactly my approach to not only Rush, but music in general. I can look past meh lyrics if the music is engaging, and downright cringy lyrics can drag a good song down. It gets a little more complicated with prog bands like Rush and Yes because the lyrics are looking to be more thought-provoking than those you'd hear from KISS or AC/DC. So when you hear lyrics like on Virtuality and Half The World coming from a band with a history of good lyrics, you really notice them.