LeaveMyThingAlone

The Enemy Within easily.. The other 3 do little to nothing for me. Freeze is a definite fail...

Yeah, I don't get what is hilariously bad about this, other than the obviously hilariously bad mullet.

I think if we're talking about best ending song that fits within the theme of the entire album, it's definitely The Garden. La Villa or Natural Science are the best songs standing on their own, but the fact that they are last is irrelevant as there's no real theme they connect with...

I agree regarding Power Windows and HYF. I don't care much for either and lump them both into that heavy synth era of the 80's

Caress of Steel for me As others have said, there's darkness in lyrics and there's also darkness in the music and feel. GUP may be dark in terms of Neil's writing, but it has a very crisp sound and Alex's playing on the album is incredibly good, but not dark Caress of Steel just has a dark feel and Alex's playing is soulful but with a darker sound. My all-time favorite solo is on No One at the Bridge, but it definitely has that dark sound...

Love it. It has a very dramatic feel musically, which matches the lyrics perfectly. Anyone notice that Whenever Neil writes one that is personal, romantic, and/or straightforward it is really well done. Ghost of a Chance, Limelight, and Losing it also come to mind.

That's a new one. So if they had split Side 1 Of hemispheres into 4 different song titles giving it a total of 7 would that make it better? They both have 40 or so minutes of musical genius and that's the greatness of both. Hemispheres gets my vote but it's close. Witch Hunt is a total miss in my opinion and Camera Eye is just ok for me. Everything on Hemispheres blows those 2 away. But I think side 1 of MP is the best side of one album ever IMO. My fav album is the one in between the 2 of them. Permanent Waves is my #1 but those 3 in succcession are the pinnacle and peak of Rudh's career for me. I was always curious about Neil's comment that MP is he album where they really came together as a band. To me, he kind of discounted the previous stuff as them figuring it out and MP and all the stuff afterwards was when Rush really became a great band.

I am a huge baseball fan and have the Extra Innings package. I'll usually check in on Blue Jays games just to see if he's in his usual seat, but this year I have hardly seen him there. Maybe it's because the Jays really suck this year? It would seem that Geddy would be hitting more games than ever with all this free time , but he's been MIA there. Just an observation..,

I think Neil could make a perfect fit for KISS. He loves being a showman and I think he'd really dig wearing makeup. Also, feel KISS's lyrics are right down Neil's alley. Every time I hear Love Gun, I hear Neil's influence in the lyrics

Neil has gone on record many times saying that he hasn't particularly liked touring since the mid 80's, or sometime around there, I have no problem with Neil retiring if he wants. God knows, he's earned that decision. I do have a problem with how he retired and how he told his band mates. Oh wait, he didn't tell them. He bailed and they later read about it in an interview. I don't care how many social issues you have, that's pretty weak and disrespectful

Underrated. Wonder why they never played it

They are amazing. It's truly miraculous to have this band form with so much talent and musical chops but also be total class acts and just good people.. That's such a great article and makes me appreciate the boys even more

8/10. Awesome riff by Alex. Terrible mix as others have said. Interesting that they didn't play this song at all the last 20 years or so. I guess Rush isn't a fan on it...

Was wondering who voted for that. Interesting...it's not one of the more popular ones on these here boards but good for you for going against the norm... For me, the answer to this has become much clearer over the past few years. Rush's masterpiece is Permanent Waves. Lifeson just kills it from start to finish. He was at his peak here. A masterpiece.

Oh please. There are enough chops monsters out there that you wouldn't notice a difference. Get one that has even an ounce of groove and it would be a step up. And lyrically, both Victor and MFH were every bit as good as anything Peart ever wrote. I'd bet my house that no one would notice the difference. They will never call themselves Rush without Neil

Rush-Need Some Love FBN-Rivendell Caress - Lakeside Park 2112 - Tears AFTK-A Farewell to Kings title track Hemispheres-The Trees, but its impossible to pick Permanent Waves - Different Strings MP-Witch Hunt Signals-Chemistry GUP-Body Electric P/W- Emotion Detector HYF-High Water Presto-Anagram RTB-Heresy Counterparts-Speed of Love T4E-The Color of Right Vapor-Stars look Down Snakes-Spindrift Clockwork - Wish them Well

Can someone explain how this Sirius interview translates to: "Alex says Rush isn't done" per the title of this thread. Alex and Geddy have both said they will never call themselves Rush without Neil. Alex says "Neil is on the West Coast and we never hear from him". Uhhh...Rush is still done. Alex and Geddy doing something together would be super cool, and U could see it happening, but it wouldn't be Rush by any means...in title or quality

Yes, of course. That wasn't meant to be literal. Everyone has an ego and feeds it to a degree. Just saying that for rock stars of their stature and accomplishments, it is amazing how they have seemed to stay so grounded

Uhhh..there's a bad side to everyone. :drool: Neil is just very vocal and opinionated. Who cares? I'm not a fan because of his personality or beliefs. The only time I ever really had a true problem with Neil and his character was how the last tour, show, and retirement all went down. By all accounts, Geddy and Alex never really got an official "I'm retired" from Neil. I think he said he was in an article and Geddy was interviewed about it and caught off guard. Also, Geddy had mentioned that he would have liked to have known it was the final tour and show in LA so they could maybe go out with something special. It just seemed like Neil owed his bandmates a little better communication about stuff. This is all assuming things based on quotes from Geddy and Alex

Also think it's great that they agreed to split everything equally 3 ways from day 1 and that never changed or became a point of contention (as far as we know). That's amazing for rock musician and speaks to their total lack of ego. Imagine Roger Waters agreeing to that

Rush's popularity and growth really took off after Ghost Rider. I'd guess most of their money came after 2002 with all those tours, DVD's, movie appearances, etc so Neil may have been struggling at the time he wrote that. He probably blew a lot of his money on coke You think Rush has been more popular since 2000 than in the 70s or 80s? I have to disagree. I definitely think so. Rush took off the last 10 years. I'm referring more to the mainstream. 70's and 80's they were still very much a cult band that had their fan base but outside of that had little impact.

Rush's popularity and growth really took off after Ghost Rider. I'd guess most of their money came after 2002 with all those tours, DVD's, movie appearances, etc so Neil may have been struggling at the time he wrote that. He probably blew a lot of his money on coke

Is this on the 5 star scale? No. The 10. Lofl I think she was too lenient on Snakes & Bones ;) I think they lost something really critical after Neils tragedy and the big break they had. The creative spark was never again as bright. That's so hard to say. I can't even argue either way. Maybe it was a result of Neil's tragedy? Maybe they just got older and everything that followed was due to aging and having those kinds of eyes? Maybe it was a combination of both? Maybe they never lost it but WE got older and expected the same things from them...even though they had already changed (emotionally, mentally, etc) by then? Nah. Their songwriting changed for the worst. Possibly because Neil moved to LA and they had to do so much work apart from each other. Corresponding by email and creating songs separately. They started playing around too much with the digital format, chopping songs together and they lost the compositional flow. I think my disinterest in most of the material starting with Vapor Trails is because Neil started providing lyrics that were hard, if not impossible, to compose and sing a really awesome memorable song around. Far Cry was really good from that era. A few off of VT. But most of it was too wordy, too preachy, too much to jam into a verse or chorus and not sound like shoehorning. And he started to sound more like a cranky old "get off my lawn you damn kids!" man instead of the worldly wry observer mixed with some philosophy that he used to be in all the previous albums. I remember getting the Snakes album and reading the lyric insert and felt like I was looking at someone's humorless rants than actual song lyrics. OK Neil, we get it...religion is scary and the world stinks. :codger: :eyeroll: Yes, exactly. He used to be an observer that was fascinated with the world and his lyrics came across that way. Eventually it seemed to turn to cynicism and how short life is. I think somewhere in an interview he said something like his lyrics grew up or matured at one point but I'm not sure I agree. Unless you call maturing being cranky. Well put, but I think it started more with Test for Echo. There's some real challenging subjects for Geddy to sing about with any feeling and still keep the song rocking on that album. Agree about the albums that followed. Snakes and Arrows has some songs with way too many lyrics to fit in. Armor and Sword and The Way the Wind Blows come to mind

Yeah when I saw this was going to sell for $125, I looked at what was included and kind of scratched my head. Hard to see value in that kind of price for basically cover songs. I think the OP made some excellent points and his one point that no one really addressed was regarding Rush continuing to release these cash grabs. Isn'i this a 180 from what the band used to be about? I think his disappointment in Rush and the big picture of the capitalists they have become is what's disappointing him. Personally, Rush never came off as a band that represented themselves as anti-capitalism or whatever. I'm not totally sure what value he's referring to that they had then and what has changed. They are hard working capitalists, as evidenced by the price for this set, and the prices for their last few tours. They have realized their fan base is loyal, will buy anything Rush, and overall very affluent. Difference is that their concerts were still the highest of quality and they deserved every penny they could get. This 2112 set at 125 is crazy. And it's certainly not just Rush coming up with the retail prices for this stuff. I'm sure others influenced this price as well.We will see how long the fans hang with it... I'm just not sure how it might go when they re-issue Presto with a cover of Anagram for Mongo, live video footage of the bunnies used for the cover, and never before heard takes of Alex saying Superconductor, Superconductor are whats included for 80 bucks

So Rutsey was supposed to write the lyrics for the album, flaked on it, and Geddy stepped in at the last minute? Thats's interesting. I had never heard that. Has it been confirmed by someone in an interview? Did Rutsey write ANY of the songs that made it to the album? Geddy is a freak. He can do it all. I think the lyrics are great on that album. Definitely less complex than what Rush became, but that album really reminds me of the Zeppelin sound and I've always appreciated most of the lyrics.