Let's settle this once and for all, which is best, which is worse? Presto or Snakes & Arrows?

[blueschica]

Ghost Rider hit it for me. Presto isn't bad (although I like the couple of songs they did live from it better than studio version) but not much stands out for me. I like Snakes and Arrows a lot, especially Far Cry and a few others.

What about this album?

 

YouTube?

 

Ooh, it looks great! I gotta download this!

[Pound of Obscure]

Every great band craps the bed once in their careers. Snakes is Rush's anal seepage.

[treeduck]

Ghost Rider hit it for me. Presto isn't bad (although I like the couple of songs they did live from it better than studio version) but not much stands out for me. I like Snakes and Arrows a lot, especially Far Cry and a few others.

What about this album?

 

YouTube?

 

Ooh, it looks great! I gotta download this!

It is on youtube yeah. This one is only version 2.0 though, not the platinum edition:

 

[treeduck]

Easy, Presto. Production reeks of late 80s/early 90s adult contemporary like Michael Bolton and Peter Cetera.

Are you saying that's a good thing? :unsure:

[laughedatbytime]

It's like choosing between puke and shit.

Well which is worse to you, puke or shit??

Depends on the day.

[laughedatbytime]

[treeduck]

Ghost Rider hit it for me. Presto isn't bad (although I like the couple of songs they did live from it better than studio version) but not much stands out for me. I like Snakes and Arrows a lot, especially Far Cry and a few others.

With Presto it's basically a half-decent side 1 and then side 2 forget it. If you swapped Scars with Available Light so you had...

 

Show Don't Tell

Chain Lightning

The Pass

War Paint

Presto

Available Light

 

...you'd have a pretty good EP, if you rerecorded it with Terry Brown and kick out the tupperware drum kit.

[blueschica]

Ghost Rider hit it for me. Presto isn't bad (although I like the couple of songs they did live from it better than studio version) but not much stands out for me. I like Snakes and Arrows a lot, especially Far Cry and a few others.

With Presto it's basically a half-decent side 1 and then side 2 forget it. If you swapped Scars with Available Light so you had...

 

Show Don't Tell

Chain Lightning

The Pass

War Paint

Presto

Available Light

 

...you'd have a pretty good EP, if you rerecorded it with Terry Brown and kick out the tupperware drum kit.

 

I like that idea! I don't think TRF has settled this once and for all though! :lol: :lol:

[Rhyta]

Kinda like songs on both albums usually never listen to either whole album, skip to the ones I like. Superconductor :facepalm: :scared: Awful.

S & A has some filler too but Far Cry and Workin' them Angels are great as well as Malignant Narcissism and The Main Monkey Business.

Edited February 22, 2022 by Rhyta

[treeduck]

Ghost Rider hit it for me. Presto isn't bad (although I like the couple of songs they did live from it better than studio version) but not much stands out for me. I like Snakes and Arrows a lot, especially Far Cry and a few others.

With Presto it's basically a half-decent side 1 and then side 2 forget it. If you swapped Scars with Available Light so you had...

 

Show Don't Tell

Chain Lightning

The Pass

War Paint

Presto

Available Light

 

...you'd have a pretty good EP, if you rerecorded it with Terry Brown and kick out the tupperware drum kit.

 

I like that idea! I don't think TRF has settled this once and for all though! :lol: :lol:

We'll settle it! :bang bang:

[ozzy85]

Snakes and Arrows is an easy top three for me. Presto is good. But not that good.

[treeduck]

Snakes and Arrows is an easy top three for me. Presto is good. But not that good.

Top 3? What's your overall RUSH album rankings?

[Stormtron]

Both of these are near the bottom for me, but Presto has more highlights. Besides MalNar, the last twenty or so minutes of Snakes is a slog to get through.

[pjbear05]

Liked Snakes and Arrows from first listen, lots of good tunes.

Presto, blecch. Show Don't Tell was ok and that was it.

[goose]

...and kick out the tupperware drum kit.

Neil didn't use DW's on Presto.

 

:P

[goose]

Snakes and Arrows is an easy top three for me.

:unsure:

[Nova Carmina]

Let's do this with Science!^TM

 

Show Don't Tell = Far Cry -- this one starts out with two great tracks, and I refuse to choose (I know, I've already chosen, etc.)

Chain Lightning < Armor and Sword

The Pass > Working Them Angels -- but not by much

War Paint < The Larger Bowl

Scars > Spindrift -- but this is like two bald men arguing over a comb

Presto < The Main Monkey Business

Superconductor > The Way the Wind Blows -- again, this doesn't mean "Super . . ." is really very good

Anagram for Mongo < Hope

Red Tide < Faithless

Hand Over Fist > Bravest Face

Available Light > Good News First

 

That leaves SnA with two extra tracks and "Malignant Narcissicism" is pretty good, while "We Hold On" is entirely forgettable.

 

Thus, it's 5 for Presto, 5 for SnA, with one tie, so the tiebreaker goes to Snakes and Arrows in a surprisingly close lightweight contest.

 

They'd both be twice the album at half the songs, though.

[78jazz]

"We Hold On" is entirely forgettable.

 

This is the truth.

 

Although I am one of the few who seems to like Bravest Face and Good News First.

[78jazz]

I change my mind. I will join you in your methodology.

 

Show Don't Tell = Far Cry

Chain Lightning = Armor and Sword

The Pass > Working Them Angels

War Paint = The Larger Bowl

Scars = Spindrift

Presto > The Main Monkey Business

Superconductor = The Way the Wind Blows (they are both bad)

Anagram for Mongo = Hope

Red Tide = Faithless (again, both bad)

Hand Over Fist < Bravest Face

Available Light = Good News First (but I like Good News First and have listened to that more times than Available Light. I think Available Light maybe takes too long to get going.)

[Claude_verret]

Presto > S&A.

 

Presto is a middle tier album for me and S&A sadly is towards the bottom. I've tried a lot with S&A but it just doesn't seem to ever rise in my personal Rush album rankings.

[treeduck]

I change my mind. I will join you in your methodology.

 

Show Don't Tell = Far Cry

Chain Lightning = Armor and Sword

The Pass > Working Them Angels

War Paint = The Larger Bowl

Scars = Spindrift

Presto > The Main Monkey Business

Superconductor = The Way the Wind Blows (they are both bad)

Anagram for Mongo = Hope

Red Tide = Faithless (again, both bad)

Hand Over Fist < Bravest Face

Available Light = Good News First (but I like Good News First and have listened to that more times than Available Light. I think Available Light maybe takes too long to get going.)

Rank the RUSH tours by setlist and favourite bootleg from 1977 to 2015. That's your homework for tonight!

[Weatherman]

Presto > S&A.

 

Presto is a middle tier album for me and S&A sadly is towards the bottom. I've tried a lot with S&A but it just doesn't seem to ever rise in my personal Rush album rankings.

It's really an oddball recording. They've never sounded like that before or after.

Take chances, and sometimes you fall on your face. Sometimes you just confuse people. And sometimes you make a 2112.

[78jazz]

I change my mind. I will join you in your methodology.

 

Show Don't Tell = Far Cry

Chain Lightning = Armor and Sword

The Pass > Working Them Angels

War Paint = The Larger Bowl

Scars = Spindrift

Presto > The Main Monkey Business

Superconductor = The Way the Wind Blows (they are both bad)

Anagram for Mongo = Hope

Red Tide = Faithless (again, both bad)

Hand Over Fist < Bravest Face

Available Light = Good News First (but I like Good News First and have listened to that more times than Available Light. I think Available Light maybe takes too long to get going.)

Rank the RUSH tours by setlist and favourite bootleg from 1977 to 2015. That's your homework for tonight!

 

I have to go to work tonight.

 

This task might take a while.

[treeduck]

I change my mind. I will join you in your methodology.

 

Show Don't Tell = Far Cry

Chain Lightning = Armor and Sword

The Pass > Working Them Angels

War Paint = The Larger Bowl

Scars = Spindrift

Presto > The Main Monkey Business

Superconductor = The Way the Wind Blows (they are both bad)

Anagram for Mongo = Hope

Red Tide = Faithless (again, both bad)

Hand Over Fist < Bravest Face

Available Light = Good News First (but I like Good News First and have listened to that more times than Available Light. I think Available Light maybe takes too long to get going.)

Rank the RUSH tours by setlist and favourite bootleg from 1977 to 2015. That's your homework for tonight!

 

I have to go to work tonight.

 

This task might take a while.

:cheers:

[Rush Didact]

As goose said above, S&A suffers because of the lyrics. Musically it's pretty good, even great in parts, but it doesn't say anything lyrically that Neil hadn't already said - and better - in songs like Freewill and Roll the Bones. An entire album of Neil's theological musings is a little much, the subject matter is simply spread too thin.

 

That said, Far Cry is a hell of a song, and I also like Armour and Sword, Mal Nar, and Good News First. If Bravest Face, The Larger Bowl and Faithless were cut from the tracklist, it would probably be a much more compelling album.

 

Presto I also have mixed feelings about. I like it, but I also rarely listen to it. It just doesn't compel me the way other Rush albums do, but I can't put my fingers on why, exactly. Somehow the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Despite some excellent songs (Show Don't Tell, The Pass, Scars, Hand Over Fist, Available Light) it just doesn't get me excited.

 

Which one of the two do I like more? I'd call it a toss-up. I really can't choose.