Your Favorite Rush Album From Each Decade/Time Period (Including Live Albums)?

[Texas King]

So what are your picks here?

 

 

[Timbale]

It was interesting to see the albums categorized that way...when you put Permanent Waves in the 80s (which I guess technically it is) for me it makes that decade tower over the 70s.  PeW, MP, ESL and Signals in a row?!  What a run...

 

I picked Hemispheres for the 70's - it is the best side long piece by quite a margin for me...and although the Trees is a pretty silly song lyrically to me now as an adult, side 2 is still super solid.

 

The 80s was super hard, but Signals continues to be a super special album for me...and I think it is the best singing Geddy did in the whole catalogue.  The drumming, and drum sound, is also arguably Peart's best work.  Stellar...but obviously PeW and MP are no slouches...

 

(also, you missed ESL in the poll...I might have picked it just barely above Signals...)

 

The 90s I went with Counterparts.  I don't listen to it very often at all..but I think I like it better than the other choices. RTB has a few good songs...but a bunch of forgettable filler to me.  T4E, again, for my taste, is really their most forgettable album.  Not even their worst maybe...but it just could cease to exist and it would make little impact.

 

The 2000s....I picked CA...but that's mostly for The Garden and maybe Caravan a bit.  All the 2000s stuff is pretty middling to me.  The Garden sticks out.  Far Cry does, too...but the rest of that album is a slog to me, so CA gets the vote.

[Texas King]

4 minutes ago, Timbale said:

 

(also, you missed ESL in the poll...I might have picked it just barely above Signals...)

 

ESL is in the poll.

 

[Timbale]

3 minutes ago, Texas King said:

ESL is in the poll.

 

My mistake...it wasn't in order of release and I missed it.  :)

Edited May 30, 2023 by Timbale

[laughedatbytime]

Permanent Waves is a 70s album.

[goose]

Interesting doing albums by decade.  My picks were...

 

Caress of Steel

Permanent Waves

Different Stages (a monster live collection)

Vapor Trails

 

[laughedatbytime]

 

2 hours ago, goose said:

Interesting doing albums by decade.  My picks were...

 

Caress of Steel

Permanent Waves

Different Stages (a monster live collection)

Vapor Trails

 

Yeah, don't believe I've ever seen things arranged this way before.  I'll go with:

 

Permanent Waves

Moving Pictures

Different Stages

Clockwork Angels

[pjbear05]

2112, ESL, DS, S&A..

[Alex’s Amazing Arpeggios]

23 hours ago, Timbale said:

It was interesting to see the albums categorized that way...when you put Permanent Waves in the 80s (which I guess technically it is) for me it makes that decade tower over the 70s.  PeW, MP, ESL and Signals in a row?!  What a run...

 

I picked Hemispheres for the 70's - it is the best side long piece by quite a margin for me...and although the Trees is a pretty silly song lyrically to me now as an adult, side 2 is still super solid.

 

The 80s was super hard, but Signals continues to be a super special album for me...and I think it is the best singing Geddy did in the whole catalogue.  The drumming, and drum sound, is also arguably Peart's best work.  Stellar...but obviously PeW and MP are no slouches...

 

(also, you missed ESL in the poll...I might have picked it just barely above Signals...)

 

The 90s I went with Counterparts.  I don't listen to it very often at all..but I think I like it better than the other choices. RTB has a few good songs...but a bunch of forgettable filler to me.  T4E, again, for my taste, is really their most forgettable album.  Not even their worst maybe...but it just could cease to exist and it would make little impact.

 

The 2000s....I picked CA...but that's mostly for The Garden and maybe Caravan a bit.  All the 2000s stuff is pretty middling to me.  The Garden sticks out.  Far Cry does, too...but the rest of that album is a slog to me, so CA gets the vote.

Nice Analysis ! 👍😎

[Alex’s Amazing Arpeggios]

Hemi

PeW

CP

CA

[zepphead]

A Farewell to Kings, Moving Pictures, Counterparts, Clockwork Angels.

[tangy]

Hemispheres is my fave studio record but ATWAS takes their studio work to the next level. Aggression and precision. The birth of prog metal imo.

 

Perm waves. Natural science being my fave.

 

Different stages because of disc 3.

 

Vapor trails. Again aggression and precision but way more emotional. 

[goose]

On 6/5/2023 at 4:39 PM, tangy said:

Hemispheres is my fave studio record but ATWAS takes their studio work to the next level. Aggression and precision. The birth of prog metal imo.

 

Perm waves. Natural science being my fave.

 

Different stages because of disc 3.

 

Vapor trails. Again aggression and precision but way more emotional. 

[Weatherman]

On 5/30/2023 at 4:07 PM, Timbale said:

The 80s was super hard, but Signals continues to be a super special album for me...and I think it is the best singing Geddy did in the whole catalogue.  The drumming, and drum sound, is also arguably Peart's best work.  Stellar...but obviously PeW and MP are no slouches...

 

(also, you missed ESL in the poll...I might have picked it just barely above Signals...)

 

The 90s I went with Counterparts.  I don't listen to it very often at all..but I think I like it better than the other choices. RTB has a few good songs...but a bunch of forgettable filler to me.  T4E, again, for my taste, is really their most forgettable album.  Not even their worst maybe...but it just could cease to exist and it would make little impact.

I think Geddy's best singing was from HYF --> RTB. He really worked on melody, a lot. That plus the synth work, and he was driving the band at that point. 

I voted RTB only because it has 3 or 4 *great* songs that I still enjoy today, while Counterparts has maybe 1 or 2 (Animate). I ignored the filler on both. 

[Timbale]

2 hours ago, Weatherman said:

I think Geddy's best singing was from HYF --> RTB. He really worked on melody, a lot. That plus the synth work, and he was driving the band at that point. 

I voted RTB only because it has 3 or 4 *great* songs that I still enjoy today, while Counterparts has maybe 1 or 2 (Animate). I ignored the filler on both. 

 

I am definitely a bigger fan of Geddy's 80s-90s vocal choices than his 70s stuff.  Of course I have a love for all the 70s records, and there is total classic material there...but hearing him screech at the end of Cygnus hasn't really aged all the well for me.  I really have to be in a "retro" mood to crank songs like that up.

 

I think he sings quite well on HYF through RTB as well.  I just think there's a warmth and relaxed nature to his vocals on Signals that is not matched anywhere else.  In comparison (I'm talking subtle differences...), I find HYF and Presto a little more brittle and cold.  "You move me, you move me" from Analog Kid...it just goes straight to my heart.  Same with all of Losing It.

 

It's sort of a tough call between Counterparts and RTB, I guess.  I do think Counterparts is more consistently good, although there are some forgettable tunes on there too.  For me RTB starts so promisingly, with the awesome 1 2 punch of Dreamline and Bravado (both some of Geddy's best vocal performances!)...but then it just sinks for me.  Ghost Of A Chance is a bit of a bright light later in the record, but otherwise it's uninspiring.   Alien Shore, Double Agent or Everyday Glory are not in my top 10 Rush songs...but they are WAY better than Face Up, Heresy or Neurotica.  

 

Although it's an 80s album...I actually prefer Presto as an overall listening experience to RTB...

[Weatherman]

5 hours ago, Timbale said:

Although it's an 80s album...I actually prefer Presto as an overall listening experience to RTB...

I'm on the record around here stating my undying love for Presto. The songwriting is so, so tight. 

I view it as a continuation of HYF, but with 75% less annoying synths. Lock and Key could've easily been on Presto. 

[Rush Didact]

AFTK

PoW

RTB

VT

 

It was a tough call between Permanent Waves and Power Windows, but I had to give the edge to PoW for its confident and sophisticated songwriting and the brilliance of the lyrics.

 

I'm surprised that CP is so popular in the 90s group, it's never felt like a terribly impressive album to me.  None of the songs really stand out, though none of them are bad, either.  It's a fairly bland listen for me, whereas RTB has the astonishingly good Dreamline, followed by the equally great Bravado, and the gorgeous Ghost of a Chance.  Those three songs by themselves lift RTB above the others from the decade, it's just a bonus that I happen to love the rest of the album too.

[goose]

On 6/8/2023 at 5:12 PM, Weatherman said:

I'm on the record around here stating my undying love for Presto. The songwriting is so, so tight. 

I view it as a continuation of HYF, but with 75% less annoying synths. Lock and Key could've easily been on Presto. 

[Timbale]

On 6/10/2023 at 1:12 PM, Rush Didact said:

AFTK

PoW

RTB

VT

 

It was a tough call between Permanent Waves and Power Windows, but I had to give the edge to PoW for its confident and sophisticated songwriting and the brilliance of the lyrics.

 

I'm surprised that CP is so popular in the 90s group, it's never felt like a terribly impressive album to me.  None of the songs really stand out, though none of them are bad, either.  It's a fairly bland listen for me, whereas RTB has the astonishingly good Dreamline, followed by the equally great Bravado, and the gorgeous Ghost of a Chance.  Those three songs by themselves lift RTB above the others from the decade, it's just a bonus that I happen to love the rest of the album too.

I wish Counterparts had a bit more proggy-ness to it.  The songs, for my taste, are all quite good...but I agree with you that few better the great Dreamline and Bravado. (Maybe Cut To The Chase...)  The songs on CP mostly just find a thing and stick to it - I wish they were more "part"y.  But..again for my taste, there aren't any songs on CP that are as bad as Face Up or as bland as Big Wheel or Heresy.  And while both things are a bit embarrassing to me...the rap in RTB is worse than the spoken part of Double Agent - and Double Agent (not my fave song at all) at least takes some interesting chances.

[Rush Didact]

1 hour ago, Timbale said:

I wish Counterparts had a bit more proggy-ness to it.  The songs, for my taste, are all quite good...but I agree with you that few better the great Dreamline and Bravado. (Maybe Cut To The Chase...)  The songs on CP mostly just find a thing and stick to it - I wish they were more "part"y.  But..again for my taste, there aren't any songs on CP that are as bad as Face Up or as bland as Big Wheel or Heresy.  And while both things are a bit embarrassing to me...the rap in RTB is worse than the spoken part of Double Agent - and Double Agent (not my fave song at all) at least takes some interesting chances.

 

It's probably because RTB was my first Rush album and I was only 11 years old when I first heard it, but I'm a lot more forgiving of Face Up, Neurotica, and You Bet Your Life than most people seem to be.  I really like all three of them, even if they're just mediocre in comparison to the rest of the Rush catalogue.  I feel the same way about the rap in RTB; it's just a bit of whimsical fun and I never took it very seriously, and I always sing along with it when it comes on.  The Big Wheel gets a pass solely based on "I was lined up for glory / but the tickets sold out in advance", which is a brilliant bit of word play.

 

I agree with you about Heresy, though - that song was my least favourite when I first heard it, and time hasn't improved it any.  If nothing else, though, it's an interesting post-Soviet time capsule.

[ST3V]

Vapor Trails being not very far behind Clockwork is interesting, but I welcome it nonetheless

[ozzy85]

AFTK although 2112 is a close second.

MP although I've really been into PW lately. Can't go wrong with Signals, either.  The rest of the 80's drops off for me with OK albums with some good songs here and there.

CP. Alex's guitar work is back full force here. T4E is pretty good. Awesome tour.

S&A love the music and lyrics. It was my constant companion during a lenghty illness.

[taurus]

Wow, a rarity for me, everyone of my picks are currently the most popular for the category

 

Hemispheres

PeW

CP

CA

[YYZ Working Man]

The way this poll goes, Way to hard  to rank 1   No way in hell to rank # 2 properly,   3 and 4 no problem 

1: tie : Hem & AFTK - No way to pick winner

2: tie: PeW, MP, Sig, ESL-  No way to pick winner - to much to weigh here 

3: CP

4: CA

[malm_51]

A very tough poll!!

 

All the Worlds a Stage

Exit...Stage Left

Different Stages

Vapor Trails

 

I like live albums!