LABT's Rush song rankings (1-165), with special dispensation from hi_water to reveal them concurrent with his list

[laughedatbytime]

hi_water's compelling thread has motivated me to reveal in this thread my own rankings I did a couple of years ago when I went through the whole catalog and ranked the songs.   I did ask him to see if it would be OK to run this list concurrent with his, and he graciously agreed.   

 

I will reveal five songs at a time, hopefully every day, without any real commentary.    In large part this is due to not wanting to devote any more time to relistening to some of the more mundane or turgid parts of the catalog.    Hopefully, people will enjoy this list, and I'm sure some will be very critical of it, but it's intended to be a fun exercise and of interest in comparing various reactions to Rush.   As such though, hi_water's list, with his reviews, should be the more interesting of our two threads.

 

Because it's important to know, my first Rush album was 2112, although I bought it after Kings came out, in late 1977.   The first album I bought concurrent with its' release was Hemispheres.

 

Unlike hi_water, I am not including Feedback in these rankings.

 

So here's my take on the worst five songs in the Rush catalog.    The worst will be no surprise to anyone who's read my post.    While many rankings will change over time, I'm pretty confident that #165 won't change.

 

#165     Half the World (T4E, 11th best of 11)

#164     Good News First (S&A, 13th of 13)

#163     The Speed of Love (CP, 11th of 11)

#162     Tai Shan (HYF, 10th of 10)

#161     Bravest Face (S&A, 12th of 13)

 

 

[JohnRogers]

This list is already a steaming pile of Tai Shan.

[1-0-0-1-0-0-1]

50 minutes ago, laughedatbytime said:

#165     Half the World (T4E, 11th best of 11)

#164     Good News First (S&A, 13th of 13)

#163     The Speed of Love (CP, 11th of 11)

#162     Tai Shan (HYF, 10th of 10)

#161     Bravest Face (S&A, 12th of 13)

 

 

Half The World is a bottom-5 song for me as well -- bottom-3, actually. Which means there are two songs that are worse ... and they're not even in your bottom-5. Hmmm. This is quite vexing to me. I'm terribly vexed.

 

Your bottom-5 are easily in my bottom-10. If my bottom-2 songs (and I'm sure you folks know which two they are) are not in your next five then we're going to have to insist on some sensitivity training for you.

[laughedatbytime]

8 minutes ago, JohnRogers said:

This list is already a steaming pile of Tai Shan.

I must be doing something right...

[laughedatbytime]

2 minutes ago, 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 said:

 

Half The World is a bottom-5 song for me as well -- bottom-3, actually. Which means there are two songs that are worse ... and they're not even in your bottom-5. Hmmm. This is quite vexing to me. I'm terribly vexed.

 

Your bottom-5 are easily in my bottom-10. If my bottom-2 songs (and I'm sure you folks know which two they are) are not in your next five then we're going to have to insist on some sensitivity training for you.

They're probably not too far off. 

 

OTOH, they're probably top ten best on a JR list.

Edited July 22, 2023 by laughedatbytime

[1-0-0-1-0-0-1]

5 minutes ago, 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 said:

 

Half The World is a bottom-5 song for me as well -- bottom-3, actually. Which means there are two songs that are worse ... and they're not even in your bottom-5. Hmmm. This is quite vexing to me. I'm terribly vexed.

 

Your bottom-5 are easily in my bottom-10. If my bottom-2 songs (and I'm sure you folks know which two they are) are not in your next five then we're going to have to insist on some sensitivity training for you.

 

3 minutes ago, laughedatbytime said:

They're probably not too far off. 

 

OTOH, they're probably top ten best on a JR list.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing a JR list. It could be useful. You know when you're constipated and you need a little something to get things going?

[laughedatbytime]

3 minutes ago, 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 said:

 

 

I wouldn't mind seeing a JR list. It could be useful. You know when you're constipated and you need a little something to get things going?

I would LOVE to see a JR list.  And it would probably set records for most responses.

[_hi_water._]

2 hours ago, laughedatbytime said:

hi_water's compelling thread has motivated me to reveal in this thread my own rankings I did a couple of years ago when I went through the whole catalog and ranked the songs.   I did ask him to see if it would be OK to run this list concurrent with his, and he graciously agreed.   

 

I will reveal five songs at a time, hopefully every day, without any real commentary.    In large part this is due to not wanting to devote any more time to relistening to some of the more mundane or turgid parts of the catalog.    Hopefully, people will enjoy this list, and I'm sure some will be very critical of it, but it's intended to be a fun exercise and of interest in comparing various reactions to Rush.   As such though, hi_water's list, with his reviews, should be the more interesting of our two threads.

 

Because it's important to know, my first Rush album was 2112, although I bought it after Kings came out, in late 1977.   The first album I bought concurrent with its' release was Hemispheres.

 

Unlike hi_water, I am not including Feedback in these rankings.

 

So here's my take on the worst five songs in the Rush catalog.    The worst will be no surprise to anyone who's read my post.    While many rankings will change over time, I'm pretty confident that #165 won't change.

 

#165     Half the World (T4E, 11th best of 11)

#164     Good News First (S&A, 13th of 13)

#163     The Speed of Love (CP, 11th of 11)

#162     Tai Shan (HYF, 10th of 10)

#161     Bravest Face (S&A, 12th of 13)

 

 

seeing no Presto yet is quite interesting

[laughedatbytime]

2 minutes ago, _hi_water._ said:

seeing no Presto yet is quite interesting

Yeah, it's a little surprising but that may be because that effort is so mediocre and bland that nothing rises to the level of execrable.  There should be quite a few coming up shortly, though.

[Mosher]

My bottom five as determined shortly after Hi_Water began this thread:
 

#165     Need Some Love (Rush, 8th best of 8)

#164     Tears (2112, 6th of 6)

#163     Stick It Out (CP, 11th of 11)

#162     What You're Doing (Rush, 7th of 8)

#161     Here Again (Rush, 6th of 8)

I barely count the debut when ranking these, and I only do because there were some signs of the band they would become apparent. And since I include it, somehow they don't rank totally at the bottom. Taken without lyrics and every song rises. But the lyrics are collectively far worse than the worst Neil wrote. We mock Dog Years, but come on. "I'm running here, I'm running there, I'm looking for a girl?" Sure they weren't even trying. Sure it was never about the lyrics. But then make them instrumentals. It's a fantastic hard rock album without the words. 

I can't stand Stick It Out. And Tears just bores me. I actually enjoy Tai Shan and Rivendell, btw. But Tears just bores me. 

[laughedatbytime]

11 minutes ago, Mosher said:

My bottom five as determined shortly after Hi_Water began this thread:
 

#165     Need Some Love (Rush, 8th best of 8)

#164     Tears (2112, 6th of 6)

#163     Stick It Out (CP, 11th of 11)

#162     What You're Doing (Rush, 7th of 8)

#161     Here Again (Rush, 6th of 8)

I barely count the debut when ranking these, and I only do because there were some signs of the band they would become apparent. And since I include it, somehow they don't rank totally at the bottom. Taken without lyrics and every song rises. But the lyrics are collectively far worse than the worst Neil wrote. We mock Dog Years, but come on. "I'm running here, I'm running there, I'm looking for a girl?" Sure they weren't even trying. Sure it was never about the lyrics. But then make them instrumentals. It's a fantastic hard rock album without the words. 

I can't stand Stick It Out. And Tears just bores me. I actually enjoy Tai Shan and Rivendell, btw. But Tears just bores me. 

If it isn't clear already, I care much more about the music than the lyrics, unless they're actively noxious (nothing in the catalog would fit that description.)  No matter how good the lyric, if the tune isn't catchy, it's not going to appear very high on my list.   Others may disagre, and that's fine.

[Mosher]

4 minutes ago, laughedatbytime said:

If it isn't clear already, I care much more about the music than the lyrics, unless they're actively noxious (nothing in the catalog would fit that description.)  No matter how good the lyric, if the tune isn't catchy, it's not going to appear very high on my list.   Others may disagre, and that's fine.

They are both very important to me, but lyrics usually trump music for me. 

 

[Nova Carmina]

20 minutes ago, Mosher said:

My bottom five as determined shortly after Hi_Water began this thread:
 

#165     Need Some Love (Rush, 8th best of 8)

#164     Tears (2112, 6th of 6)

#163     Stick It Out (CP, 11th of 11)

#162     What You're Doing (Rush, 7th of 8)

#161     Here Again (Rush, 6th of 8)

I barely count the debut when ranking these, and I only do because there were some signs of the band they would become apparent. And since I include it, somehow they don't rank totally at the bottom. Taken without lyrics and every song rises. But the lyrics are collectively far worse than the worst Neil wrote. We mock Dog Years, but come on. "I'm running here, I'm running there, I'm looking for a girl?" Sure they weren't even trying. Sure it was never about the lyrics. But then make them instrumentals. It's a fantastic hard rock album without the words. 

I can't stand Stick It Out. And Tears just bores me. I actually enjoy Tai Shan and Rivendell, btw. But Tears just bores me. 

 

I think you're doing this wrong? 

[laughedatbytime]

15 minutes ago, Mosher said:

They are both very important to me, but lyrics usually trump music for me. 

 

There are exceptions for me; for example Half the World probably isn't their worst output from a musical stamdpoint, but the attempt to pass off poetry that wouldn't win a third grade contest as profundity is insulting, the modem song is unintended silliness, and the embarrassment of many of the lyrics on the first album limit their ability to rise further than they do.

[1-0-0-1-0-0-1]

1 hour ago, laughedatbytime said:

If it isn't clear already, I care much more about the music than the lyrics, unless they're actively noxious (nothing in the catalog would fit that description.)  No matter how good the lyric, if the tune isn't catchy, it's not going to appear very high on my list.   Others may disagre, and that's fine.

 

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.

[treeduck]

4 hours ago, laughedatbytime said:

hi_water's compelling thread has motivated me to reveal in this thread my own rankings I did a couple of years ago when I went through the whole catalog and ranked the songs.   I did ask him to see if it would be OK to run this list concurrent with his, and he graciously agreed.   

 

I will reveal five songs at a time, hopefully every day, without any real commentary.    In large part this is due to not wanting to devote any more time to relistening to some of the more mundane or turgid parts of the catalog.    Hopefully, people will enjoy this list, and I'm sure some will be very critical of it, but it's intended to be a fun exercise and of interest in comparing various reactions to Rush.   As such though, hi_water's list, with his reviews, should be the more interesting of our two threads.

 

Because it's important to know, my first Rush album was 2112, although I bought it after Kings came out, in late 1977.   The first album I bought concurrent with its' release was Hemispheres.

 

Unlike hi_water, I am not including Feedback in these rankings.

 

So here's my take on the worst five songs in the Rush catalog.    The worst will be no surprise to anyone who's read my post.    While many rankings will change over time, I'm pretty confident that #165 won't change.

 

#165     Half the World (T4E, 11th best of 11)

#164     Good News First (S&A, 13th of 13)

#163     The Speed of Love (CP, 11th of 11)

#162     Tai Shan (HYF, 10th of 10)

#161     Bravest Face (S&A, 12th of 13)

 

 

Where's the Presto songs??

[laughedatbytime]

8 minutes ago, treeduck said:

Where's the Presto songs??

They're not interesting enough to be this bad.

[IbanezJem]

I'd do a list, but it would be a total massacre of AFTK, a record that many seem fond of. 

[Mosher]

4 minutes ago, IbanezJem said:

I'd do a list, but it would be a total massacre of AFTK, a record that many seem fond of. 

It's only interesting if we differ, if we all agree than there's no point. :)

[laughedatbytime]

8 minutes ago, IbanezJem said:

I'd do a list, but it would be a total massacre of AFTK, a record that many seem fond of. 

You can just hate on my list then.

[IbanezJem]

15 minutes ago, laughedatbytime said:

You can just hate on my list then.

Please include Madrigal soon. I imagine you'll think of it when you start your evaluation of Presto.

[TheAccountant]

8 hours ago, laughedatbytime said:

hi_water's compelling thread has motivated me to reveal in this thread my own rankings I did a couple of years ago when I went through the whole catalog and ranked the songs.   I did ask him to see if it would be OK to run this list concurrent with his, and he graciously agreed.   

 

I will reveal five songs at a time, hopefully every day, without any real commentary.    In large part this is due to not wanting to devote any more time to relistening to some of the more mundane or turgid parts of the catalog.    Hopefully, people will enjoy this list, and I'm sure some will be very critical of it, but it's intended to be a fun exercise and of interest in comparing various reactions to Rush.   As such though, hi_water's list, with his reviews, should be the more interesting of our two threads.

 

Because it's important to know, my first Rush album was 2112, although I bought it after Kings came out, in late 1977.   The first album I bought concurrent with its' release was Hemispheres.

 

Unlike hi_water, I am not including Feedback in these rankings.

 

So here's my take on the worst five songs in the Rush catalog.    The worst will be no surprise to anyone who's read my post.    While many rankings will change over time, I'm pretty confident that #165 won't change.

 

#165     Half the World (T4E, 11th best of 11)

#164     Good News First (S&A, 13th of 13)

#163     The Speed of Love (CP, 11th of 11)

#162     Tai Shan (HYF, 10th of 10)

#161     Bravest Face (S&A, 12th of 13)

 

 

 

Interesting start.  For me, Tai Shan and The Speed of Love are both top 100 songs so I don't really agree with you there.  The other 3 are not anything really strong but they are better than the very bottom of the barell.  But not close to top 100.  Note - I would rank Half The World above the 2 S & A songs however.

[grep]

Half the songs suck
Half the songs are great
Half the songs want to be the other half

[zepphead]

8 hours ago, IbanezJem said:

I'd do a list, but it would be a total massacre of AFTK, a record that many seem fond of. 

It seems reasonable to be 'fond'  of one of the greatest albums of all time.

[IbanezJem]

5 hours ago, zepphead said:

It seems reasonable to be 'fond'  of one of the greatest albums of all time.

I don`t dispute your underlying logic.