Rush Albums in Order of Awesomeness

[GeddPratLerxst]

Ok I just completed my list of albums in order of greatness. Now agree or disagree with me, I'm interested in what ya'll's order would be.

It's kinda hard isn't it?

 

My choices:

 

1.Moving Pictures (To me it's the obvious top. Not that its my favorite album but it's pretty much THE album...)

2.2112 (With the arguably their best epic and Passage to Bangkok its a good #2)

3.Hemispheres (The Trees, Circumstances, La Villa Strangiato, Cygnus X-1: Book II. Epic.)

4.Caress of Steel (Obviously underrated when it was released, I think we can look back now and see that it was a GREAT album.)

5.Permanent Waves (First album ever released in the eighties, it doesn't have a bad track.)

6.Fly By Night (First album with Neil... Really starts to become more progy. And also listen to Rivendell. It's certainly one of my all time favorites.)

7.A Farewell to Kings (It's okay. Not that its bad at all thats why it #7.)

8.Rush (It's their first album so its cool, but to mainstream for me. Yeah of course Working Man is a classic.)

9.Signals (Best 80's album by far. Countdown= great song.)

10.Grace Under Pressure (Red Sector A, Kid Gloves, The Enemy Within.)

11.Counterparts (To me personally this is a good album. Maybe ya'll disagree? Still you have to admit, there are some great tracks on this album.)

12.Presto (THE PASS.)

13.Snakes and Arrows (To me, completely underrated.)

14.Roll the Bones (I actually love the rap. Plus Bravado!)

15.Test For Echo (Driven, Half the World, Resist pretty good, but get a little heavy.)

16.Hold Your Fire (Hard to put this all the way down here because I think Mission and actually Time Stand Still are decent songs but God, Lock and Key is a bad song. For Rush.)

17.Power Windows (Grand Designs is probably the only song I really like off of PW. The synth part is pretty cool.)

18. Vapor Trails (TOO HEAVY!)

[Scars]

QUOTE (GeddPratLerxst @ Nov 3 2010, 08:52 PM)

9.Signals (Best 80's album by far. Countdown= great song.)

According to your list, you mean 2nd best

 

I don't think I could possibly disagree with your list anymore (Lock and Key is a bad song? Countdown as the Signals stand-out over Subdivisions?)

 

Here's my list regardless of our differences

 

1. Power Windows

2. Hold Your Fire

3. Grace Under Pressure

4. Presto

5. Counterparts

6. Moving Pictures

7. Roll the Bones

8. Test for Echo

9. Signals

10. Permanent Waves

11. A Farewell to Kings

12. Hemispheres

13. 2112

14. Fly By Night

15. Vapor Trails

16. Snakes & Arrows

17. Caress of Steel

18. Rush

[ColdFireYYZ]

Like with all my lists, this will probably change over time. Here are my current favorites.

 

1. Signals (contains 2 of my favorites, Subdivisions & Analog Kid)

2. 2112 (a masterpiece)

3. Permanent Waves (Natural Science & Jacob's Ladder are two songs I'd love to hear live)

4. Moving Pictures (The Camera Eye and Vital Signs are epic)

5. Hemispheres (4 solid tracks)

6. Counterparts (Cold Fire, Double Agent, Cut to the Chase...all great songs)

7. A Farewell to Kings (Xanadu and Cygnus X-1 are classic prog)

8. Grace Under Pressure (cool synths and awesome songs)

9. Presto (other than the crappy production, it has a lot of good tracks)

10. Power Windows (every track is great except for Mystic Rythms, a decent track)

11. Hold Your Fire (would be in top 5 if it wasn't for the last two tracks. Lots of great songs on this one)

12. Fly By Night (cool, under-rated album)

13. Snakes and Arrows (half good, half mediocre/bad)

14. Roll The Bones (see S&A description)

15. Test For Echo (a few good tracks in there)

16. Rush (decent debut, John Rutsey does a good job)

17. Caress of Steel (Necromancer is to weird for me)

18. Vapor Trails (bad production, some good songs, lots of crap)

 

[GeddPratLerxst]

Whoops sorry about that. I meant like synth 80's if you know what i mean.

[apetersvt]

QUOTE (GeddPratLerxst @ Nov 3 2010, 08:52 PM)

Ok I just completed my list of albums in order of greatness. Now agree or disagree with me, I'm interested in what ya'll's order would be. It's kinda hard isn't it? My choices: 1.Moving Pictures (To me it's the obvious top. Not that its my favorite album but it's pretty much THE album...) 2.2112 (With the arguably their best epic and Passage to Bangkok its a good #2) 3.Hemispheres (The Trees, Circumstances, La Villa Strangiato, Cygnus X-1: Book II. Epic.) 4.Caress of Steel (Obviously underrated when it was released, I think we can look back now and see that it was a GREAT album.) 5.Permanent Waves (First album ever released in the eighties, it doesn't have a bad track.) 6.Fly By Night (First album with Neil... Really starts to become more progy. And also listen to Rivendell. It's certainly one of my all time favorites.) 7.A Farewell to Kings (It's okay. Not that its bad at all thats why it #7.) 8.Rush (It's their first album so its cool, but to mainstream for me. Yeah of course Working Man is a classic.) 9.Signals (Best 80's album by far. Countdown= great song.) 10.Grace Under Pressure (Red Sector A, Kid Gloves, The Enemy Within.) 11.Counterparts (To me personally this is a good album. Maybe ya'll disagree? Still you have to admit, there are some great tracks on this album.) 12.Presto (THE PASS.) 13.Snakes and Arrows (To me, completely underrated.) 14.Roll the Bones (I actually love the rap. Plus Bravado!) 15.Test For Echo (Driven, Half the World, Resist pretty good, but get a little heavy.) 16.Hold Your Fire (Hard to put this all the way down here because I think Mission and actually Time Stand Still are decent songs but God, Lock and Key is a bad song. For Rush.) 17.Power Windows (Grand Designs is probably the only song I really like off of PW. The synth part is pretty cool.) 18. Vapor Trails (TOO HEAVY!)

My list will look very close to your list (and the inverse of Scars' list) except I have VT a lot higher

 

Caress Of Steel

Hemispheres

A Farewell To Kings

2112

Moving Pictures

Permanent Waves

Fly By Night

Rush

Grace Under Pressure

Signals

Vapor Trails

Power Windows

Counterparts

Snakes And Arrows

Roll The Bones

Test For Echo

Hold Your Fire

Presto

[GeddPratLerxst]

QUOTE (Scars @ Nov 3 2010, 09:09 PM)

QUOTE (GeddPratLerxst @ Nov 3 2010, 08:52 PM) 9.Signals (Best 80's album by far. Countdown= great song.) According to your list, you mean 2nd best   I don't think I could possibly disagree with your list anymore (Lock and Key is a bad song? Countdown as the Signals stand-out over Subdivisions?)   Here's my list regardless of our differences   1. Power Windows 2. Hold Your Fire 3. Grace Under Pressure 4. Presto 5. Counterparts 6. Moving Pictures 7. Roll the Bones 8. Test for Echo 9. Signals 10. Permanent Waves 11. A Farewell to Kings 12. Hemispheres 13. 2112 14. Fly By Night 15. Vapor Trails 16. Snakes & Arrows 17. Caress of Steel 18. Rush Yeah well subdivisions of course is great but countdown is a really cool underrated song. And Lock and Key is a good song?

[tkdryan]

Power windows is my fav

 

Its to hard these days to decide,,,

 

I listen to Presto the least

 

I think though because i need to get a new Remastered version.....

 

Its still really good

[Silas Lang]

I'm in the minority that likes every album to some degree; even every song (with the possible exception of some of the stuff on S&A). For me, the albums up to and including Power Windows are pretty much flawless (aside from Signals, the obvious weak link in the discography up to that point).

The top 8 are set in stone:

 

Permanent Waves

Moving Pictures

2112

Grace Under Pressure

Caress of Steel

A Farewell To Kings

Hemispheres

 

The next 5 are very close to call and could easily be rearranged:

 

Power Windows

Vapor Trails

Fly By Night

Test For Echo

Counterparts

 

Last 5 are certain:

 

Signals

Presto

Roll The Bones

Hold Your Fire

Snakes & Arrows (admittedly I haven't given it nearly enough attention but I plan to in the near future)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[savagegrace26]

1. Permanent Waves

2. Presto

3. Grace Under Pressure

4. Signals

5. Moving Pictures

6. A Farewell to Kings

7. Hemispheres

8. Power Windows

9. Counterparts

10. Hold Your Fire

11. Snakes & Arrows

12. 2112

13. Test for Echo

14. Caress of Steel

15. Fly By Night

16. Vapor Trails

17. Roll the Bones

18. Rush

[VarianStar]

1. Vapor Trails

2. Counterparts

3. Presto

4. Power Windows

5. Hemispheres

6. Permanent Waves

7. Rush

8. Caress Of Steel

9. Snakes & Arrows

10. Roll The Bones

11. Hold Your Fire

12. Test For Echo

13. A Farewell To Kings

14. Fly By Night

15. 2112

16. Signals

17. Moving Pictures

18. Grace Under Pressure

 

My list has actually changed a little since the last time I did this. Snakes & Arrows hasn't held up for me like their other albums. It's dropped quite a bit from the original #3 spot it held. The debut, Presto, and Permanent Waves have all moved up the list.

 

 

[tontonfranck]

It's quite hard to decide so I need time to think about it.

[circumstantial tree]

1. Hold Your Fire

2. Signals

3. Fly By Night

4. Moving Pictures

5. A Farewell to Kings

6. Presto

7. Vapor Trails

8. Power Windows

9. Grace Under Pressure

10. Roll the Bones

11.Permanent Waves

12. Rush

13. Caress of Steel

14. Hemispheres

15. 2112

16. Snakes and Arrows

17. Counterparts

 

 

 

 

 

 

bottom of the heap: test for echo

[Lost In Xanadu]

Permanent Waves

Moving Pictures

Signals

2112

A Farewell to Kings

Power Windows

Hemispheres

Presto

Snakes & Arrows

Caress of Steel

Test For Echo

Vapor Trails

Grace Under Pressure

Fly By Night

Counterparts

Roll the Bones

Hold Your Fire

Rush

 

 

 

[TullSkull]

This Week It Is...

 

1. Power Windows

2. Grace Under Pressure

3. Permanent Waves

4. Test for Echo

5. Moving Pictures

6. Presto

7. Hold Your Fire

8. Roll the Bones

9. Snakes & Arrows

10. Vapor Trails

11. Counterparts

12. Rush

13. Hemispheres

14. Caress of Steel

15. Fly By Night

16. Signals

17. A Farewell to Kings

18. 2112

 

 

[rushgoober]

Ok, I edited this to add in comments:

 

1. Signals (for overall consistency - every song is a winner and the whole thing works brilliantly as a whole)

2. Moving Pictures (would be #1 if not for TCE - goes on too long and thematically not that interesting, but it's still a great song - side 1 is the best album side of all time)

3. Hemispheres (this moved up a spot form last time as I re-assessed the title track as even better than I thought - side 2 is perfection)

4. Permanent Waves (side 2 outside of Natural Science, while great, knocks it down a peg, but still overall brilliant)

5. A Farewell To Kings (side 1 is perfect, side 2 a bit less so, but still excellent album)

6. Rush (remarkably consistent and would rank higher if it was slightly more mature, but still this is hard rock excellent fun - hideously underrated)

7. Grace Under Pressure (another great solid effort - 2nd best of the synth era)

8. Hold Your Fire (would rank at least 2 spots higher if not for the last 2 tracks, but the rest is SOOO good)

9. 2112 (sometimes I get lost somewhere in side 2, even though there are no bad songs - could move up at some point)

10. Fly By Night (took years to grow on me, but now I love it, just not as much as some others)

11. Power Windows (never seemed very cohesive to me overall, but again no weak tracks)

12. Counterparts (it loses a little steam towards the end, but still overall a great comeback album after two weak efforts)

13. Caress of Steel (would rank considerably higher if not for ITIGB (too corny) and The Necromancer (ruined by narration))

14. Snakes & Arrows (half of a great album, and even the weak tracks are generally better than the weak tracks on the albums below)

 

15. Presto (outside of The Pass and Chain Lightning I find this pretty uninspiring - the songs are catchy as hell, but lyrically it's a big step down from what came before)

16. Roll The Bones (what can I say? Dreamline is brilliant. The rest ranges from mediocre to terrible)

17. Test For Echo (a few songs with embarrassingly bad lyrics and not one song really moves me at all)

 

 

 

 

18. Vapor Trails (a disaster in every way)

[SlyJeff]

As I've said before (I think) the gab between MP and Presto is not that wide.

This week:

 

1. Moving Pictures

2. Snakes & Arrows

3. Hemispheres

4. Hold Your Fire

5. 2112

6. Permanent Waves

7. Power Windows

8. Grace Under Pressure

9. Fly By Night

10. A Farewell To Kings

11. Roll The Bones

12. Signals

13. Counterparts

14. Test For Echo

15. Presto

 

16. Caress of Steel

 

17. Rush

 

 

 

18. Vapor Trails

[Atomic]

Permanent Waves

Snakes & Arrows

Moving Pictures

Hemispheres

Signals

Power Windows

Grace Under Pressure

Counterparts

2112

Fly By Night

A Farewell To Kings

Presto

Test for Echo

Vapour Trails

Caress of Steel

Hold Your Fire

Roll The Bones

Rush

 

 

 

 

 

[tontonfranck]

Moving pictures

Counterparts

Roll the bones

Permanent Waves

Hemispheres

Power Windows

Signals

2112

Presto

Grace Under Pressure

Snakes & Arrows

Hold Your Fire

Test for Echo

Fly By Night

Rush

Vapour Trails

A Farewell To Kings

Caress of Steel

 

Funny game, my taste for each album is always in evolution.

 

 

[nappy2112]

Moving Pictures

Permanent Waves

A Farewell to Kings

Hemispheres

Signals

Vapor Trails

Power Windows

2112

Snakes & Arrows

Counterparts

Fly By Night

Presto

Grace Under Pressure

Roll the Bones

Rush

Caress of Steel

Test for Echo

Hold Your Fire

[GeddysMullet]

1. Hemispheres

2. Tie - 2112, A Farewell To Kings, Permanent Waves, Grace Under Pressure, Snakes & Arrows

3. Tie - Signals, Vapour Trails

4. Tie - Fly By Night, Moving Pictures, Hold Your Fire

5. Everything else!

[greg2112]

SIGNALS. The album that started it all for this fan. My favorite album by any band.

[JohnnyBlaze]

QUOTE (GeddPratLerxst @ Nov 4 2010, 10:52 AM)

Ok I just completed my list of albums in order of greatness. Now agree or disagree with me, I'm interested in what ya'll's order would be. It's kinda hard isn't it? My choices: 2.2112 (With the arguably their best epic and Passage to Bangkok its a good #2) 3.Hemispheres (The Trees, Circumstances, La Villa Strangiato, Cygnus X-1: Book II. Epic.) 4.Caress of Steel (Obviously underrated when it was released, I think we can look back now and see that it was a GREAT album.) 18. Vapor Trails (TOO HEAVY!)

#18 TOO HEAVY?!!?!!!

#'s 2, 3, and 4 aren't heavy?

tHe sTarS Look Down, HoW iT iS, etc. too heavy?!!

Huh? What?!!

[YYZrocks]

1. Hemispheres

2. Permanent Waves

3. Moving Pictures

4. 2112

5. Fly By Night

6. A Farewell to Kings

7. Caress of Steel

8. Signals

9. Grace Under Pressure

10. Hold Your Fire

11. Rush

12. Power Windows

13. Snakes & Arrows

14. Counterparts

15. Roll the Bones

16. Presto

17. Test for Echo

18. Vapor Trails

[Bastille Dave]

QUOTE (GeddysMullet @ Nov 4 2010, 03:29 PM)

1.  Hemispheres 2.  Tie - 2112, A Farewell To Kings, Permanent Waves, Grace Under Pressure, Snakes & Arrows 3.  Tie - Signals, Vapour Trails 4.  Tie - Fly By Night, Moving Pictures, Hold Your Fire 5.  Everything else!

I agree with this that so many of Rush's albums are near the top for me. Mine is somewhat similar to those except I lean more towards the early years.

 

1.Hemispheres slightly edging out MP (on some days it's the opposite but most of the time it's H>MP)

2. 2112-AFTK (tie)

3. PeW

4. FBN-CoS (tie, FBN slightly better but "Rivendell" brings it down to a tie with CoS)

5. Signals

6. Rush

7. P/G

8. PoW

9. Maybe Presto

10. The Rest

[Jaminbenb]

1. Hemispheres Top to bottom a GREAT album! EPIC tunes, great sound!

 

2. (Really 1a) A Farewell to Kings Basically tied for first...I treat these two as a "double album" usually, in fact, I have them burnt on one disc for continuity!

 

3. Permanent Waves all solid tunes!!!! Natural Science is one of my most FAVORITE songs!

 

4. Caress of Steel Was one of the first Rush studio albums I ever owned! (ATWAS was the first Rush album I bought, CoS was second!) More EPIC tunes, ok, I think I'm going bald is weird, but.....

 

5. Snakes & Arrows AWESOME album! All great tunes and the sound of it is phenomenal! Hard to believe that a band together so long can create such a great album!

 

6. Grace Under Pressure Got me through the 80's, great tunes, love the sonic qualities of it.

 

7. Counterparts Rush stretching out in different directions and different sounds.

 

8. Moving Pictures Great album, but not my favorite.

 

9. 2112 Side one is awesome, too many "filler" tunes in between... (Lessons, Tears,Twilight Zone)

 

10. Fly By Night Neils Debut! Good tunes.

 

11. Signals Never really liked it that much, I always thought it was a throwaway type album..in a way like "we need to put out an album now...here it is"

 

12. Rush eh...better than some others gotta put it somewhere.

 

13. Presto too "pop" sounding for my taste, don't like the overall sound of it, tunes are just alright...

 

14. Power Windows crappy synth tunes

 

15. Hold Your Fire more poppy than Presto IMHO....Turn the Page is probably the only tune I really like.

 

16. Vapor Trails just can't listen to it anymore...I like the tunes they played live, but...ugh!

 

17. Roll the Bones I like Dreamline...THAT'S IT!

 

18. Test for Echo I like Driven....THAT'S IT!

 

 

Like it or not, it's my opinion as a LONG time fan! (bought ATWAS about a month after it came out) A few here and there could be interchanged by a placing up or down depending upon my moos...but this is mostly where I stand with the albums. My Rush "formative" years really hit their stride when AFTK and Hemispheres came out....right when Permanent Waves came out, I didn't like it, but it grew on me and became a favorite album!

 

To kind of highlight HOW and WHY some of the choices hit me the way they do, I bought the albums in THIS order:

 

ATWAS

Caress of Steel (8 track!!!)

AFTK

Archives (Rush, FBN, CoS for those that don't remember)

Hemishperes

etc. as released...