Where to start?

[danielmclark]

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Oct 6 2011, 05:39 AM)

QUOTE (HowItIs @ Oct 6 2011, 12:23 AM) Don't ignore any albums just because someone else doesn't like them. If I'd done that, I would be missing out on some of my favorite Rush music. And I also envy you your first time listening to those albums.  Goobs, I love ya man but Presto is a great album! Every single album is going to have its fans. There's no doubt about that, and as I've stated many times, no two people are going to agree on everything here. If anyone puts down ANY Rush album, you'll here many voices decrying them a traitor and defending the album vigorously. After all, we're on a fan site for Rush. It's inevitable.   When I start off with checking out a new group, I look for consensus opinion. What are the albums that are the most universally loved? That's by FAR the best shot I'm going to have of getting into a group or not. If I don't like or love their best 1 or 2 or 3 albums, the chances of me liking or loving their works that have a much lower consensus rating will be very, very small.   That's why I always use rateyourmusic. Tons and tons of people from all walks of life, fans and non-fans, rate albums on a scale of 0 to 5, and with Rush, for almost every album over 1,000 people have rated each album:   http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/rush   You're in very safe territory to stick with the albums that have a 3.70 or higher, and even though I personally think that two albums are severely underrated; Rush and Hold Your Fire, those aren't the two places I'd start with anyway. The ones with a 3.70 or higher (outside of the live albums, which always seem to get higher ratings on RYM) are the albums from 1976-1984. Sound about perfect to me. Very, very hard to go wrong there.   Once you listen to the ones that most people love the most, THEN I would say to try their lesser loved works, no matter how many individuals here might sing their praises. Hell, if you go to a Pink Floyd forum, there are bound to be people who will tell you to start with The Final Cut because it's so awesome, but besides it being a terrible album (IMHO), most all would agree it's at least a terrible place to start. You know, you sold me. Well stated. Presto is my number one - I actually heard Tom Sawyer a couple of years before, didn't like it, and moved on to other bands. Presto was the next thing I heard and it hooked me.   I say that to say this: it's not representative of a large chunk of their output, and you're right - it's safe to say that beginning with the period from 76-84 would be a good way to go.   But after that, Presto

[rushlady23]

QUOTE (ILSnwdog @ Oct 5 2011, 11:13 PM)

QUOTE (Strangiato @ Oct 4 2011, 05:00 PM) I say start with Rush and end with Snakes and Arrows. Get a feel for all of their music. This. It would be fun to listen to how the band evolved though the years.   Welcome to TRF

Edited October 6, 2011 by rushlady23

[Captain Avatar]

 

Welcome to TRF!

 

I was going to suggest that he start with "Chronicles" and then purchase the albums that are represented by the two-track samples that he likes the best. I know it's not going to represent the post-Hold Your Fire years, but it'll cover what most people consider their most critical and influential period.

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Oct 5 2011, 06:06 PM)

QUOTE (Tommy Sawyer @ Oct 5 2011, 04:08 PM) Goober! Skip Presto??? Okay I get the hate for T4E but why must you include Presto? Yes, sure, it's not prog, but those are some KICK-BUTT pop tunes!!!!!!! (if you would call them that) I'd say Presto is a pretty decent place to start with Rush if you are not into metal or hard rock. Very clean sound and well-written tunes. It's the only album since since GUP without one truly bad tune, IMO. Anagram is the weakest, but lately, I've been starting to like it more. OP, I would not 'skip' and leave some albums alone because some people here told you to. Really, the best option has been said: preview all the albums on Spotify, Grooveshark, or the like and then pick the ones you like. Test for Echo, one of the most hated albums here, is my 5th or 6th favorite album, and Presto takes the #2 spot. I'm not trying to offend anybody, here. "Just keeping it real." Presto always struck me as really mediocre pop. Nothing that was particularly bad, but nothing that's particularly good. No standout tracks, and sometimes the lyrics are a bit dodgy - not at the level of some of T4E's lyrics, but still. It struck me at the time as a huge drop in songwriting quality from everything that went before, and nothing has made me change my opinion in the past 20+ years.   Mind you, it's poppy, the songs are catchy as hell, but overall I find it pretty bland or vanilla, especially by Rush standards.   And as to ignoring people's advice as to what albums to ignore, it's somewhat of a moot point anyway as the OP already ordered some albums. And the ones he ordered were wisely some of the ones that have the most positive consensus opinion - always a wise move IMHO when attempting to get into a new group. In retrospect, I completely forgot that Presto contains the truly excellent The Pass, and the really good Chain Lightning. Sometimes when an album is mostly filler it's hard for me to remember there's a gem lost in there. It's kind of like RTB, which has Dreamline. That one is easier for me to remember as it's the first song. Even still, I rarely pull out an album to listen to the only great song on it. Seems kind of a waste of time for the most part.   So, I'm revising my original post - Presto isn't a complete loss, but 9 of the 11 songs range from meh to bleh.

Edited October 10, 2011 by rushgoober

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (alanjoseph @ Oct 5 2011, 03:50 AM)

Hey guys, thanks for all the responses! One suggestion was to get Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves, along with Hemispheres and Signals, and whichever of those latter two I liked best would be a good indicator of which direction (past or present) I should head. Makes sense. So, that's what I did. =) I got all four CDs from Amazon for less than $30, it's like they're having a Rush back catalog sale or something. So, those will be here Friday. Excited for a weekend full of listening. Thanks again for the advice and I'll be back this weekend after listening through each album.

So did you get to listen? What's the verdict? Inquiring minds and all that...

[alanjoseph]

Hey guys, wanted to check in after listening through to each album twice. Here are some initial reactions:

 

Here's the order I'd put these four albums in, most favorite to least favorite:

- Permanent Waves

- Moving Pictures

- Hemispheres

- Signals

 

On Signals, I really really like "Subdivisions", but nothing else on the album stood out. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as interesting as the other three albums on a first and second listen.

 

On Hemispheres, obviously my favorite track is still "The Trees", the only song from the album I had heard before. But the other three tracks were intriguing as well. As mentioned before I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan, so 18 minute songs don't bother me, and some sections here reminded me of my favorite Floyd moments, so I'm excited for listen number three and four and beyond.

 

For Moving Pictures, "Tom Sawyer" remains my favorite, but the whole album is really solid. I got in to "Red Barchetta" and "Limelight" a lot. The production quality here is fantastic. I made sure that all four albums I ordered were the remastered versions... and I played them loud. My speakers were dancing.

 

Finally, Permanent Waves. This album is my favorite so far. It didn't contain any of the songs I had heard before, but it combines the best of Hemispheres and Moving Pictures and I got into every track on the album, especially "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill" and "Natural Science". Those are some great tracks. But overall, sonically, the album is so what I was hoping to hear more of.

 

Thanks so much for your suggestions guys. Based on what I ended up liking, I've ordered 2112 and A Farewell To Kings for next weekend. =)

[Rush Cocky]

QUOTE (alanjoseph @ Oct 12 2011, 07:17 AM)

Hey guys, wanted to check in after listening through to each album twice. Here are some initial reactions: Here's the order I'd put these four albums in, most favorite to least favorite: - Permanent Waves - Moving Pictures - Hemispheres - Signals On Signals, I really really like "Subdivisions", but nothing else on the album stood out. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as interesting as the other three albums on a first and second listen. On Hemispheres, obviously my favorite track is still "The Trees", the only song from the album I had heard before. But the other three tracks were intriguing as well. As mentioned before I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan, so 18 minute songs don't bother me, and some sections here reminded me of my favorite Floyd moments, so I'm excited for listen number three and four and beyond. For Moving Pictures, "Tom Sawyer" remains my favorite, but the whole album is really solid. I got in to "Red Barchetta" and "Limelight" a lot. The production quality here is fantastic. I made sure that all four albums I ordered were the remastered versions... and I played them loud. My speakers were dancing. Finally, Permanent Waves. This album is my favorite so far. It didn't contain any of the songs I had heard before, but it combines the best of Hemispheres and Moving Pictures and I got into every track on the album, especially "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill" and "Natural Science". Those are some great tracks. But overall, sonically, the album is so what I was hoping to hear more of. Thanks so much for your suggestions guys. Based on what I ended up liking, I've ordered 2112 and A Farewell To Kings for next weekend. =)

[fordgt99]

QUOTE (alanjoseph @ Oct 12 2011, 06:17 AM)

Hey guys, wanted to check in after listening through to each album twice. Here are some initial reactions: Here's the order I'd put these four albums in, most favorite to least favorite: - Permanent Waves - Moving Pictures - Hemispheres - Signals On Signals, I really really like "Subdivisions", but nothing else on the album stood out. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as interesting as the other three albums on a first and second listen. On Hemispheres, obviously my favorite track is still "The Trees", the only song from the album I had heard before. But the other three tracks were intriguing as well. As mentioned before I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan, so 18 minute songs don't bother me, and some sections here reminded me of my favorite Floyd moments, so I'm excited for listen number three and four and beyond. For Moving Pictures, "Tom Sawyer" remains my favorite, but the whole album is really solid. I got in to "Red Barchetta" and "Limelight" a lot. The production quality here is fantastic. I made sure that all four albums I ordered were the remastered versions... and I played them loud. My speakers were dancing. Finally, Permanent Waves. This album is my favorite so far. It didn't contain any of the songs I had heard before, but it combines the best of Hemispheres and Moving Pictures and I got into every track on the album, especially "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill" and "Natural Science". Those are some great tracks. But overall, sonically, the album is so what I was hoping to hear more of. Thanks so much for your suggestions guys. Based on what I ended up liking, I've ordered 2112 and A Farewell To Kings for next weekend. =)

Congrats on your purchases and great post! At some point I'd suggest getting Fly By Night and some of the later releases too.

 

 

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (Rush Cocky @ Oct 12 2011, 06:17 AM)

QUOTE (alanjoseph @ Oct 12 2011, 07:17 AM) Hey guys, wanted to check in after listening through to each album twice. Here are some initial reactions: Here's the order I'd put these four albums in, most favorite to least favorite: - Permanent Waves - Moving Pictures - Hemispheres - Signals On Signals, I really really like "Subdivisions", but nothing else on the album stood out. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as interesting as the other three albums on a first and second listen. On Hemispheres, obviously my favorite track is still "The Trees", the only song from the album I had heard before. But the other three tracks were intriguing as well. As mentioned before I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan, so 18 minute songs don't bother me, and some sections here reminded me of my favorite Floyd moments, so I'm excited for listen number three and four and beyond. For Moving Pictures, "Tom Sawyer" remains my favorite, but the whole album is really solid. I got in to "Red Barchetta" and "Limelight" a lot. The production quality here is fantastic. I made sure that all four albums I ordered were the remastered versions... and I played them loud. My speakers were dancing. Finally, Permanent Waves. This album is my favorite so far. It didn't contain any of the songs I had heard before, but it combines the best of Hemispheres and Moving Pictures and I got into every track on the album, especially "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill" and "Natural Science". Those are some great tracks. But overall, sonically, the album is so what I was hoping to hear more of. Thanks so much for your suggestions guys. Based on what I ended up liking, I've ordered 2112 and A Farewell To Kings for next weekend. =) +1

[Tommy Sawyer]

QUOTE (alanjoseph @ Oct 12 2011, 07:17 AM)

Hey guys, wanted to check in after listening through to each album twice. Here are some initial reactions: Here's the order I'd put these four albums in, most favorite to least favorite: - Permanent Waves - Moving Pictures - Hemispheres - Signals On Signals, I really really like "Subdivisions", but nothing else on the album stood out. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as interesting as the other three albums on a first and second listen. On Hemispheres, obviously my favorite track is still "The Trees", the only song from the album I had heard before. But the other three tracks were intriguing as well. As mentioned before I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan, so 18 minute songs don't bother me, and some sections here reminded me of my favorite Floyd moments, so I'm excited for listen number three and four and beyond. For Moving Pictures, "Tom Sawyer" remains my favorite, but the whole album is really solid. I got in to "Red Barchetta" and "Limelight" a lot. The production quality here is fantastic. I made sure that all four albums I ordered were the remastered versions... and I played them loud. My speakers were dancing. Finally, Permanent Waves. This album is my favorite so far. It didn't contain any of the songs I had heard before, but it combines the best of Hemispheres and Moving Pictures and I got into every track on the album, especially "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill" and "Natural Science". Those are some great tracks. But overall, sonically, the album is so what I was hoping to hear more of. Thanks so much for your suggestions guys. Based on what I ended up liking, I've ordered 2112 and A Farewell To Kings for next weekend. =)

Wow, great to hear opinions from a first-time listener.

 

2112 and AFTK are great choices. If you don't like Signals, it may be a good idea to skip Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, and Hold Your Fire. If you like Permanent Waves a lot, you may want to check out Presto and Roll the Bones. They don't have as much synth and they have a great stripped down pop sound. Just a thought - you probably want Fly By Night first.

[sco703]

Definitely start with Moving Pictures. I did, but then I ended up not really getting into Rush until a year and a half later. But I'm odd, and I listen to waaay too much different music. So yeah, start with Moving Pictures and let happiness seep into your brain and water your flowers.