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jwoods89
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Hello all, my name is Jordan and I'm kinda new to Rush. I've owned 1 or 2 of their albums in the past but am looking to buy more of them currently. They're having a huge sell on Amazon on their studio recordings the 97 remasters and I was wondering which albums I should get? I was going to get around 8-10 total since most are $4.99. What do you think?
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Rush varies greatly by taste as they changed soooo much over their career. But here are 8 gems

 

the '80s hits you know and love: Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, Signals

 

The older more progressive stuff that is real classic Rush:

A Farewell To Kings, 2112, and Hemispheres (many afficiandos consider 2112 to be their best work ... me included)

 

One parcticularly great early album:

Fly By Night

 

One particularly great later album:

Hold Your Fire

 

Recent albums that are very good and worth buying, for sure:

Snakes & Arrows and Test For Echo

 

 

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Welcome!!

 

I'd get:

1. 2112

2. A Farewell To Kings

3. Hemispheres

4. Permanent Waves

5. Moving Pictures

6. Signals

7. Grace Under Pressure

8. Counterparts

 

If you want to get 2 more, pick any 2 other than Test For Echo (which isn't a bad album but its my least favorite Rush album).

 

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One way to get a feel for which albums to buy is to listen to a random mix of all Rush songs on say, RushRadio.net or .org, then look up what albums your faves are on. What do you have so far? Have you been to a show? If so, what songs really impressed you from the show?

 

The Sectors box sets are more expensive, but you might end up paying that much by the time you collect all the albums. Something to think about.

 

Welcome to the board, hope you have fun here! bekloppt.gif 2.gif

Edited by 1 of the 7
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I'd recommend at least one per era...

 

In any order -

 

Hemispheres (essential, regarded as best album)

Moving Pictures (you've probably heard most songs)

Permanent Waves (similar to Moving Pictures)

Grace Under Pressure (more keyboards and synths)

Presto (soft rock vibe)

Counterparts (grunge vibe)

Fly By Night (early hard rock vibe)

2112 (break-through album, hard rock)

 

Albums to stay away from as a beginner

 

Vapor Trails

Hold Your Fire

Caress of Steel

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I've been listening to them on and off all day via YouTube and really like quite a bit of the early stuff like FBN and COS, but the albums I had owned in the past were Snakes and Arrows and Moving Pictures, both of which I liked quite a bit.
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QUOTE (jwoods89 @ Feb 29 2012, 09:14 PM)
I've been listening to them on and off all day via YouTube and really like quite a bit of the early stuff like FBN and COS, but the albums I had owned in the past were Snakes and Arrows and Moving Pictures, both of which I liked quite a bit.

In that case, you might want to consider going in chronological order, and all the more reason to consider Sectors, because they cover their earlier material. Have fun!

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QUOTE (jwoods89 @ Feb 29 2012, 09:22 PM)
Thanks all for the insight thus far! How is the documentary featuring them, is it pretty good? Just looking to get something to help me get an insight of the band as well.

The documentary is amazing. You need to see it. yes.gif

Even non-Rush fans enjoyed it. It really shows how hard working and dedicated that band is.

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To get a bit of everything spanning their entire Career, I would go with:

 

Retrospective 1

Retrospective 2

Retrospective 3

2112

Hemispheres

Moving Pictures

Hold Your Fire

Snakes and Arrows

Different Stages

 

 

Now if its just studio albums you want:

 

2112

A Farewell to Kings

Hemispheres

Permanent Waves

Moving Pictures

Signals

Grace Under Pressure

Hold Your Fire

Snakes and Arrows

 

 

This will get you going real Well!

 

2.gif 1022.gif 2.gif

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This is how I usually recommend albums to people:

 

1. Moving Pictures

2. Permanent Waves

 

More you say? What kind of music are you more into?

 

Classic Rock (ie zeppelin sounding)

-2112

-Rush (debut)

 

Progressive rock?

-Hemispheres

 

80s heavy synth?

-Power Windows

-Grace Under Pressure

 

Something a bit darker/more modern rock than Zepp without going into metal?

-Counterparts

-BU2B/Caravan singles

 

Pop/Light Rock?

-Roll the Bones

Also, how the hell did you manage to enjoy MP/PeW enough to ask for more recommendations if you prefer pop over the former choices?

 

 

This process has a 60% new fan rate in my world if you count conceded music snobs. Roughly 85% success rate if you ignore the people who will not enjoy anything that doesn't sound like their favorite genre.

Edited by USB Connector
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QUOTE (An Enemy Without @ Feb 29 2012, 09:45 PM)
QUOTE (Tommy Sawyer @ Feb 29 2012, 08:14 PM)
Albums to stay away from as a beginner

Vapor Trails

wink.gif

That one is definitely their weakest effort.

 

You probably already have noticed that everyone is going to give you a completely different answer to this question.

 

Here are the albums that MOST Rush fans agree are their must have classics:

 

1. Moving Pictures

2. Permanent Waves

3. 2112

4. Hemispheres

5. A Farewell to Kings

 

Interestingly, that's their entire output from 1976-1981, which is often considered their prime period.

 

Personally, I would also include the two albums that came immediately afterwards; Signals and Grace Under Pressure - that's 1976-1984. Beyond that, tastes change dramatically from person to person. Their two most underrated albums, Rush (1974) and Hold Your Fire (1987) are actually two of their best.

 

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

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QUOTE (An Enemy Without @ Feb 29 2012, 11:45 PM)
QUOTE (Tommy Sawyer @ Feb 29 2012, 08:14 PM)
Albums to stay away from as a beginner

Vapor Trails

wink.gif

Well he liked S & A so VT isn't too far fetched. Also, Let Test for Echo be one of your last albums to pick up. Resist is great but the rest is quite forgettable IMO. trink38.gif

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I'll do you a favor bro. Listen to two songs per album, see which you like.

 

Finding my Way, Working Man-Rush

Anthem, By-tor and the Snow Dog-Fly by Night

Bastille Day, The Necromancer-Caress of Steel

2112, Something for Nothing-2112

A Farewell to Kings, Xanadu-A Farewell to Kings

The Trees, La Villa Strangiato-Hemispheres

The Spirit of Radio, Jacob's Ladder-Permanent Waves

Tom Sawyer, Limelight-Moving Pictures

Subdivions, Losing It-Signals

Red Sector A, The Enemy Within-Grace Under Pressure

Marathon, Emotion Detector-Power Windows

Time Stand Still, Prime Mover-Hold Your Fire

The Pass, Available Light-Presto

Dreamline, Bravado-Roll the Bones

Animate, Leave that Thing Alone-Counterparts

Driven, Resist-Test for Echo

Vapor Trails, Nocturne-Vapor Trails

Armor and Sword, The Way the Wind Blows-Snakes and Arrows

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Hey everyone! Here's what I've decided on...

 

Rush

Fly By Night

Moving Pictures

Grace Under Pressure

Caress of Steel

2112

Hemispheres

Signals

A Farewell To Kings

Power Windows

Permanent Waves

 

and I also ordered the Beyond the Lighted Stage blu ray.

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QUOTE (jwoods89 @ Feb 29 2012, 10:40 PM)
Hey everyone! Here's what I've decided on...

Rush
Fly By Night
Moving Pictures
Grace Under Pressure
Caress of Steel
2112
Hemispheres
Signals
A Farewell To Kings
Power Windows
Permanent Waves

and I also ordered the Beyond the Lighted Stage blu ray.

new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

 

That's exactly what I would have recommended!

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QUOTE (jwoods89 @ Feb 29 2012, 10:40 PM)
Hey everyone! Here's what I've decided on...

Rush
Fly By Night
Moving Pictures
Grace Under Pressure
Caress of Steel
2112
Hemispheres
Signals
A Farewell To Kings
Power Windows
Permanent Waves

and I also ordered the Beyond the Lighted Stage blu ray.

You can't really go wrong with any of those, save for a couple of songs on Caress of Steel, and you might not have the same quibbles with those songs that I do.

 

If you love all of those, the great ones you'll still be missing will be Hold Your Fire and Counterparts. Snakes & Arrows is inconsistent, but has some great material and is also well worth getting. The rest have one or two good or great songs on them, if that, so those I'd recommend last, and Test For Echo and Vapor Trails especially are "for completists only."

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QUOTE (rushgoober @ Mar 1 2012, 01:53 AM)
QUOTE (jwoods89 @ Feb 29 2012, 10:40 PM)
Hey everyone! Here's what I've decided on...

Rush
Fly By Night
Moving Pictures
Grace Under Pressure
Caress of Steel
2112
Hemispheres
Signals
A Farewell To Kings
Power Windows
Permanent Waves

and I also ordered the Beyond the Lighted Stage blu ray.

You can't really go wrong with any of those, save for a couple of songs on Caress of Steel, and you might not have the same quibbles with those songs that I do.

 

If you love all of those, the great ones you'll still be missing will be Hold Your Fire and Counterparts. Snakes & Arrows is inconsistent, but has some great material and is also well worth getting. The rest have one or two good or great songs on them, if that, so those I'd recommend last, and Test For Echo and Vapor Trails especially are "for completists only."

just keep in mind that not everyone agrees with Goobs on T4E and VT...

listen to them and make yer own judgements

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QUOTE (ucsteve667 @ Mar 1 2012, 04:00 AM)
QUOTE (rushgoober @ Mar 1 2012, 01:53 AM)
QUOTE (jwoods89 @ Feb 29 2012, 10:40 PM)
Hey everyone! Here's what I've decided on...

Rush
Fly By Night
Moving Pictures
Grace Under Pressure
Caress of Steel
2112
Hemispheres
Signals
A Farewell To Kings
Power Windows
Permanent Waves

and I also ordered the Beyond the Lighted Stage blu ray.

You can't really go wrong with any of those, save for a couple of songs on Caress of Steel, and you might not have the same quibbles with those songs that I do.

 

If you love all of those, the great ones you'll still be missing will be Hold Your Fire and Counterparts. Snakes & Arrows is inconsistent, but has some great material and is also well worth getting. The rest have one or two good or great songs on them, if that, so those I'd recommend last, and Test For Echo and Vapor Trails especially are "for completists only."

just keep in mind that not everyone agrees with Goobs on T4E and VT...

listen to them and make yer own judgements

ABSOLUTELY! Listen to them yourself and make up your own mind... just do that AFTER you listen to all their other albums first! wink.gif

Edited by rushgoober
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QUOTE (jwoods89 @ Mar 1 2012, 01:40 AM)
Hey everyone! Here's what I've decided on...

Rush
Fly By Night
Moving Pictures
Grace Under Pressure
Caress of Steel
2112
Hemispheres
Signals
A Farewell To Kings
Power Windows
Permanent Waves

and I also ordered the Beyond the Lighted Stage blu ray.

new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif Eggcellent. All good choices. Glad you got the debut too, it's underrated around here. And CoS! 1022.gif

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QUOTE (jwoods89 @ Feb 29 2012, 09:00 PM)
Hello all, my name is Jordan and I'm kinda new to Rush. I've owned 1 or 2 of their albums in the past but am looking to buy more of them currently. They're having a huge sell on Amazon on their studio recordings the 97 remasters and I was wondering which albums I should get? I was going to get around 8-10 total since most are $4.99. What do you think?

I will make it simple. Get these 10 albums no questions asked.

 

1) Permanent Waves

2) Hemispheres

3) Moving Pictures

4) Signals

5) Power Windows

6) 2112

7) Grace Under Pressure

8) Hold Your Fire

9) A Farewell To Kings

10) Fly By Night

 

 

What you have is their essential catalog.

 

If you love those then you can move on to all the others.

Edited by Todem
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QUOTE (Storm Shadow @ Mar 1 2012, 06:42 AM)
QUOTE (jwoods89 @ Mar 1 2012, 01:40 AM)
Hey everyone! Here's what I've decided on...

Rush
Fly By Night
Moving Pictures
Grace Under Pressure
Caress of Steel
2112
Hemispheres
Signals
A Farewell To Kings
Power Windows
Permanent Waves

and I also ordered the Beyond the Lighted Stage blu ray.

new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif Eggcellent. All good choices. Glad you got the debut too, it's underrated around here. And CoS! 1022.gif

Just saw that.

 

Should have read the thread.

 

Excellent choices. You will become a Rush nut in no time.

 

 

ENJOY!!!!!

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