Rank the Rush Albums

[ruthless137]

Hemispheres

Permanent Waves

Signals

Clockwork Angles

Moving Pictures

Counterparts

Power Windows

Grace under Pressure

Roll the Bones

Vapor Trails

2112

Hold Your Fire

Snakes And Arrows

Farewell to Kings

Test For Echo

Presto

Caress of Steel

Fly by Night

Rush

 

[laughedatbytime]

1 PeW

2 Hemi

3 MP

4 AFTK

5 2112

6 CA

7 p/g

8 Signals

9 FBN

10 PoW

11 Rush

12 COS

13 CP

14 T4E

15 RTB

16 HYF

17 Presto

18 VT

19 S&A

[Empty Mindless Spectre]

1. Moving Pictures

2. Hemispheres

3. Permanent Waves

 

4. Caress of Steel

4. A Farewell to Kings

4. Signals

4. 2112

4. Fly by Night

4. RUSH

 

10. Grace Under Pressure

10. Clockwork Angels

 

12. Counterparts

12. Hold Your Fire

12. Power Windows

 

15. Snakes and Arrows

15. Test for Echo

15. Vapor Trails

 

18. Presto

18. Feedback

 

20. Roll the Bones

Edited September 3, 2012 by Empty Mindless Spectre

[CygnusGal]

My current standings (original material only) are:

 

1. Clockwork Angels

1. Moving Pictures

 

Hemispheres

Vapor Trails

Permanent Waves

Counterparts

2112

Snakes and Arrows

Power Windows

Fly By Night

A Farewell to Kings

Rush

Signals

Grace Under Pressure

Test For Echo

Roll The Bones

Caress of Steel

Presto

Hold Your Fire

[Mr. Not]

1. A Farewell to Kings

Something very unique about this album. The title track is outstanding, and in whole this is simply a great album to listen to.

2. Signals

Some true gems in here: The Analog Kid, Subdivisions, Countdown... The beginning of the synth era was strong!

3. Caress of Steel

My favorite album of theirs when it comes to the "Epics". The Fountain of Lamneth is a masterpiece!

4. Hemispheres

A perfect album as many here agree. Four great tracks.

5. Grace Under Pressure

The album that got me into the band. Over time, it's gone from #1 to a bit lower, but it still has that nostalgic value to it and is an album that means something to me. I remember sitting in the park doing my schoolwork at the break of dawn while listening to Distant Early Warning...

 

6. Permanent Waves

7. Hold Your Fire

8. Fly by Night

9. Moving Pictures

10. Power Windows

11. 2112

12. Presto

13. Snakes & Arrows

14. Clockwork Angels

15. Vapor Trails

16. Test for Echo

17. Counterparts

18. Roll the Bones

19. Rush

.

1. Signals

Some true gems in here: The Analog Kid, Subdivisions, Countdown... The beginning of the synth era was strong!

2. A Farewell to Kings

Something very unique about this album. The title track is outstanding, and in whole this is simply a great album to listen to

3. Caress of Steel

My favorite album of theirs when it comes to the "Epics". The Fountain of Lamneth is a masterpiece!

4. Hemispheres

A perfect album as many here agree. Four great tracks.

5. Grace Under Pressure

The album that got me into the band. Over time, it's gone from #1 to a bit lower, but it still has that nostalgic value to it and is an album that means something to me. I remember sitting in the park doing my schoolwork at the break of dawn while listening to Distant Early Warning...

 

6. Permanent Waves

7. Fly by Night

8. Moving Pictures

9. Power Windows

10 Hold Your Fire

11. Clockwork Angels

12. Snakes & Arrows

13. 2112

14. Counterparts

15. Presto

16. Vapor Trails

17. Test for Echo

18. Roll the Bones

19. Rush

[Spaghetti Lee]

I don't know what you guys are drinking. There are really only 6 top albums from the boyz. I can't even rate any albums below these, because these are the beez kneez from the boyz:

 

1. Incest Whore Gecko

2. Pissto

3. Roll the Boners

4. Cunterfarts

5. Poopchutes & Bladders

6. Cockburp Facefuls

[Geddy's Soul Patch]

1. A Farewell to Kings

2. Hemispheres

3. Permanent Waves

4. Signals

5. Power Windows

6. Hold Your Fire

7. 2112

8. Roll the Bones

9. Grace Under Pressure

10. Moving Pictures

11. Presto

12. Caress of Steel

13. Fly by Night

14. Counterparts

15. Vapor Trails

16. Clockwork Angels

17. Test for Echo

18. Rush

19. Snakes and Arrows

[GeminiRising79]

Clockwork Angels... Not even once, lol.

[LedRush]

1. Hemispheres - The height of the conceptual period. The songs are strong, and the playing is unmatched.

 

2. 2112 - One of the greatest songs every, complimented by 5 very good to amazing songs.

 

3. Caress of Steel - A critical and commercial failure, this album holds a special place in my heart. With one foot in the past, the band rocked out with two great songs. With one foot in the future they try the dark and beautifully ambitious Necromancer and Fountain.

 

4. Moving Pictures - Hit after hit after hit. Red Barchetta is like a little movie, and I'll never get tired of that song.

 

5. Fly By Night - Early and raw, with light and shade. Hints of brilliance to come in other fields, while mastering the hard rock/metal genre.

 

6. Clockwork Angels - Power and beauty. No album rocks much harder, and no album has more beautiful songs.

 

7. Farewell to Kings - Great songs, great subtlety, great lyrics. Only Cygnus X-1, the band's worst (but still ok) concept song drags this album down to #7.

 

8. Permanent Waves - A great and ambitious new start for the band, Natural Science and Jacob's Ladder aren't the band's best work, but they are still good.

 

9. Roll the Bones - After 3 disappointing albums (and many would argue 5), RTB corrects the mistakes of Presto, adding better songs to go with the return to guitar sound.

 

10. Signals - For many, the start of a period of decline for the band. The album only has one weak song, though, even if it only had a couple of great ones.

 

11. Test for Echo - Correcting the embarrassing mistakes of Counterparts, this album sees Rush back in fine form with a focus on good songs.

 

12. Vapor Trails - Bad production can't hide very good songs. The album is weighed down by a lack of variety and excessive length, and that the album's worst two songs were released as the signals and played live. Rush never rocked harder than this.

 

13. Rush - The original still kicks much ass, giving a glimpse at the power of the band. In retrospect, you can see the skill and diversity that would become Rush staples, but at the time, it's impossible to think the band would be where it was a mere two years later.

 

14. Grace Under Pressure - The band retains some of the power of its earlier days, though layers in interesting themes and a ton of synths.

 

15. Snakes & Arrows - 4 great songs, including the best song of the 2000's, can't wipe away the fact that the band was mired in mid-tempo trudges that went nowhere. Still, the clean sound, good lyrics, and inarguable highs make this an album worth enjoying.

 

16. Power Windows - 4 amazing songs and 2 good ones and two not so good ones. The first album where not great songs equal the great ones.

 

17. Hold Your Fire - Much maligned, this album was more ambitious than it seems. The band stretches to new themes, sometimes succeeding, but often with just ok results.

 

18. Presto - A commercial low-point for the band, in their first effort to shed the synths the band had lost the focus on song writing.

 

19. Counterparts - An almost embarrassing effort by the band. Rush's return to a harder, grunge sound completely forgot to bring the songs and lyrics. With only one great song, and very few very good ones, there's not much to like here other than a return of the hard guitars, a fact that obscures objective evaluation of this album by the hard core fans. The lyrics show why Peart doesn't tackle love.

 

I think my list would look quite different today.

[LedRush]

1. Caress of Steel

2. Hemispheres

3. 2112

4. Moving Pictures

5. Clockwork Angels

6. Permanent Waves

7. Fly By Night

8. A Farewell to Kings

9. Test for Echo

10. Roll the Bones

11. Vapor Trails

12. Rush

13. Grace Under Pressure

14. Signals

15. Power Windows

16. Presto

17. Hold Your Fire

18. Snakes & Arrows

19. Counterparts

[Rutlefan]

"Favorites" with no attempt at being objective:

 

1. Hemispheres

2. Moving Pictures

3. A Farewell to Kings

4. Permanent Waves

5. 2112

6. Snakes and Arrows

7. Vapor Trails

8. Caress of Steel

9. Fly by Night

10. Grace Under Pressure

11. Rush

12. Signals

13. Clockwork Angels

14. Counterparts

15. Hold Your Fire

16. Power Windows

17. Test for Echo

18. Presto

19. Roll the Bones

[Rutlefan]

I don't know what you guys are drinking. There are really only 6 top albums from the boyz. I can't even rate any albums below these, because these are the beez kneez from the boyz:

 

1. Incest Whore Gecko

2. Pissto

3. Roll the Boners

4. Cunterfarts

5. Poopchutes & Bladders

6. Cockburp Facefuls

 

You might have been the 12 year-old...

 

http://www.theonion.com/articles/mad-lib-filled-with-swears,3218/

[The Analog Cub]

1. Counterparts

I've been listening to Rush since I was a wee lad, and I have gone through many favorites, but currently Counterparts wins. So much POWER. They're mature musicians (unlike during most of the 70's), their interplay is showing its peak, and it was the long awaited return to HARD ROCK. People call this album their "alternative" album, but I don't get it. It came out when grunge was at the forefront but that doesn't really show on Counterparts. No angsty whiny slit-my-wrist-while-I-shoot-a-speedball music. The first 5 songs are brilliant, Alien Shore and Everyday Glory are wonderful, Cold Fire is one of their best songs of the 90's, and Leave That Thing Alone is their best instrumental after La Villa. The only clunker is Speed Of Love, which I'm sure everyone agrees with. I love this album to death, and you naysayers who hate everything after Signals can bite me.

 

Also: I can hear LedRush crying while reading this ;)

 

2. Grace Under Pressure

The first album I listened to where I loved every song (I didn't like Witch Hunt at first, so no, Moving Pictures doesn't win). Wonderful opener and closer, with a ton of hidden gems, with Afterimage being the the only other song I would kill to hear live than Cut To The Chase. The Enemy Within, Body Electric, and Kid Gloves are some of their best 80's work.

 

3. Signals

One of Rush's best all time songs (Subdivisions), one of their greatest hidden gems (Countdown), and some of their best 80's work (Analog Kid, Digital Man, Losing It, New World Man). However it does have one real stinker: Chemistry. I hate that song. So much. But damn, this album is wonderful. I love going straight to it after Moving Pictures and just listening to them evolve their sound. I was really pleased when I got to see them play Digital Man on the Snakes and Arrows Tour.

 

4. Hemispheres

Their best album of the 70's (and the one with the least amount of tracks!). My favorite epic track (Cygnus), The Trees is one of their best 70's songs, and Circumstances, while I'm not overly fond of it, is listenable. Yet in my 8 years of playing the guitar, my absolute favorite song to test out on any new guitar I pick up is La Villa Strangiato, particularly Lerxst in Wonderland. If I can make the guitar sing beautifully with that piece, then it is a great guitar indeed. Love this album.

 

5. Moving Pictures

One of the few instances where an album Rolling Stone likes is actually worth listening to. I'm sure we all agree this album rocks. We all know it and love it, and this one requires no explanation from me.

 

6. Clockwork Angels

OHHH I WISH THAT I COULD LIVE IT ALL AGAIN. And the boys are living the success they had with Moving Pictures yet again with this masterpiece. The songwriting is superb, with the title track, The Anarchist, Carnies, Seven Cities, Headlong Flight, and The Garden being exceptional tracks. Headlong Flight and The Anarchist easily make my top 10 favorite all time Rush songs. Caravan, BU2B, Carnies, and Halo Effect are also good. If you guys know me by now, you know I have never given a damn about the lyrics, so I find BU2B2 unnecessary in terms of music, but it is what it is. Wish Them Well is the stinker on this album. It's really good live, but I usually skip this one on the album.

 

7. Power Windows

Their last truly great album before Counterparts. I'm glad they were able bust out this piece of work before tipping the boat over with HYF. Big Money, Marathon and Territories are excellent work, and I'm PISSED that I missed Middletown Dreams on the last tour, because that song ROCKS! We got Limelight instead, which I'm okay with. I like the guitar/strings work with Manhattan Project a lot, and Grand Designs and Mystic Rhythms, while both very cheesy (a foreshadowing of the next album), are good songs as well. Not too keen on Emotion Detector.

 

8. Permanent Waves

Gettin' real sick of The Spirit Of Radio, but I think we all are, yet it's still a kickass tune. Good, tight songwriting. Freewill is really good live, and I'm glad Ged is still able to put the vice in his balls for the high notes (followed by a giant bottle of water). Natural Science and Different Strings are great songs, and Entre Nous was a very pleasant surprise on the Snakes And Arrows Tour. I have never understood the love for Jacob's Ladder on this forum. I'm just not a fan of it. It doesn't suck like Chemistry, but I always skip this one.

 

9. Snakes And Arrows

Man, people threw this one in front of a truck when Clockwork Angels came out. Yes, CA is a masterpiece, but don't be unfair to this album. I will say that this album has a bit of "same-ness", with all of the mid-tempo songs, but the songs themselves are for the most part great. Far Cry is the best 2000's song by a long shot, Working Them Angels, Faithless, The Larger Bowl, and the instrumentals are all really good as well, and I also like Spindrift :D :P Things start to get shaky after Faithless, but they pull it together for the nice closer We Hold On. Another favorite track? That beautiful Armor and Sword of course!

 

10. Vapor Trails

This was ranked around #15 before the remix, because it sounded pretty rough as we all know. I couldn't even hear half of Ceiling Unlimited and Secret Touch then. After the remix, I revisited the album again and I was pleasantly surprised with the songs. Ceiling Unlimited (with that blistering guitar solo), Secret Touch, Earthshine, Vapor Trail, and Nocturne are my highlights, and One Little Victory and Peaceable Kingdom are pretty good. We're at the point of this list where the baddies start showing up, and I'm gonna say I don't like Ghost Rider, TSLD, and Out Of The Cradle at all. It's good to hear this album with the "boys are back" feeling in mind, though.

 

11. 2112

2112 is ranked this low? :o Yeah, sorry. 2112 and Something For Nothing are excellent pieces of work, but Bangkok is a bit too weird, and Lessons and Twilight Zone just suck. Tears is okay, though, I like the synth strings towards the end.

 

12. Test For Echo

Damn, everyone hates this album and Snakes and Arrows. It does have its collection of horrible songs (Dog Years, Totem, and Half The World is starting to get on my nerves, but I'll listen to it), but the rest of the album I like. The title track is one of their best songs ever, and Driven, Time and Motion, Virtuality (again, not a lyrics person), Limbo, and Carve Away The Stone are standouts for me.

 

13. A Farewell To Kings

They're still sounding a bit juvenile here...the title track's alright but not my favorite. Xanadu, however, is wonderful, and I'm glad I got to see it on the R30 tour. Cygnus is okay here, I like Book II more. CTTH, while overplayed, isn't bad. Cinderella Man and Madrigal, however, are terrible. I cannot stand those two.

 

14. Fly By Night

Give me By-Tor and In The End and I'll just show myself out the door, because those two songs belong on AFTK and Hemispheres. All of the other songs with the exception of Fly By Night are awful, recycled from the first album. Not good.

 

15. Caress Of Steel

Too much lemony cake on this album for my taste, I'm afraid. I Think I'm Going Bald is pretty bad, and Lakeside Park is laughable. The epics aren't all that bad, but they aren't anywhere near as good as 2112 or the Cygnii, and they can't carry the weight of the poor songs that precede them. Team too heavy, GGWP.

 

16. Hold Your Fire

Oddly enough, the first song my Dad got me to like by Rush was Lock and Key (which I still like). Prime Mover, Force Ten, and Turn The Page are okay, but I won't listen to Force Ten unless it's on R30/CA Tour, and the rest of the album is pretty terrible except for Mission. Sterile pop music in a horrible time period for music. Def Leppard's Hysteria was better than this (came out in '87 too). Gods of War beats the crap out of this album alone.

 

17. Presto

They forgot not to take out their songwriting when they took out most of the synths. Pretty bad overall, but Chain Lightning and Red Tide are alright, and The Pass is good if you listen to it on Rush in Rio, the album version sucks. The same can be said for Presto on Time Machine. I even like Superconductor (yes, I know). Available Light's tolerable, but guys, give it up. They'll never play THAT on tour.

 

18. Roll The Bones

Dreamline is an awesome song! Where's My Thing? is an awesome instrumental! And then you listen to the rest of the album and wish you never did that to yourself. The title track sounds good on Rio, but damn, this album was bad.

 

19. Rush

I have tried to like this album. I really have. But I can't. If I wanted to listen to a sh*tty Led Zeppelin tribute band then I'd go watch a high school band with kids that have different musical interests that have absolutely no playing synergy. Working Man is a good song, yes, but this album is Just. So. Awful. Need Some Love and Before And After are the prime offenders. Triumph's Allied Forces was better than this.

[EagleMoon]

I don't know what you guys are drinking. There are really only 6 top albums from the boyz. I can't even rate any albums below these, because these are the beez kneez from the boyz:

 

1. Incest Whore Gecko

2. Pissto

3. Roll the Boners

4. Cunterfarts

5. Poopchutes & Bladders

6. Cockburp Facefuls

 

You might have been the 12 year-old...

 

http://www.theonion.com/articles/mad-lib-filled-with-swears,3218/

 

good one. I thought he must be around 12 with all of the potty "humor" he posts. It ceases to be funny after that age.

[Babycat]

I can't rank them all - I like them equally..!

[Brucey]

1. Counterparts

I've been listening to Rush since I was a wee lad, and I have gone through many favorites, but currently Counterparts wins. So much POWER. They're mature musicians (unlike during most of the 70's), their interplay is showing its peak, and it was the long awaited return to HARD ROCK. People call this album their "alternative" album, but I don't get it. It came out when grunge was at the forefront but that doesn't really show on Counterparts. No angsty whiny slit-my-wrist-while-I-shoot-a-speedball music. The first 5 songs are brilliant, Alien Shore and Everyday Glory are wonderful, Cold Fire is one of their best songs of the 90's, and Leave That Thing Alone is their best instrumental after La Villa. The only clunker is Speed Of Love, which I'm sure everyone agrees with. I love this album to death, and you naysayers who hate everything after Signals can bite me.

 

Also: I can hear LedRush crying while reading this ;)

 

2. Grace Under Pressure

The first album I listened to where I loved every song (I didn't like Witch Hunt at first, so no, Moving Pictures doesn't win). Wonderful opener and closer, with a ton of hidden gems, with Afterimage being the the only other song I would kill to hear live than Cut To The Chase. The Enemy Within, Body Electric, and Kid Gloves are some of their best 80's work.

 

3. Signals

One of Rush's best all time songs (Subdivisions), one of their greatest hidden gems (Countdown), and some of their best 80's work (Analog Kid, Digital Man, Losing It, New World Man). However it does have one real stinker: Chemistry. I hate that song. So much. But damn, this album is wonderful. I love going straight to it after Moving Pictures and just listening to them evolve their sound. I was really pleased when I got to see them play Digital Man on the Snakes and Arrows Tour.

 

4. Hemispheres

Their best album of the 70's (and the one with the least amount of tracks!). My favorite epic track (Cygnus), The Trees is one of their best 70's songs, and Circumstances, while I'm not overly fond of it, is listenable. Yet in my 8 years of playing the guitar, my absolute favorite song to test out on any new guitar I pick up is La Villa Strangiato, particularly Lerxst in Wonderland. If I can make the guitar sing beautifully with that piece, then it is a great guitar indeed. Love this album.

 

5. Moving Pictures

One of the few instances where an album Rolling Stone likes is actually worth listening to. I'm sure we all agree this album rocks. We all know it and love it, and this one requires no explanation from me.

 

6. Clockwork Angels

OHHH I WISH THAT I COULD LIVE IT ALL AGAIN. And the boys are living the success they had with Moving Pictures yet again with this masterpiece. The songwriting is superb, with the title track, The Anarchist, Carnies, Seven Cities, Headlong Flight, and The Garden being exceptional tracks. Headlong Flight and The Anarchist easily make my top 10 favorite all time Rush songs. Caravan, BU2B, Carnies, and Halo Effect are also good. If you guys know me by now, you know I have never given a damn about the lyrics, so I find BU2B2 unnecessary in terms of music, but it is what it is. Wish Them Well is the stinker on this album. It's really good live, but I usually skip this one on the album.

 

7. Power Windows

Their last truly great album before Counterparts. I'm glad they were able bust out this piece of work before tipping the boat over with HYF. Big Money, Marathon and Territories are excellent work, and I'm PISSED that I missed Middletown Dreams on the last tour, because that song ROCKS! We got Limelight instead, which I'm okay with. I like the guitar/strings work with Manhattan Project a lot, and Grand Designs and Mystic Rhythms, while both very cheesy (a foreshadowing of the next album), are good songs as well. Not too keen on Emotion Detector.

 

8. Permanent Waves

Gettin' real sick of The Spirit Of Radio, but I think we all are, yet it's still a kickass tune. Good, tight songwriting. Freewill is really good live, and I'm glad Ged is still able to put the vice in his balls for the high notes (followed by a giant bottle of water). Natural Science and Different Strings are great songs, and Entre Nous was a very pleasant surprise on the Snakes And Arrows Tour. I have never understood the love for Jacob's Ladder on this forum. I'm just not a fan of it. It doesn't suck like Chemistry, but I always skip this one.

 

9. Snakes And Arrows

Man, people threw this one in front of a truck when Clockwork Angels came out. Yes, CA is a masterpiece, but don't be unfair to this album. I will say that this album has a bit of "same-ness", with all of the mid-tempo songs, but the songs themselves are for the most part great. Far Cry is the best 2000's song by a long shot, Working Them Angels, Faithless, The Larger Bowl, and the instrumentals are all really good as well, and I also like Spindrift :D :P Things start to get shaky after Faithless, but they pull it together for the nice closer We Hold On. Another favorite track? That beautiful Armor and Sword of course!

 

10. Vapor Trails

This was ranked around #15 before the remix, because it sounded pretty rough as we all know. I couldn't even hear half of Ceiling Unlimited and Secret Touch then. After the remix, I revisited the album again and I was pleasantly surprised with the songs. Ceiling Unlimited (with that blistering guitar solo), Secret Touch, Earthshine, Vapor Trail, and Nocturne are my highlights, and One Little Victory and Peaceable Kingdom are pretty good. We're at the point of this list where the baddies start showing up, and I'm gonna say I don't like Ghost Rider, TSLD, and Out Of The Cradle at all. It's good to hear this album with the "boys are back" feeling in mind, though.

 

11. 2112

2112 is ranked this low? :o Yeah, sorry. 2112 and Something For Nothing are excellent pieces of work, but Bangkok is a bit too weird, and Lessons and Twilight Zone just suck. Tears is okay, though, I like the synth strings towards the end.

 

12. Test For Echo

Damn, everyone hates this album and Snakes and Arrows. It does have its collection of horrible songs (Dog Years, Totem, and Half The World is starting to get on my nerves, but I'll listen to it), but the rest of the album I like. The title track is one of their best songs ever, and Driven, Time and Motion, Virtuality (again, not a lyrics person), Limbo, and Carve Away The Stone are standouts for me.

 

13. A Farewell To Kings

They're still sounding a bit juvenile here...the title track's alright but not my favorite. Xanadu, however, is wonderful, and I'm glad I got to see it on the R30 tour. Cygnus is okay here, I like Book II more. CTTH, while overplayed, isn't bad. Cinderella Man and Madrigal, however, are terrible. I cannot stand those two.

 

14. Fly By Night

Give me By-Tor and In The End and I'll just show myself out the door, because those two songs belong on AFTK and Hemispheres. All of the other songs with the exception of Fly By Night are awful, recycled from the first album. Not good.

 

15. Caress Of Steel

Too much lemony cake on this album for my taste, I'm afraid. I Think I'm Going Bald is pretty bad, and Lakeside Park is laughable. The epics aren't all that bad, but they aren't anywhere near as good as 2112 or the Cygnii, and they can't carry the weight of the poor songs that precede them. Team too heavy, GGWP.

 

16. Hold Your Fire

Oddly enough, the first song my Dad got me to like by Rush was Lock and Key (which I still like). Prime Mover, Force Ten, and Turn The Page are okay, but I won't listen to Force Ten unless it's on R30/CA Tour, and the rest of the album is pretty terrible except for Mission. Sterile pop music in a horrible time period for music. Def Leppard's Hysteria was better than this (came out in '87 too). Gods of War beats the crap out of this album alone.

 

17. Presto

They forgot not to take out their songwriting when they took out most of the synths. Pretty bad overall, but Chain Lightning and Red Tide are alright, and The Pass is good if you listen to it on Rush in Rio, the album version sucks. The same can be said for Presto on Time Machine. I even like Superconductor (yes, I know). Available Light's tolerable, but guys, give it up. They'll never play THAT on tour.

 

18. Roll The Bones

Dreamline is an awesome song! Where's My Thing? is an awesome instrumental! And then you listen to the rest of the album and wish you never did that to yourself. The title track sounds good on Rio, but damn, this album was bad.

 

19. Rush

I have tried to like this album. I really have. But I can't. If I wanted to listen to a sh*tty Led Zeppelin tribute band then I'd go watch a high school band with kids that have different musical interests that have absolutely no playing synergy. Working Man is a good song, yes, but this album is Just. So. Awful. Need Some Love and Before And After are the prime offenders. Triumph's Allied Forces was better than this.

 

 

Obviously I don't COMPLETELY agree with your list, but I love how Hemispheres isn't top, how low you've ranked 2112 and their other 70's albums, and how many post 1982 Rush albums you've put in your top 10.

[The Analog Cub]

Yeah I'm not sure which is more heart-attack inducing, Counterparts being #1 or 2112 being below 10

[LedRush]

1. Counterparts

I've been listening to Rush since I was a wee lad, and I have gone through many favorites, but currently Counterparts wins. So much POWER. They're mature musicians (unlike during most of the 70's), their interplay is showing its peak, and it was the long awaited return to HARD ROCK. People call this album their "alternative" album, but I don't get it. It came out when grunge was at the forefront but that doesn't really show on Counterparts. No angsty whiny slit-my-wrist-while-I-shoot-a-speedball music. The first 5 songs are brilliant, Alien Shore and Everyday Glory are wonderful, Cold Fire is one of their best songs of the 90's, and Leave That Thing Alone is their best instrumental after La Villa. The only clunker is Speed Of Love, which I'm sure everyone agrees with. I love this album to death, and you naysayers who hate everything after Signals can bite me.

 

Also: I can hear LedRush crying while reading this ;)

 

I laughed. I cried. I threw up in my mouth.

 

But it is clear that you don't care about lyrics.

[Empty Mindless Spectre]

1. Counterparts

So much POWER. They're mature musicians (unlike during most of the 70's),

 

Yes I can see your point here. Much like Led Zeppelin completely sucked until In Through the Outdoor, when they finally had matured as musicians… and Van Halen never really put it together until 5150 and OU812. Good call!

[The Analog Cub]

1. Counterparts

So much POWER. They're mature musicians (unlike during most of the 70's),

 

Yes I can see your point here. Much like Led Zeppelin completely sucked until In Through the Outdoor, when they finally had matured as musicians… and Van Halen never really put it together until 5150 and OU812. Good call!

 

The problem with your analogy is that I never said Rush sucked up until Counterparts.

[Empty Mindless Spectre]

1. Counterparts

So much POWER. They're mature musicians (unlike during most of the 70's),

 

Yes I can see your point here. Much like Led Zeppelin completely sucked until In Through the Outdoor, when they finally had matured as musicians… and Van Halen never really put it together until 5150 and OU812. Good call!

 

The problem with your analogy is that I never said Rush sucked up until Counterparts.

 

True. My apologies. You only said roughly half their songs sucked throughout the 70's. I admit my analogy was a somewhat of an exaggeration. But I think my point is still valid.

[Alvy Singer]

1. Moving Pictures

2. Permanent Waves

3. Power Windows

4. Grace Under Pressure

5. Hold Your Fire

6. Signals

7.Counterparts

8. Clockwork Angels

9. Hemispheres

10. 2112

11.Roll The Bones

12. Presto

13. A Farewell To Kings

14. Snakes And Arrows

15. Vapor Trails

16. Fly By Night

17. Test For Echo

18. Caress Of Steel

19. Rush

 

1-3 never change

4-19 would probably be totally different if I did this again tomorrow

[Segue Myles]

Ok, cannot ever seem to rank my Rush albums in an order that stays steady, so I will star rank them instead:

 

Rush ★★★

Fly By Night ★★☆

Caress Of Steel ★★★★☆

2112 ★★★★☆

A Farewell To Kings ★★★★★

Hemispheres ★★★★

Permanent Waves ★★★★★

Moving Pictures ★★★★★

Signals ★★★☆

Grace Under Pressure ★★★★☆

Power Windows ★★★★☆

Hold Your Fire ★★★★

Presto ★★★★★

Roll The Bones ★★

Counterparts ★★★★☆

Test For Echo ★★☆

Vapor Trails ★★★★

Feedback ★★★

Snakes And Arrows ★★★

Clockwork Angels ★★★★

Vapor Trails: Remix ★★★★☆

[len(songs)]

1/

1. Counterparts

So much POWER. They're mature musicians (unlike during most of the 70's),

 

Yes I can see your point here. Much like Led Zeppelin completely sucked until In Through the Outdoor, when they finally had matured as musicians… and Van Halen never really put it together until 5150 and OU812. Good call!

 

The problem with your analogy is that I never said Rush sucked up until Counterparts.

 

True. My apologies. You only said roughly half their songs sucked throughout the 70's. I admit my analogy was a somewhat of an exaggeration. But I think my point is still valid.

He didn't say that Counterparts was good because it was mature. He simply said that it was a more mature album by a more mature band, and proceeded to give other reasons why he put it on top. You don't have to agree with all of them-- I know I don't! But he did give good reasons why, in his opinion, CP is their best album. Edited July 17, 2014 by len(songs)

[Geddy's Soul Patch]

1. A Farewell to Kings

2. Hemispheres

3. Permanent Waves

4. Power Windows

5. Hold Your Fire

6. Grace Under Pressure

7. 2112

8. Caress of Steel

9. Moving Pictures

10. Signals

11. Presto

12. Counterparts

13. Test for Echo

14. Vapor Trails

15. Roll the Bones

16. Fly By Night

17. Clockwork Angels

18. Snakes and Arrows

19. Rush