Biggest Leap Forward for Rush...

[Thunder Bay Rush]

I love all the albums and like most, I have a few favourites... Hemispheres, AFT Kings, Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures.

 

But, what I find most amazing is the improvement (is that the right word??) from 2112 to A Farewell To Kings. They went from just a three piece, guitar, bass and drums, to a MUCH deeper sounding band with the addition of the Mini-Moog, Taurus pedals, double-neck guitars, guitar synth and Neil's additional precussion instruments. Remember, before AFTK, none of those instruments were used, at least as far as I know. Well, they did have a cowbell...

 

I was "a fan" when I heard 2112 and All The World's A Stage, but I went mental when I heard Kings for the first time. I couldn't believe how BIG their new sound was. I wore out three copies of the album in just a few months and the blew the crap out of my mom's "hi-fi" speakers. "Turn that goddam thing down!"

 

As far as I'm concerned there is no comparison between the two albums. Kings is almost like a new band... so to me, the biggest "jump" is between those two albums.

 

Listen to Xanadu, then listen to anything on 2112, including the title piece. HUGE difference in sound, writing, playing, singing, production, all of it. To me, Rush was born on AFTK.

[On TheRoad To Adventure]

I love AFTK! It's always been one of my favourite Rush albums, but I've never really analyzed it the way you have.

[DBJetsman]

Caress of Steel - 2112

[goose]

There was a definite shift in the overall sound and types of sounds included. I'm not sure it was for the better, and RUSH didn't stick with it long (2 albums).

 

Hemispheres to PeW was another huge shift for the band, a much better one than the one undertaken on Kings, for my tastes.

 

[bathory]

every rush album is a progression from the last one

[WIDE-ANGLE WATCHER]

I thought the biggest 'type of sound' jump was from Grace Under Pressure to Power Windows.

 

From the crazy high anxiety sounds of Grace Under Pressure

 

to the sounds of a pounding melodic force that is Power Windows

 

 

 

[Mika]

I'm with the group of thinking Hemispheres to Permanent Waves is the biggest jump. Hemispheres really is the last of its era, then on to more commercial, shorter, more accessable music.

 

But I like your thinking with the change between basic instruments on 2112 to include synths and a jungle of percussion on AFTK. That is a change, but to my mind, not as big as the one between H and PW.

[Bangster of Goats]

I'll just say that the measly 5-year period of 1977-1982 is just completely mental in the ways Rush changed.

 

I mean, comparing Signals to Hemispheres for example... four short years apart, but they may as well have come from different geologic epochs.

[Shredder2]

I'll agree that it's a leap for Rush, but not their biggest.

 

Caress of Steel - 2112 is their biggest leap, that is, for me, it is.