What RUSH Record Were You Most Disappointed In On First Listen?

[Narps]

Caress of Steel is an acquired taste for many. It takes many listens to get it. Headphones and something to alter the mind helped me grow to appreciate it way back in the day. It probably shouldn't be that difficult to get into any piece of music. I had no such difficulty with the the next 5 or 6 albums that followed it.

[EagleMoon]

Caress of Steel is an acquired taste for many. It takes many listens to get it. Headphones and something to alter the mind helped me grow to appreciate it way back in the day. It probably shouldn't be that difficult to get into any piece of music. I had no such difficulty with the the next 5 or 6 albums that followed it.

 

It's a bit similar to Darkside of the Moon in the sense of "getting into the zone" to really get it.

[Bangster of Goats]

Like a few others, Vapor Trails because of the butchered original mixing/mastering job. I loved a lot of the songs right out the gate, but it was such a chore and pain to listen to the album.

 

I also remember being a little disappointed with GUP. It was my first ever Rush album and I bought it because I loved DIstant Early Warning and its video. My first couple listens to the album, I was kinda "ehhh...." but it finally started clicking for me a few months later.

 

...and after GUP clicked for me, I started a binge of buying all the previous Rush releases. Loved them all from the start, but I must say 2112, for all its fame, underwhelmed me at first.

[beneathbetweenbehindyourmom]

Due to unrealisticly high expectations I was disappointed with Clockwork Angels upon first listen. That being said, I like the album, but its just not what I thought it would be at all.

[GeddyLeeRoth]

Hold Your Fire. They went too far into La La Land for me by then. There are some great songs on there, but to this day still one of my least faves. Whats weird is I really dug Roll The Bones when it came out, but now it has pretty much solidified as my least favorite. Edited October 7, 2013 by GeddyLeeRoth

[JARG]

On first listen? PeW, for sure. I so wasn't ready for that change in style.

[Geddyleegenes]

"Vapor Trails". And yes, definitely right there on first listen. I bought it the day it was released, rushed to my girlfriend's (now wife) house and locked myself in the room above her garage where I had my stereo set up. Put "VT" on. Listened to the whole thing straight through. Turned off the stereo. Sat there. Couldn't believe how awful it sounded. And I mean AWFUL. I was depressed. I mean it. Right there, right then. Depressed. Didn't listen to it again for a few days. I've always been unhappy with the sound of VT. Have always thought the sound was absolutely terrible. Grew to really like Ghost Rider, Nocturne and Earthshine. All three of those have become some of my absolute favorite songs - even with the awful sound quality. So I'm looking forward to picking up the VT-Remixed. Unfortunately, I CAN'T FIND IT ANYWHERE! Will have to get it from Amazon. (Hey, how come I can't start new paragraphs on this forum any more? Anyone else have that problem here?)

[vital signz]

"Vapor Trails". And yes, definitely right there on first listen. I bought it the day it was released, rushed to my girlfriend's (now wife) house and locked myself in the room above her garage where I had my stereo set up. Put "VT" on. Listened to the whole thing straight through. Turned off the stereo. Sat there. Couldn't believe how awful it sounded. And I mean AWFUL. I was depressed. I mean it. Right there, right then. Depressed. Didn't listen to it again for a few days. I've always been unhappy with the sound of VT. Have always thought the sound was absolutely terrible. Grew to really like Ghost Rider, Nocturne and Earthshine. All three of those have become some of my absolute favorite songs - even with the awful sound quality. So I'm looking forward to picking up the VT-Remixed. Unfortunately, I CAN'T FIND IT ANYWHERE! Will have to get it from Amazon. (Hey, how come I can't start new paragraphs on this forum any more? Anyone else have that problem here?)

 

This. I have recounted my VT story several times here. I was so depressed after Neil's tragedies...I knew the band was kaput. Then the rumors, that VT was coming. Then once it came I ran literally as fast as I could to the local store, put it in my car audio system which was a top of the line one I might add, and then began listening. Neil's thundering intro to OLV came on and I sincerely---I am not even kidding here---almost wept with joy...then came the music and I sat there stunned. I frantically began to change around my settings on my stereo and was wondering what in the hell is wrong with my speakers? I popped out my CD, put in Hemispheres and realized nothing was wrong with my speakers. I put back in VT and started again taking off all bass and treble and the sounds coming from my stereo were the same. I began to pitch a fit, regarding "I have been waiting years for this and I get a faulty CD"...so back i go to the record store and tell the clerk my problem. They gladly exchanged it for another CD and off i went with hopeful expectations. As I got back into my car the DJ came on the radio and said :....and mow here's the new RUsh song we have been waiting so long to hear--"One Little Victory"--and the song sounded even worse on the radio. I then played my CD again, all of it this time and just sat there motionless. I called one of my best friends and asked if he had heard the CD and he said he had. I remember stating to him it sounded as if the CD was recorded inside of an old metal garbage can, and I meant it. It was singly my most disappointed moment EVER in listening to a band's musical offering.

 

I played it over and over again and at first the only songs that I grew slowly to like were OLV, Secret Touch, and Earthshine. They rocked so well that all the evil distortion in the world I could indeed get past, but the others were wholly unlistenable for me because I always found myself wondering how the fukk did Alex manage to get a guitar cable and strings on a bulldozer, and why is he playing 4 different guitar parts on each song...and why does it sound like Neil and Al are sharing the exact same sonic space as Geddy in each speaker? I simply could not wrap my head around it.

 

I have to say that I had a similar problem with Test For Echo as well, not because of the production, but because some of the songs I just didn't like even after many passes. But the excellent recording of those songs made T4E more likable for me than the mess that was VT.

 

It has taken a lot of work for me to thoroughly enjoy VT—then came the remix! Voila, instant relief and peace! I still have a problem with the sound of the guitars on some of the songs as Alex had gone in such a radical direction, but at least it is listenable without feeling the need to readjust my settings on my stereo constantly due to the horrific distortion and mess that was each song.

[drbirdsong]

Hold Your Fire for sure. Like a lot of folks it has grown on me and like it now, but it still remains near the bottom with Caress Of Steel. During the eighties I was getting a bit let down each time with the shorter songs and the lead role taken by the keyboards and then Hold Your Fire came out sounding like a soft rock album made by my favorite heavy band. I thought it was over, but the slow return to a more rocking sound during the 1990s gave me hope that things might turn around. One of my problems at that time was that I saw no live shows between Signals and Counterparts. These days I can look back over the entire catalog and I enjoy it all. Even Caress Of Steel is fun to listen to these days and it does have several awesome bits on it. Still don't like Rivendell, but that was out long before I ever heard it.

[Ron2112]

Signals by far.

 

I've been a fan since the release of 2112, and after the epic foursome of AFTK, Hemi, PeW, and MP. listening to Signals felt like a death in the family.

 

This.....Moving Pictures is the record that made me a Rush fan at the time it came out. When Signals hit, I couldn't hear anything resembling a catchy hook, and the sound quality (of the original release) was a big step backwards. Most of my friends who were also Rush fans got off the bus at that point. Luckily, Signals is also the album which has aged the best for me, and I now count it as a favorite.

[Starman.2112]

Roll the bones.

[Maverick]

It's got to be Hold Your Fire, followed closely by Vapor Trails, for me.

 

HYF was the first time I was eagerly awaiting a Rush album release. I was in love with Rush up through GUP, and just didn't dig all the synth, non hard rock stuff.

 

Vapor Trails was just bad on so many levels. But it was their return, and it meant that they weren't finished. So that keeps it from being the most disappointing. Plus, it was kinda metal.

 

:haz:

[EPR66]

After getting into them during the 2112 and AtWAS era, I remember PeWs and Moving Pictures were really a new direction. Signals hit and it was really like wtf.

[Bastille Dave]

Power Windows. took me about a year to like it.