I imagine Neil was the most upset person in the whole situation.
Your favourite Rush albums?
Started as a side discussion on another thread so thought I would just make a thread for it.
Pretty simple really, your favourite Rush albums and why?
To keep it simple, studio albums ONLY, no bootlegs, live albums etc.
Pretty simple really, your favourite Rush albums and why?
To keep it simple, studio albums ONLY, no bootlegs, live albums etc.
111 responses Add your response
tonykay You may as well have written "it doesn’t matter where Peart was, he should have been in control of the weather so he could arrive on the scheduled time." Everyone "should be" at work on time all things being equal. But not all things are equal. You do understand that we live in a world where not everything is under our control, right? Every airplane, boat, or even rocket launch "should" happen or arrive on time. But there’s this little thing called "The Weather" - among many other possible influences, that can make achieving good intentions impossible. If you have somehow managed to predict every possible weather condition, and every other chain of causation such that you’ve never been delayed by anything in your life, time to write a book about it and become a millionaire. Until then, your critique of the Neil Peart situation seems rather petty. You’ve also ignored that Peart managed to actually get another flight which would get him there on time, but since his telegram didn’t make it to the organizers they couldn’t know he’d be there on time, so they cancelled the show. Upon encountering difficulties Peart DID everything he could to get to the show on time, but of course he was not in control of the weather, or of telegrams getting lost. You may have the opinion that the show was cancelled due to Peart’s "arrogance" and indifference to the fans, but given the evidence of Rush’s track record as dedicated pros, and the details given of what happened, well, some opinions are sillier than others. :) |
prof, You're entitled to your opinion. You should probably ask the opinion of the fans who were waiting for the show. I don't think it matters whether Peart was on his sailboat or riding his motorcycle, he should be there for the soundcheck and everything after. It isn't silly to expect that, and loyal Rush fans deserve it. I said you are entitled to your opinion, now you know mine. |
tonykay, Did you not read the circumstances causing Peart to be late? Weather problems and unforseen issues that you aren't aware of, and the problem with the telegram. That isn't 'arrogant," that's someone missing a show he wanted to play! Rush is known for their dedication to fans - one of the hardest working bands of all time and that was an anomaly amongst a record showing great professionalism and dedication. Given this context it's silly to declare the situation was due to "arrogance." |
That’s an interesting post about the November,1981 Florida concert. I don’t think it matters whether it’s Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney or Neil Peart. If you are putting on a concert (and getting paid), you need to be there. Late is bad, not showing up is unforgivable. No one could take his place. How many people were looking forward to the concert for weeks? Seems pretty arrogant to me. You can read about the chaos that resulted. I still like Rush, but Yikes! |
Top 3 1. Moving Picture (best album ever created) The diversity of styles from this album is amazing. Love everything about the album from beginning to end. 2. Permanent Waves 3. Signals Saw them on the Signal Tour back in High School. I had 2nd row the first night and 5 row right of center second night. That was the best concert PERIOD! Seeing them in Florida made Countdown extra special live. Fun Fact about the two night show in Florida I saw. Rush was suppose to perform 1 show, but because of the situation explained below, they added an additional night for Florida fans. On November 28, 1981, fans waiting to attend a Rush concert began throwing rocks and bottles at Pembroke Pines police officers and Sportatorium guards when the gates did not open on time due to the late arrival of Rush’s drummer, Neil Peart. Neil had been sailing on his sailboat in the British Virgin Islands during a 10-day break and missed his original flight in due to weather and other unforeseen issues. Having to take a later flight that would’ve got him there in time, he sent a telegram to the venue explaining this. However, the telegram never made it, and workers for the band couldn’t verify that he was on the plane (or as Neil put it in his book, Roadshow: Landscape with Drums, "In those pre-Homeland Security days, the airline I was flying on wouldn’t release its passenger manifest."). When the doors were finally opened, gate crashers scaled the 11-foot (3.4 m) wall surrounding the facility and started running toward the gates. Police sprayed tear gas on the intruders, resulting in additional rock throwing and fighting. Twenty-two people including 11 police officers were injured and two fans were arrested.] As a result of this incident, a Sportatorium task force was created to handle the rowdyism and related problems. |
@n80 I agree. But I mean it in a nice way :) My father-in-law listens strictly to classical music. To his ears, pretty much all other music, especially any popular modern music, is only fit to be played by "cavemen dancing around a fire." (His words). I won’t be turning him on to EDM any time soon. But that’s ok, I don’t need his permission to like it, or Rush.... Everything I wrote was, of course, purely a reflection of my subjective opinion. The guaranteed way to look like a fool is to go beyond one’s own opinion to make objective claims in pronouncing some music "good" or "bad." Virtually every classic piece of music, or any musical style, had someone somewhere declaring it to be of no worth and "will not last." |
Bitten by the bug in 1989, a 30-year Rush fan here (which is young compared to many) and my biggest regret about them is that I’ll never get a chance to take my young sons to see the live. I remember on my first date with the woman who became my wife I discovered she was a Rush fan as well - and that pretty much sealed the deal. Anyway, my album tastes are somewhat unconventional: 1. Signals - spoke to my adolescence, my love of literary structure (I love how the album alternates themes of constraint and release), so many others. Plus, learning several years ago that Neil structured his drum parts in "Subdivisions" to reflect the dichotomy of marching in step with the crowd AND trying to be different blew my mind even more. 2. Presto - simply beautiful, if poorly produced. But melody-wise this album soars. 3. Clockwork Angels - more beautiful melodies, even if the storyline is a bit hackneyed. This album really made me appreciate Geddy’s songwriting talents more than I had before. 4. Hemispheres - got an original German pressing of this a few months ago and boy, does it sing on the system! Also, why feel the need to say how much the dislike the band? Please read the threat title again. Seriously, @pgauke, stay in your lane. |
BTW, though I have a wide range of musical interests, pgaulke60 managed to put together a list of music that, for the most part, makes me gag. Yuck! If there is a more mindnumbingly boring music than early Springsteen, I can't think of it. Santana - most overrated "guitar God" of all time. Rolling Stones? Wake me when they're done. My idea of hell, though, would be the music of Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy piped in all day long. I'd be begging for the flames instead. But, hey...that's the subjectivity of musical taste for ya....:) |
As a once-Rush fanatic growing up, that's a tough question. But I think I have to go with Hemispheres. That's when I'd got in to Rush most deeply and it's their most complexly layered, ambitious stuff. I had so many nights with the old headphones on just being immersed in the world of Hemispheres. It's still the case that if I put that first side on, I can't help but sit through the whole thing. If I had to choose a favorite individual Rush song it would probably be Xanadu - the music, the lyrics, the playing, the modulation....that song is just a trip I always love to go on. I'm in what seems to be the majority who didn't care for anything beyond, say, exit stage left. I did enjoy some of Signals, but they had started off on their other trajectory by then and it just didn't grab me.I found virtually all the albums afterward that I heard (even in parts) seemed to lack the amazing hooks of all their albums up through Moving Pictures. They always managed to make their music "hooky" not in the sense of "pop music-like" (though they did have some hooky songs), but rather in the sense of memorable vocal lines, music changes, and memorable riffs by all 3 guys. For me they had the "dried up band" sound after that, ESPECIALLY when it came to the late 80's/90's onward. Yeah...they still produced some albums with some great energy, but to my ears, nothing that sounded remotely memorable. Geddy's singing was just modulation over the music, nothing memorable, and the music also was just sort of moving here and there with nothing sticking out. I can remember virtually every Peart/Lee/Lifeson part on every song up to Signals...beyond that...nothing stuck. My friends and I "progressed" beyond Rush and prog rock to "Fusion" (jazz/rock) that had become bigger, and also "real jazz" and then on to a wide array of musical influences. That was the "I'm sort of embarrassed to ever have been so in to Rush" phase, and "jeeze prog rock...remember that? " Kind of squeamish looking back on it, because music was still one's identity, and if you wanted a new identiy you had to shed/reject the old one. Thank goodness for maturity later in life. Now that I'm a middle-aged fart, I"m not rebelling against the last thing I liked, I have no particular demands of musical progress, and so it's been an absolute BLAST revisiting Rush. It feels like I can fully appreciate them again, with something near the enthusiasm I had when I was a young Rush fan.And damn, those vinyl remasters are killer! I'd had various albums on digital but rarely played them. When I got the vinyl remasters it was a revelation: Rush sounded like Rush again, but perhaps even better. So, I'm a Rush fan again. With no apologies! |
I love Rush, particularly "Moving Pictures" and "Greatest Hits". I really enjoyed the documentary about Rush’s final concert tour. Today, I bought "2112" and "Hemispheres" on the recommendations of the audiophile Rush fans here on the forum. I’m looking forward to hearing them. They seem to have very loyal fans here. |
@pgaulke60, great list. I agree that those are some great bands and I’m big fans of a lot of them. But a couple of thoughts. First, the thread was about favorite Rush albums....not live performances. I mention that because some bands do great studio stuff and some bands do great live stuff. Not all do both. Not all do either one all the time. Can’t comment on Rush because I never saw them. Did you? I have friends and family who have seen them many times and say they put on a great show. I'm not into large venue live music. Second, as someone who likes most of what’s on your list (never interested in the Dead, Zappa or The Clash though) I don’t see where there is a necessity to exclude Rush based on song writing or musicianship in comparison. I get that someone might not like them.....even I don’t like over half of their discography....but it certainly isn’t on the basis of their skills. They are truly consummate musicians in every sense of the word. |
Great list my friend and you are very welcome to post your preferences as there were some truly great bands there in their time. But..... Rory Gallagher... Sober? Did I miss that day? Seriously I caught Rory back in the early 80,s in a little venue in Nottingham, England called Rock City.... and yes he seriously did kick bottom! Great night! Thank you! |
OK - Not at all being argumentative here. I like a good musical debate. Keep in mind that I am not limiting myself to the arena rock bands. If I were to throw out bands & musicians from the Rush era that I would go see live any day of the week, over Rush, I would list the following incomplete list (in no particular order). (1) Rory Gallagher - Lordy, what a great guitarist, and wrote some darn good songs. A three man band the kicked butt. He was the Stevie Ray Vaughan of his time - but a hell of a lot more sober. (2) Roy Buchanan - Not much of a songwriter, but boy could he work that telecaster. (3) Springsteen - In that era he was hard to be paralleled for songwriting and that B&W video of him at the Hammersmith Odeon in London says it all. His wall of sound is not my cup of tea, but serious stage presence. (4) The Grateful Dead - Don't judge me, but that band was a true band. They listened to each other during the 1970's and delved into and incorporated musical styles that have never matched. Driving rock to improvisational jazz. Their songs still endure today. (5) The Clash - In that short window, they changed the course of Rock n' Roll. (6) The Allman Brothers Band - OMG, what can you say other than their name. Did they invent the two guitar and two drummer rock phenom? (7) Jethro Tull - What about Tull? Yikes, those 70's LPs are wonderful. First time I saw them live they opened up with Thick as a Brick. Could have walked out then. Their shows had little improvisation, but the songs were works of art. (8) Frank Zappa - Roxy & Elsewhere! Apostrophe, Nuff Said! (9) Rollings Stones - during the Mick Taylor years. He is still a great blues guitarist. (10) Santana - Now that was a fun band to see. There was a reason he named one of his LPs Festival. And a great guitar player too. (11) Patti Smith Group - I'll take one My Generation or Space Monkey over any Rush concert. (12) Eric Clapton - Even during his drunken 70's, he was gold. (13) Johnny Winter - Lordy! Catch him on a sober night and his playing was seeped in classic blues and rock. An amazing guitar player. Sometimes he was too fast, but when he played the blues, he was channeling the real crossroads deal. (14) Thin Lizzy - Saw them on their first US Tour and first stop of their first US Tour. Serious power and stage presence. (15) Honorable Mentions - All those great blues artists who were playing small clubs but made their mark on the music of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Luther Allison. Son Seals. Play all night, party all night, catch a good burrito on the way home from a classic Chicago Blues Club. Life doesn't get any better. Thanks for permitting my indulgences and my trip down memory lane. |
Being a drummer I always was a fan of All The World’s A Stage, which included the first 4 albums, then I would say 2112 and Farewell to Kings...Cygnus-X1 etc. was a killer track. Hemispheres and "La Villa Strangiato", I spent countless hours learning that tune getting up from my drum kit and starting it over(cassette deck). Then Moving Pictures album and the first time I saw them live (1981 New Orleans Municipal Auditorium) that sealed the deal. |
2112 - is my favorite and the only album or theirs in my regular rotation Moving Pictures- it takes me back to my high school days Roll the Bones - its a solid album and the only time i've seen them live was on that tour. They were tight and put on a great show. Still can't figure out why they had Primus open for em, probably a Canadian thing. |
Good lord. Your question brings back vivid memories of all night’ers with headphones. I was renting a bedroom off a buddy at his dads place. Many an evening we came home in the we hours of the mornings after closing up every local rock and roll bar in town. His dad would of course be asleep. The object of the game back then was to meet a girl, bring her home, sneak her in, and then out, of our rooms before mornings. Brad and I kind of had a little competition going on . But most of the time, we came back home alone. The headphones would go on, and so would 2112. And then Farewell to Kings. I even had a mural painting of that huge hawk from Fly by Night on the trunk lid of my Electra 225 Buick I drove back then. No wonder I had issues picking up girls. Thanks for the memory.. LOL Farewell to Kings |
My favorite grouping was Caress all the way through Grace. After Grace I found myself picking songs I liked rather than the entire disc. That certainly doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the body of work though after some listening time. I was certainly one that thought Signals was golden while the rest of the fan base was trying to take swan dive into an empty pool lol. They certainly should be ranked among the greatest of all time and given their due, |
Hemispheres. 2112. Moving Pictures. Permanent Waves. Farewell to Kings in more or less that order. Tried real real hard to like anything after Signals. Both when the later albums came out and then again a few years ago. Cannot find a single song or riff that I like after Signals. I don't like the direction they took after Moving Pictures but that never diminished my respect for the band or the individual in it. The Geddy Lee interview by Dan Rather on The Big Interview as fantastic. Encourage all Rush fans to seek it out and watch it. |
Grace Under Pressure - not everyone's choice, but for me their best melding of synths and guitar Moving Pictures Permanent Waves A Farewell to Kings 2112 The only album released by Rush that I actively dislike is "Caress of Steel", only one decent song, Bastille Day, it did set the stage for what came after but the rest of the album is boring, at least most of their 90's output were entertaining. |
Permanent Waves Power Windows Moving Pictures My very first concert was the last show of the Kiss/Rush tour June 7, 1975 in San Diego, Ca. At the end of Rush's set (while playing Working Man) Kiss came on stage with cream pies and threw pies at Al, Ged and Neil. I remember Al and Ged would run and slide across the stage because of all of the whip cream on the floor. At the end of the Kiss set Rush came out and did the same to them..... Been a Rush fan ever since. |
