GMD Poll: Rush's Discography Ranked

[crimsonfloyd]

Directions: Rank Rush's 19 studio albums. Order and number each album 1-19. Ties are OK. Your first place album earns 19 points, your second place album earns 18 points, etc.

Rules:

• You may rank as few as 10 albums. Lists with less than 10 albums will not be counted.
• If you list less than 19 albums, the first placed album will still get 19 points, the last placed album will still get 1 point, and the albums in between will have points distributed proportionately. The average points earned for albums that are not listed will not be impacted positively or negatively, so if you don't rank an album, you neither help it or hurt it.

At the end, the albums will be ranked based on their average number of points per vote.

You have until Monday, March 4th at 5 PM PST to finalize your list, re-familiarize yourself albums you haven’t heard in awhile, familiarize yourself with albums you haven’t heard at all, lobby for any albums you think are underrated, and lobby against any albums you think are overrated.

Rush (1974)
Fly by Night (1975)
Caress of Steel (1975)
2112 (1976)
A Farewell to Kings (1977)
Hemispheres (1978)
Permanent Waves (1980)
Moving Pictures (1981)
Signals (1982)
Grace Under Pressure (1984)
Power Windows (1985)
Hold Your Fire (1987)
Presto (1989)
Roll the Bones (1991)
Counterparts (1993)
Test for Echo (1996)
Vapor Trails (2002)
Snakes and Arrows (2007)
Clockwork Angels (2012)

 

[jimmy101]

Don't know much about Rush. Hopefully the results of this will point me in the right direction as to where to start.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Hold Your Fire (1987)
Presto (1989)
Roll the Bones (1991)
Counterparts (1993)
Test for Echo (1996)
Vapor Trails (2002)
Snake and Arrows (2007)
Clockwork Angels (2012)

This entire chunk I either haven't listened to at all, or haven't listened to in over a decade. Been ages since listening to Caress of Steel as well. This discography should be fun/painful.

 

[The Ozzman]

Top 5:

Grace Under Pressure
Counterparts
Vapor Trails
Hemispheres
Moving Pictures

Bottom 3:

Test for Echo
Caress of Steel
Fly by Night

6-16: ????

This entire chunk I either haven't listened to at all, or haven't listened to in over a decade. Been ages since listening to Caress of Steel as well. This discography should be fun/painful.

Some gems in that chunk though.

Reminder that if you don't rank anything past Moving Pictures, you're a normie (not specific to anyone here)

Snakes and Arrows

 

[challenge_everything]

Since when are Rush metal?

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Since when are Rush metal?

They aren’t. I would argue they have metal songs/passages, but not enough to be a metal band. We’re doing them anyway.

 

[The Ozzman]

They aren’t. I would argue they have metal songs/passages, but not enough to be a metal band. We’re doing them anyway.

It's Snakes and Arrows, not Snake and Arrows

Since when are Rush metal?

It's on M-A. Close enough.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

I mean we've already done several non-metal bands like Darkthrone, Burzum and Graveland so I don't see the problem.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

It's Snakes and Arrows, not Snake and Arrows.

Fixed.

Grace Under Pressure
Counterparts
Vapor Trails
Hemispheres
Moving Pictures

Bottom 3:

Test for Echo
Caress of Steel
Fly by Night

Wow! I think Test for Echo is significantly better than Counterparts and Vapor Trails. It's the only Rush album with bad lyrics, but other than that it's better in just about every respect. Vapor Trails is probably bottom three for me. Trash production and basic songwriting.

And how can you hate Caress of Steel? Necromancer is one of the most badass songs ever, Bastille Day is badass, and Fountain of Lamneth, while flawed, also has some really amazing passages. I'll grant that I Think I'm going Bald is one of Rush's worst songs.

And Fly by Night has so many great tracks. Side A is just about flawless, with By-Tor and the Snow dog being a top 10 Rush song. The last two songs are pretty boring, so it's not perfect, but not bottom three.

 

[The Ozzman]

Wow! I think Test for Echo is significantly better than Counterparts and Vapor Trails. It's the only Rush album with bad lyrics, but other than that it's better in just about every respect. Vapor Trails is probably bottom three for me. Trash production and basic songwriting.

Listen to the remixed version of Vapor Trails and then make an assessment about the album and give Counterparts a very thorough respinning. The remixed Vapor Trails is light years better as far as production goes. Counterparts is basically the 90s era Moving Pictures/GUP to me. The songwriting is incredible, the lyrics are very introspective and overall it's a very strong album. T4E is shit except for maybe 3 songs. I don't find myself going back to that album ever and they could omit it from the discography and it wouldn't outright change the band or their future output significantly.

I have an appreciation for Vapor Trails after reading Neil Peart's book Ghost Rider. A lot of the music stemmed from his experiences written in that book so when you see the bigger pictures, you see how great it really is. Now, Snakes and Arrows is slowly creeping up the list for me lately. Same with Clockwork Angels which I did not like at all when it was first released.

And how can you hate Caress of Steel? Necromancer is one of the most badass songs ever, Bastille Day is badass, and Fountain of Lamneth, while flawed, also has some really amazing passages. I'll grant that I Think I'm going Bald is one of Rush's worst songs.

I don't hate any Rush album. The only legitimately bad album is T4E and even then it's like a 4.5 or 5/10. This was very much a transition album and you can tell with how flawed it is. Still probably a 6/10 for me. Counterparts being worse than T4E is laughable for anyone who considers themselves a Rush fan beyond a casual basis. Granted, Counterparts had to grow on me over the years. Same with Presto which is a phenomenal record.

And Fly by Night has so many great tracks. Side A is just about flawless, with By-Tor and the Snow dog being a top 10 Rush song. The last two songs are pretty boring, so it's not perfect, but not bottom three.

See above with the 'hating Rush albums'. Both this album and CoS were instrumental in the Rush sound and in transitioning into the band they are today. Neither of them are last because of how important they are. I just don't find myself going back to those albums a lot or being in the mood to listen to them. Again, probably a 6/10 for the album because it's not bad. It just mostly bores the shit out of me.

 

[Phylactery]

I’ve heard Hemispheres and Moving Pictures but nothing else except select songs here and there so I won’t do this. But I’ll be interested in the top 3-5 as I’ll probably listen to those.

 

[The Ozzman]

I’ve heard Hemispheres and Moving Pictures but nothing else except select songs here and there so I won’t do this. But I’ll be interested in the top 3-5 as I’ll probably listen to those.

Check out Grace Under Pressure and report back here on your opinion

 

[challenge_everything]

My first Rush album was 2112. What a piece of godawful shit that was. Nearly put me off them for life. Took me 10 years to realise I rather liked Moving Pictures and Hemispheres

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

A remarkably consistent discography which is incredible taking into the consideration the changes in style in the 80's. One band where you can truly say there are no bad albums. Only certain albums that are stronger than others. Ranking these did prove a bit tricky and required going full autist.

1. Hemispheres
2. Power Windows
3. A Farewell to Kings
4. Permanent Waves
5. Signals
6. 2112
7. Counterparts
8. Hold Your Fire
9. Moving Pictures
10. Presto
11. Caress of Steel
12. Snakes and Arrows
13. Clockwork Angels
14. Grace Under Pressure
15. Fly By Night
16. Vapor Trails
17. Test for Echo
18. Roll the Bones
19. Rush

Honestly, I'm still not sure if that's going to be concrete or not. Snakes and Arrows and Clockwork Angels could switch places depending on which of the two I'm listening to and I'm seriously considering moving Hold Your Fire up a bit more. It's funny what time can do. Not too long ago that album would have been near the bottom but I've really fallen in love with that one over the past year. The top two have been secure for a long time for me. The peaks of their prog era and the synth era.

 

[The Ozzman]

8. Hold Your Fire
9. Counterparts
10. Presto

Nice to see these this high from someone

 

[Phylactery]

Check out Grace Under Pressure and report back here on your opinion

I was actually going to try Permanent Waves next. Any reason you’ve picked this particular album? One of your favourites.

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

Nice to see these this high from someone

I actually just swapped Moving Pictures for Counterparts at 7. It's a phenomenal album.

 

[zemat]

Hello,
First time I post here,
I'm Jose from Mexico
Nice meeting all of you



1.-Moving Pictures
2.-2112
3.-Clockwork Angels
4.-Hemispheres
5.-Counterparts
6.-Permanent Waves
7.-Signals
8.-Grace Under Pressure
9.-A Farewell To Kings
10.-Test For Echo
11.-Roll The Bones
12.-Rush
13.-Power Windows
14.-Snakes And Arrows
15.-Hold Your Fire
16.-Fly By Night
17.-Presto
18.-Caress Of Steel
19.-Vapor Trails

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Lol

 

[CiG]