The Ozzman
Melted by feels
Snakes and Arrows is a grower or at least it was to me. It may overtake Vapor Trails at some point soon for me.
GMD Poll: Rush's Discography Ranked
- Thread starter crimsonfloyd
- Start date
Snakes and Arrows is a grower or at least it was to me. It may overtake Vapor Trails at some point soon for me.
I remeber liking it a lot and I remember an amazing as fuck instrumental on it.
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
CiG
Harbinger of Metal
CiG
Harbinger of Metal
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
19. Hold Your Fire- Overall just a really tame album. The synth stuff they had been playing with through out the 80s goes into some tacky areas and the melodies are a points way too lite rock. So, a lot of the album just feels like background music. Still, you have a handful of gems (Force "Ten," "Prime Mover," "Mission") that remind me of OMD or other art-pop-synth. On the other hand, you have "Tai Shan," which is Rush's worst song ever. It's the anthem for every "woke" douche bag who goes to Asia to have an "awakening" while spending thousands on resorts and tour guides.
18. Vapor Trails- This album is fine, but the songwriting is really basic by Rush standards, and with the exception of a few tracks, this album has the least memorable and most homogenous sound of any Rush album. The production is also terrible, and even the remastered version is the most muddy sounding Rush album. While I might like muddy production for some bands, Rush is not one of them. "One Little Victory" is the only great song (though "How It Is" and "Sweet Miracle" are close).
17. Presto- I absolutely hate the dated, thin production of this album. It seems like they wanted to make a way from the synths but forgot to fill in all the layers the synths had come to fill in their soundscape. Like Vapor Trails, a lot of these songs feel very similar to me. However, the are more standout tracks. "The Pass" is so emotionally raw and beautiful and the piano portions of "Available Light" are just exquisite. "Hand Over Fist" is catchy as fuck.
16. Rush- AKA "Led Zeppelin are fucking awesome!" It's a worship album for the most part and there are times when Lee sounds awkward as a fuck singing these "oooohhh baby" lyrics (Robert Plant he is not), but still most of these are solid cuts. "Working Man" is obviously the star here is an absolutely phenomenal piece of hard rock.
15. Snakes and Arrows- For the most part just a solid album, but less stellar and mind-blowing tracks than I remember. "Far Cry" is a great groovy opener, "Malignant Narcissism" is a phenomenal instrumental, and "The Larger Bowl" is an excellent philosophical ditty. The rest of the album is good, but nothing special.
14. Counterparts- This is one of those albums that only Rush could make. I think about how other big bands tried to transition from one era to another but made asses from themselves (i.e. almost every major thrash band in the 90s). The cool thing about Rush is they pulled this off multiple times throughout the 80s and 90s. Here they actually make a alt. rock album that holds its own. Not their most innovative album, but still very listenable with a handful of masterful cuts ("Stick it Out," "Cold Fire" "Leave That Thing Alone").
13. Roll the Bones- This is a big jump up from Presto, as the production is much fuller and the songwriting is much more consistent. Lots of great philosophical lyrics put to some solid, catchy rock. The first three tracks are absolutely brilliant. "Dreamline" feels like watching a film, "Bravado" is so beautifully vulnerable and "Roll the Bones" is so fucking deep and catchy at the same time.
12. Clockwork Angels- Really strong progressive metal album, with a few softer songs thrown in for good measure. Taken as a whole, this album offers the most interesting compositions from Rush since the 80s. "Headlong Flight" and "The Wreckers" are masterful, and "BU2B" isn't far behind.
11. Test for Echo- Musically, this is the best album Rush released in the 90s. There are so many great hard-rocking riffs with great hooks on this album ("Test for Echo," "Driven," "Dog Years," and "Virtuality") but then there are also some beautiful softer tracks ("Resist" and "Carve Away the Stone"). However, this is easily Pert's worst lyrical outing ("...and all too soon a canine will be chasing cars in canine heaven..." or "Put your message in a modum and throw it into cyber sea..."). While I think I would like this album even more if I didn't speak English, I have learned to accept the bad lyrics.
10. Fly By Night- This is Rush's finding themselves album. Pert joins the fold and the quality of the music and lyrics skyrocket. Everything on side A is phenomenal. "By Tor and the Snow Dog" is one of the elite prog rock epics of all time and everything that surrounds it is fire. Unfortunately, the last three songs are a step down. "Making Memories" and "In the End" are fine Zeppelin worship, but nothing amazing while "Rivendell" is about as uninspired and dull as a folk song can be.
9. Power Windows- Rush go synth pop and slay at it. While the style is a little more limiting than what they had been doing before, they make the most of it with tons of memorable cuts. "Emotion Detector," "Mystic Rhythms," and "Grand Designs" are some of the best synth-pop songs ever written.
8. Caress of Steel- Rush's most underrated album. While "I Think I'm Going Bald" is probably their worst song from the 70s, the rest of this album is really strong. "Bastille Day" is great rocker while "The Necromancer" is killer epic. The middle passage is the darkest and most intense piece of metal recorded in the 70s. It's like they took the best of Black Sabbath and the best of King Crimson and just created this ghastly passage. "The Fountain of Lamneth" is a really complex song that takes a lot of listens to get, but is truly a chilling allegory for life and death.
7. Signals- There's something cold and distant about this album that is captivating and unsettling. A lot of it feels like it's coming from distant memories ("Subdivisions" and "The Analog Kid") or from imagined futures ("Digital Man" and "The Weapon"). It's a super dynamic yet coherent album with most of the songs being masterpieces. The album also has a flow from childhood, to adulthood, to death ("Losing It") woven throughout it in a way that feel like fragments from someone's life.
6. A Farewell to Kings- "Xanadu" might be their best prog song, which is saying something. "Cygnus XI" and "A Farewell to Kings" are also stellar prog cuts. "Closer to the Heart" is a phenomenal ditty. The other two tracks are weaker: "Madrigal" is sappy and "Cinderella Man" is Beatles worship.
5. Permanent Waves- So many brilliant tracks here. The opener takes prog and makes it poppy without compromising, the lyrics to "Free Will" should be mandatory reading, and "Jacobs Ladder" is like the prog metal version of the 4th movement of Beethoven's 6th. "Natural Sciences" is a really strange song but ultimately quite brilliant and unique.
4. 2112- The title track deserves all the hype that it gets. An absolutely brilliant piece of prog rock that is like watching a sci-fi epic. The second side is a bunch of straight up rock songs, but they're all really good. "Something for Nothing" absolutely slays and has one of the best bridges ever.
3. Moving Pictures- An album that lives up to it's name. Each of these songs creates such a powerful vision, with excellent integration lyrics and sounds. I'd give every track except "The Camera Eye" a 10/10.
2. Hemispheres- Almost so musically and intellectually intense that it breaks itself. Opener and closer are so freaking much. "Cygnus X-I" is a really fascinating exploration of dualism and the idea of the unified self. "La Villa Strangiato" is fucking out of this world with all three musicians just going all out in one of the most brilliant instrumentals ever. "Circumstances" is a great rocker and "The Trees" is both catchy and hilariously insightful.
1. Grace Under Pressure- It's amazing that this, out of all the Rush albums is still the one that I consider the best, but it is. Nowhere near as musically complex as some of the others, but so conceptually cohesive and powerful. Each track explores the idea of grace under pressure in a different context: death, genocide, fear, war. The result is an album that manages to explore some of the most powerful and complex moments of our time with a balance of compassion and reflection.
Concluding remarks: I think taking their discography as a whole, Rush is the greatest rock band is ever. It's their consistency and adaptability that makes them so special. Between Caress of Steel and Grace Under Pressure they released 8 consecutive albums that I consider to be masterpieces. I can't think of any other band that comes close to that. If you then add in their that their next tier of albums is really good and that every album has at least one legit classic on it, and I can't think of a band that approaches them with regards to consistency.
At the same time, they were highly adaptable and managed to remain relevant and original throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s. While so many bands struggled to adapt to new trends and styles, Rush did it time and time again, while never sounding like sell-outs or has-beens. They have constantly been able to find their own niche in every era.
18. Vapor Trails- This album is fine, but the songwriting is really basic by Rush standards, and with the exception of a few tracks, this album has the least memorable and most homogenous sound of any Rush album. The production is also terrible, and even the remastered version is the most muddy sounding Rush album. While I might like muddy production for some bands, Rush is not one of them. "One Little Victory" is the only great song (though "How It Is" and "Sweet Miracle" are close).
17. Presto- I absolutely hate the dated, thin production of this album. It seems like they wanted to make a way from the synths but forgot to fill in all the layers the synths had come to fill in their soundscape. Like Vapor Trails, a lot of these songs feel very similar to me. However, the are more standout tracks. "The Pass" is so emotionally raw and beautiful and the piano portions of "Available Light" are just exquisite. "Hand Over Fist" is catchy as fuck.
16. Rush- AKA "Led Zeppelin are fucking awesome!" It's a worship album for the most part and there are times when Lee sounds awkward as a fuck singing these "oooohhh baby" lyrics (Robert Plant he is not), but still most of these are solid cuts. "Working Man" is obviously the star here is an absolutely phenomenal piece of hard rock.
15. Snakes and Arrows- For the most part just a solid album, but less stellar and mind-blowing tracks than I remember. "Far Cry" is a great groovy opener, "Malignant Narcissism" is a phenomenal instrumental, and "The Larger Bowl" is an excellent philosophical ditty. The rest of the album is good, but nothing special.
14. Counterparts- This is one of those albums that only Rush could make. I think about how other big bands tried to transition from one era to another but made asses from themselves (i.e. almost every major thrash band in the 90s). The cool thing about Rush is they pulled this off multiple times throughout the 80s and 90s. Here they actually make a alt. rock album that holds its own. Not their most innovative album, but still very listenable with a handful of masterful cuts ("Stick it Out," "Cold Fire" "Leave That Thing Alone").
13. Roll the Bones- This is a big jump up from Presto, as the production is much fuller and the songwriting is much more consistent. Lots of great philosophical lyrics put to some solid, catchy rock. The first three tracks are absolutely brilliant. "Dreamline" feels like watching a film, "Bravado" is so beautifully vulnerable and "Roll the Bones" is so fucking deep and catchy at the same time.
12. Clockwork Angels- Really strong progressive metal album, with a few softer songs thrown in for good measure. Taken as a whole, this album offers the most interesting compositions from Rush since the 80s. "Headlong Flight" and "The Wreckers" are masterful, and "BU2B" isn't far behind.
11. Test for Echo- Musically, this is the best album Rush released in the 90s. There are so many great hard-rocking riffs with great hooks on this album ("Test for Echo," "Driven," "Dog Years," and "Virtuality") but then there are also some beautiful softer tracks ("Resist" and "Carve Away the Stone"). However, this is easily Pert's worst lyrical outing ("...and all too soon a canine will be chasing cars in canine heaven..." or "Put your message in a modum and throw it into cyber sea..."). While I think I would like this album even more if I didn't speak English, I have learned to accept the bad lyrics.
10. Fly By Night- This is Rush's finding themselves album. Pert joins the fold and the quality of the music and lyrics skyrocket. Everything on side A is phenomenal. "By Tor and the Snow Dog" is one of the elite prog rock epics of all time and everything that surrounds it is fire. Unfortunately, the last three songs are a step down. "Making Memories" and "In the End" are fine Zeppelin worship, but nothing amazing while "Rivendell" is about as uninspired and dull as a folk song can be.
9. Power Windows- Rush go synth pop and slay at it. While the style is a little more limiting than what they had been doing before, they make the most of it with tons of memorable cuts. "Emotion Detector," "Mystic Rhythms," and "Grand Designs" are some of the best synth-pop songs ever written.
8. Caress of Steel- Rush's most underrated album. While "I Think I'm Going Bald" is probably their worst song from the 70s, the rest of this album is really strong. "Bastille Day" is great rocker while "The Necromancer" is killer epic. The middle passage is the darkest and most intense piece of metal recorded in the 70s. It's like they took the best of Black Sabbath and the best of King Crimson and just created this ghastly passage. "The Fountain of Lamneth" is a really complex song that takes a lot of listens to get, but is truly a chilling allegory for life and death.
7. Signals- There's something cold and distant about this album that is captivating and unsettling. A lot of it feels like it's coming from distant memories ("Subdivisions" and "The Analog Kid") or from imagined futures ("Digital Man" and "The Weapon"). It's a super dynamic yet coherent album with most of the songs being masterpieces. The album also has a flow from childhood, to adulthood, to death ("Losing It") woven throughout it in a way that feel like fragments from someone's life.
6. A Farewell to Kings- "Xanadu" might be their best prog song, which is saying something. "Cygnus XI" and "A Farewell to Kings" are also stellar prog cuts. "Closer to the Heart" is a phenomenal ditty. The other two tracks are weaker: "Madrigal" is sappy and "Cinderella Man" is Beatles worship.
5. Permanent Waves- So many brilliant tracks here. The opener takes prog and makes it poppy without compromising, the lyrics to "Free Will" should be mandatory reading, and "Jacobs Ladder" is like the prog metal version of the 4th movement of Beethoven's 6th. "Natural Sciences" is a really strange song but ultimately quite brilliant and unique.
4. 2112- The title track deserves all the hype that it gets. An absolutely brilliant piece of prog rock that is like watching a sci-fi epic. The second side is a bunch of straight up rock songs, but they're all really good. "Something for Nothing" absolutely slays and has one of the best bridges ever.
3. Moving Pictures- An album that lives up to it's name. Each of these songs creates such a powerful vision, with excellent integration lyrics and sounds. I'd give every track except "The Camera Eye" a 10/10.
2. Hemispheres- Almost so musically and intellectually intense that it breaks itself. Opener and closer are so freaking much. "Cygnus X-I" is a really fascinating exploration of dualism and the idea of the unified self. "La Villa Strangiato" is fucking out of this world with all three musicians just going all out in one of the most brilliant instrumentals ever. "Circumstances" is a great rocker and "The Trees" is both catchy and hilariously insightful.
1. Grace Under Pressure- It's amazing that this, out of all the Rush albums is still the one that I consider the best, but it is. Nowhere near as musically complex as some of the others, but so conceptually cohesive and powerful. Each track explores the idea of grace under pressure in a different context: death, genocide, fear, war. The result is an album that manages to explore some of the most powerful and complex moments of our time with a balance of compassion and reflection.
Concluding remarks: I think taking their discography as a whole, Rush is the greatest rock band is ever. It's their consistency and adaptability that makes them so special. Between Caress of Steel and Grace Under Pressure they released 8 consecutive albums that I consider to be masterpieces. I can't think of any other band that comes close to that. If you then add in their that their next tier of albums is really good and that every album has at least one legit classic on it, and I can't think of a band that approaches them with regards to consistency.
At the same time, they were highly adaptable and managed to remain relevant and original throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s. While so many bands struggled to adapt to new trends and styles, Rush did it time and time again, while never sounding like sell-outs or has-beens. They have constantly been able to find their own niche in every era.
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
Hand over first
Fingers around the stone
Scissors cut the paper
Cuts the paper to the bone
One of my favorites off that album as well
Agreed. No other band comes close. I also agree with your assessment about GUP but didn't really think about grace under pressure being explored in each individual song. Interesting take on the album
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
CiG
Harbinger of Metal
Still working my way through the discography. Next album is Power Windows.
I enjoyed Grace Under Pressure, especially these two songs:
I enjoyed Grace Under Pressure, especially these two songs:
HamburgerBoy
Active Member
- Sep 16, 2007
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Haven't listened to a single Rush album since the thread started. In case I never get around to it, here's my ranking so far:
Permanent Waves
Hemispheres
A Farewell to Kings
Moving Pictures
Fly by Night
Rush
Signals
2112
Power Windows
Grace Under Pressure
Hold Your Fire
Permanent Waves
Hemispheres
A Farewell to Kings
Moving Pictures
Fly by Night
Rush
Signals
2112
Power Windows
Grace Under Pressure
Hold Your Fire
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
CiG
Harbinger of Metal
That's my other album favourite! Those 3 for me are easily the best on the album.
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
CiG
Harbinger of Metal
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
Funerary_Doom
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
I'm actually revisiting rock again (i literally don't know much about rock aside from a few songs from bands here and there), and Rush is a band I need to listen to more albums from. So I'll be listening to their albums. I won't be ranking because it honestly takes me awhile to fully process an album. However, this is cool, I enjoy reading your rankings anyways
CiG
Harbinger of Metal
Which ones have you heard so far?
Since this game started I've listened to their albums from the debut to 1984, which I guess you would call their classic period broadly speaking. At this point my favourite record is Permanent Waves whereas before the game my favourites were A Farewell to Kings and Caress of Steel.
I've already gotten a ton of value out of doing this game, definitely recommend Permanent Waves!
Since this game started I've listened to their albums from the debut to 1984, which I guess you would call their classic period broadly speaking. At this point my favourite record is Permanent Waves whereas before the game my favourites were A Farewell to Kings and Caress of Steel.
I've already gotten a ton of value out of doing this game, definitely recommend Permanent Waves!
Funerary_Doom
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
I've only listened to 2112 and A Farewell to Kings. So far 2112 was my favorite because I thought every track flowed really nicely together. You know sometimes with albums there's a handful of songs that are absolutely stand-outs and the rest are just OK. I didn't feel that way with 2112. A Farewell to Kings, it's really been awhile since I've last listened to it... but songs like "Closer to the Heart" is a bit too radio for me. The solo is nice, but some of the songs on that I remember not doing it for me. I do need to hear it again though. It's been awhile.
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