So, since I rated the Doctor’s from Doctor Who, friends of mine who like the band Rush and also know I am a huge Rush fan wanted me to rank their albums over the last (nearly) forty years. This is not going to be easy.
First off, the rules, all live albums will not be included. If they had an album of original material first released as a live album, then I’d say sure. Also, compilation albums are not included. Would you rate Stephen King greatest chapters? Of course not. Compilation albums are great for fringe fans, but leave them out of any major ratings. That leaves off 8 live albums and 9 compilation albums. Those numbers alone should tell you the greatness of this band.
Here we go:
19 – Rush/1974 – This was their first album and if represented a lot of the unrefined talent of the band, plus a desire by the record company to turn them into something they weren’t. Not bad as you can see the potential, but against the rest of the albums, it pales.
18 – Hold Your Fire/1987 – This album, thankfully, was the last of the synthesizer heavy albums of the 80’s. Leading up to this album, they had done a good job of not overwhelming the traditional Rush sound, but in this one it got lost. Frankly, the band was close to turning into Chicago on this album.
17 – Fly By Night/1975 – They were maturing nicely and were starting to get the idea of “concept pieces,” but this album didn’t really work. It did give them a nice single with the title track.
16 – Feedback/2004 – The bands interpretations of the songs that inspired them were actually good, but after a few months of listening to this, I really haven’t revisited it. I think I miss the originality of Rush’s own music.
15 – Signals/1982 –This highlights how tough this ranking system is. 19, 18 and 17 are “C’s,” 16 is a “B-,” and I would make this a solid “B,” and we are only 5 albums in. I like most of the songs on this album, but I just don’t think it works as well as a “complete” album.
14 – Test For Echo/1996 – My least favorite of the post synth era albums (Feedback falls into a different category for me). It does have some of my favorite Rush songs on it (Driven and, especially, Half the World) but for some reason, it just doesn’t sit as well (for me) as some of the other albums.
13 – Presto/1989 – I can’t tell you how glad I was to hear the return to the guitar rock sound this album ushered in, but they had to re-learn how to walk before they could run again.
12 – A Farewell to Kings/1977 – This was when the band really had the freedom to write what they wanted to and the music started to develop into what would be considered their distinctive sound.
11 – Grace Under Pressure/1984 – The first Rush album I got and there is a lot of this album I really like. The fear of the cold war is wonderfully exposed with their songs and this album made me an instant fan. Within another year, I’d have every album up to that point.
10 – Hemispheres/1978 – Rush's 2nd best epic song album and I still listen to this one at least once a year. The Trees is a top five Rush song and Side 2 alone is possibly my favorite side of a Rush album, back when people knew what a “side” of an album was.
9 – Vapor Trails/2002 – I can’t tell you how glad I was to hear this album. Mainly because it was the comeback album after Neil Peart lost his wife and daughter. No one thought they would ever record together again. Also, it was great, finally getting the hard rock sound from the 90’s, effective supporting keyboards from the 80’s and musical conceptuality of the 70’s together. One Little Victory remains one of the baddest rock songs ever.
A quick interlude. This is HAAAAAARRRRDDD. I’ve been at this for a week. I think in the end, I probably will be able to move any of these albums up or down one or two spaces just depending on the mood I am in. Now, back to the countdown…
8 – Caress of Steel/1975 – I just like this album. This was the first album they did where the album felt complete. The songs not only display the musical knowledge we have come to expect from them, but this album is a postcard of time, reminding me of my youth growing up in the 70’s (when I first heard it in 1984).
7 – Permanent Waves/1980 – This album represented a subtle change in the band, which would propel them to superstar success. It was radio friendly, but none of the songs really could be classified as a “single.” Regardless of the numerous critics that had always hated them, this album was them starting to kick in the doors of radio stations and saying, “it’s not like anything you’re playing right now but your listeners want to listen to it.” This album featured Spirit of Radio a song radio stations played even though it relentlessly criticized modern radio for selling out. Brilliant.
6 – Counterparts/1993 – The second best of the 90’s rock albums. As everyone was trying to find their grunge, Rush went back to traditional rock and put out a great album. Nobody’s Hero is my 2nd favorite Rush song criticizing our warped ideas on what exactly makes a hero a hero.
5 – Power Windows/1985 – This was the triumph of the synthesizers, the best of the keyboard heavy albums of the 80’s. As heavy as the keyboards were, they still had the classic Rush sound. Mystic Rhythms has become a concert staple and Grand Designs could be the happiest song they ever wrote (I love that one too).
4 – 2112/1976 – Everything about this album has become iconic. It was the first real true prog album, with concepts and musical ability making it a thinking man’s alternative of the bombastic rock of the day. Side one, as a whole, is a classic. The band has mentioned they wrote 2112 thinking this was their last album they were ever going to produce, so they threw abandon to the wind and wrote what they wanted. When they were done, they had a classic sound, a classic image and the ability to record whatever they wanted from then on out.
3 – Snakes and Arrows/2007 – What makes a band great? Two things in my mind, commitment to their own unique sound and longevity. You can count a handful of bands that fall into that description, and Rush, viciously, put their stamp on that category again with this album, nearly four decades after forming. It’s hard to imagine how a band like this keeps getting better but top to bottom, this album is fantastic. I’ve listened to this album at least one every two weeks since it came out and I’m not tired of it yet. Far Cry, Working them Angels, and Larger Bowl are classics.
That leaves the final Two:
Moving Pictures/1981
Roll The Bones/1991
Moving Pictures is the bands most popular album, and there are many justifiable reasons why. First it produced their biggest hit single Tom Sawyer, fan favorites Red Barchetta, YYZ, Limelight and Witch Hunt (a song a lot of fans I’ve met at concerts wish they played more often), and the epic prog song The Camera Eye. This from an album that had a total, total, of seven songs. But what it really did is follow the path laid out by Permanent Waves and took it further. This was their music (they were by far the most successful prog rock band at the time, if not the only one); this was their distinctive sound, (different from their early days, but not unchanged; rather honed). I consider this to be a must have album for any listener of music, as this is Rush announcing, “yeah, we’re that good.” Fly By Night welcomed them as an up and coming band, 2112 turned them into the headline act, and Moving Pictures blasted them into rock royalty.
Roll the Bones was redemption. As I mentioned talking about Hold Your Fire, this band was starting to become Chicago. Go listen to an old Chicago album from the early days and you hear a rocking great band. Listen to any of Chicago from the mid-80’s and they became an easy listening, hyper sweet, talentless music machine more akin to Lawrence Welk. Rush realized after Hold Your Fire that they needed to get back to where they started and redeem themselves. Presto was a transitional album and then came Roll the Bones. All ten songs brought back the distinctiveness of the 70’s and early 80’s, merged that with a traditional rock sound, and placed the keyboards as the perfect fourth piece to a three-piece band. All ten songs are rock anthems; each could have been released as a single. The lyrics were what Rush fans loved, unapologetic, and all three musicians placed their name in the tops of all time at their own instrument, and I will argue Geddy and Neil are the best bass player and drummer ever. This also has my favorite all time Rush song on it, The Big Wheel, with what I consider to be their greatest lyric, “I was lined up for glory, but the tickets sold out in advance.”
This is going to be considered a wussy thing to do, but hey, it’s my list –
Tie for first.
