In no particular order:
Signals
Presto
Test For Echo
The thing that makes Presto so unique among Rush albums is how open the sound is. Most Rush music is so dense and has so much going on (and I love that), but every song on Presto just seems to have so much space/breathing room. I suspect producer Rupert Hine had a lot to do with that - he also produced the following album, Roll the Bones, which was also fairly open-sounding, though not to the degree Presto was. They went back to Peter Collins (who had produced the two albums prior to Presto) for Counterparts, and the sound got all thick and dense again.
My pick for best? For me it’s a tie between Hemispheres and Permanent Waves.
Though I think Snakes & Arrows is pretty damned good too.
Moving Pictures ftw
A Farewell To Kings
Permanent Waves
Moving Pictures
I sat first row center at the Baltimore Arena, and I was almost in a trance watching Neil bang on the drums, I have seen MANY concerts and the musical display he puts on, along with Geddy and Alex is incomparable!
Moving Pictures is one of the All-Time great Albums
Permanent Waves>Moving Pictures>Exit Stage Left …Rush ruled the world during that stretch.
Toss-up between Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures.
Moving Pictures
Presto
Hemispheres
Snakes and Arrows
Saw them perform live just a few weeks ago. Still amazing.
Would picking one of their live albums be cheating? If not, I would say “A Show of Hands”.
At risk of resurecting a slightly old thread, I’ve decided to expand my Rush collection on the iPod. Are there any albums that are really worth listening to after Roll The Bones (and if so, which ones)?
For compilation albums, Chronicles makes a nice “Rush starter kit” as it pretty much has every big hit.
- Permanent Waves
- Moving Pictures
- Power Windows
- 2112
“The Trees” ruins Hemispheres for me, because the lyrics are so unbelievably fucking stupid I can’t get past them.
It’s hard to pick one, but I’ve got to go with Moving Pictures.
I highly recommend Counterparts. I would probably put it in my top 10 favorite albums. Test For Echo is also really good, and has a similar sound to Counterparts.
2112
Moving Pictures
Exit…Stage Left
Fly By Night
I pretty much stopped following them after they got really synth heavy.
Signals
My first thought was Moving Pictures. Then somebody mentioned *Hemispheres *and Permanent Waves. And I’ve always liked 2112.
A Farewell to Kings was pretty good too.
Man, those guys really put out some great tunes, didn’t they?
I already mentioned it upthread, but I’ll say it again: Snakes & Arrows, their most recent full album. It really is good. Three freakin’ instrumentals!
It occurs to me that, this being 2011, I’ve been following this band for a bit over 30 years, ever since a friend in 8th grade had me listen to “Freewill”. Wow. I look at all the other bands I was a huge fan of when I was 14-18 years old and learning how to play the guitar and bass — The Beatles, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden — I’d put those records on and plug in my guitar or bass and just play along with them for hours and hours. But eventually I just got tired of playing those songs, and stopped buying the records. But Rush… man, I’ve played along with Rush more than any other band, and I just can’t get tired of them. Their songs just never “wear out”.
Yeah, me too. My friend Dave was into them and turned me onto them and I was lost. It was between Signals and Grace Under Pressure so…1983, I guess? And I saw them on the GUP tour (floor seats for $12.50!).
It would be a tough call for best. They had so many different approaches to albums. I might go with Roll the Bones because I have a thing for randomness and chance (surprisingly).
I really like Snakes and Arrows too.
Of course there’s not much I don’t like when it comes to Rush.
I can"t pick a favorite as it depends on my mood - and I have every studio album. However, I will say that I found Rush in Rio to be an amazing live album. That crowd was so into it that they were singing to the instrumentals!
And Styx, I would say. (Yep, have the album, went to the concert - it was awesome!)