I too have all their albums, even Feedback and also half a dozen concert bootlegs, which are great, but like several others I prefer their pre-late-eighties work.
Well, I would also recommend all of their albums as well, but I’m surprised that so many are listing Caress of Steel among their top recommendations. I would have thought that would be one for those already into the band. They did call that one their “Down the Tubes” tour, after all.
Permanent Waves is probably the best gateway album. Fly by Night and 2112 would be my recommendations from the early years (and you’re already familiar with 2112). Signals and Moving Pictures from the 80’s (yet I hate how overplayed Tom Sawyer is). I think Counterparts and Test for Echo are my favorites of the more recent albums, although Vapor Trails has some great songs (Peaceable Kingdom being perhaps among my favorite Rush songs of all time).
That said, I really do love each and every album almost from beginning to end. Check them all out!
Although much of their best work was in the late-70s classic era, I think their best post-Moving Pictures album was Power Windows. Although a bit uneven, songs like “Marathon”, “Manhattan Project”, and especially “Territories” are just excellent.
Just want to add that I think Presto is a great album. (I don’t see it mentioned typically in Rush threads, so I try to make a point to bring it up).
Ya know what I think is funny? “Tom Sawyer” wasn’t even their highest-charting song. That honor goes to “New World Man”, from Signals. What’s even funnier (to me) is that “New World Man” was hastily written and tacked onto Signals after they had everything else recorded and discovered that they had enough room left for another song!
And yet the classic rock stations hammer away at “Tom Sawyer”.
Another thing about Moving Pictures - it contains “The Camera Eye”, commonly considered by many Rush fans to be their finest song.
I heard Alex talking about Neil’s audition. Paraphrasing: “We were young, and we were so cool. We were in a rock band, and we had long hair and satin pants and pointy-toed boots. We were cool. So we’re auditioning drummers and this guy shows up with short hair and a checkered button-down shirt and a little four-piece drum kit. We thought, ‘This guy just isn’t cool enough to be in our band!’ Then he started playing.” 
That song is a lot of fun to play on the bass and sing at the same time 
That’s one of my favorites. That whole album has a really different sound to it. It’s a very open-sounding, as opposed to the thickness of the sound on other albums. I was pretty surprised when I found out that they’ve never performed the title song, “Presto”, live!
I too was a little reluctant to follow their new direction. I see their evolutionary jump between “Power Windows” and “Hold Your Fire”; “Time Stand Still” is also the song from the latter that is a standout in my mind.
They are still fantastic musicians, and I’d jump at a chance to see them again in concert, even if they didn’t play any of their old material. I just got “Test For Echo” this summer (11 years after release), and do enjoy the music.
Which of their newer, original albums - “Counterparts”, “Vapor Trails”, or “Feedback” - do you prefer? I haven’t heard any of them.
Rush Trivia: The song “YYZ” - from Moving Pictures - is named after the airport code for Pearson Field in Toronto, ON. Also, the opening rhythm is the letters YYZ in Morse Code.
Cool! I thought it was a zipper reference.
Welcome to the appreciation of a fine Canadian band.
I actually didn’t appreciate a lot of their earlier stuff at the time, but certainly do now.
My favourites however are some of their later albums like Grace Under Pressure, and Signals.
“New World Man” is exactly the right tempo for me to jog at 4.6 mph.
I love Rush. I am not familiar with all of their work, but what I know I love. Plus, they’re Canadian, eh? We haven’t got a ton of good rock from Canada that makes it elsewhere in the world, so I have some pride for them.
Can you link me to it, please?
[Emily Litella]Never mind.[/Emily Litella]
I found it, but I can’t play it. I need to futz with it.
Is there something wrong with Coldfire? A Rush thread and he hasn’t made an appearance…
I believe he left the board, at least temporarily.
I didn’t know about the Toronto reference but I did know about the Morse code. Back in high school we were listening to the album and my friend’s father said,“That’s YYZ.” We knew that, we have the album but how the hell did he know? He learned Morse code in the military and was commenting on the rythym, not the title.
Another big Rush fan checking in here. It’s hard to say which pieces are my favorites, but if I had to make a top 10 (in alphabetical order by title), it would be:
[ul]
[li]2112 (2112)[/li][li]Afterimage (Grace Under Pressure)[/li][li]The Camera Eye (Moving Pictures)[/li][li]La Villa Strangiato (Hemispheres)[/li][li]Losing It (Signals)[/li][li]The Mission (A Show of Hands)[/li][li]Mystic Rhythms (Power Windows)[/li][li]Red Lenses (Grace Under Pressure)[/li][li]Subdivisions (Signals)[/li][li]Vital Signs (Moving Pictures)[/li][/ul]
Believe me, this was not an easy list to make. Too many good tracks to choose from. Long live Rush!
My favourite Rush albums are Caress of Steel and Hemespheres. Both quite brilliant.
Neil’s book Ghost Rider is pretty cool.