# Your Top "X" Favorite RUSH Albums

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 28, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192 "2020-08-28T01:07:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/1 "2020-08-28T01:07:43Z")

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Hello everyone, again. I’m still new here and am happy to meet all whom I shall meet here.

But back to the OP.

I saw a thread like this one X+ years ago, but let’s see if anyone’s opinion on this topic may have changed since then and / or if any people new to Café Society since then may have any opinion on this topic to share.

So, you may be asking yourself, what would be Hilary’s top X favorite RUSH albums (well, probably not.)

Here are my top Eight favorite RUSH albums from top favorite to #8

1. **Moving Pictures**
2. **Counterparts**
3. **Test For Echo**
4. **Presto**
5. **Roll the Bones**
6. **Signals**
7. **Permanent Waves**
8. **Hemispheres**

So, please share with us, what are your top favorite RUSH albums?

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**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/2 "2020-08-28T05:24:40Z")

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1. 
  1. And it’s not close. As a kid I wore out one album and two cassettes (leaving them in a hot car probably didn’t help).

2. Moving Pictures.
3. A Farewell to Kings
4. Rush (debut)
5. Hemispheres
6. Power Windows
7. Fly By Night
8. Hold Your Fire

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**Author:** ![Boudicca90](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boudicca90/32/16818_2.png) [@Boudicca90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boudicca90)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/3 "2020-08-28T05:34:41Z")

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Rush is my all-time favorite band, I even have a starman tattoo. 😄

My Top 8:

1. Hemispheres
2. 2112
3. A Farewell To Kings
4. Permanent Waves
5. Presto
6. Roll The Bones
7. Hold Your Fire
8. Moving Pictures

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/4 "2020-08-28T05:48:51Z")

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The one Rush album that is great from start to finish is “All The World’s A Stage.”

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/5 "2020-08-28T15:06:05Z")

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Pictures, Waves, Fly

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**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/6 "2020-08-28T15:14:28Z")

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Paging **RushGeekGirl** , but she hasn’t been on in 2 weeks…

I find most of their 70’s output to be rather twee, tho there are excellent cuts there (Xanadu for ex.). MP & PW for me.

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**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/7 "2020-08-28T15:39:04Z")

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- Their 1976 live album ‘All the World’s a Stage’
- 2112
- Farewell to Kings
- Hemispheres
- Caress of Steel

Not much interest in their sound post-1980, though if I were to mine the best ( IMO ) tracks from the subsequent albums I could come up with a enough material to make a good album in itself.

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**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/8 "2020-08-28T22:32:19Z")

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1. Power Windows
2. 2112
3. Moving Pictures
4. Permanent Waves
5. Signals
6. Farewell to Kings
7. Hemispheres
8. Clockwork Angels

I’d probably have a different list tomorrow

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**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/9 "2020-08-29T00:40:36Z")

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The OP cracks me up, as I owned the 1st 5 thru All the World’s a Stage, and not a single one after! 😃

Yeah - 2112 is #1 - no question. Hard to believe I used to be able to play the entire 1st side on bass.

So yeah - you could shuffle the 1st 5 in various orders (so long as you kept 2112 at #1) and say Rush had 5 excellent albums, and then a bunch of other stuff.

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**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/10 "2020-08-29T01:32:04Z")

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Hijack: The _RUSH-Beyond the Lighted Stage_ documentary DVD’s are definitely worth watching at least two or three times for the fan.

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/11 "2020-08-29T03:53:40Z")

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> [@Hilary\_Algar](#):
>
> Hijack: The _RUSH-Beyond the Lighted Stage_ documentary DVD’s are definitely worth watching at least two or three times for the fan.

I’m not really a Rush fan at all (respect their skill and like their personalities, just mostly not my cup of tea musically), but I caught the Time Stand Still documentary on their final tour on cable and found it surprisingly charming in a low key way.

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**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/12 "2020-08-29T04:31:03Z")

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I came in here to say [Wild Gift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Gift?wprov=sfti1).

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**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/13 "2020-08-29T23:58:15Z")

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Well HELLO! It’s nice to be remembered.

When I try to think of my favorite album it’s such a blur. I love them all so much. I know for sure 2112 is my favorite by far but the rest are all so close to equal in my heart. I like twee I suppose because the earlier ones are the ones I still choose to play now, especially Hemispheres. The ones from the later 80s and 90s I guess were lower on the list. I would put Clockwork Angels far above any of the 90s albums just based on The Garden alone.

But I love it all. I’d rather hear my least favorite Rush album than pretty much any other performers’ best album.

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**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/14 "2020-08-30T00:23:48Z")

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Oh man, this is going to be tough. And my opinion changes from time to time. Let’s see…

1. Hemispheres
2. Signals
3. Fly By Night
4. Power Windows
5. Moving Pictures
6. Grace Under Pressure
7. 2112
8. Hold Your Fire

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**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/15 "2020-08-30T02:25:33Z")

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No love for the Rutsey album? It obviously has a different flavor from all the other albums but I like the blues-rock. My favorite album after 1990 is probably Feedback; I love the cover of Crossroads.

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**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/16 "2020-08-30T05:13:27Z")

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1. All the World’s a Stage
2. Exit…Stage Left
3. 2112
4. Hemispheres
5. Moving Pictures
6. Permanent Waves
7. Rush
8. Caress of Steel

They lost me after Signals.

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/17 "2020-08-30T11:50:53Z")

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1. A Farewell to Kings
2. 2112
3. Moving Pictures
4. Fly by Night
5. (What’s the one with “Spirit of Radio”? Is that Hemispheres?)

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**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/18 "2020-08-30T12:22:49Z")

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_Spirit of Radio_ is on the _ **Permanent Waves** _ album.

Likes that one.

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**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/19 "2020-08-30T12:34:05Z")

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Hemispheres  
Signals  
Caress of Steel  
A farewell to kings  
Grace under pressure  
2112  
Power windows  
Permanent Waves  
Moving Pictures  
Fly by night

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192/20 "2020-08-30T12:45:24Z")

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> [@JKellyMap](#):
>
> 1. (What’s the one with “Spirit of Radio”?)

The very last song that John “Records” Landecker ever played on _ **The Loop** _, WLUP FM 98 _Where Chicago Rocks!_ was:

Dat  
da da da!

**RUSH** _Spirit of Radio_

I was listening to The Loop at the time. Bittersweet and wistful memory–those were happier times with a near infinitely more promising outlook then.

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-x-favorite-rush-albums/919192.md?page=2)
