Rush 70s? 80s? 90s? No one?

Blacksword wrote: gdub411 wrote: Please someone point me at a decent album of theirs. Is it Hemiphere's?...Moving Pictures?, etc.... I have always disliked them ALOT but after seeing so much love for these guys I am wondering if I have been too closed minded!!!! Rush are one of those bands, that for some people can never be taken seriously. By some of their fans they are taken too seriously They are a 'cult band' which, of course means they have a large devoted following, but at the same time no one has heard of them. I know people who have said they can never take to Rush, because of Geddy Lees voice, even now that it has at last broken! A true Rush fan likes his voice, and doesn't just tolerate it. Like any band they are not for everyone. You've been given some good advice here about what Rush is a good starting point. I would like to reinforce the endorsement of 'Hemispheres' and 'Moving Pictures' in particular, but also try 'Permenant waves'

This cult band thing is a bit overplayed, they have sold just under 40 million albums worldwide.

For me I will always love them,they will always be my favourite band. For a prog enthusiast I would always suggest A Farewell To Kings as a starter.

The last prog show I went to was Rush, and I agree- they're not at all mellowing with age, just getting better. They also seemed to be having a lot more fun on stage than the last time I saw them (I won't say when that was, but on the ride to the show the radio station played a song from a brand new band called "Guns and Roses").

Having said that, I still think that the pair "A Farewell to Kings" and "Hemispheres" is the highlight of their career, as well as being the most 'prog' (although 2112 fans may disagree). And IMHO the "Moving Pictures"/ "Permanent Waves" pair were the best mixture of prog, hard rock, and pop accessibility that has ever been done.

But I even like their more recent, more pop-friendly stuff; "Time Stands Still" turns off a lot of people, but I find it quite expressive and a great example of Peart's consistently improving lyric skills. I could do without the rapping, but "Roll the Bones" is another song that surprised me when I was expecting the band to taper off. And I'm no audiophile (my 8-track is working nicely, thank you) but I thought Vapor Trails sounded fine- if anything, it has an intriguing raw edge that most of the 80s and 90s albums lacked.

I've got time for their music from all eras, but my favourite era has to be '78 - '82 (Hemispheres to Moving Pictures) MP is the best rock album of all time, by any band IMO.

The only album I couldn't really get to grips with was 'Power Windows' and I wasn't that keen on 'Hold your fire'

I would agree that they were never pop. The first Rush song I heard was 'New world man' I thought it sounded like pop back then, but I was listerning to nothing Motorhead and Venom. I was sooooo wrong about Rush. They rock. I've just seen them both nights at Wembly this week. There was nothing poppy about that performance. My ears are still ringing!!

Please someone point me at a decent album of theirs. Is it Hemiphere's?...Moving Pictures?, etc.... I have always disliked them ALOT but after seeing so much love for these guys I am wondering if I have been too closed minded!!!!

Rush are so good that I dont understand how they come to make the odd duff track, but bad albums never!!

Seems to me that they arent very good at self-assessment.To explain I will give examples:

1.The crap sound at Concerts over the last 20 yrs: since the Permanent Waves tour.

2. The dreadful mastering of Vapor Trails.

3. Songs like Face Up,Countdown, and Hand Over Fist

4.Dropping Terry Brown for studio albums

5.Doing an album of covers.

Preferably, just the 70's stage...

Swinton MCR wrote: Not listened to any album since MP....Why - coz they went all poppy with short pop songs - UNLESS ANYBODY TELLS ME DIFFERENT!

Get the Signals CD! short songs? yes; pop songs? No. imagine the 8 tracks are merged into 2 tracks lasting around 20 minutes each: titles: side 1: seems to me it's chemistry; side 2: Learning to catch the heat of the third world man

Rush = Best Album - Hemispheres.

Also like - Moving pictures, Permanent waves, Farewell to kings and 2112.

They are technically melodic heavy rock....

Not listened to any album since MP....Why - coz they went

all poppy with short pop songs - UNLESS ANYBODY TELLS ME DIFFERENT!

For most of the seventies Rush were a heavy metal band pretending to be a prog band but by the eighties they had graduated to a more sophisticated technical approach.The grandiose 'Power Windows' was the culmination of that period and is underrated in my opinion being far superior to any rock music of the time.However the songs on 'Test For Echo','Counterparts' and 'Roll The Bones' are the best of any Rush era IMO.Therefore I vote for the NINETIES.