Grace Under Pressure: Rush

I think I slightly prefer it to Signals.  I mean, there's no beating Subdivisions or Analog Kid, but after that, Signals can be a bit tedious to me.  GUP is consistent pretty much all the way through.

I like it; for me, though, it's the last acceptable Rush album.

Both Signals and Grace are huge letdowns after that run from '74 to '80, but they're also the best albums they've released since Moving Pictures.  Signals is the end of the road for me - side 2 with the Weapon, New World Man and Losing It is the last prime slab of Rush; still, Signals was a big drop off and Grace doubled that fall.  

jackson1066 wrote: I like it; for me, though, it's the last acceptable Rush album.

This is scarily close to the truth. I'm glad Clockwork Angels came along to lessen that to some degree.    To answer the question, GUP is a little more fine tuned than the one it followed - that's for sure.

^ It does have a few sparse moments

Gosh - I haven't listened to this album for years - Red Lenses is my pick from this (very good) album. I recall my buddies giving me sh*t that it sounds like The Police...........

Hate the production,  but love the album.  If it were produced more like the three albums that came before it, it would be legendary.  Despite the production, GUP, along with Hemispheres, are my favorite Rush albums.  

Blacksword wrote: If you could HEAR ice, it would sound like GUP... I do love it though. I found it a little harsh on the ears at first, and a complete change from Signals with the guitar coming screaming to the foreground in the mix, but still offset with synths and electronic percussion. It's a pretty consistent album and Between the Wheels and Afterimage are among my top Rush songs.

^Bolded part is so perfect....

An awesome album, their last great one in my opinion.  Much more consistently interesting and rocking than Signals.  It is very hard hitting and heavy but in a cold, calculated way that Blacksword noted.  It did and still does seem so intricate.  Great concert too, I remember it well.  3rd row I believe.  But some of the criticisms about production and mood are certainly fair.  I think both work to the album's ultimate advantage though, looking back.

I agree with David about the haircuts

It's strange, I'm not much of a Rush fan, but it's the late 70's/early 80's albums from them that are the only ones I frequently return to (although I don't have `Moving Pictures' yet). I've worked out I much rather them because they don't have the screeching singing of the 70's stuff, even though those albums are their most overtly `proggy'. But everything else - the upfront bass, the sleek synths, the interesting drumming and the more restrained singing of intelligent rock/pop arrangements is really rather good.

I think `Grace...' was probably the first Rush album I kind of REALLY liked, and with the exception of `Red Lenses' (some of the vocal spots are irritating, but the rest has cool instrumental fills here and there), I think it's a top-notch rock/pop album, and I seem to spin it a heap in the background at work, very easy to enjoy.

GUP is a funny record for me. I rarely listen to it these days because overall the songs just don't resonate with me. Can't really explain it more than that or better than that. It's not that I think they're bad songs, they are mostly just kinda meh for me. Well, except Between The Wheels which is one of my all time favorite Rush songs.