Which Rush album first grabbed you and why?

The first thing I heard of Rush was YYZ (on The Dividing Line online radio), but 2112 was the obvious first step in listening to their works... and so it was 

Exit..stage left.

I'd not heard rock music played like that before. I couldn't believe that three guys could make that sound. It was thanks to ESL I really became a prog fan.

M27Barney wrote: Hemispheres - Still my favourite release by them...I don't own anything after Moving Pictures and have no intention of doing so - coz Signals was so bloody awful.....

Well, that's too bad. Signals and Grace Under Pressure are brilliant and I reckon most here will agree.

LSDisease wrote: rushfan4 wrote: Just a personal opinion more than anything else.  The underlying sentiment behind the lyrics are actually pretty good; basically, talking about how time goes by so fast and how we don't make the best use of the time that we have.  It is just really more the chorus that I find to be overly silly as well as things like "chasing cars in doggie heaven" and "...one sniff at the hydrant..."  I thought you were talking about 2112. Dog Years is a good song and the lyrics are well...not bad. Very informative. Due to those lyrics I know that in a dog's life a year is really more than 7.

I think you meant "a year is really more like seven". I agree though, I don't dislike the song as much as I used to.

Signals is the album for me. Limelight is the first song I remember hearing, but after buying a few of their albums (randomly), Signals was the first one to hit me.

While I initially enjoyed Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves on first listens, it was Signals that grabbed me. I think a lot of it has to do with just the way the songs were structured, the harmonies, the various solos from Lifeson, and, of course, the bass/keyboard work from Lee and Peart's drumming, but it obviously goes deeper than the technical things. I think Signals displays a wide array of emotions and just the ingenuity of the music keeps me engaged from start to finish. Power Windows has recently clicked with me in a huge way even though I always enjoyed several songs from it. I think this album has a certain sadness to it that behind all the keyboards, guitars, etc., the music seems to be speaking in a completely different language than say Grace Under Pressure or any of the albums that came before.

2112 certainly. Just the intro to that long piece was enough for me. Similar impact as ELP - Tarkus. 

Billy Pilgrim wrote: I first bought their greatest hits, sue me. It clicked so I went after all five classic albums at once. I'd say Permanent Waves was the one I listened to the most at first. It's well balanced, still sounds like the classic period even with the synth, has one of the most underrated tracks ever in Natural Science, and the radio hit Spirit of Radio. Just a good album all around.

No need for litigation. A lot of music that I was turned on to came from best of compilations. Cheers!

Blacksword wrote: Exit..stage left. I'd not heard rock music played like that before. I couldn't believe that three guys could make that sound. It was thanks to ESL I really became a prog fan.

I remember seeing that tour in Los Angeles at the LA Forum. The production was crazy good and the sound I thought was stellar. I would love to see that tour again.....
Like what IM did with Powerslave Tour..those were the days

Saw them on the A Farewell To Kings tour in Ottawa, April, 1977, and bought that album before that concert, but after being turned onto All The World's A Stage. It was a great concert, complete with a gigantic animation backdrop for Cygnus X-1.

rushfan4 wrote: Anyhow, on with the prog part of the story.  During this time period me and my buddies from high school would spend every evening playing basketball or wallyball and then head over to one of our houses to shoot pool or play cards and listen to each of our most recent purchases.  The one evening at my buddy's house he put on his brother's 2112 record from Rush.  We had the speed on 45 instead of 33 1/3 so it sounded kind of strange but since we weren't familiar with this album it played quite a bit before we realized our mistake.  Anyhow, we switched it to the correct speed and the rest as they say is history.

As if Geddy’s vocals weren’t high and squeaky enough back then.

For me it was Power Windows. I hadn’t paid them much attention before because whenever I did hear them the vocals just sounded silly. But the first time I heard Tom Sawyer it turned me around quickly.

The first album I actually bought was Hold Your Fire.