Signals or GuP
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Polls
Forum Description: Create polls on topics related to progressive music
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=134825
Printed Date: April 27 2025 at 04:10
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Signals or GuP
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Subject: Signals or GuP
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 08:58
|
Replies:
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 09:13
I like'em both. 
|
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 09:31
|
Grace, hugely. My fave of the 80s by far. ------------- ...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell" |
Posted By: Octopus II
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 09:57
Grace Under Pressure 
|
Posted By: Mormegil
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 10:04
|
My ears dig both. ------------- Welcome to the middle of the film. |
Posted By: Big Sky
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 10:35
| Both albums are quite good. However, Signals has Subdivisions, Countdown and The Weapon that I rate ahead of any track on Grace Under Pressure. |
Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 10:37
|
more of a Signals man these days... ------------- Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson |
Posted By: Big Sky
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 10:39
Grace Under Pressure ahead of Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves, two other 80s releases. You don't see that everyday. |
Finnforest wrote:Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 10:51
|
Signals, as it brings back great memories of my later HS years. I saw that tour as well at the great LA Forum. Subdivisions is such a great song........That being said GUP is no slouch either. -------------   
|
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 11:07
For the poll, in my head I was thinking Signals-forward when using the words "by far." But you raise a good point that the two previous albums were also 80s. Taking those two albums into the mix, I would drop the words "by far," yet still I prefer Grace over both of them. Such consistency, punch, and quality songwriting. It is my clear favorite post-Hemispheres and near the top of my overall list. ------------- ...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell" |
Posted By: progaardvark
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 11:09
|
GUP. It smells like the fabric of an AACR2 steamroller. ------------- ---------- i'm shopping for a new oil-cured sinus bag that's a happy bag of lettuce this car smells like cartilage nothing beats a good video about fractions |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 11:18
Why not Rush vs. Presto?  ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 12:11
|
I confess my ignorance ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 12:28
So it's not just me! ------------- "Christ, where would rock & roll be without feedback?" - D. Gimour |
Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 12:59
| Signals because it has Subdivisions, while Grace Under Pressure does not. Also, I personally can't stand the overprocessed electronic drum sound on GUP. |
Posted By: Steve Wyzard
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 13:07
|
Signals, by far. It's timeless, future-focused, and the best album they ever did. Grace Under Pressure is the most "dated" Rush album. It's not bad, but it's just "kind of there". If it disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't miss it. |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 14:37
More "dated" than Hold Your Fire or Roll the Bones? I think not.  ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: Gentle and Giant
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 14:53
|
Signals for me. I do quite like GUP, but feel this album was the start of the slide into the 80s sound I wasn't keen on. ------------- Oh, for the wings of any bird, other than a battery hen |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 15:07
|
Never understood the appeal of GUP, it was a shock to the ears of older fans and the tour was disappointing to say the least. Grace under pressure indeed, but hardly graceful, and the pressure came from the band, their dismissal of Terry Brown, cheesy '80s haircuts, and the rejection of their fantastic past. ------------- "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy |
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 15:50
|
^ Well, I saw the Grace tour from the 3rd row on Alex's side, and "disappointing" does not describe our evening nor the other fans around us who were very obviously digging it. Had a total blast. Cheesy haircuts? You got me there. ------------- ...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell" |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 15:59
|
Signals by 1.25 star. ------------- 
|
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 16:08
|
^ ^ Alex was the best thing that year with his cool new minimal style. But "I see red, it hurts my head, must be something that I read" was not Peart's best moment. Even Body Electric's "1 0 0, 1 0 0, 1 in distress" (one of the better things on the album) was a cringe-worthy '80s mech-rock shock when compared to just two years earlier. Ouch is the word that comes to mind, especially when we went to this show foolishly expecting something close to Signals or MP. Did they play that awful "We know you want to hear some old stuff so we're gonna do an Old Song Medley" thing when you saw them ? Pain. ------------- "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy |
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 16:37
I skipped the GUP tour (I think...?) but did see the PW tour (awesome) and then Presto with the big bunnies That was my wife's first Rush concert...she liked the bunnies. -------------
|
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 16:38
|
^^ Yep, the sh*tty medleys. Can't stand that. Medleys are just the worst. Genesis too. Alex minimal? Man, I thought he was just smokin' that night, lots of aggressive playing. (Cocaine days?) Naturally, if I could have chosen the set list myself, it would have been the first three albums played cover to cover....that's my idea of optimal Rush. But we knew we were getting "the new Rush" and so our expectations were very realistic going in. I liked it way better than the Power Windows tour a couple years later, although that time we got to see Marillion open for Rush which was cool. As I recall, they were not that well received by the Rush fans. ------------- ...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell" |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 16:55
A "shock to the ears of older fans" who wanted 2113, maybe. Rush enjoyed years of successful collaborations with Broon, but that lake was now a dry bed. Survival requires change. The songwriting was the key. They conjured up eight more fantastic songs that sound patently "Rush." The new material evoked a stark dystopian aesthetic; it was meaner, more urgent, "future-rock." You have to remember that Signals also did not escape the wrath of "old Rush fans" who lamented the increased role of keyboards in their music. (Alex, too!) Then there were those of us who relished it.
Sorry, I disagree. As quirky "Red Lenses" is, it's a great song. There are no bad songs on GUP. It's a perfect album.  If you want to read Neil's cringiest lyrics, those are found on Roll the Bones, Test for Echo, and Snakes and Arrows. ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 16:57
Rush + Fly by Night + Caress of Steel? That would get old pretty fast. I've no use for the debut. They sound like a high school band on that.  ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 17:01
Presto was a weird show. I liked it, it was a good show, but it felt short...because it was short: about 2hrs, with the encores! It was cool they brought back "Xanadu." I loved that they still opened with "Force Ten." I would've swapped out a Presto song for "Open Secrets" or another from Grace Under Pressure. And they needed to play another twenty minutes! ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 18:16
|
I almost got off the RUSH bus with Signals, but I did get off that bus with Grace Under Pressure. Not a big fan of their synth years. But I did return to RUSH in the mid-nineties and picked up those albums I had passed on earlier. Voted Signals. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 18:26
Never! Still love it. Agree with you, though, on Grace being a perfect album. ------------- ...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell" |
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 18:27
Forgot about the bunnies! ------------- ...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell" |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 18:47
2112 is far from their best record, a bit juvenile if you ask me. Signals on the other hand was & is a terrific record despite the synths and shortened thematics. As far as your "eight more fantastic songs" and GUP being a "perfect album", you must be a second-gen Rush fan, it's the only explanation. And while I agree Roll the Bones was not their peak (saw that tour too), at least it had a modicum of heart. Grace Under Pressure was a bowl of cold stone soup. ------------- "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 22 2025 at 22:41
| I went with both equally on this one. Signals was the first one I bought and heard but "distant early warning" is my favorite song from anything on either album and there's a few other gems on there too. Overall, I can't really choose between them which is why I decided to go for both equally. |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 02:03
neither, but GUP     and Windows are potentially the worst un-Rush albums ever.So Signals gets my vote. ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 02:08
| Both |
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 07:30
"Afterimage" is a lyric that hits home at a certain age when you start having to say goodbyes. So many of the songs resonated with friends and myself at the time, and all of us were "early Rush" fans so it was remarkable. We didn't like Signals, but Grace was pretty enthusiastically received by all of us in my little group of high school dorks. We were all living with the constant trauma of having missed the 70s concert scene for being too young, so we took what scraps we were thrown in the 80s and made the best of it. ------------- ...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell" |
Posted By: mathman0806
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 08:06
| I prefer Signals, but I do like Grace Under Pressure. |
Posted By: Hector Enrique
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 08:42
|
I like both, but I think Signals is a few steps ahead of GuP with Subdivisions, The Weapon and Losing it. ------------- Héctor Enrique |
Posted By: Steve Wyzard
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 10:33
This is the main reason I stopped buying Rush albums after Presto. It was almost as if they realized they had such a devoted audience that they could get away with anything after 1990 and the fans would automatically keep coming back for more. Recording and touring was no longer a hunger or about creative exploration, but just a very profitable hobby. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 10:42
|
Signals pour moi. ------------- "Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself" (The Prisoner, 1967). |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 14:28
I totally agree about "afterimage." I just found out recently that an old friend of mine (and a very good one at one point also) passed away recently of cancer. I'm still trying to deal with it and one of the songs I've been playing a bit of on youtube (as part of the healing process) is "afterimage." |
Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 14:50
|
^ Sorry to hear that Mike. I know. It's crazy after a certain age if feels like it's just one after another between friends and family members. Times flies. ------------- ...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell" |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 15:20
|
^ Very sorry to hear that too, Mike. Please take care, It has become a frequent occurrence in my life (every few months seem to lose someone who has been very important in my and/or my wife's lives). It does happen more as you and they get older... And I don't even have many close friends or family members. For the more sociable of you it would be worse still. Still, mourning regularly. ------------- "Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself" (The Prisoner, 1967). |
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 15:28
Dang man, sorry about that, so tough to deal with and process. -------------
|
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 23 2025 at 17:02
Thanks. It really is especially initially. The thing is I hadn't seen him in over 25 years (although I did correspond with him breifly via email just before Covid started) but it still is difficult. He was actually sort of a local icon (he was a professional poet) where he lived (where I grew up) so it's easy to find information about him and read his stuff online although I find that to be a bit painful so I don't do too much of it. It kind of reminds me of Neil's passing in a way (although a differernt form of cancer). |
Posted By: Disconnect
Date Posted: April 25 2025 at 15:34
|
Signals for me the because = 'Losing It' ------------- "My own response to King Crimson is one of quiet terror." - Robert Fripp |
Posted By: Jaketejas
Date Posted: April 26 2025 at 12:30
| Both are great, but I think the songwriting is consistently good to excellent on Signals whereas Grace Under Pressure is less consistent. I think the same is true if you compare Power Windows with Hold Your Fire, with Power Windows having the edge. The albums after that period are not as strong until you hit Counterparts, when they changed their sound towards grunge … but I digress. Having said that, Distant Early Warning is such a great 80s-era Rush song, so Grace Under Pressure is worth a listen. Signals was also a bold move in terms of sound coming off their best-known album, Moving Pictures. And, Subdivisions is truly a masterpiece. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 26 2025 at 21:12
Yeah, kind of. I had an uncle who passed away in February after sustaining injuries from a car accident after a week. He was 95 but still. Most of my other relatives who passed away I wasn't particularly close to. This recent one from my old friend seems to have cut the deepest though. |