Signals or GuP

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.

Edited by Jaketejas - April 26 2025 at 12:31

Catcher10 wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: 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." Dang man, sorry about that, so tough to deal with and process.

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).

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - April 23 2025 at 17:04

^ 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.

Finnforest wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: 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. "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.

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."

verslibre wrote: If you want to read Neil's cringiest lyrics, those are found on Roll the Bones, Test for Echo, and Snakes and Arrows.

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.

I prefer Signals, but I do like Grace Under Pressure.

Both

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.

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - April 22 2025 at 22:42

Catcher10 wrote: Finnforest wrote: ^ 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. 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.

Forgot about the bunnies!

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.