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Rush, at their peak in the 70s?

#41
Nope...Clockwork Angels has that wow factor along with every Rush album. Just a fan that started when Grace Under Pressure came out. Started when some people thought they were declining. I didn't get into the seventies Rush until the nineties. So I'm a bit backwards from most fans.

R40 on Friday on Blu Ray!
 
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#43
I'm actually fairly into all of it up until Snakes and Arrows - there are a couple of good singles from then on, but I can't say I dig the whole album, same with Clockwork Angels.
 
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#44
I got turned off after Signals but once Vapor Trails came out I bought that one (Vapor Trails) and then eventually gave all the albums in between those two albums a 2nd chance. It didn't take me long to realize that I hadn't given them a fair shot and that all those albums in the middle were great in their own way.

That being said, I do have my favorite period - 2112 through Moving Pictures. What an incredible body of work that was, especially if you narrowed it down further to 2112 through Permanent Waves. That small set of albums has all the musicianship of the rest of their catalog but with an energy level and an intensity that sets them apart from the rest.
 
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#45
Bassdude15 said:
Now dont get me wrong, I absolutely think they still are an incredible band (despite not being able o find tickets any of the 3 times they came to town); nor do I confess to be one of those 'hard-core' Rush fan who owns all their records and knows each one inside and out. But is it just me, or do A Farewell to Kings and Hemisphere''s have a certain extra "wow"-factor that many of their later and more famous albums are missing?
Click to expand...

Geddy is only 62. He should still be pretty good in his 70s though.
 
#46
Regarding Rush, I think that because their career has been so long, age has a lot to do with how people perceive their music. For myself, I have to break their career down into a few different periods.

I didn't really become musically aware beyond my parents' record collection and my bedside radio until around 1980, when I was in middle school. My Rush fandom thus began with Permanent Waves. To me, the period between Permanent Waves and Roll The Bones is what I would call my prime with Rush, and the period in which I think they did their best work.

Looking back to their early work, if I put together all the songs I liked from their first album up through Hemispheres, the result might make one full album. But I am certainly prejudiced by having been a teenager in the time when Rush's most radio-popular work was current.

I didn't dig the Counterparts album at all. I liked the title song from Test For Echo, but was underwhelmed by the rest. I lost track of them after that because their music simply didn't grab my interest any more. Again, I think age had a lot to do with that, as did the fact that my musical tastes broadened greatly in that time, so I was simply listening to a lot more variety than when I was younger.
 
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#48
I am a child of the 80s, and Signals was the album that got me into them, even though an older kid introduced me to them through Hemispheres (I still have the vinyl copy he gave me). I was into sci fi and futuristic stuff, and Signals to me was the sound of the future (80s version). I grew up and became an engineer partly because of that album.

Grace Under Pressure was the first time I saw them live, and that album to me is one of my favorites. For Rush I think it's their darkest themed album, and it basically took the sounds and gear of the New Wave and somehow turned into Rush.

Power Windows I didn't really buy into until I saw it live, and Hold Your Fire was too far for me. They've since come back to more basic rock, thankfully.

As a bass player I also went back to their older stuff.

So to me, my favorite Rush is from Farewell to Kings to Grace Under Pressure.

But their peak? As musicians I feel they've only gotten better as they've gotten older, skill-wise. As far as song-writing, that's all subjective, but I think Clockwork Angels is right up there with the best of them. They still have the power to do magic.
 
#50
#51
jjmuckluckjr said:
Wow. How do you break down a 40+ year career in a paragraph or three? You can't. But we can pay homage to our inadequately honoured idols from the north. Have I payed enough attention to them over the years? No, absolutely not. My musical tastes and Rush parted ways somewhere in the mid '80's. ...... Did Rush peak in the '70's? No. We just grew apart like high school friends. Unlike many of their contemporaries, fortunately, Rush has survived intact. Thank the musical gods for that.
Click to expand...
Very well put.
 
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#55
I'm one of those people who thinks that for all its flaws, Caress of Steel is one of the greatest records ever made by any band. The songs "No One at the Bridge," "Bacchus Plateau," and "The Necromancer," (although I could live without the slowed-down narration,) are some of the finest hard rock songs ever recorded. In particular, Part II of the Necromancer, where it's straight-up 1 guitar, 1 bass, and 1 drum kit, is still the best I've heard, INCLUDING Geddy's screaming.

That said, the debut album is great; Fly by Night is great; 2112 is a masterpiece, and All the World's a Stage could be the record I've listened to more than any other album. I came in at A Farewell to Kings, and consider that perfect from beginning to end. Hemispheres Side 1 just didn't do it for me, but oh that Side 2!!!!!

Permanent Waves was a pretty big let-down after that, although I've learned to love it over the years, and the same is true for Moving Pictures.

I hated Signals and Grace Under Pressure, and have not listened to much after that.

I love those guys, and support them, even if they are no longer my thing. I did buy Clockwork Angels, and it's not that it's a "bad" album; it's just not the Rush I always went nuts for. That band has been gone a very long time. I would still go see them live though, and I think they're playing as good or better as ever. It's just that we couldn't expect Geddy to hit notes only dogs can hear forever, you know?
 
#56
everyone has their favorite era. I like 2112 through Grace. I bought the albums after that and enjoyed them but they were listened to less frequently than the others. I still think, sonically, Moving Pictures stands alone. No other album sounded quite like it. They way the instrumentation sat together was once in a lifetime. I sincerely think they couldnt duplicate those tones if they wanted to. There was a certain magic about that disc thats uncanny.

Best I ever heard them live was Grace Under Pressure Tour. On top of their game as players and the mix was like the record. Saw that show in Glens Falls, NY where most bands sound horrible. It was sonic bliss that night
 
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#57
If the liner notes from ATWAS are to be followed, then the four albums before it constitute "Chapter 1." The band's pattern has been to release a live album after every 4 studio albums. Chapter 2 is pretty much the peak period, per a majority of posts that chose to name one. After Chapter 4 ended with Different Stages, the pattern seems to have morphed, along with the technology of how our music is delivered and consumed. If they were still following the familiar pattern, then Clockwork Angels (which I found disappointing) would only be the 3rd studio album of Chapter 5.

To address the OP more succinctly: Much of the band's writing process came from soundcheck jamming, so while PW and MP were released in 1980 and 1981, respectively, their material was being developed on the prior tours. Moreover, these two albums still largely continue their late '70s sound. I read an article a few weeks ago (maybe it was the RS list of the greatest 50 prog albums, now that I think of it) that stated that the MP songs, when compared to prior material, amounted to Rush going punk.
 
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#58
In my opinion, the real Rush wheelhouse was 2112 through Power Windows. I've enjoyed songs from subsequent albums, but I never thought they qualified for a "from start to finish" listening experience. I still love them dearly, and I thought Clockwork Angels was a great album. Live, especially on this tour, they were on absolute fire. If it's the end for them, they are going out on top of their game. My humble opinion.
 

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