• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Rush, at their peak in the 70s?

#61
Always an interesting debate on the best Rush era. The two albums I could not live without would be A Farewell to Kings (on the turntable now) and Moving Pictures. Next would be 2112, Hemispheres, Signals, Permanent Waves, Counterparts, and Caress of Steel in no particular order. That said, all of the albums speak to me in different ways. However, I almost never listen to Test for Echo or Snakes and Arrows.
 
#62
mellowinman said:
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.
Click to expand...

I agree, CoS is a great album. No One at the Bridge is amazing, and Necromancer is one of the band's heaviest songs. And what I would give to be able to hear Geddy scream like that again.

I converted the guitarist in my last band into a Rush fan and he immediately glommed onto this album. It was weird to watch a grown man go through all the stages of being a Rush fan in just a couple of weeks, that which took me 30 years to go through...
 
  • Like
Reactions: crucislancer, Snowglo and Daz JP
#63
Everything up to and including Permanent Waves is, to me, amazing. After that things lose their appeal up to and including Hold Your Fire and Snakes and Arrows I did not really like at all, which is sad. More like 2112 please! Or other bands doing something of that ilk.

Still, if I could do anything as good as anything on Hold Your Fire I'd be happy (and wealthier, presumably - it still sold very well!)
 
#64
First album I listened to from them was Moving Pictures, and yeah, it's a stellar album. However, I'm going to go out on a limb a bit here and say that my favorite period for them was RUSH through A Farewell to Kings. I really like La Villa Strangiato and Spirit of Radio but the rest of Hemispheres and Signals didn't grab me as much. The early albums just seemed raunchier. I mean have you listened to Geddy's tone on The Necromancer II: Under the Shadow? That section might be one of my favorite things Rush has ever done. Sure, that period might not be as quintessentially Rush as their 80's output, but it grabs me more. Anthem, Working Man, By-Tor & The Snow Dog, The Necromancer, Bastille Day, 2112, Cygnus X-1 (Book I), Xanadu, those are all the early period heavy pieces that I really enjoy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TBird1958
#66
First album I bought from them was Grace Under Pressure- and while not their best, was a cool album. It kind of mixed up some different sounds and bought them to a different place. I think Moving Pictures is their commerical high point, but personally I feel their absolute peak was Hemispheres as far a "progressive" band. I liked some of Vapor Trails, but could care less about Shoots and Ladders or anything else after.
 
#69
Big Hoss said:
Since their first album, Rush has grown, progressed, and pushed the limits of just what prog rock is. While some albums took longer to grow on me (Hold Your Fire) I would have to say that they have held on to a consistency of awesomeness since the beginning.
Click to expand...
I agree completely. The thing about Rush is that they are always trying to grow and do something new. They will be the first to admit when something wasn't working that well. (see any number of their interviews) The interesting thing is that there are Rush songs and albums I completely ignored and then started to dig 20 years later. Does that mean I'm getting older or is Rush just that far ahead of their time?
 
#70
I'm a completest - in album terms, not various re-releases and compilations.
It varies for me, depending on my mood, as to what my favourite album is.
There are some that are always favourites no matter what: Power Windows, Signals and Grace Under Pressure.
And I agree with mellowinman and spectrum: the first time I had Caress of Steel played to me (having got into them via Hold Your Fire and Exit...Stage Left I was all: 'oh these are nice (Bastille Day, Lakeside Park, I think I'm going bald), and then 'what the heck is that!' to the Necromancer and Fountain of Lamneth.

Awesome to noodle along to, awesome to listen to loud with speakers wide apart (I was a poor student!) It's just insanely good - especially as noted the middle section of Necromancer. Alex (all of what 22 at the time?) was and is utterly brilliant. (we all know about the other guys...)
 
#71
JLY said:
They lost me after Signals
Click to expand...

Same here, though I have seen them 3 times in the last couple of years and have to say they were nothing short of incredible. Even after Signals, though, have always been able to find spots of brilliance in their later work... "Animate", "Malignant Narcissism", "The Garden" come to mind...
 
Last edited:
#72
I'm a fan of everything they did up to Signals, I sort of fell off after that. I still appreciate it, it just reeks of 80's synth and I'm not a huge fan. To me their high point was 2112- Hemispheres. At that point I think they still had something to prove so they pushed themselves to be the best musicians that they could, and it shows.

And not to mention, Ged's bass tone on Farewell To Kings is so damn good it almost brings a tear to my eye.
 
#73
I think they had a wide decade long peak from the mid 80s thru the mid 90s.

They have only gotten better as time went on, but their newer stuff is a tad too sophisticated. It's nearly innaccesible to anyone who isn't a musician themselves.

That middle era is well balanced. Not too guitar oriented, not too complex, the virtuosity of every instrument gets to be showcased without overshadowing the others and it all works together. Like a real "band" should.
 
#76
For me its 2112 to Exit...Stage Left, but I could easily expand that to Fly By Night to Signals. After that, when they started taking 3-5 years to come out with an album, I sorta lost interest.

My drummer is one of those who loves everything and anything Rush comes out with and thinks they can do no wrong and is a hard core Neil fan. He's been effusive about all the latest albums and insists they are the best ever done by the band, but I just can't relate to the post Signals albums at this point. I will say that I often do not recognize 'greatness' as it happens, and only years after do I start appreciating that greatness and get into it (i.e. I didn't get into my favorite classic TV shows until years after they went off the air. I didn't buy Synchronicity from The Police until four years after it was released and won Grammys). Maybe that will be the case with the newer Rush stuff.
 
#77
I'm right up there with @xUptheIronsx, so much so that I just changed my sig to use part of his post! To me Rush is a band that only has varying levels of awesome. Sure there are songs that are not as good as others, but as a whole they have been and still are to me one of the greatest rock bands of all time. I just saw them on tour in July and after 40 years they still sound better live than any other band I have seen! However, if I had to pick only one era of Rush to listen to it would be from Hemispheres to Signals.
 
#79
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. And this is from someone who wore out the 2112 album and saw them a half dozen times in their so-called halcyon peak. I still question if I outgrew them or vice-versa. In either case, we sought divergent musical paths. My admiration for them came from afar. My love for the band was only recently rekindled upon viewing their documentary, "Beyond the Lighted Stage". It was like catching up with a long lost friend (I'm sure Mr. Peart wouldn't mind/ care, sorry Neil). I was amazed, but not surprised by their diverse catalog of tunes over the ensuing years. I was incredibly proud of what they'd accomplished and overcome. I felt more than a tinge of guilt for not being able to hang in. C'est la vie.

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...

I couldn't have said it any better! :thumbsup:

I have incredibly fond memories of commuting to my freshmen year in college, flying up Route 3 in northern MA, with Moving Pictures blasting through the stereo and us screaming our lungs out like wild banshees, not a care in the world. I mined their catalog backwards and fell in love with 2112, Farewell to Kings, and Hemispheres. Permanent Waves began a "compactness" that I was blown away by; they were able to express their ideas in a third the space of their previous opuses. Moving Pictures is, in my mind, a desert island album and should be rated one of the greatest of all time. While Side 1 had some seriously epic and unforgettable hits, Side 2 (Yes kids, us old guys still think of things in terms of sides!) is, in my mind, so underrated as to be criminal. Camera Eye is like one of their earlier epics but modernized. Witch Hunt is timeless, its message still relevant today. And how many of us have woodsheded the bass part for Vital Signs?

My attention waned in the mid 80's and I lost them in the 90's, mostly due to other musical interests. Each one of those albums had personal gems (Show Don't Tell, Time Stands Still, Driven) but, as a whole, I was not as enamored with them. I do appreciate WHY they changed, though. Too many bands regurgitate their past out of laziness and apathy. My belief is Rush continuously evolved to suit their own thirst to express themselves and out of a deep-seated respect for their fan base.

Thousands of musicians owe them a debt of gratitude for making it interesting. I know I do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: skwee

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back