Seen Rush twice back in 79,80, in our fair city. They played at our old hockey arena that seated about 5000 people and has since been torn down. I remember them playing Hemispheres,2112, Farwell to Kings, Working Man. Had a chance to see them last year in Edmonton but passed on it. My friend seen them in Calgary and was telling me what a great concert it was, Aargh!! Anyways this is what I think their top ten songs are and their rank, what do you guys think?
1. 2112
2.Camera Eye
3. Hemispheres
4. Xanadu- Exit Stage Left
5.By Tor and Snow Dog
6. Working Man
7.Farwell to Kings
8.Limelight
9.What you're Doing
10.Red Barrachetta

Working Man!:rockon: :rockon: :rockon:

How about Tom Sawyer.:dunno:

Top ten eh? I agree with some of your choices, but here's a couple more I feel MUST be in 'the list'.

La Villa Stangiato
Lakeside Park
The Spirit of Radio

Cheers,
Russ

Gotta get Freewill in there too....


I don't know if I could narrow it down to just ten. I mean, they've been around for almost 30 yrs, haven't they?

Those are all great songs, but you don't seem to have anything newer than Moving Pictures. That's skipping some of their best stuff. You didn't like any of the newer songs?

Temples of Syrinx..."And The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth"!!!:rockon:

I think alot of their newer stuff is okay, (Big Money,Anolog Kid,New World Man, etc) but their sound changed from their earlier work,more commercial to appeal to the masses. Vapor Trails I thought was terrible. Don't know if they have a newer album out.
I was listening to a radio talk show one night about Rush years ago. And they're were a few callers who were very upset with how much they synthezied. And for a three man band that was unacceptable.I guess I fall into this camp and prefer their earlier sound.:cool:
If you ever been to one of their concerts, you really get a sense of how coordinated they are in their timing. Sure this important to all bands. But with Rush it seems they're really focused.
And if you ever see Neil Peart do a drum solo you'll never forget it, simply spectacular.

I'm OK with changing with the times and I'm cool with using synthesizers (look at some of the instruments used on Moving Pictures) as long as they're used intelligently (which I think they are).
My thing is that the newer stuff just hasn't sttod the test of time yet. I can love a song for three months and then never want to hear it again. It's the stuff that I still listen to after ten or fifteen years that REALLY rocks. New stuff just hasn't had a chance yet.

In no particular order:
Subdivisions
Natural Science
Dreamline
Show Don't Tell
Red Barchetta
Nobodys Hero
The Trees
La Villa Strangiato
YYZ
Red Sector A

I saw them on the Counterparts tour in '94 or so, and last year on the Vapor Trails tour. NEVER pass up a chance to see these guys live. Simply awesome!! Also, check out their new DVD Rush in Rio. One of the best music DVDs I've seen to date.

They only play a few of these picks on the radio..sooooooo they must not really be that good? :p:

They sure do have a lot of great stuff! I've always liked Distant Early Warning... Don't know why, it just "hit's me right."

By the way... Visit www.rush.com. Official site of the band, and it is really a superb site for a rock band's site. They're going on tour to celebrate their 30th year!

1. Every track on "Caress of Steel"
2. La Villa Strangiato
3. Superconductor

OOPS! That's more than 10! :o

I always liked:

Subdivisions
Vital Signs (great finger workout if you play bass)
Witch Hunt
Show Don't Tell
La VIlla Strangiato
Red Lenses
Between The Wheels

A lot of the Grace Under Pressure album has an amazing, somewhat dark and foreboding atmosphere. Great album.

I haven't heard Vapor Trails, and refuse to buy it until it is remastered properly. The version released presently is horrendously overcompressed and is littered with digital overs and digital clipping - you should see some of the butchered waveforms that are part of this article. (http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/articles/8A133F52D0FD71AB86256C2E005DAF1C)

There is simply no excuse for putting destroyed audio out for sale and asking people to pay money for it. This kind of audio butchery is inexcusable even from a bedroom demo-making kid musician, to say nothing of a major label. But poor mastering engineers are under pressure from label mooks who wouldn't know high-fidelity if it bit 'em in the @$$. "We don't care if it sounds bad, we just want you to make it LOUD LOUD LOUD or we won't hire you again and you'll starve <insert evil laugh here>"

:dammit:

TP

Amen B3Nut!!

BTW, Has anyone seen or purchased the Rush "In Rio" concert DVD? Almost bought it last night, but thought I would check and see if there were any opinions on it first.

-Dave

B3Nut, I couldn't agree more about Vapor Trails. I never even listened to the whole CD, it sounded SO bad. I promptly sold it to the used music store.

The Rush in Rio DVD is awesome! By far the best concert footage I've seen of them. They didn't even know they had a fanbase in South America, yet played to the largest crowd of their career in Brazil. The audience was really into it, which makes it that much better. Despite it being the Vapor Trails tour, they played a lot of older material. And it's not a rundown of their greatest hits, they dug deep and played some songs they hadn't done in years.

Was witness to RUSH's Moving Pictures Tour in San Antonio in 1981.Would have liked to see them around their All the World's A Stage tour.Pictures Tour was a great one though,the big screen behind them was an added visual dimension to the music.Outstanding musicianship!
I recently got an Asian DVD of ' Exit Stage Left' basically footage of the Pictures Tour some great concert footage.Also managed to get 'A Show Of Hands' Laserdisc from their Hold Your FIre Tour,also a great show.Now trying to get'Grace Under Pressure' LD.
They did change their sound alot over the years.It went from a harder edged sound to a more technical light mix.But I still like

Bastille Day
Working Man
2112 Temple Of The Syrinx
Tom Sawyer
Limelight
YYZ
Red Barchetta
Fly By Night

come to mind but there are so many others!
RUSH a trully one of a kind stand out in the crowd type band.
My ex-girlfriend was so into them in the 80's she still likes them,so do I but I am not familiar with anything much past Grace Under Pressure.

Very well-written article...the caps paragraph is an excellent analogy. And I couldn't agree with the guy more....

A big part of what I listen to is Classical music, partly because I enjoy the intricacies and partly because it (and some jazz) seem to be the only "true" recorded music these days...music that has been processed, compressed, enhanced, and destroyed by technology.

I think I may have to check out that DVD tho....I hope its available in DTS. I hate DD

Bought it today actually. Listened to it twice. It starts with Tom Sawyer, I don't think they had the sound adjusted for this song, I can hear what I think is reverb from the guitar. But they must have adjusted it cause I don't hear it anywhere else. In the supplied pamphlet they didn't have time to do a sound check before the show.
Personally I don't like most of their newer stuff. There is enough of their older hits to make it listenable. 2112 was abbreviated which I didn't like. Overall I'd give this dvd a 7 out a 10.
This is the only live video of Rush that I'm aware of and that is the main reason I have for buying it.

Wireworm5.
THERE Is more Official RUSH Live available,you just have to look for it! Not always cheap tho!Read my post above!

Official Releases:
Exit Stage Left; Laserdisc* VHS
A Show Of Hands:Laserdisc*VHS
Grace Under Pressure:Laserdisc*VHS

Rush and other bands are very popular in South America....I left ARgentina in 1983, and at least until that point, there was a resistance to lep pop music in,,,eventually is did,,,

But Rush, YES, Queen and others had/have tremendous following....even King Crimson!

I know this may anger some, but I happen to LOVE the newer Rush music(up to "hold your fire", at least, i have not heard "vapor trails", and "roll the bones", wasn't that good), so, here are some of my favorites

Maratrhon(power windows)
Big money(power windows)
Red Barchetta( moving pictures)
Red sector "A" ( grace under pressure)
Manhattan project(power windows)
Foce ten( hold your fire)
Distant early warning( grace under pressure.
Tom Sawyer( moving pictures)

I find that I have to listen to a new Rush album a few times to get used to it before enjoying it. I think the music is too complex to enjoy until it becomes familiar. Roll the bones is a great album, as is Test for echo. The only exception is Vapor trails, it just makes my head hurt. I hope that we will get a remastered version so that I can stand to listen to it for long enough to start liking it.